Episode 344: Perth Australian Salmon With Ben Svenson

Ben’s Top Salmon Tips

• Australian salmon make an annual migration from the southern coastline of Westren Australia, which ends in the Perth area around April/May each year. At that time, massive schools of 6-8kg salmon congregate and the fishing is spectacular.
• When the salmon are running the coastline can become crowded. Rather than join the masses huddled at the end of rock groins, Ben prefers to walk the beaches between groins. Often, he’ll find a beach with a school of salmon all to himself.
• If you can see anglers a few hundred metres away catching salmon it can pay to stay where you are. The schools of fish are large and patrol the beaches, so it’s usually not long before an opportunity presents.
• Rough weather tends to fish best, and Ben likes the last couple of hours of the incoming tide, especially if it happens to coincide with dawn.
• If it’s very windy it’s often possible to find a sheltered beach, although putting on a heavier lure and casting into the wind is often productive.
• Many anglers fish heavy lines to avoid being busted off on the rocks or when the line crosses another anglers line. Ben prefers to fish lighter, finding he can cast further and catch more fish.
• If you’re not familiar with the areas you’ll be fishing, use Google Earth to identify likely spots before walking the beaches. A drone can be handy for finding fish too if you happen to have one.

Ben’s Preferred Aussie Salmon Tackle

• Ben likes to use a 9 ft Penn Conflict spin rod in the 6-10kg line class with a Stradic 4000 reel. 20lb line with a 40lb fluorocarbon leader is sufficient to ensure a fighting chance of getting the fish in.

Ben’s Favourite Australian Salmon Lures

• A 40g Halco Twisty is essential in every Australian salmon fisher’s kit. This is the lure to use when it’s windy and you need to improve casting distance. Cast our long over the school, count the lure down for a few seconds and then retrieve as fast as you can. Sometimes it works just as well to slow roll the lure back, salmon aren’t fussy when they’re in full feeding mode.
• The Rapala Long Cast stickbait (no bib) is dynamite on salmon and can be cast a long way. As with the Twisty, it can be counted down and then worked back as fast as you can. Salmon will often compete and shoulder each other out. If the fish are less active, the lure can be fished with a slower, walk the dog technique, maintaining constant speed. This is Ben’s choice for tough days.
• The Abrolhos Punisher is essentially a cupped face surface popper that has a curved tail, giving it the action of a stickbait with the blooping and water spitting of a popper. It casts a long way and can be either worked on a steady retrieve or with a few winds followed by a rip and pause.