Just when we think everything is under control, Mother Nature steps in and makes us realize just how puny we are.

Things were going along quite all right when a big storm brought us back to earth so to speak and the fishing ground to a spectacular halt.

This was the case at Shallow Inlet when there was great fishing with whiting to 50cm being caught around the entrance, which is unusual in itself. Unusual for whiting to be 50cm and also being caught around the entrance.

Further up the inlet in the shallow water there has been an excellent variety of fish being caught. Mullet to 35cm, flathead, whiting, silvers, garfish and the odd gurnard have been showing up in good numbers. The proprietor of the Shallow Inlet Caravan Park Ray Mountain says prior to the storm he can’t remember a better fishing season. Further up the inlet the water is somewhere around the 15m mark and there have been gummies to 1.5m along with pinkies to 3kg with pilchards being the best of the baits.

Of course the big storm doesn’t mean that fishing stops. The opposite applies as when all the fresh water dissipates the fishing improves as things return to normal and there is no reason to feel that the great fishing will not resume.

Anderson Inlet had been good prior to the storm but has picked up a little where there have been reasonable numbers of whiting and the odd silver being caught around the bathing boxes on Bass yabbies. Michael Cawley runs the Rod Bending’s fishing shop at Inverloch and he says that there has been a good run of pinkies to 45cm through in the inlet that have been taking a variety of baits with pilchards the most successful.

An interesting innovation that Michael has in the shop is a fish tank where he demonstrates the way various lures work, which helps customers decide which one/s to buy.

Local angler Angie Chiodo has been having success on the rather large pinkies to 3.5kg and he reckons that one of the best spots is the deep water in the channel near Maher’s Landing. Being a living legend, Angie has fished the area most of his life, so who would dare disagree with the great man.

A rather large eagle ray that took quite a while to land, about to be boated by the author who was none too impressed as he was fishing for whiting.