Winter is now the official opening of the bream season!

Substantial rainfall during autumn topped up the system nicely. Barry Higgins and Margie Smith, both from Heyfield, enjoyed awesome fishing recently while they spent a week with us. Most days they both bagged out on bream with a few flatties thrown in amongst the mix. Bream sizes ranged from 30-40cm.

Barry and Margie also reported seeing a large school of whiting feeding in the shallows down the channel. The furious and fast activity of the fish being caught gave Baz and Margie plenty of time to enjoy their other passion – socialising and telling ‘fishing stories’ on the deck of the pub.

The entrance has recently opened to the sea, which will please a lot of anglers as there has been a seal trapped inside. This has caused some grief over the past few months with anglers as it has been biting the bottoms out of kriels dangling over the sides of boats and letting the catch escape.

Prior to the entrance opening in April, Sibiera was a definite hot spot with the water level making this location accessible. The entrance to Mud Lake and the Channel are also still good areas to either drift or anchor to pick up a nice fish for dinner. Frozen prawns are the popular bait.

If the entrance remains open, we will no doubt have a salmon and tailor run in the channel. It is great fun flicking lures around on bream gear and hooking the huge salmon and tailor that are prominent. They just love the fresh sea water rushing in and out of the entrance on the change of tides. The Jones family from Langwarrin have had fun catching salmon and tailor in addition to bream. All good sizes, bream ranging from 38-42cm.

In ideal conditions, the surf beaches are producing good catches of salmon. Hardbodied lures, squid and pilchards have been the most successful.

Don’t forget to get in early for your winter accommodation and boat hire bookings. Winter fishing in Bemm this year should be the best we have had in years – cool crisp mornings, great days and a glass of red by the heater in the entertainment area at night – life doesn’t get any better!