The Bemm has been at its best over the past month or so with some fantastic fishing had by all.

The luderick have really fired up and have been caught throughout most of the system, including the river. Specimens around the 1kg mark are common with the odd one tipping the scales in excess of 2kg. These fish show no real sign of letting up and should be on offer over the coming months. You can target them specifically using floats but most of the time you can pick them up fishing for bream with a running sinker rig and sandworm.

The bream have also been steady with some quality fish mixed amongst them. The bream have ranged from legal size to 30cm. They have been in excellent condition, which is a good sign and probably testament to the healthy state of the system. It’s amazing how things have turned around from a couple of years ago when a high percentage of bream were very lean and in poor condition.

Sandworm continues to be the most successful bait with a few bream also taking prawn, shrimp and shell. Once again, they’ve spread out through the whole system with The Mahoganies and Siberia both proving to be popular areas.

The spawning run up the river will most likely end in the coming months, which will see the majority of bream head back into the lake.

We’ve had a bit of a windy spring, which has made things pretty difficult in the surf. We look forward to some better weather and early signs indicate that the fishing should be quite good. A couple of gummies and some good salmon have been caught when the weather has allowed, with the odd mullet and tailor mixed in as well.

For those who enjoy a good feed of flake, the coming warmer months are perfect for getting on the beach and chasing those elusive gummy sharks. The run-up tide after dark on the full moon is usually the best time to fish, with squid, pilchards and fish fillets all top baits. For me squid is the best option as it hangs in there when the crabs are bad. You’ll often find squid in the stomach contents of gummy sharks too. Regardless of whether you catch a fish or not, a warm night on the beach is hard to beat.

The warmer weather and water will also get the flatties moving. We’ve already had one lizard over 3kg weighed in with another one a fair bit bigger lost at the boat.