Eastern Beach

[ImTheDave]

Headed up to Eastern beach just before first light. The conditions were a lot rougher than yesterday when we went for a look, with a strong wind dragging everything down the coast
We’d come up to the area mainly for some simple lake fishing but after seeing the guys reel Salmon in off the beach yesterday I was dying to give it a go. I’ve only got a 7ft rod and as this was my first time beach/surf fishing I didn’t want to go to the expense of buying a bigger beach caster right now so got some No. 4 hooks and some heavier weights and rigged up.

It was really difficult trying to cast out far enough and I ended up having to go knee deep in the surf to get it out beyond the waves otherwise as soon as I cast, it would end up back on the beach. I was a lot of bites and loosing them with the bait striped as it was really heavy trying to land the fish. (Even heavy just trying to reel in the weight dragging on the sand)
I watched the other guys around me pulling in 2 at a time a lot so I figured ‘maybe’ I was also getting 2 which was too much for my rod so cut one of the hooks off the paternoster and had a go with just one which was so much easier.

Probably wasted a good 90 minutes messing around trying to get the technique right and really only had half hour of good fishing time before we had to leave. Using chicken as bait (thanks to a tip from someone) still managed to bag a couple of decent sized 35cm Aussie Salmon and it was really great fun landing them!
Bled and cleaned them, packed on ice and headed home.

Now googling how to cook them!!
Also googling decent beach casting rods to buy....

[re-tyred]

I just fillet and skin them, roll them in flour and herbs and shallow fry them. Very good eating when fresh and correctly bled. I might go have a crack at them later in the week.

[Lightningx]

A couple of nice sambos!
Well done :thumbsup:

[smile0784]

I just fillet and skin them, roll them in flour and herbs and shallow fry them. Very good eating when fresh and correctly bled. I might go have a crack at them later in the week.

Yep i love to eat it this way

[benders]

Also very good smoked

[Lightningx]

Also very good smoked

Yep :thumbsup:

[ImTheDave]

Ok, thanks for the suggestions. It really helped a lot.
I also had some other suggestions to mix it with some spices.
My wife is Thai and an unbelievable cook, especially making up her own dishes.

She took the salmon, filleted it, left the skin on, cut into cubes, dipped briefly in white vinegar then coated it in some kind of flour type spice she makes at home, similar to ‘chicken salt’.
Briefly fried it and then threw into a home made Thai Larb sauce to make Larb Pla (basically the fish mixed with a spicy salad of mint leaves, shallots, chilli and spring onion with some other kind of spice.

It was awesome.
The fish was not strong tasting like it was suggested before. It was firm, mild fishy taste.
I have to admit, it was a bit worried after reading it was oily and strong tasting but the wife says the white vinegar takes the oils out of the taste (bow to her judgement)

From this alone, I can see it’s a really under rated fish and you just need to be adventurous with the cooking.

That’s one fish gone.
Can’t wait for tomorrow to see what she cooks up with the other!

[Lightningx]

That’s a great looking dish mate.
You’re a lucky man. Enjoy :thumbsup:

[smile0784]

Looks great

[All ways fishin]

Well done!!! salmon can be cooked all different ways it just depends on which way you like it cooked. We often just eat it only when camping done in foil on camp fire with lots of butter tomatoes, onions, and different herbs and spices and it tastes great that way, especially with a few tinnies.
Cheers