After the most rain in years, the waters around the river mouths are still turbid and fresh. When things settle we should be in for a good spring.

For the next month or two I shift my focus to beach fishing as shark season is soon to begin along our Lakes Entrance beaches.

Gummy shark is a prime sport fish with excellent eating qualities that is a land-based addiction for many anglers.

The most exciting feature of night fishing for shark is the potential for surprise catches such as seven-gill, bronze whaler and school shark, which are all excellent sport on light gear.

You need to be organised and make sure that your equipment is up to the challenge. The best advice I can give is to talk with your local tackle store as they are usually the experts and can set you up according to the species you desire.

When shark fishing around Lakes Entrance I always use 15kg braid as it has increased casting ability and is really up to the challenge of stopping a big fish.

Fresh bait is also a must have, so for best success I always use a salmon or tailor just on dark as a fillet of either; this is the standout bait for toothy sharks.

Gummy shark will readily accept fish baits, but seem to prefer fresh frozen squid tentacle, which is a bonus considering they are a tough bait that lasts a swimmer crab attack for quite some time.

Warmer night are now approaching so get those surf rigs ready as the pinnacle of our East Gippsland shark season, the November full moon, is fast approaching so don’t miss out on a feed of fresh Christmas flake.

Spring also means the start of dusky flathead season for East Gippsland which is certainly a popular time of year for many anglers as flathead are an excellent entry level sport because they are highly aggressive towards artificials, and fight well.

The sand banks all around the Gippsland Lakes will produce flathead but in summer the lower reaches of the system produce better as the fish migrate to the higher salinity to spawn, and its for this reason that many anglers release the big females in the hope they will spawn successfully.

Flathead will attack a range of lures but especially during the warmer months they are highly aggressive towards a prawn-style lure, as prawn season in the Gippsland Lakes is pretty much here.

A sure bet for a big shallow water dusky is the DOA 3” shrimp in colour 315 which is nearly clear with a orange tail.

King George whiting season on the lakes region also begins at this time of year with great anticipation from many anglers. These tasty little fighters will have plenty of seagrass to hide in this year and should fish well right through to the end of march next year.

The seagrass bed around the edges of Rigby Island early in the season produce the best but as the water temperature climbs the fish migrate further up the lake system and are found around Paynesville and beyond.

Fresh mussel is the ultimate bait for King George but if not available at the time a thin strip of fresh squid or fresh peeled prawn will have a similar result.

The lake has finally become tidal, the turbid floodwaters have settled and reports are starting to stream in of some good fishing in the higher reaches of the Toorloo and Nowa Nowa arm.

The flathead are still a little sluggish with water temperatures just over 15C in the deep water at the time of writing, so November should see the lizards really get a move on.

The bream are very active and spawning heavily around the higher reaches of the Nowa Nowa arm with bream between 38-45cm not uncommon.

I would caution anglers that this will be the best bream spawn that Lake Tyers has seen in many years and to perform catch and release where ever possible to do your bit for the protection of great angling fish stocks into the future.

A quote from the famous Bushy and Starlo always rings true “limit your catch don’t catch your limit”