How to catch Australian salmon: A complete guide

By Robert Thornton

As a sportfish, Australian salmon are pretty hard to beat. Few fish tick as many boxes for anglers as they do, with their one downside being that they inhabit only about half of our country’s coastline!

Salmon are a fantastic resource that are readily available for the majority of Aussies, with their ubiquity equally (if not more) appreciated by our friends over the ditch in New Zealand. Newcomers to the sport often encounter salmon early in their angling career, with their sizzling runs and acrobatic antics no doubt fuelling the journey from fishing novice to addict. 

You’ll be flat out finding an Aussie fisho who doesn’t like salmon, and if you’re yet to enjoy a session chasing these marvellous fish, stick around. Though salmon fishing is no fine art, knowledge about the target species is important when trying to tick off that first one, or if fishing in a new location.

This blog will give a brief rundown of their biology, feeding and migration habits, plus a selection of tackle and techniques that are effective on these amazing animals.

Trans-Tasman trutta

 Found along much of southern Australia and around the entire NZ coastline, the Australian salmon is not a true salmonid. Additionally, while the east Australian sub-species has the Latin word for trout in its scientific name (trutta), this too is a misnomer.

Three species of Australian salmon and a smaller species known as tommy ruff make up the genus Arripis,with the former three often referred to simply as ‘salmon’ in Australia. Early European explorers named these fish in honour of the highly sought salmon and trout back home. In NZ they are known as ‘kahawai’, a Māori word that roughly translates to ‘strong in the water’ – a much more appropriate name in my opinion.

The three known salmon species include Arripiss trutta,found along the East Coast of Australia, around the coastline of Tasmania, spreading west to South Australia and east to NZ. Next is Arripiss xlyabion, or Northern kahawai, native to northern NZ and the Pacific islands further east. Finally, we have Arripiss truttaceus,the Western Australian salmon, migrating between southwestern WA and eastern SA and known for their larger average size.

All species spend their adult life migrating along the coast, with their movements dictated by the availability of food and water temperature. They’re often found in big schools offshore, along beaches and headlands, as well as inside bays, harbours, coastal lakes, estuaries and sometimes even up rivers.

Salmon spawn off the coast during spring, with juveniles spending the first few years of their life in sheltered waters and estuaries. Once matured, salmon spend most of their time in more open environments along the coast and further offshore where they become migratory.

How to catch Australian salmon

Salmon are a near perfect sportfish, exhibiting a huge range of desirable qualities. These fish chase lures aggressively, fight hard, jump high when hooked, school up in big numbers, grow to several kilos and even make acceptable tucker if bled, iced and eaten fresh. In addition, they are forgiving of sloppy presentation, highly resilient, striking to look at and frequent some of the most beautiful coastline environments in the country. 

While salmon can be caught throughout the year, seasonal ‘runs’ of mature fish are highly anticipated in late winter and spring along the East Coast, as well as autumn on the West Coast.

Salmon are susceptible to a bunch of bait, lure and fly fishing techniques, and while all are highly effective, choosing the right tackle and techniques for the scenario you’re presented with will help you crack that first one.

How to catch Australian salmon on bait

Aussie salmon eat a wide variety of prey, meaning bait selection is easy. Strip baits of squid, slimy mackerel, mac tuna and tommy ruff or whole dead baits like pilchard, whitebait and bluebait are proven baits, but any fleshy bait is fine.

Wire and gang style rings aren’t necessary for salmon – another tick for this species. While salmon have teeth, they aren’t the serrated and pointy examples seen on tailor and mackerel. Salmon instead have lots of tiny brushlike teeth, which form a rough layer on their top and bottom jaws. Occasionally salmon can rub through light leaders if hooked deep, but generally bite-offs are rare.

Because of this, a single-hook Paternoster rig is all you need for salmon in the estuary or the surf. Hooks between size 6 and 2/0 are sufficient in most situations, with traces best kept in the 10-15lb range. Double-hook snelled Paternosters with hooks up to 6/0 are sometimes employed for chasing bigger fish, where traces between 20-30lb are more appropriate.

Unweighted baits are deadly on salmon as well and are best utilised when salmon can actually be seen feeding. A chunk of fish or squid flesh wafting through the melee will rarely get turned down, as it just looks like a piece of fodder that was missed in the chaos.

A light medium, medium or heavy Crossfire Surf spin rod matched with an equally affordable Crossfire SWspin reel is a perfect outfit for chasing not just salmon, but a range of other species in the surf as well. Monofilament around 12-20lb or braided line around 20-30lb are both for mainline, remembering that there will be a lot more stretch with monofilament mainline.

How to catch Australian salmon on lures

The salmon’s tenacity toward lures is what endears them to so many anglers. Salmon will respond to a lot of different lures, but reading each situation is still important when deciding what presentation to use.

On the beach and rocks large, heavy lures that can be cast a long way are a common weapon of choice. Metal slices, poppers, stickbaits and sinking minnows between 80-140mm long (depending on the size of the salmon and the bait they’re chasing) are all good things to have on hand when walking the surf, hopping over the rocks or cruising around in the boat.

Metals like Daiwa’s OT Jig (in 20, 30, 40 or 60g) is the perfect ‘no-nonsense’ metal for blind casting in washy areas and retrieving at high speed, covering plenty of water in a short time.

The Over There stickbait series (available in 80, 110 and 130mm sizes) offers a more realistic presentation, with these sinking stickbaits coming pre-rigged with razor-sharp inline single hooks from BKK.

Sinking minnows like the Sarawashare another fantastic performer on big salmon at 110mm long, with their small bib allowing them to be twitched like a standard jerkbait for any salmon that need a bit more persuasion.

The Sensor Surf range of rods and Saltist MQ spin reels when paired together are an awesome fit for this rugged style of luring. Both of these quality designs are tailor-made for the salty and sandy punishment that surf casting dishes up. Good quality braid like Saltiga 12between PE 1-3 (depending on the line weight rating of the rod) will make long casts a lot easier and more comfortable.

In sheltered waters, standard estuary tackle is suitable for the smaller class of salmon that inhabit these zones. Spin rods rated at 2-4kg with 1000-2500 size spin reels will be fine, with braid between 6-12lb heavy enough to stop most estuary salmon around 1kg, but light enough to make it enjoyable.

Smaller lures are more effective in the estuaries, and given the relatively calm nature of most estuarine environments, salmon will tend toward more realistic presentations. Without the turbulence of the wash, salmon will be able to get a decent look at their prey before they eat it, which is why smaller topwaters, jerkbaits and soft plastics are better options.

On the surface, the Infeet Slippery Dog in 80and 97mm perfectly imitate small baitfish or prawns fleeing from river predators. Under the surface, the shallow-running Double Clutch 75 and Presso Minnow 95 come into play when the salmon are a little shy to come right to the surface and eat.

Going deeper again, the standard Double Clutch 75 and 95 will appeal to those fish sitting a little further down in the water column, and will suspend when paused, adding an extra level of attraction to timid fish.

Finally, soft plastics are ideal for situations where the angler wishes to cover a variety of depths and are a top choice for searching. The BaitJunkie Prawn (now available in 2.35, 3and 5” sizes) is a no brainer during the various seasonal prawns runs in our southern estuaries. Outside these times, the 3 and 5.5” Wave Minnows are a highly versatile soft plastic that imitate many common estuary baitfish, and can be worked fast or slow.

Standout salmon

Australian salmon really are a standout sportfish, offering some of the most exciting fishing readily accessible for everyday Aussies. There’s not much to dislike about these travelling torpedoes, and with so much about them still largely unknown, it seems they still have a lot to teach us.