For the last month the amount of reports of unusual catches offshore at Lakes Entrance has been amazing.

Yellowtail kingfish are the big standout species with schools of kingies being targeted using big deep diving lures from our 6-mile reef right through to Cape Conran 35nm to the east.

Reports of bonito have also come thick and fast mixed with huge schools of mackerel and pilchards.

Now the water has began to cool these rich ocean currents will start to retract eastward and this amazing fishing will start to slow.

One big advantage of Lakes Entrance in the autumn is snapper and the reports coming in from Lakes Entrance Offshore charters is that catches to date of big reds has been excellent. Fresh bait such as salmon or ‘couta is the most productive bait for these reef dwellers with size averaging between 2-4kg.

On the gummy shark scene, things have started to slow down as a winter approaches with catches inside the 2-mile backing off for another season but the few big gummies that are still being caught are being produced on full squid heads or whole fresh salmon fillets.

This summer around Lakes there has seen some excellent Australian salmon fishing with this season producing some of the biggest buck salmon in years.

Eastern Beach right through to Lake Tyers have been very productive around the high tide during early morning or mid to late afternoon with fish over 4kg being caught.

The red ocean weed has been a bit of an issue but it can disappear as quickly as it arrives and fishing choppy conditions are a real advantage for big salmon.

Most fish are being caught on poppers or bluebait rigged on 12’ surf combos with 20lb line, a paternoster rig and a 4-5oz sinker. For those looking for the ultimate fight on light tackle try casting a 10g gold Halo Twisty on a 3kg spinning outfit, big salmon go hard on light gear and are very aggressive towards lures.

Now the cooler months have started the action in Lake Tyers slows right down and the fish concentrate in the upper reaches of the Nowa Nowa and Toorloo arms in search of lower salinity water.

The black bream in Lake Tyers remain fairly active through the winter but the dusky flathead seem to almost stop feeding and this makes them very difficult to find for the whole of winter.

If you can handle the cold frosty morning you can still pick up some great size bream casting the edges with hardbodied lures.

My go to lure for this style of fishing in Lake Tyers at this time of year is the New Berkley 3B Fat Dog in the light brown back with black stripes as they are awesome on big bream

One advantage for the winter in Lake Tyers is the giant tailor keep feeding right through the cold snap and they are such great sport it’s worth making a trip to target them.

Tailor of 80cm and weighing in at over 10lb are common with 20lb plus specimens also a possibility in this amazing little estuary, however you will need to be prepared as they have teeth like a piranha and are unstoppable on light gear.

As always at this time of year large shoals of 28-32cm black bream are schooling just inside the mouth of the Tambo and Mitchell rivers.

These fish are easily found with a good quality sounder and I have added a picture to this article of what my Lowrance HDS-10 down scan has been showing around the lower reaches of both rivers.

If you would like more info about this article you can call Frank at East Gippsland charters 0400564032.