It’s time for a fishing trip. The world seems to be in disarray, so what better time to get back to nature and go fishing.

Many have probably spent much of the last few months chasing your tail, so you owe it to yourself for a good few days away on a piscatorial adventure.

The river has been fishing quite well over the cooler months, whilst the lower reaches have seen most of the action due to the massive amounts of dirty water that has been coming down from our catchment area. The upper reaches will kick into gear as the waters clear themselves.

The estuary has been awesome, mainly for bream. Most days saw good fish caught, and bag numbers on the right day were outstanding. It is good to see a mix of baits such as crab, prawn, cockle, squid and rabbit do the jog as well as soft and hardbodied lures.

What I’ve noticed during August though, is the estuary has still fished well but bream have slowly started to spread upstream. Catches have been reported firstly up near the bridge here in Nelson and ever so slowly reports were coming in all the way to Donovans Landing.

The amount of rain will still have a say in what and where to fish over September for bream. The more rain we have will keep them in the lower reaches but if we see the rains subside the bream will make their natural migration up into the middle reaches, say Sandy Waterhole through to Sapling Creek over September.

The tidal push from the ocean is as large as you will ever see it at present, because the mouth of the river is the best it has been in years.

Massive amounts of water is pumping in and out with the tides; the incoming saltwater creates a seawater wedge that pushes in underneath the fresh water top and it’s this wedge that the bream follow.

You might think looking at the river that its dirty but underneath that will be good fishable clearer seawater. So at present target 4-6m depth, especially if you are fishing the middle reaches.

Mulloway catches are still filtering in; great hopes are had for a big influx of these awesome fish this year.

A lot of boxes are ticked off: good mouth, healthy system, clearer channels at the mouth, plenty of bait/food source and the feel of an early spring.

Call us at the pub for the latest news on 08 87384011, Deano and Patti at the Kiosk 08 87384061, Gillian and Phil Nelson Roadhouse 08 87384142, or Chris and Brett at the Boat hire 08 87384048. Nelson is in Victoria, but as we are so close to the border it was simpler to send the telephone lines over from South Australia.

You can never have enough local knowledge when it comes to preparing your trip; it’s free and willingly given from all the local businesses so take advantage of it.

For your accommodation requirements call the Nelson Tourist Information centre on 08 87384051.

There are a lot of choices available here in town from basic to very swanky as well as camp sites along the river.

Dirty on top, but don’t forget that underneath is a clean wedge of saltwater.