The Bemm is famous for its great bream fishing and the past few months have been no exception. However for some anglers the bream have taken a back seat for many with more time being devoted to catching big ‘lizards’.

The past couple of years have seen catches of dusky flathead increase substantially and fish over 5kg have been common this summer. For a lot of anglers it has added another dimension to their fishing experience down this way and it’s encouraging to see a large proportion of the bigger specimens returned to the water to fight another day.

The channel has provided most of the flathead action with best results achieved from drifting live baits and throwing plastics. There are still plenty of small mullet in the system and they’re easy to catch in a bait trap or on a small hook with sandworm. Flatties have been taking a variety of colours and sizes with the larger plastics (80mm+) accounting for most of the fish in January.

The Bemm River saw a great run of bream in late January. I managed a couple of outings on the lake and found fish pretty much wherever I went. All of the sandy areas produced plenty of bream between 30 and 34cm and I managed one at 41cm. Sandworm was the best bait with the late evening provided the best action.

Luderick proved a bit harder to find although there have been some good specimens caught. Last year, when the lake was at this level, they ended up in the scrub and tussocks around the edges of the lake. I would be targeting these areas now.

The surf fished reasonably well in January with some good salmon and trevally landed off most of the beaches. The odd gummy has also been caught and I’m sure there will be plenty of anglers chasing them on the next full moon.

In January, the prawn season didn’t really kick off despite a few undersized bait prawns about. We really need the entrance to open in the February to ensure we get a decent crack at them.