Inverloch and surrounding areas have enjoyed substantial rain over the past weeks. Many anglers are being rewarded with good bags of fish, but in very testing conditions.

The tributaries feeding Andersons Inlet are now very discoloured and the dirty water line extends across the Inlet from Pound Creek.

The estuary perch being caught above the road bridge in the Tarwin River have pushed out into the Inlet. The mud islands off the Venus Bay boat ramp are very productive at this time of year. You will get protection from the wind, and fishing with light jigheads and extreme action soft plastics (such as the Storm Sand Eel, Squidgy Worm and the versatile Berkley Gulp Sandworm), you can target perch to 40cm.

Anglers using hardbodied lures will now need to consider deeper divers that can reach down to 2.5m in order to penetrate the fresh water on the surface. Suspending and sinking lures will also keep you beneath the fresh layer of water.

The body of the Inlet has good schools of salmon to 1.5kg from the mouth to the dirty water line. Trolling metal lures from boats in the main channel, around the Snags, and at the entrance to Stevies Gutter has returned the best results.

Fishing the dirty water line is producing good-sized flathead to 45cm on baits and prawn style soft plastics.Land-based anglers at Mahers Landing are finding trevally, salmon and mullet taking whitebait, blue bait, pipi and squid. The best conditions are a run-in tide at dusk.

The late season whiting are on their way out of the Inlet, with the odd fish to 35cm bring taken on live Bass yabbies and pipi at the Kiosk.

Outside the Inlet at Flatrocks, land-based anglers are catching trevally to 1kg on whitebait and bluebait, while whiting to 40cm are being caught on squid strips and pipis.

The Venus Bay surf beaches are pumping with salmon to 2kg during daylight hours. Strong side current around the high tide requires grapnel sinkers to hold your bait in position in the gutters. Bigger fish are around after dark, along with the odd gummy to 6kg.

Best beaches are numbers 1, 4 and 5. Beach 1 has great holes 300m and 600m to the left of the ramp. Beaches 4 and 5 have their traditional gutters running along the beach. After each low pressure system moves through, the holes and gutters are deepening. The most consistent baits are bluebait, salted pilchards and whole IQF pilchards.

When the fish seem scarce, vary your casting distances as on occasions the schools have been in the white water closer to shore. That is when surf poppers can be helpful during a slow retrieve.

Brave the elements and have fun. I’d also like to wish Alan all the best from his fishing friends in South Gippsland. We hope you’re on the mend soon.

For further information on fishing around Inverloch, drop in and see David Walsh at Rod Bending’s World of Fishing, Shop 1, 8 Williams Street, Inverloch. Alternatively, give him a call on 03 5674 3322, or visit www.rodbending.com.au