Great news for Mallacoota anglers is that work has begun on two projects that will benefit them.

The first is that the ocean access boat ramp at Bastion Point – this is great news for people like me who rely on reliable ocean access. The second is the construction of two artificial reef structures that will be deployed in the lower lake near Goodwin Sands.

These artificial reefs will be a great starting point for local and visiting anglers alike. In other lakes where they have been deployed, the reefs have been a hub of activity for snapper, mulloway, flathead and bream. Mallacoota should be no different.

In fact, the mulloway fishing in the lake has been great recently, even without the artificial reef. Fish up to 25kg have been taken in all parts of the system – the river, Top Lake and Bottom Lake.

With the entrance open at the moment, summer whiting have already moved into the system and will be a great target in December. Lure anglers can target them with blades or topwater poppers and bait anglers will get best results from nippers or sandworms.

With the whiting will come plenty of yellowfin bream into the system and these will make up a fair percentage of bream caught in the lower lake over the next few months. At the recent ABT final held in the lake there were already plenty of nice yellowfin showing them-selves from the Bottom Lake.

The town itself is gearing up for a huge summer and the visitors will have plenty of fish to catch over the warmer months.

There’s plenty happening offshore from Eden over the next few months and December is when the kingfish schools start to get bigger.

You can tell when the kingies are on the chew, as there’s usually a fleet of boats in the area, all sharing the fish. Noone seems to mind bumping gelcoat to get a crack at these fish, which seem to be getting more abundant each year.

Check out between Mowarry and Green Cape and you’ll soon find the depth the fish are holding, and the boats that are chasing them. They’re not that fussy when it comes to techniques – jigs, plastics or livebaits will all get eaten.

Local reefs will also be prime for chasing snapper and morwong at this time of the year, as well as flathead down south between Gabo Island and Mallacoota.

If you’re chasing a big dusky flathead, Wonboyn would be my recommendation. There’s always some big girls kicking around there, as well as the usual mix of bream, tailor and estuary perch.

The Whale Festival at Eden was a huge success – with awesome weather one day and atrocious conditions the next. If nothing else, the blow reinforced the need for a longer breakwall in Eden, with several trawlers suffering from the conditions.

Land-based anglers will enjoy some pretty good Australian salmon fishing on the local beaches, with Haycock and Quandolla being the pick of the bunch.

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Murray battled this great bream from the snags, after a well-presented hardbody lure.

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Vibes and blades are a great way to catch good numbers of bream, this one came from 12ft of water.