It’s been a testing month for anglers fishing the top end of the Mallacoota system, around Gypsy Point.

Anglers fishing the usual locations such as rock edges, snags and bankside structure experienced patchy catches. Fish were holding in these areas but there seemed to be a lot of water in between fish.

Most of the bream appeared to be schooled up in deep water, well away from any structure. These fish were holding in 3-7m and proved tricky to catch because they were not really feeding. Fishing with light jigheads and moving around slowly with the electric motor, whilst keeping an eye on the sounder, was the key. These fish came on and off the bite time and time again, resulting in some bursts of memorable fishing.

All of these fish were ready to spawn and were waiting for the right water temperature to move up the rivers on their annual run.

October will produce great black bream fishing in the rivers and creeks before these fish begin to spread out through the entire system. Fish of 1kg have been common with the best fish caught in the past few weeks pulling the scales down to 1.8kg. An impressive fish indeed!

The flathead fishing has been a bit slow with plenty of fish being sighted. So all looks good for the coming months. A few degrees warmer and the flatty fishing should really get moving! This has been anticipated by anglers who regularly visit Mallacoota with some accommodation booked out over the next couple of months.

Plenty of new snags are now in the rivers after the rain and wind of the past few months. So keep an extra eye out when navigating shallow areas, even if you’ve been to Mallacoota before.

The front lake and top lake has been fishing slowly with blackfish and whiting moving around the entrance area. The Betka River is still quiet, although another month will see an improvement in the fishing.

Beach fishing has also been quiet, with only the odd salmon and gummy shark caught. When the weather allows, there has been some good offshore fishing for flathead.