Since my last report there has been quite a bit of activity in this part of the world with very good bags of fish being caught both by boaters and land-based anglers.

The area known as Pensioners Corner has seen the arrival of huge numbers of salmon that have been to the 3kg mark and naturally putting a smile on the faces of anglers.

The torpedo fish might have been a bit late in making their appearance and usually arrive when the water is at its coldest. The water has certainly been the coldest that many long time residents can recall, even if it has not been all that wet with many remarking how dry the land it at this time of year.

Having said that, when the salmon did arrive it was in big numbers with the fishing fast and furious. Probably the most popular beach as far as both land-based anglers and boaters are concerned is a comparatively short beach in Inverloch known as Pensioners Corner. This is relatively safe with the best fishing at low tide on both sides of the low tide. The tide can flow at a brisk rate but in the last half of its cycle, it slows considerably and this is when the lures and bait anglers have best results.

The main catch is salmon and I have come across anglers who can often be seen with the family who have a great time in the good conditions.

I spoke to a new resident of Inverloch who has recently moved from the township of Cockatoo. Chris Ruigrok says that he has done plenty of freshwater fishing but this is a new ball game. He has just started up an electrical business but will be out on the water looking for a fish whenever gets the spare time as he is fairly busy. At the time of coming across him at Pensioners Corner there were plenty of other hopefuls looking for a fish but not many had any success apart from Chris. He had just caught a very nice size whiting that stretched the tape out to 37cm.

I decided to have a look at the jetty where there were quite a few land-based anglers wetting a line. The successful ones were catching fairly good size crabs that were destined for the soup pot. Two locals, Jack Habulin and Mick Hill had just returned from a productive day out on the water.

Mick said that they bagged out salmon that were all around the 600g mark, which are generally considered to be good on the table as the larger fish have a bland taste and hardly worth taking home. On this occasion he was cleaning salmon and giving most of them away to visitors as he had more than enough and knows that they must be eaten fresh, as they are fairly dry if frozen.

I decided to have a look at Maher’s Lading and came across boaters who were also into the salmon but not in as good numbers as at Pensioners Corner. There were a few land anglers trying their luck and I spoke to a local who can often be seen trying to catch a fish. Andrew Wardle was hoping for whatever might come along and although he had failed to trouble the weigh-master, he was hopeful that there might some action on the run-in tide.

The best time for land-based anglers in this area is on the run-in tide and even better if this occurs around dusk, as the fish will move in closer under the cover of darkness.