Beautiful Water

“Beautiful Water” By Russell Hood-Penn Finally the long weekend was here. I had some how managed to convince my beautiful wife that it would be much better spent on a beach down south, , camping and fishing with a group of my mates than with her. Of course Id love to take a run down to Freo for a spot of lunch, or a trip out to the Swan Valley for some wine tastings, but….. “It will be so much quieter next weekend honey”. That taken care of it was time to get cracking. The target was Yeagarup, also known as Warren River or Warren Beach as this is where over thousands of years the river has chosen to flow out into the ocean. The mouth of the river is not always open and flowing and only breaks when sufficient rainfall has raised it to a level where the beach cannot hold it back any longer. This means that most of the time you are able to drive along the beach from Yeagarup, past the mouth of the Warren River to search out more fishing grounds further south. I’m not sure what Yeagarup means in Western Australia’s indigenous language, but I was told that the use of the letters up at the end of a word means water, so if I had to guess I would say that the first part would be something like, clean, pure or beautiful. I’m sure that anyone who has ever visited Yeagarup would agree it really is a spectacular place and defiantly worthy of a title like “Beautiful water”

We joined some mates from Boyup Brook in Pemberton and after a quick bit of breakfast at the bakery we were heading out to the park. There’s nothing quite like exploring a new fishing spot for the first time and the excitement in the Cruiser was palpable as we neared the entrance. The entry to Yeagarup is located about twenty kilometres from Pemberton along Vasse Hwy toward Nannup. Turn left when you come to Ritter road and follow the track to the entry of Warren National park. There is an honesty box with slips for paying your entry to the park and camping fee’s. There is no Ranger stationed at the entrance so take some change and do the right thing. From here the track is four wheel drive only and will take about another 40 minutes to reach the beach. Some of the Yeagarup Dune system can be quite soft especially during summer when the sand is a lot hungrier so deflate you tyres appropriately and make sure you have some recovery gear on board just in case.

I was joined on this trip by my long time friend and partner in crime Carl Simmonetti as we both wanted to try and bag our first big Australian Salmon. We reached the beach head just before lunch time on Saturday and after a quick reconnaissance set-up in the dunes behind the beach. There were quite a few people already camped but we had no problems finding somewhere big enough to accommodate all of us. We were quickly set-up and it wasn’t long before we were back down on the beach and had staked a claim on a likely looking gutter a few kilometres north of the River Mouth. Everyone was willing the fish to present themselves in the numbers that Yeagarup is famous for but alas, even with all our wishing that first night we didn’t get anything more than a few herring and a back breaker of a stingray. It is pretty easy to tell if the Salmon are around in good numbers at Yeagarup by what’s been left by previous fisherman, but with only a couple of stray Salmon heads on the beach things weren't looking good. Carl and I were up early the next morning and just after first light we were banging metals into the same gutter that we had fished the night before. It was only his second cast when Carl hooked up, true to form the fish pulled like a train. 8000 size reels and three meter graphite rods were the order of the day, and on this size gear Salmon are a fantastic prospect from the shore and in my opinion are the best pound for pound fighters in our southern waters. Tail walks, flared gills, jumping head shakes it was all happening but by the time the other guys had crawled out of bed, had a good scratch and made their way down to the beach we had one in the esky and the action was all over.

We spent the rest of the day exploring the beaches looking for more gutters, but by the time the sun was setting we were back at the same spot, it was text book. I haven’t fished the south coast a great deal but had a good idea what to look for thanks to lots of useful information I had gained from our fantastic local fishing forums. The gutter was about 150 meters long, and about 30 meters wide. There was a sand bar at one end forming a small spit which the waves were breaking over allowing water to flow in at the south end and out at the much wider and deeper northern end. Perfect for Salmon to hold up in and ambush bait fish. The second night saw zero fish landed again and with only the next morning to go before we had to head home I was getting nervous. Although we hadn’t pulled any fish from it the previous night Carl and I decided to hit the same gutter because it was the best one we'd found within 5 kilometres of the camp and had rewarded Carl the previous day. This time everyone was up before dawn and we were all on the beach at first light, Carl and I didn’t bother with bait we just went straight back to metals. After about half and hour without a tap I decided to switch to a Richter plug. First cast BANG!!! God bless South African ingenuity! I was onto an absolute horse defiantly bigger than the one the previous day and tail walking everywhere. Now I know why people go back year after year after year, the power of the thing was amazing. As the waves came in I could see it hanging in the gutter catching its breath before another launch. It was during one of its ariel assaults that the fish managed to shake the hooks. Bummer! Salmon 1 Russ 0. Carl had already changed to a Richter before I lost the first fish and was on again. He had no problems with this one and it was quickly on the beach. One of the other guys was still using a metal but was not even getting a sniff. The other boys, being local and having caught thousands on previous trips, were sitting back enjoying the show and doing some camera work for us. After a couple more foul hook-ups I finally beached one. A healthy five and a half kilo fish. Box ticked. The action was fast and hard and over in about thirty minutes. I’ve read that the minor feeding times can be a shorter in duration, but greater in ferocity so maybe that was the reason.

With a few fish in the tropical box it was time to head back to camp, pack up and hit the frog and toad. What a great first trip to Yeagarup. Although we had only landed three fish between Carl and I, it was defiantly enough to get me hooked. If you have ever had a good session on the Salmon, on a quiet beach -apart from all the whooping and high fives you will know what I mean. The place blew me away. Only a few hours from Perth but it felt like we were days from anywhere. Ill defiantly be heading back sometime in the near future.

As a foot note to the weekend, I had heard mixed reports about the edibility of Australian Salmon so wasn't to sure how they were going to eat. I started thinking along the lines of fish cakes or curry but as I was filleting one upon my return home and only being within arms reach of the BBQ I fired it up. I grilled a few pieces with some olive oil and salt and pepper, finished off with a squeeze of lemon. All I can say is YUM! Admittedly we had cared for our catch well, bled them quickly before being placed in an ice slurry which would have no doubt maintained the quality of the fish on the return home. We had given the flesh the best chance possible and I found it delicious. I had to get another pack out of the freezer and grill a second lot. I have a bit of trouble getting my wife to eat Tailor and Herring but she loved the salmon. I know what I’ll be having for tea tonight.