The long cold winter has had a negative effect as far as many boaters and land-based fishers are concerned, but there have been some positive spells which have produced results.

After a long slumber where the water temperature has been way down to the 8ºC mark, the mercury has been steadily rising. On fine days the local jetties have been getting a fair workout.

I received a call from a visiting angler Franz Heinzeman who decided to try his luck on the eastern end of the structure. He had called in at the boat storage and picked up some pilchards and tried some small strips straight down on the run-in tide. He said that it wasn’t long before he had an enquiry and managed a very decent silver trevally and in very short time had a mixture of nine fish, which included salmon, flathead and one garfish.

Franz said that there were a few other fishers also trying their luck and were doing alright.

During September there had been positive reports of flathead in good numbers being taken in the Lewis Channel; as well as salmon that were taking a variety of natural baits and soft plastic lures.

The best time seems to be on the last half of the run-out water and first of the run-in flow. The long jetty has also been a popular area where boaters have been anchoring nearby and most have been showing something for their efforts.

The entrance is giving up quite reasonable numbers of flathead and gummies but there have not been any reports of snapper. It is probably still a little bit early for them but they won’t be far off making head lines.

The best results have been had by boaters who have been prepared to travel the considerable distance to the islands outside the entrance. This is where very good-sized flathead and gummies are taken when conditions have allowed.

Good-sizes salmon and kingfish in the area are also falling to anglers that know where to look.

The Toora Channel has been alright as far as flathead and gummies are concerned but as yet it is not in full swing. On the negative side there are plenty of those useless skunk sharks that seem to be everywhere at this time of year. The bright side is that they should start to thin out as the water temperature rises.

Back inside the entrance on the western side of the inlet at Yanakie there are quite good numbers of flathead and gummies making an appearance. Silver trevally are also in fairly good numbers and although there have not been any reports of whiting they should be on the scene shortly.

A short drive to the west will land you at Shallow Inlet – it appears on the map as not much more than a splash but this is deceiving. The caravan park is run by Karen and Andrew Starrett. Andrew is out on the water whenever he gets a chance and says that through the winter there have been some quiet times, however the water temperature is on the rise and fish such as salmon, silvers, flathead and gummies are reasonably hungry and taking a variety of presentations such as pipis, Bass yabbies, squid and pilchards.

There have not been many whiting taken, which is not unusual for this time of year but when the warmer conditions arrive they will turn up in very good numbers. The whiting are not huge but when they are nudging around the 40cm mark no one is complaining.

This area has one great advantage: that awful east wind that can usually stop good fishing its tracks, is not too bad here. Unless, of course, it’s a howler and we all go home.