As with the rest of the East Gippsland, Mallacoota received the deluge that flooded towns further to the west. Late June saw two heavy downpours over of a fortnight.

Interestingly, around the same time last year the region experienced good rains, too.

The entrance is looking good with a deep, wide channel extending seaward – this will be good for the fishing for months to come. Due to all the rain, the water in the area is chocolate brown and extends a good distance out from the coastline.

Prior to the rain, good fishing had been experienced throughout the lake system with catches of black bream, yellowfin bream, flathead, trevally and tailor.

As reported last month, good fishing continued around the margins of the bottom lakes with yellowfin bream and black bream caught in the shallows on suspended lures such as Bushy’s Stiffy and the Rapala Husky Jerk.

The deeper edges also fished well with lures such as the Strike Pro Pygmy and Storm Minnow Sticks catching good numbers towards the front of the system along with plenty of flathead spread throughout the system.

However, the rain has changed the fishing and new locations and techniques will be needed to be successful over the coming months.

While the water was dirty, some great fishing was experienced with clients enjoying catching big bream and big numbers of average-size flathead. During this period, soft plastic lures were working well with Firebait Longtail Minnows and 100mm Squidgy Wrigglers responsible for good catches.

Bait anglers also enjoyed some good fishing with plenty of fish caught on prawn baits. Good quality fish averaging 400g have been the norm of late with fish of 1.5kg not uncommon. The mid-July water visibility reached only 10cm but unless more downpours are experienced, the water should start clearing.

As a result of the rain, the fishing over the coming months is really going to fire up. At present the best fishing to be had is by using the sounder to locate fish sitting down deeper under the dirty fresh water. The best depth to aim for is around 4m.

The amount of rain we’ve had makes fishing above the Gypsy Point a waste of time because the fish moved down the system with the fresh water. The Bertha River is also open to the sea and should fish well as it starts to clear up.

All the local beaches have been fishing well with a few nice yellowfin bream. Good gutters can be found around Bastion Point and along Tip Beach.

Offshore fishing has been quiet with very few fishable days due to big seas and generally unfavourable conditions. The coming months should see some good fishing for gummy sharks both offshore and along the beaches.