Conditions didn't look good as we all met at the boat ramp at Lintern Street. The sun was shining, there was only a slight breeze and the seas weren't too lumpy. As I said, not good . . . . no storm clouds, no howling gales, no 2 metre seas. Did we have the right day?

With four boats assembled we headed out into Broken Bay. Dave and Max made a beeline for Pittwater, Stickerman and Roger took a look around Lion Island, and Ken (with decky Steve Tizzard) had disappeared by the time we had arrived. Rob and I stuck to our original plan and struck north, watching the sea and sounder as we wound our way along the cliffs toward Maitland bommy, looking for any signs of fish schools or baitfish. A few laps around the bommy with a teaser had produced similar results to our efforts so far - nothing, and a phone call from Dave and Stcikerman indicated that they were in the same boat (not literally of course).

Time for Plan 'B'. Reports from previous days of salmon around Terrigal was tempting enough for us to continue north. And luckily we didn't have to go far. About a kilometre north of the bommy was a decent school of fish feeding on the surface, with Ken and Steve amongst them. Both rods were well and truly bent. We motored in closer, cut the engine and cast out. A few strips and a bump. Another cast and I was on. Rob wasn't far behind. The fish were big enough to keep us busy for several minutes as we wore them down, but they were eventually subdued and we bought them into the boat. A quick call to Dave and Stickerman and they were on their way. Then it was back into them.

We spent the next two hours on the school boating ten fish, with a few lost due to pulled hooks and over zealous pressure on the tippet. The fish were all a good size of around the 50cm mark and were solid fighters. Ken and Steve boated around 14 fish, with both Dave's and Stickerman's boat landing several more fish. For Rob and Max it was their fist salmon on fly and their grins were evidence of this.

By the end of the morning there were six lure chuckers' boats together with our four, so the fish became progressively harder to catch and much more easily spooked, with the whole school disappearing often. In the end it wasn't the fishermen who put and end to the school but a pod of dolphins who ripped through the feeding salmon, jumping clear of the water and slapping their tales on the surface to stun the fish. Quite an amazing spectacle.

By now it was approaching noon so we all headed back to the ramp for our usual BBQ. In all we managed almost 30 fish with 3 of us landing 7 fish a piece. Let's hope we see more of these days this summer.