A wide variety of fish will be available in January which should put a smile on anglers’ faces.

Even though the fishing has slowed down a little near the entrance, locals reckon that bigger whiting to 40cm will make an appearance soon.

There are quite a few smaller whiting around 32cm being caught on a variety of baits with pipis and bass yabbies the pick of the baits. Many experienced anglers believe that the one arm bandits are second to none as far as fishing at Inverloch is concerned.

Screw Creek has been giving up reasonable numbers of perch and bream. Wonthaggi angler Sue Hamilton managed to bag a couple of nice 700g bream on bass yabbies.

Further up towards Mahers Landing there have been reports of good numbers of big flathead being taken on soft plastic lures. Gummies to 1.6m have also been taken. Land-based anglers have also been doing well, especially when they fish the run in tide. Gummies and silvers have been taken in fairly good numbers and with the warmer months the action will get even hotter.

If you are contemplating a trip further up towards the mouth of the Tarwin River there have been perch to 1.5kg have been taken on a variety of baits and soft plastic lures. Just be careful at low tide you can easily run out of water which can mean a long wait for the run in tide.

The Tarwin River has also been fairly productive with perch and silvers being taken below the highway bridge on bass yabbies and sandworms. The run-in tide has been the best time to wet a line.

The surf at Venus Bay is definitely worth a visit as there have been good numbers of salmon to 1kg taken on each of the five beaches. The idea to move around as this is what the fish have been doing. Mixed in with the salmon have been quite a few flathead.

Further out beyond the breakers in around 20m of water there have been quite reasonable numbers of snapper to 5kg being caught on pilchards, squid heads and fish fillets. I have found that it’s a good idea to keep your whiting frames in the freezer until when you need them as the heads are great on the reds.

Wonthaggi angler Sue Hamilton with two nice bream caught at Screw Creek.