With the beginning of winter upon us, it’s time to put away the snapper and whiting gear and start chasing the salmon and bream. With the colder weather the salmon schools increase along all of our surf beaches.

There have been some good fish taken from Wonthaggi to Gunnamatta, with some thumpers over 2kg. Some locals at Gunnamatta have been fishing the rising tide after dark with great success. The bigger fish are being caught right through into the early hours of the morning. The best bait has been a whole pilchard fished on ganged hooks. Anglers have been landing some good size gummies as a bonus.

The Powlett River has not fished well this year, but with the colder weather on the way the fishing should improve. A few good bream have been caught in the second straight above the road bridge on worm. On a recent fishing trip to the Powlett, I was saddened to see so much of its banks being eroded in its upper reaches by cattle feeding on the bullrushes. Large sections of the banks are breaking off and falling into the river, which will eventually cause this beautiful river to silt up. All that is needed to fix the problem is to fence off the river so the cattle can’t damage the banks. I hope that the ‘powers that be’ fix the problem before we lose another pristine river.

The Tarwin is fishing well with mullet and silver bream being the main catch. Estuary perch are on the go as well above the road bridge. Best baits are worms and yabbies.

Above and below the bridge there is the odd whiting about. Salmon, silvers, pinkies, flathead and garfish help make up the numbers. Outside the entrance at Cape Woolamai, the barracouta are still about in numbers but the makos and blues are gone for another year. The San Remo and Newhaven jetties are still producing a mixed bag of fish, but it’s slow fishing. Fishing the top of the tide is achieving the best results.

These areas are still producing some good quality whiting but you have to work hard to get a feed. It’s the end of the season so one can’t expect too much. Best baits are pippies and squid strips. The fish that are still about tend to be in the deeper water between 7m and 12m.

Good salmon have been caught from Wonthaggi to Gunnamatta recently.