The positive reports are still coming in from Port Welshpool and with any sort of luck will continue in the coming months.

Amanda Kellar and Rob Hendriks are out on the water whenever the opportunity arises. Amanda said that on a recent trip, they found the conditions to be perfect, too perfect even, as there was no activity at all apart from a never-ending procession of useless fish such as skunk sharks and associated species that were no value at all.

Amanda said that they had many moves and finally managed a few quality fish, but said that maybe the water was too still. She said that they have previously been doing very well with quality fish such as gummy sharks, which are welcome anytime along with snapper and flathead making up very reasonable bags.

Information from the boat storage at Welshpool is that there has been a good amount of gummies being caught up to and better than the 20kg mark. There were clubs from Berwick and Drouin trying their luck just before this report and were not disappointed when they returned with plenty of gummies and snapper that were to the 7kg mark.

There was a crew looking for a mako and decided to throw out some berley. As it turned out, he didn’t immediately attract a mako but did manage to lure in plenty of squid. They decided to settle for the cephalopods and threw out some lures among the berley. Of course, out of nowhere, came a great big mako. The big fellow grabbed hold of the squid lure and took off at great speed. This was not what the hapless anglers really wanted! In a desperate attempt to save line he locked up the reel and hoped for the best. Luck was on his side and it seems that the line snapped off at the lure and this was all that he lost, as well as the big fish, of course. Just another story to tell his grandkids!

There have been positive reports as far as the whiting have been concerned. The Lewis Channel has been very productive, where they have been to the 37cm mark and taking a variety of baits such as Bass yabbies, pipis, sand worms as small strips of squid. Flathead, silvers and mullet have also been bagged and no doubt the fish will stick around for some time yet.

The jetties have been fairly productive as far as land-based anglers are concerned, with fairly good numbers of mullet, silvers, flathead and squid making a visit worthwhile. As usual, the best time to try your luck has been on the run-in tide at the eastern end of the structure.

Rob Cartledge is a local who is out on the water whenever the opportunity arises and says that the snapper are making a last late run. He says that there are plenty of gummy sharks being caught and they should stick around for some time yet. Not long ago, he said that he entered a competition that he won with a very good size flathead that weighed in at 1kg. The fish was caught at a spot known as ‘The Oval’, which is one of Rob’s favourite marks.

Robbie Assaparti from Stony Creek was out with Rob on a recent trip and managed to hook into and land a very good size pike, which put up quite a fight before being brought aboard. After a picture, the pike was put on ice and taken home.