In the Phillip Island region, angling highlights in August should include gummy sharks and some early squid from Western Port. The most productive destinations, however, are the many surf beaches, most of which continue to give up good numbers of Australian salmon.

Weather permitting all the local surf beaches have been fishing well. Williamsons Beach has been really firing, with a lot of salmon taken over the 2kg mark. Woolamai Beach has been in the action too, also giving up fish over the magical 2kg. At Kilcunda Beach there has been a lot of fish in the 500g–1.5kg range. The fish have been taking whitebait, bluebait and surf poppers.

The mouth of the Powlett is still blocked and the river is flooding over its banks. Once it breaches the sandbar at the mouth, the fishing should improve greatly.

Below the bridge there is still the odd whiting about, plus a few salmon. Above the bridge in the main channel off Elizabeth Island there have been quite a few gummies on the go, although many have been small.

The Coronet Bay area has been fishing reasonably well for trevally, flathead and leatherjackets when conditions allow. Fishing the run-in tide has been getting the best results.

There have been some good reports of large squid showing up at Flinders. Normally you don’t see these until early September, so it could be a sign that we are in for an early fishing season.

There have also been some good gummies caught in the Somers area. On my last trip to that area, I managed two 1.5m gummies and a southern saw shark, the first one I have seen for quite a few years. Fresh barracouta and salmon fillets accounted for the gummies as well as ten swell sharks, six banjos, three Port Jackson sharks and two large seven-gilled sharks – but thankfully no eagle rays! At least I can say that I didn’t have time to get bored.

Lastly, I tagged along with the Snapper Point Angling Club trip to Lake Bullen Merri at Camperdown. For once the weather was kind to us and it only rained for an hour the entire weekend. The fishing was reasonably good with browns, rainbows and Quinnat salmon being caught. Everyone got onto some fish and I managed eight trout for two days fishing, all around the 1–1.3kg mark.

The most productive method was trolling with downriggers and leadlines. The most effective lures were Tassie Devils in the pink and yellow, and green and brown patterns. Most of the fish were caught in the first and last hours of daylight.