The weather has not improved at all since the last report. It has been atrocious, with the continuous rain, wind and extreme cold. It has stopped most anglers from considering going fishing, however the brave anglers that venture out assure me there are plenty of bream, luderick, mullet, trevally and salmon and tailor on offer.

Offshore fishing has been even harder with wind warnings out most days in Bass Straight. Again the few anglers who ventured out reported good results, with gummy shark, flathead, gurnard, pinkie snapper, morwong, barracouta and some toothy shark on the chew.

Now that I have got rid of all the doom and gloom, it’s time to look forward and anticipate good things to come.

Very shortly the bream will start their spawning runs, moving up all the rivers, creeks and into the backwaters and lakes, making it easy for anglers to get access to the huge schools that enter the system to spawn.

Plenty of other species will enter the system with the bream and already there are lots of mullet and luderick here, and more will follow.

Anglers have been getting good-sized flathead along the sand flats at Marlo all the way down to Frenchs Narrows using soft plastic lures.

The mention of the sand flats reminds me that when the weather warms up the prawns will appear in ever-increasing numbers, and of course so will the flathead and estuary perch for their annual feast.

The fishing offshore last year was the best ever – huge schools of baitfish enticed plenty of predators to arrive in big numbers and with them plenty of game fish followed. Last year the baitfish arrived early November and it wasn’t long after that the salmon and stripy tuna came in big numbers to give anglers plenty of action on light tackle. Not many anglers reported getting kingfish much before Christmas, but they were probably there eating their fill.

As the warm current moved deeper into Bass Strait the excitement mounted as marlin started to appear. It wasn’t long before the reports come in of anglers landing quiet a few and missing many more.

With all that action offshore on our coastline, most offshore anglers will be watching the warm water charts to see when they will arrive, and then it really will begin!