Salmon

Fish Species Of North Queensland

Salmon

International anglers, and southern fishos for that matter, could become very confused when reading about these fish. Here in Tropical North Queensland we have two species, the Blue Salmon and the Threadfin or King Salmon as it is called in Queensland.

They are salmon shaped and I guess this is where the similarity ends when comparing these fish to the Northern Hemispheres salmon species or the Southern Australian fish which is actually a herring.

Our species are great sport on light tackle and readily take lures or flies when fishing for barramundi. In the Cairns region however they are more often encountered while bait fishing but they prefer the calmer water conditions before entering the estuaries. Dirty water does not seem to bother them but windy days are not often productive.

They will readily take mud herring or sardine baits, either fished live or filleted, peeled prawns or flesh strips using a running sinker rig fished on the bottom of the deeper holes.

A heavy mono leader is essential if these fish are about as their hard rasping mouth will wear through even 40lb line. Many a prized fish is lost at the boat when the leader parts like cotton, having been worn through by the head shaking antics of this prime eating fish.

Its firm white flesh is arguably better eating than Barramundi, easy to fillet and freezes quite well. Average captures vary from 50cm to just under 1 metre, and size and bag limits do apply.