I don't exactly remember the first time I caught a salmon. It must have been in my early teens though, around the time I started to get serious about fishing for snapper.

I fished a famous little snapper hole known as the Grammar School Lagoon. The lagoon is situated at the northern end of Corio Bay and in those days, salmon were the pre-eminent snapper bait. Blocks of frozen pilchards were hard to come by and, I have to say, bait gathering was a heap of fun. One of the fishing identities back then was Geoff Wilson. I used to borrow Geoff's dinghy, and troll Wonder Wobblers or Flopys along the edges of the channel. Sometimes I would row the couple of kilometres to the hot-water outlet spilling from the oil refinery on the western shore.

Some years we had salmon to 2.5kg schooling in large numbers around that outlet. It was common practice for everyone who fished that secretive little water to head over for a couple of hours of action after an all-night stint on the reds.

To this day, this southern piscatorial icon has lost none of its attraction. I'd rather do battle with a good salmon than just about any other fish. Most of the salmon I catch are probably around a kilo, but I still regard each capture as a small but meaningful victory. In my experience, there are few fish that always fight and rarely give in easily; fish that take bait, lure or fly and run, dive and jump when hooked. And yet, for all its attributes, the salmon is readily available to everyone - it matters not whether you have a large boat or use shanks's pony.

There aren't many species that fit readily into such a broad category. At the risk of offending people, I can think of only one. Fortunately for southern anglers like myself, it is the Australian salmon.

STEALING THE SHOW
I've heard them called bay trout, sambos and greenbacks. Whatever vernacular you choose, there is no denying that this is a true cosmopolitan species - a catholic fish to suit all methods and styles. The late Lance Wedlick dubbed salmon, "the mainstay of southern surf fishing". In his book Fishing in Australia (1962), he wrote: "If the bass is a close tempestuous fighter and the rainbow trout a freshwater acrobat, the Australian salmon is an aerial show-off."

The book might be a collector's edition now but Wedlick's words still ring true. And while surf fishing is a less popular pastime down south than it used to be, salmon have become synonymous with styles of angling not associated with long Rangoon cane rods, paternoster rigs and star sinkers.

It's reasonable to say that anyone with a boat and a white occy or skirted lure can catch salmon. But the same can also be said of many species. Trolling is such an effective means of getting into salmon that Victorian charterboat operators working near Port Phillip Heads can just about guarantee their clientele fish. However, trolling can be dull, and some charter operators now offer fly and light spin outfits for customers that are more adventurous. Drifting and casting with a school of fish is a lot more fun than simply taking it in turns every time a rod buckles over.

To comprehend any fish you need insight. The ability to read the water and an understanding of where the fish are likely to be are paramount. Without knowing how they hunt or what they are hunting, it isn't possible to successfully proposition salmon, or any fish for that matter, with a counterfeit resemblance of their preferred meal.

The first rule of salmon fishing is that they don't like silt and are best sought in a clean, green environment. Rough water is fine, so long as it isn't pounding waves over shallow sand that stirs up the bottom.

Too many surf fishers cast into the white water in the belief that this is where the salmon will be, and all the while they are watching anglers in boats trolling the green, clean water at the back and having a ball. Sure, salmon can be found under white water, once it has drifted back out over green water. But you can't take a boat into that area, and anyway, most salmon will be found working along gutters and channels.

THE KILLING FIELDS
What happens is that small fish, unable to swim against the current and turbulence, are washed or sucked back by the undertow. Confused and exposed, they are easy prey for bigger and stronger predators. Any angler worth his salt, and confronted by this scenario, should be aiming to put his bait, lure, or fly into this killing zone.

My favourite area for salmon is in and around reef and kelp beds. The most productive place I know of is in the vicinity of Port Phillip Heads. Better known as the Rip, it is a place where strong currents, contrary seas and pressure waves can test the mettle of your seamanship. Bring into the equation the thrill of the hunt and the rugged terrain and you have a challenging scenario.

Amid the bull kelp there are channels, similar to those you will find crisscrossing a Western District lake. Trout hunt these lake channels for smelt and minnow, while Australian salmon do the same for pilchards in the salt.

What happens is that the migrating baitfishes hide among the kelp forests. Salmon are wise to this. They gang up on the baitfish, herding them out from cover into clear water. Some days, just as the high water mark is reached, a dense black cloud of pilchards can be seen being pushed inshore. It is a prelude to a feeding frenzy and the carnage sometimes churns the water to froth.

When salmon are schooled up and hunting, obtaining a hook-up is easy. Feeding salmon are a ticket to a fast, action-packed ride. It's all snatch and grab in this scenario. Salmon often feed the same way when hunting the green fringes at the back of the surf, the difference being that turbulence and turbidity caused by waves place urgent demands on hungry fish that do not exist in quieter waters.

FAIL-SAFE FLOPY
When salmon are reticent, particularly in quiet water when the sun is at its peak, the angler has to work his craft. My favourite salmon lure used to be the Flopy, the real ones that were made of rubber, hollow inside and had an adjustable bib. I always reckoned the Flopy would bring on a strike when nothing else would.

These lures are rare enough to be collector's items these days. A friend of mine (well he used to be) still has half a dozen of them in absolutely mint condition. But he's a mean bastard and won't part with them, even though I've assured him I only want to use ONE Flopy and then only for research. His lame excuse is that he's seen the country I fish and reckons his Flopys are too valuable to be risked.

Most of the time I work 3kg outfits and metal jigs on salmon. A bit of flash and enough weight to cast and take the lure down are the basic requirements. I don't bother with expensive minnows as most are prone to fouling in kelp country. Lures such as Lazers, Krome Kritters and Wonder Wobblers are fine, but, when working lures, I replace the treble hooks with a single 2/0 or 3/0, straight shank hook. The reason for this is that it reduces damage to the fish.

Flies are another matter. If you have a few Clouser Deep Minnows, Lefty Deceivers (blue and white with a dash of red), Surf Candies and Crazy Charlies you don't need anything else. Work a fast sink line (8-10wt is fine) and remember to keep the speed of retrieve up. If you're too slow you will end up hooking wrasse, and you can't strip a fly too fast for salmon.

The easiest way to raise salmon is to use a fish oil based berley. Salmon will come in close to the berley pot and hang around so long as the scent from the berley mist is in the water. This is a deadly scenario for bait fishos. A small cube of pilchard with a 2/0 Suicide or Octopus pattern hook inserted and tossed into the trail and then allowed to sink slowly is a deadly combination.