It’s been a long winter, but finally Victoria’s beloved eating fish, the gummy shark, has arrived on the Ninety-Mile Beach in very big numbers.

It all happened on the last full moon in August, where plenty of gummies came in close and, fortunately, a bout of gorgeous weather saw plenty of anglers waiting for their arrival.

The humble blue bait was probably the best bait to use but the old squid was working well too.

Dave Wilkinson even caught a gummy shark on a 3” Gulp soft plastic fished on the top dropper of a paternoster rig. This is a pretty good effort and only the third time I’ve heard of this happening.

Most of the gummies have been in the typical 3-4ft range, as well as a few little undersized tackers around. There are also plenty of those annoying beared rock cod in the area, which will keep you on your toes watching bites. The water is still cold enough that the draughtboard sharks are here, but not for much longer.

The best beach is probably the Golden Beach. No doubt due to the good deep gutter in close. Woodside and Jack Smiths beaches had some lovely water as well.

We have had arguably the worst winter salmon run ever. However, the good weather has bought them in close, and the big salmon are now on our beaches in huge numbers again, like they should be.

Woodside, Jack Smiths and McGaurans seem to be where all the salmon are at the moment and they are crackers, weighing in at between 2-3kg. Most of these salmon have been caught on surf poppers or blue bait.

Salmon also make the best gummy baits, so the surf is going to be the place to fish for the next couple of months.

The seven-gill shark have been another fairly common catch over the past month by anglers chasing gummies. There have been a few good-sized gillers measuring up to around 7ft long, and plenty of around 5ft as well. These guys have been appearing at Delray and Reeves beaches for the most part, but you will catch them all along the Ninety-Mile.

A couple of flatties have just started to appear. They are mainly around the 40cm mark, but next month will see the arrival of all the big blue spot flathead that everyone loves to catch.

For more information contact Will at Allways Angling in Traralgon on 5174 8544. You will get expert advice and some great deals on fishing bait and tackle.