The town is buzzing with visitors, the caravan park is full and all local accommodation booked out. It will stay like this until the end of January, with the tourist season coming to a complete end after the Easter holidays.

Remember your Victorian fishing licence and you need to be aware of the new flathead slot limit. The minimum size has increased to 30cm and there is now a maximum size of 55cm, along with a bag limit of five. Plenty of Fisheries Officers are about so don’t get caught out.

Fishing from the beach is fun at this time of year with Tip Beach down to the Betka River mouth offering plenty of good gutters for those chasing salmon and bream.

Many anglers are fishing into the night in the hope that they catch a gummy shark.

For boats heading offshore flathead, gummy sharks and kingfish are being caught. Care needs to be taken when launching at Bastion Point and if you are heading out via the lake, go only if you are confident because accidents can and do happen very easily.

The lake has been fishing well and with good tidal flow visitors will need to be flexible in their approach, with fish found in certain areas at certain stages of the tide. This is unusual and something new, with anglers previously not needing to worry about this too much.

Fish are spread out through the system and are being caught from the Bottom Lake right up and past Gyspy Point, where the tidal influence is still seen.

If you are flathead fishing you will likely come across a lot of small fish in the 27cm-33cm range. These fish are bordering on legal (slot limit now 30cm-55cm for dusky flathead), but a more realistic size for keeping are those fish above 36cm. These smaller, just legal fish are not worth taking for their bite-sized fillets.

The bream fishing has been good, with quality yellowfin and black bream coming from areas around Goodwin Sands. High tide in the early morning or at dusk has easily been the best time.

Remember, Goodwin Sands is exposed to any wind and by fishing at dawn and dusk you will avoid the worst of the wind.

Prawns have been great bait recently and with luck the prawning season will really kick into gear in the coming months as the entrance has been in great condition for the past 12 months.

The Betka River has been fishing well with those working the front section with lures for flathead catching some good ones, along with some quality bream.