The Bemm has provided some top action over the past month, for both land-based and boating anglers.

The river has really fired for those prepared to walk the banks. Bream and luderick up to and over the 1kg mark have been caught both up and downstream of the walking track.

The estuary has provided mixed bags of bream, luderick, mullet and salmon with the odd King George whiting thrown in as well. Casting into the tussocks, reeds or tea-trees around the edges of the lake has produced the best results and has proven an even tussle with plenty of big fish lost in the snags. Sandworm has by far been the most popular bait, whether fished under a float or on the bottom.

The estuary perch have fired up with the warmer weather and several anglers have enjoyed success casting lures and soft plastics over the weedbeds in the lake. A light breeze is ideal to drift over the weedbeds and will enable you to fish more water and hopefully find fish. Floating sandworm in the same areas can also produce quality EPs.

The salmon have been locked in and are going hard down the channel. Anglers have had plenty of options from flyfishing right through to soft plastics and bait. The better specimens are still tipping the scales at 2kg with plenty of fish around 1kg on offer.

For beach anglers there has also been some great action with plenty of salmon being caught at most of the beaches. The wind and weed have been trying at times, but the good sessions have more than made up for the bad. Casting lures has been very successful while pilchards, bluebait and surf poppers are taking fish as well.

Surf poppers are all the rage down here and it’s almost unthinkable to go to the beach without one. Fished on a paternoster rig, popper on the top leader with bait on the bottom leader, the surf popper is lethal and often will account for 70-80 percent of fish caught. All surf species, including gummy shark, will take poppers. Blue and white is by far the most popular colour in this area.

We now look forward to an exciting time of year when the big flatties come on the chew down the channel and the estuary perch head back up the river around the snags. Hopefully the luderick will hang around once the entrance finally opens, however, most of the salmon should run back to sea. The bream are in great condition and should keep on biting in the months ahead.

For the latest fishing information, contact Bemm River Bait and Tackle, (03) 5158 4254.

CAPS

1.This luderick, caught by eight-year-old Bayden Burgess-Shipton, weighed in at around 2kg. What a catch for a youngster!

2.A great Bemm River black bream prior to release.