The days are getting shorter the nights are getting colder, but the fishing has remained hot and fast over the past month and we are looking forward to the winter bite that’s just around the corner.

Fishing in Lakes Entrance has been fantastic recently. Some very healthy luderick have been hunting the rock walls and jetties, and the blackfish mafia have been out in full force. These fish have taken weed fished under a float, but good numbers have also been caught by lure fishers using blades and plastics. First and last light has seen the best of the action, but if that time of day is a little chilly for you, daytime fishing an hour either side of the turn of the tide should see you tangle with a few fish. These fish have actively been feeding in large schools, so walk along the rocks or jetties with a good set of polarized glasses until you locate rolling fish, and you will get some great results.

There have been some nice bream to well over 40cm feeding in the same areas, but they have been a little more fussy than the luderick, with fresh local prawn, spider crab or a bag full of plastics and some patience your best options. You will find these blue nose bream feeding and anglers should be in for a real treat with some trophy fish on offer.

The surprise this month is the estuary perch actively feeding on the surface after dark in the North Arm, despite the cold weather, but with a few straggling prawns still about in the system, my guess is they will continue to bite off the top until their food source changes. Local anglers have been taking full advantage of the small crowds and good numbers of these fish after dark.

Some good catches of snapper and gummy shark have been reported off all the major reefs, but the big news from Lakes Entrance this month has come from the first swordfish taken (in my living memory anyway) less than 100km out. With the trailer boats now able to do more miles, and the sounders getting better and better, I am sure the game fishing off Lakes Entrance is only just getting started, and catches like this one will become more common as time goes on.

I never thought I’d see the days of people cleaning marlin and swordfish at the local boat ramps, but the past few years has seen an explosion in the game fishing scene locally and this is great news for our town, drawing in a new wave of anglers and much needed tourism dollars.

The beaches are probably our only let down this month locally, with the sharks all but gone, and very few salmon taken. As the weather gets colder however, those huge winter schools of salmon Lakes Entrance sees every year should start to arrive. The action can be fast and furious off the sand when the salmon are on. You can experience some of the best sports fishing Lakes Entrance has to offer land-based, armed with a handful of laser lures and a light spinning outfit. Let’s hope the action picks up soon, I for one am chomping at the bit to get into them this season.

The bream fishing at Lake Tyers has been consistent and although you may have to look harder for the larger fish, there have been plenty of just legal bream on offer for both the bait and lure anglers. The bream have now moved off the flats seeking deeper water. We found better bream in 8-12ft of water in the structure of Nowa Nowa Arm or hiding in the weed beds in the same depth.

Prawn pattern plastics or 50mm flick baits seemed to be the most productive, but other anglers at the ramps say the fish were taking a wide range of baits, and finding them feeding seemed to be all you had to do to score a nice bag of fish.

Some big tailor are still terrorizing the lure army, and some are in excess of 3kg and are very hard to stop. The fight is hard and fast before they bite through leaders, but they make for some great sport if you choose to target them with heavier gear.

The flathead are still about, although the bite is starting to slow down dramatically. Late afternoons fishing the deeper drop-offs in the main lake with large flick baits or bluebait have seen the best results, but some larger fish have been taken high in the Nowa Nowa Arm by the more patient anglers putting in the time.

With the fishing so consistent at this time of year, and the depths of winter just around the corner, things are really looking set to be a great season on the bream in the deeper water. If you are yet to fish Lakes Entrance or you haven’t been here in a while, there has never been a better time to plan your trip. With plenty of fish on offer and all the major holiday traffic gone, it really is hard to think of a reason not to stay a few days and catch a fish.