Geoff Cole (59), originally of Somerset, England, and an eight-year harbour fishing veteran, caught 200 sprats off the Fryatt St wharf yesterday and hopes it signals lots of salmon.
But he admits salmon fishing in the harbour is "erratic''.
"Some years, we have millions of these things [sprats] and some years we have only have a few,'' Mr Cole said.
"It seems to have started off pretty well. As the sprats are up, usually so are the salmon. This year, there's a nice number of them.''
Sprats were great as bait for salmon fishing and the number of salmon caught already was promising, he said.
"The biggest [salmon] I've heard of this year is 28 pounds [12.7kg]. [But] you can go weeks without so much as a bite. When you do get one, it's like ‘Wow'.
"This year, it was my first day out and ‘bang', I got one.''
Some years, fishermen had been known to catch 50 salmon in a season, Mr Cole said.
"I think it's definitely looking to be a great season.''
The daily bag limit for salmon anglers was two per person and the minimum length was 450mm.
The salmon season - when they come in from the ocean to spawn in the Leith - usually ran from about October to April but there was no "policed'' salmon season.
"It's [the wharf] a really good social place to go if you're a fisherman,'' Mr Cole said.
