The lake has been closed for over six months now and it is going to take a pretty significant amount of rain to raise its level to a point where it will be opened.

Understandably, the fishing continues to be pretty tough. However, as I’ve mentioned in previous reports, anglers who have worked hard and spent many hours out on the water have ended up taking home a good feed of quality bream.

The weather hasn’t really been an issue as we have probably had one of the calmest spells I have witnessed in a while. In some cases a bit of a blow might have actually been a good thing to stir things up a bit. Bright calm conditions together with reasonably shallow water make catching cunning bream a difficult assignment.

The bream have been really selective about when they will bite and it’s pretty important to maximise your chances by making sure you are on the water at the right time. Over the past month or so I have seen quite a few anglers who have gone out early in the morning and pulled the pin around 4pm with very little to show for their efforts.

Successful anglers seem to be catching most of their fish in the last hour before dark (5-6pm) and for that hour the bite has been pretty hot. Although this can change at any time, if I was fishing at present I would definitely plan my day around being out there for that last hour before dark.

There is still a good supply of local frozen prawn available and with sandworm in very short supply throughout the whole of Gippsland, the prawn has been the pick of the baits. Peeling the prawn and presenting it on a slightly larger hook than what you would usually use for worm has achieved the best results.

With the lake half full there are plenty of areas where the fish can be and there really hasn’t been any particular hotspot. My advice is to pick an area that you want to fish and move 50-60m in that area three or four times. If you haven’t had any success, choose another area and repeat the process.

The surf has been a popular option with some good salmon being caught at most of the beaches. An excellent gutter at the entrance has produced some good salmon to 2kg and over the next full moon hopefully a few gummies will poke their noses in as well. Better results for the salmon have been achieved using bluebait and surf poppers, while for the gummies it’s pretty hard to go past a piece of cured eel.

Salmon along the surf beaches are one of the better opportunities for anglers at Bemm River in June.