The bream fishing just keeps on amazing everyone here in the Gippy Lakes area.

It has certainly been very busy in the three big rivers, with plenty of boats on the water and anglers lining the banks from dawn till dusk. At one stage a few weeks ago, 45cm bream were turning up all over the place. There is much talk around the area about the fishing being the best in many years. Although it’s great to see the really big bream on the chew again, it is a little sad to see anglers filling eskies with those large breeders, particularly when the fish are on their spawning run.

Bait anglers have been having a ball recently, with bream readily taking frozen prawn, shrimp and sandworm. Again the Tambo is the standout river, with most bream being caught from the Rough Road area and up to the highway bridge. The absence of carp is another pleasing feature, and we can only hope these ferals were washed out to sea during the floods! It seems everyone wetting a line in this mighty river is not only catching nice bream, but good numbers of them.

The Mitchell has been fishing well down near the entrance, and land-based anglers are catching plenty. The Nicholson has had far less pressure and a few boats have returned with stories of smaller bags, but always with a mention of a big fish busted off. The run of fish has been astounding and I went for a look recently with a few new lures to try out.

I was given a few Evergreen lures to field test recently, and I reckon these are some of the most innovative lipless crankbaits to emerge from Japan so far. They are called Littlemax lures and will provide a new dimension to deep water breaming.

I found eight fish during my session, and five of them were estuary perch. There were no record breakers amongst them, with the biggest around 38cm, but it was interesting to use the new Littlemax lures.

Anthony Havers was on the water the day before me and had a great session, landing 25 bream on lure and bait. He set a new ‘PB’ with a 47cm bream that weighed 2 kg – but the biggest bream landed since the floods was an absolute monster of 56cm and hit the scales at nearly 3kg!

I have to recount a funny story while I was on the water recently. While drifting along casting a few lures, I found a rod floating out in the middle of the river. The reel was still attached and the line disappeared into the depths. After winding up the slack, I found myself attached to a fish! After releasing a 35cm bream, I found the owner making plenty of noise from the bank and returned the outfit to Michael Pain who was most grateful. He explained that his rod had been dragged into the water while unattended. It seems he was distracted by Fisheries officers checking his licence.

As you can imagine, his four mates found the whole ordeal rather amusing. I was even offered a complimentary beer for my efforts, and they reckoned I should even add that fish to my tally of 8 for the day – after all, I was the one who landed it!

I’ve received numerous e-mails from Steve Gash who has been chasing mulloway in the Gippy Lakes. Originally from NSW, Steve has moved to the area and tried the skills he used up north to try and catch a few southern jewies. Not even knowing if these estuary giants lived in these parts, he thought of giving it a bash regardless. On his first outing one night, he incredibly landed two jewies in the Mitchell ‘somewhere’. They weighed 3kg and a very nice 7kg.

I don’t usually make comment on offshore matters here, but I thought this was also worth a mention. Steve Gash has e-mailed me with reports of his first offshore ventures since moving to Lucknow from NSW. Taking off from Lakes Entrance, Steve and his brother Jim decided to see what the fishing was like out in Bass Strait. They landed about 30 snapper on soft plastics, four nannygai and a morwong. Not a bad effort Steve, and for a fella new to the area you’ve certainly made your mark in no time flat.