This is a great time to be in Mallacoota! You get to see the town without all the crowds unlike during the warmer months.

The offshore fishing at this time of year is not worth worrying about. The cold water means very few locals will head offshore, but once the water warms the fishing fires up, and so do the locals.

The work on the breakwall is still going on with the completion date sometime around October. At the moment, the only way to head out to sea is via the lake, so you need to pick your day.

Along the beaches, the salmon are about and they have made a few jaunts into the lake. However, with the recent rains the lake has just cleared up so the coming weeks will see the salmon push their way into the lake and get stuck into the whitebait schools.

As mentioned earlier, it’s the winter lake fishing that really fires up. On my last 3 two-day charters the anglers have caught over 100 fish for the couple of days – that's enough to make it worth fishing!

Good numbers of decent size silver trevally are moving around the lake, and they can turn up anywhere. The key is to find big schools of baitfish and it won't be long before the fish turn up the big models, around the 50cm mark.

Tailor are also hooking into the baitfish schools. Most are only choppers but there are a few fish being caught around the 1kg mark.

A few yellowfin bream are being caught, but on the whole there has been a lot better fishing for this species in the past years. The fish that are about are a good size but the numbers are just not there.

Black bream are about and they are challenging to catch. First you need to find them, which is not always easy, then work out what lure they will take. The one thing that is noticeable is their size; on average they are a hell of a lot smaller compared to the size caught not too many years back. We need to start cherishing these 800g fish as they are becoming the big ones.

Flathead are still being caught with fish in the bottom lake and up towards Gypsy Point. This time of year, the flathead tend to bite well for a few days then they go quiet.