Big news is the bream, they are everywhere and by the reports coming in many anglers have had some fantastic fishing sessions all up and down the coast.

The Scamander River has been firing well with fish spread over the mid and upper regions of the river.

Whilst in the throes of their annual spawning activity in early December, and normally during this period can prove difficult to catch, many anglers found excellent fishing action. Methods have varied and both bait and lure angler have taken their share of quality fish.

Bait anglers have reported that prawns and fresh crabs have been the best baits and for the soft plastic angler the trick has been to find fish holding on structure and snags in the shady areas.

Once found, casting very lightly weighted soft plastic lures to the fish is required being careful not to spook them with the landing. Plastics such as the 80mm size Pro Range Squidgy Wriggler in Wasabi and Bloodworm colours rigged on a 1g head or a resin head have proved to be the standout models.

Further south the Swan River has also been firing hard with bream being caught mostly in the lower reaches of the system. Once again hardbodied lures such as Bushy’s Stiffy and Lucky Craft Tango were the stand out patterns.

Further north, Ansons Bay has also been producing some excellent fishing with many good bream being caught mostly in the bay area and around the channel on baits such as crabs and mussels.

Some anglers however have persevered and fished small hardbodied lures over the muddy sand flats, a technique that has produced some good sized fish.

Lures such as the Bushy’s Stiffy Minnow in Rack Attack colour, a good prawn imitation, proving to be the stand out lure and fished with an erratic jerking motion.

In Georges Bay there has been some fantastic-sized silver trevally caught with many fish being found in the Moulting Bay area and midway down the channel out towards the bar way. The fish in Moulting Bay seem to sit just off the edge of the weed in around 4-6m.

Throughout the bay has been some large Australian salmon. These fish seem to be roaming the bay a little but once a school has been found offer amazing light tackle action particularly on soft plastic lurs such as Strike Pro Reaction Baits 3” minnow and Squidgy Flick Baits in 85mm.

Offshore flathead catches have been sporadic but anglers putting in some time to find schools of fish have been rewarded with some good bags of healthy fish. Due east of Elephant Rock in around 50-70m of water seems to be a popular area for the larger flathead.

For any more advice on where to go and what to catch just drop in and see me, Jamie, at St Helens Bait & Tackle.