What can I say except for that the surf fishing down at the Ninety Mile Beach is the best I have ever seen it.

There have been more gummy sharks caught over the past month than what I heard was caught for the entire last season. It all started in that first week of October and has continued since. The gummy sharks have been so prevalent, that some groups of anglers have been catching up to 15 gummy sharks in one session and are being caught during the daytime as well. Unbelievable!

At this point, it’s probably a good reminder that you can only keep two gummy sharks per person per day. Now thankfully most anglers I have spoken to that have caught this many gummies in a session have done the right thing and only kept their bag limit. The gummy sharks have been roughly all the same size around 1m with a few fish hitting the 1.2m mark.

As for bait, I have been catching nearly all my gummies on squid and I have now caught five this season on blue/white surf poppers as well. The best rig is the paternoster rig between 30-60lb strength and I prefer to put a popper on the top dropper and a 6/0 semi-circle hook on the bottom dropper with small squid strips or legs. There’s no need to cast a mile or paddle out baits for the gummies, there are plenty in close.

As for the guys that want to do a bit of land-based game fishing, there are gummies out past the back breakers and I have seen a good number of 1.2m plus gummies caught using this method with bigger cut flesh baits. As for locations, I have heard of gummies across the whole Ninety Mile Beach and I have caught them over the past month everywhere from Golden Beach to Woodside, so they are everywhere.

Yes, land-based snapper. There have been a great number of snapper caught off the Ninety Mile Beach over the past month, but all the reports are similar and that is – 95% of the snapper have been caught during the daytime period, especially in the afternoons. Most have been caught on pilchards or bluebait.

You will need to use bait mate or fuse wire to hold the pilchards onto your hook, or just use bluebait instead. Lastly, they have all been caught in the same section of beach that runs between McGaurans Beach and Woodside. I haven’t seen any giant snapper caught off the surf yet, but there are plenty ranging between 40-60cm.

At this time, there has been a handful of bronze whalers caught of all sizes. I have seen them averaging 1.2m and I have seen one big ones too. There was also a great looking thresher shark caught as well and I have heard two other reports of anglers hooking sharks with big tails and jumping so we assume these are thresher sharks or perhaps extremely energetic seven-gillers.

This will be the month to try your luck with land-based game as the water temperature should rise over 18C which will bring a big influx of bronze whalers and hammerheads along Ninety Mile Beach.

This coming month will be the time to head down to Woodside, Reeves Beach and McLoughlins Beach for those massive blue spot flathead. At present there are small numbers of 45cm flathead but the big blue spots are right on our doorstep. Remember the western end of Ninety Mile Beach is the best place for big flatties and bluebait, surf poppers and white grubs are the best things to use.

The anglers who do the best are usually the ones who slowly move their bait, just as an added extra tip.

For more information, contact Will at Allways Angling in Traralgon on 51748544. You will get expert advice and great deals on fishing bait and tackle. Tune into Rex Hunt and Lee Rayner’s “Off the Hook” on 1242 to hear Will’s report on what’s going on in Gippsland!