Salmon are on the bite virtually all along the coastline.

There are many reports of them being taken up to the magical 4kg mark, which is just on 10lb on the old scale. It is generally believed that they don’t grow much bigger than this.

I quite often visit the inlet, which is hugely popular with land-based anglers and boaters taking advantage of the very good facilities on offer both at Inverloch and Mahers Landing.

There are continuous good reports coming from the area known as the Bathing Boxes and traditionally at this time of year the silver trevally turn up in very good numbers to the 1.5kg mark, along with salmon. Whiting have also been bagged in good numbers with specimens up to 36cm have been not been unusual.

Bass yabbies have been the stand out bait along with pilchards and squid.

A short distance up the inlet at Pensioners Point there have been quite a few land-based fishers trying their luck on both sides of the low tide and on my last visit I came across Eddie Atkinson. He had couple of mates who were fishing the last of the run out tide and had a fairly reasonable bag of whiting, salmon and mullet to show for two hours toil.

Further up the inlet near Stevies Gutter, Wonthaggi angler Alan Bentick and crew decided to try their luck at a secret spot and were soon into salmon to 1.5kg. It wasn’t long before they had enough and then went looking for whiting to supplement a very nice bag.

Alan has had numerous trips to the area and with his vast knowledge, which he is always happy to share, he will always come back with something great to put on the table.

Inverloch angler Mick Yates is another local who knows the inlet backwards and likes to target the whiting.

It’s not that he doesn’t like salmon but has a preference for the royals, which would not attract any arguments. His last outing up the inlet towards Maher’s Landing saw him return to the ramp with a very nice bag of whiting that were all taken on freshly pumped Bass yabbies.

Mick says that these little crustaceans are second to none but also squid and strips of pilchards are a very good standby.

The Tarwin River has been dead with all the muddy water being washed into the top end of Anderson Inlet and not worthwhile visiting for the time being.

The surf at Venus Bay is a different matter where huge salmon have been taken in big numbers on all five beaches.

Joel Deenen has been spending plenty of time on Number One beach and on a recent trip managed a good bag of salmon with the best weighing in at 4kg, which naturally earned him bragging rights for some time.

Of course for some reason if you don’t catch a fish then there is always something else to do.

A fairly large pod of whales have decided to call the area home and no doubt will stick around for some time.

Wonthaggi angler John Bird with a couple of 43cm whiting caught on pilchard strips.