You have to wonder what happened to Winter. It hit late with a bang, then it was all over.

The water temperature is a good reminder that it’s still Winter offshore with water down around 15°.

The town is quiet at this time of year but as the warmer weather progresses we will see more visitors to the area over coming months.

The boat ramp at Bastion Point has yet to be started on, with surveyors banging in a few pegs just to let us know something is around the corner.

The fishing off the local beaches has been good with salmon caught from the lake entrance and all the good gutters down Tip Beach and Quarry Beach.

Plenty of salmon are also visiting the lake with fish caught in the channels around the entrance and into the Top and Bottom lakes. They have been easy to catch, eating just about anything that goes past them.

Offshore, things have been very quiet with a few gummy sharks the main captures. Things will fire up only once the water starts to warm.

This time of year the fishing in Mallacoota is all about the lake and the rivers and as the saying goes, ‘when the wattles blooming the bream are moving’.

The rivers are fishing well for black bream but these fish can be hard to catch at times. If using lures you need to chop and change until you can find something that they will eat.

Fishing with bait, the best action usually is had at dawn or dusk or on those bad-weather days.

Flathead are also on the go and with the weather warming the fishing will only improve.

Flathead have been caught upstream around Gypsy Point and out into the Bottom Lake. We will see plenty of big fish caught as they shake off their Winter lethargy.

Silver trevally and some good-sized tailor also have been caught with the Bottom Lake and the channels around the entrance fishing well at different stages of the tide.

Sand whiting have been caught around Harrisons Channel with fresh beach worms a dynamite bait, especially at dusk into the dark.

Yellowfin bream are in the Top and Bottom lakes and plenty of these fish are crackers a kilo and sometimes more.