Not too much has changed over the past month or so and, with very little rain, the level of the lake is still a long way off the height that is required for a successful opening.

Anglers have generally had to work pretty hard for their fish in the estuary, however the quality of bream caught has been excellent. With the water getting colder a lot of the fish have moved off the edges and so the deeper areas of the lake are probably the most productive at present.

The bream are biting at different times throughout the day. A group of anglers recently here for a week hardly caught a fish before 2pm, but after that time up until dark they were rewarded with some top quality fish. It stayed that way pretty much for the whole week and by the end of their stay they would go to the beach for the morning and really concentrate their efforts on the bream after 2pm. I think that is pretty much the key to catching bream here at the moment, but in can take a couple of days to find a pattern.

Local prawn and sandworm have still been the most popular baits, with the prawn working particularly well. The high water is making things pretty tough for pumping sandworm however we have still been able to get enough to get everyone fishing.

The luderick have still been pretty hard to find, with only a few caught in the last month.

The river has been pretty quiet although there has been some big tailor caught right up at the bridge by anglers using silver lures. For the land-based anglers the river is usually a good option in the coming months, however we probably won’t see any migration of bream up the river until the entrance opens.

The surf has really fired up with some good salmon up to 2kg being caught on bluebait, pilchards and surf poppers. Blue still seems to be the most popular popper in this area, with apple green also working well. The better beaches have been over at the entrance and Pearl Point. An hour before and after the high tide has been the best times to hit the beach.

The next couple of months should produce pretty much the same with some good bream on offer. If we do happen to get some rain and the entrance opens then we could see schools of salmon and tailor enter the system, and possibly another “top up” of luderick. The surf should continue to fish well for those who are keen enough to brave the colder winter conditions.

Anglers have had to work hard for their bream, but the quality of the fish caught has been excellent.