Now that Christmas is out of the way, we can concentrate on the excellent beach fishing that is available along the length of Ninety Mile Beach.

There has been some varied catches from the beaches, with anything from flathead and snapper through to gummy sharks and bronze whalers. After an easterly wind has been blowing for a couple of days, however, the weed seems to push back in and has made fishing somewhat difficult at times.

Snapper are quite a common catch off Ninety-mile Beach, and recently there have been some very good catches of fish up to 4kg, with bags of up to 10 fish in a session. The majority of the better bags have come from McGaurans Beach, with the odd snapper taken from the Golden Beach area. Fresh salmon, trevally, tailor and squid have been the best baits. There have also been some pinkie snapper taken at various times as well.

The sharks have been making an appearance along the beach, with gummy, school, bronze whaler, seven-gilled and hammerhead sharks all being caught at times. Gummy and school sharks have been taken from Pettmans Beach, near Lake Tyers Beach, through to McLoughlins Beach. Bronze whaler, seven-gilleds and hammerhead sharks have been taken from Loch Sport through to McLoughlins Beach. The best times are either side of a new or full moon. Tides don’t seem to matter much, but an incoming tide can help if there is a bit of weed around. Fresh salmon, tailor, trevally, squid and pilchards have all seemed to work well, with fresh bait always being the best.

Flathead are around in excellent numbers and sizes, with some fish up to 2kg caught. From Woodside Beach to McLoughlins Beach is the best area for a bigger fish, and from Woodside to Loch Sport there is a run of smaller fish to 1kg. The best baits have been bluebait, whitebait and squid, with surf poppers, soft plastics and saltwater flies all accounting for good numbers of fish as well. Salmon and tailor have been taken as well as the flathead, however they are being taken along the length of the beach with Eastern Beach, Lake Tyers Beach in the east, and beaches between Loch Sport and Woodside producing the most consistent catches.

With the variety of species available, and with some nice warm evenings, it would be well worth the effort to give the surf beaches a try. Don’t forget that if you catch a fish and take a photo, email it to me and I will include it in my report.

The Annual Golden Beach Surf Fishing Competition is on over the Australia Day Weekend. For further information contact Allways Angling in Traralgon or Golden Beach Foodarama.