Threadfin salmon everywhere - except for my hooks!
Daybreak over eurimbula creek
Launch:
- 5:50 AM
Landed:
- 10.00 AM
Tide:
- 9:30 AM, High
Weather:
- Warm, 25 °C, 10 - 15 knot north easterly
Caught:
- Nadda
Method:
- Flicking and trolling soft plastic & hard body lures
Tucked away close by to the Eurimbula national park is the Bustard Beach camping ground, which is nice and close to the mouth of Eurimbula creek. I was hoping for some shelter from the north easterly winds here, although whatever protection afforded was difficult to notice. Despite this I launched into an incoming tide, allowing it to sweep me down towards those rather fishy looking mangroves upstream. Just like every other angler I spoke to the night previously, however, the fish were suspiciously quiet... or at least, they weren't interested in the plethora of lures I threw at them. No takes by the mangroves, nor the sand flats, which by now, were fully covered by an impressively high tide.
I did, however, locate 3 schools of one particular species I've been desperate to catch: Threadfin salmon. The first of which were made up of big fish, though they were spooked terribly easily. Nor would they show any interest in the soft plastic and hard body lures I cast towards them. I moved on to the other side and found two more schools, spotted as they playfully showed off their dorsal fins flicking just above waters edge. These specimens were smaller but just as easily spooked and picky. I persisted for a while regardless, but there were just no takers. After a couple of hours of this I gave up in frustration - not just that I could rasie a bite, but more so each cast returned a hook full of wandering weed (and not the kind people pay $20 a gram for).
It was still fairly early so I decided to head back to camp to see if I could pack up in time to avoid the incoming ranger and resulting cmping fee). On that count, at least, I succeeded. If it wasn't for school holidays I would have stayed here for a few more days and waited for a lower, more accomodating tide. Speaking of tides, it raised to levels I'd never before seen. So much so that I didn't even recognise the landing spot from which I launched. Thanks god for GPS!
I can't help but think that if my rods were better at casting distance, I wouldn't have had to get so close to the fish to reach them with cast lures. It's high time to re-evaluate the rods I'm currently using, for more reasons than one.
