This year has been tough fishing on the surf, mainly because of the thick amounts of weed in close.

However over the past couple of weeks, the change in wind to south westerlies has pushed the weed in close, making the 90 mile fishable once again. It didn’t take long for reports of massive gummy sharks to spread around the fishing grape vine.

Lately, all the reports have been coming from Paradise Beach and Jack Smiths Beach. This has mainly been due to the fact that the structure of the beach has had the weed in very close.

With the aid of a 15’ surf rod, your line can clear the shore break; stopping the weed from clogging your line. Of course this can change overnight, so I wouldn’t necessarily go straight out and flock these two beaches immediately after reading this.

Instead double check before you leave to see if the weed is around or not. A rule of thumb as well, in westerly winds, it often blows all the weed to the east, so if you head to the western end of the ninety mile, you might get a weed free beach. Now in easterlies, you just never know, and it’s normally trial and error to find out a fishable beach.

I often drive from one beach to the next till I find the beach that looks fishable. This is the same when searching for good gutters in close. The Ninety Mile is full of different locations to fish, and you only have to drive 5-minutes down the road to find another car park or bush track to have a look at the water.

Recently we had a couple of good weeks where the weed wasn’t very bad all along the Ninety Mile, and it was unbelievable to hear some of the reports coming through.

For starters, the gummy sharks have been prolific. Some anglers are catching up to 10 per night. There are plenty of babies around, but there’s plenty in the 1-1.2m range. I’ve seen a couple of rippers weighing over 15kg and I saw a photo of one that was over 1.8m long and weighed over 30kg. Bluebait has been working very well, but you can’t beat fresh bait.

Of course you can’t always catch fresh bait, but over the past two weeks there have been someone huge salmon around. The McLoughlins end has been producing the most, so either Reeves or Woodside beaches would be worth a look as well. The biggest salmon I have heard so far was 4kg, and there’s plenty over 3kg. This is as good a fresh bait as you can get, so if you want one of these big gummies, I would sacrifice the first fish you catch as bait.

Up around Golden Beach, there’s been plenty of tailor, so again, this is top bait. Paradise has fished really well this year. Lately it has had a large gutter in close, and the gummies and other sharks such as small bronze whalers and school sharks have been using it like a road.

There are flathead everywhere. They are pretty much from one end of the Ninety Mile to the other, but there are much bigger flathead down the Woodside end of the beach. They are just as prolific during the day as the night, so everyone has been down there chasing them to get a good feed.

Surf poppers and white grubs have been working well on the flathead. There’s still a few pinkie snapper getting caught. Both ends of the beach are producing them. There’s some at McLoughlins and some down at Golden Beach. They’re not huge but there still there as an exceptional bi-catch.

For more information, contact Will at Allways Angling in Traralgon on 51748544, you will get expert advice and great deals on all fishing bait and tackle.