Well it's that time of year when the visitors have all left the area, and with winter here it will be Christmas before the town livens up again. The past month has seen plenty of rain, with a good flood flushing through the system, followed by another good river rise a week later.

This has turned the ocean brown and with the water temperature dropping as we head into winter, the offshore fishing is all but over for another year. Some good catches of gummy shark and flathead, both sandies and tigers, were taken on the days when the weather would allow the fishermen to get out there before the water turned to mud.

The colder water has also seen the salmon turn up on the local beaches, and with plenty of good gutters all along them, the salmon are being caught anywhere from Quarry Beach through to Bastion Point. The salmon are around the kilo mark, with a few twice that size

A few salmon have been caught in the lake too, and as the water clears in the weeks ahead, schools will start moving in and out.

Those who were fortunate enough to be fishing the lake over the past month have been amazed at the way the system has been fishing, particularly for bream. Fishing immediately after the first flood was insane, with 1 group of anglers fishing with me over 2 1/2 days catching more than 150 fish, with 90 per cent of them big bream. This is why I love floods; the best fishing is often when the water is at its dirtiest. All these fish were caught on lures.

Those fishing with bait have also done well though, with the best choice being prawns. You don't need to be to fancy, with packet prawns working a treat. Why, they’ve even been caught on cooked prawns!

After the second flush, plenty of good fish were caught around the entrance area and from the jetties in town.

The colder water will see the trevally turn up in numbers. There are fish here all year, but the bigger models arrive and more fish are caught over the winter months.

The winter is set to produce some great fishing, and with few anglers around, it’s great to have the car park to yourself as you head off for a day’s fishing.