With the lack of visitors to the area this time of year you can expect to be the only car at the boat ramp! To have a day undisturbed on the water is always special and at the moment you can expect some quiet time out on the water. There are not too many spots on the East Coast that deliver such a luxury as this and Mallacoota won’t get much busier until Christmas. Now is the time to take a personal day on the water.

The new boat launching facilities at Bastion Point have made it easy for big boats to head to Mallacoota for the offshore fishing. The winter months has seen the cold water slow the fishing right down, but once the water warms it will be well worth heading out and chasing some of the big flathead – both tigers and sandies- that the area is known for. Around the same time there is every chance that the kingfish are about; if the bait schools are around they won't be far behind. The break wall and jetty have proven to be good fishing spots producing blackfish, yellowfin bream and salmon. These are just a few of the species you can expect to catch.

Salmon are been caught along all the local beaches, they are in good numbers and an easy catch. One of the cheapest lures to catch salmon on is a barrel sinker; first thread the sinker onto the line, then tie on a treble hook. This works really well as the sinker slides up the line it makes it very difficult for the fish to throw the hook. Paint the sinker whatever colour you like and there you have a lure that will catch plenty of fish with very little cost.

The lake has finally cleared up after the recent rains with good fish caught in the Bottom Lake including silver trevally, yellowfin bream, and flatheat. The Top Lake, up as far as Gypsy Point has been fishing well for black bream and flathead with some good size flounder also caught. As always, the key is to keep moving until you can find the fish. A variety of lures have been working, blades, soft plastics, and hardbodies as well as plenty of result on local prawn bait fishing. Fish have also been caught in the rivers above Gypsy Point - as the saying goes ‘when the wattle’s blooming the bream are moving.’