What can I say about Mcloughlins except for if you haven’t been there lately, you have been missing out.

This month we have had a run of very large Australian salmon similar to what we had the same time last year.

The sizes are all over the place, however there have been fish taken up to 4kg or over 65cm in length. On some days anglers are only catching them to 1kg in weight but are getting a salmon a cast all day during all tides.

They seem to be spread through out the whole estuary from McLoughlins entrance to Manns entrance. Most anglers are using lures, mostly soft plastics, however some anglers are casting metal lures whilst others are trolling hardbodies. All in all, everyone seems to be catching them.

Unfortunately, the commercial netters have been taking their fair share of salmon as well. I don’t know where it goes, but you don’t normally see Australian salmon at the fish markets so I guess they don’t get top dollar for them either.

I definitely can say they would not get per kilo what these fish are worth to the economy as a recreational sports fish. That’s the main thing that annoys me.

There is also the odd tailor mixed in with the salmon, but nothing like last year. Actually this year there seem to be a lot less tailor around than we normally get in here.

The snook are in too, which make excellent gummy shark bait for the surf or Welshpool or offshore. They also provide great sport when using soft plastics.

There have already been a few pinkies caught inside as well. This end of the estuary tends too warm up a little quicker than Port Albert and Welshpool, possibly because of the shallow water.

It’s been over 15C on occasion whilst the other deeper waters have remained below 14C; this could possibly be why there always a few snapper getting caught earlier here.

Finally the bigger flathead are feeding in the shallows and I can’t wait to get out there are try some surface hardbodied lures in the shallows; I think they will be deadly and a lot of fun at the same time. Otherwise soft plastics always work here when fished on 1/8oz to ¼oz jig heads. There’s plenty of flathead over 40cm inside now, so it’s pretty easy to get a feed.

There have been some really good gummy sharks taken. There’s some 10kg plus specimens around however a lot of guys are getting heaps of just on legal size gummy sharks as well.

I haven’t heard much on the snapper outside here yet, but the snapper don’t usually start offshore on these reefs for a while yet as there all coming inside to spawn.

There should be some on the surf at the moment, especially if you cross the footbridge and walk to the beach as November always producing plenty of snapper in this area off the surf.

It’s been a little shallow so mainly flathead and salmon have been caught of McLoughlins surf beach.

For more information on fishing Port Albert, contact Will at Allways Angling in Traralgon on 51748544.