Finally the weather seems to have broken for the better. With a bit of luck it will hang around for a few more months.

Although the pinkies seem to have gone quiet, the gummy sharks & flathead are still around in good numbers. Brett Leggett of Alberton boated himself two nice gummy sharks to 4.5ft at my favourite haunt, Whale Bay. He used squid & sauries for bait.

Port Albert local, Charles Ward, had a productive morning at Kate Kearney entrance bagging a nice feed of garfish & four large flathead, all in one metre of water.

Charles’ cousin Andrew fished in the same area and caught the biggest flathead I have seen all year weighing in at a whopping 4.3kg.

While on my last trip out wide of Port Albert I encountered good numbers of large flathead. Many of them were in the 3 to 4lb range. I also saw some very large schools of squid. The flathead were feeding vigorously on bluebait and fresh cut flathead pieces. While in good numbers, the squid were not large but took a liking to my Juro Shadowmaster squid jigs.

As the weather starts to cool down, the local estuaries will fish well for salmon. With Mann’s Beach & McLoughlins being the best haunts to find the larger schools.

Salmon can be caught at the entrance to both inlets by trolling small to medium chrome lures like Lazers and Raiders. The salmon also respond well to a bit of burley. Once you have a small school at the back of your boat try throwing Firebait soft plastics on light tackle for a great fishing session.

Trevally will soon make an appearance at the local jetties. The Pub Jetty at Port Albert has been the most productive in previous years.

Offshore the flathead will remain in good numbers right through winter. Seven-gill sharks should make their presence known in the deeper waters off Port Albert too. They respond very well to burley. Fish frames and salmon heads are the best bait.

Andrew’s whopping flathead weighed in at 4.3kg.