The Tamar valley has started to cool off but the fishing continues to be pretty hot.

Good catches of some species are still being taken, even as we approach the winter period.

Good catches of Australian salmon are still being taken around the Low Head area. Although they are not big there has been some decent schools about. The most productive method of catching them is by drift spinning with 10-20g silver slice lures and also using soft plastics such as Strike Tiger 4” Curl Tail Grub in the colours Blue Steel and Whitebait.

Some lovely flathead have been taken from the Low Head area around the Pilot Station and Lagoon Beach area. Best bait for this area has been squid. My youngest son Sam caught a lovely southern blue spot flathead whilst targeting King George whiting. It just shows us that there are some blue spot flathead in the estuary.

The George Town area has been fishing well especially on the Pier pontoon. Jack mackerel and silver trevally have been taken regularly from the pontoon. They are mainly being caught on squid and bluebait. Small barracouta have also been taken from the pontoon. Some anglers have been targeting bigger fish from the pontoons. This is ok but just remember that the Tamar estuary is a 100% Ray and Shark nursery so if caught they must be released unharmed. One or two people have been a bit confused about this.

Many people know what my favourite fish is! Snapper! And they have been biting well of late. My family and I have been catching some nice fish up to 7kg and good numbers of fish up to 2-4kg. We have had a couple of trips where we have caught multiple fish. The best times seem to be late in the day or just after dark. We had one great trip recently with a mate Quade Geale where he caught his first Tamar snapper. It was great to see his face when he saw the beautiful crimson and blue colours come to the surface. It was priceless.

Fishing identities Jason and Michael Dodge had a successful trip up the Piper River. They managed to catch a fine brace of lovely bream up to 33cm. Michael reports that the bream he caught were fantastic to eat. This would be because they live so close to the ocean. They get those beautiful silver flanks when living that close to the sea.

Some excellent catches of black bream have been made at Musselroe Bay. Ethan Butt of Deviot caught some lovely bream from his kayak recently. He reports that the best baits are prawns and nippers.

The best spots seem to be around the boat ramp area with the run-in tide seeming to be the most productive tide.