During the holiday period the sleepy town of Mallacoota swells to full capacity and nearly all the tourists are here to fish.

With the increase of people in the area, patience is needed, especially at the boat ramps. Tourists need to be aware that a fishing licence is required and at this time of year the Fisheries officers are in overdrive.

But those visiting the area won’t be disappointed because the fishing has been great in the lake and offshore.

The Bottom Lake has been fishing well for black bream and yellowfin bream. Some days you can find these fish on the bite in the shallows but you can always guarantee they won’t be in the same place the next day.

They are often on the shallows at Goodwin Sands in the early morning and late afternoon. Fresh nippers and prawns are effective and small hard-bodied minnows have produced steadily.

The Rapala Husky Jerk and Bushy’s Stiffy lures, twitched across the shallows, have been great on flathead and bream.

Trevally have spread out through the Bottom Lake with many turning up absolutely anywhere. The average size is around 500g and when a hooked fish starts circling the boat, you know you have hooked a trevor.

One oddity that is often caught in the Bottom Lake is the gurnard. Their blue-spotted wings give away their identity. They are a good eating fish with a taste similar to flathead but should be handled with care because of their sharp spines.

Big garfish are also in the system at present with the bigger models around 30cm long and, amazingly, they often have a go at a lure. The best way to get a feed is to get a berley trail going to get them fired up, and then fish with small hooks and baits like peeled prawns.

The best areas to try are around the weed edges anywhere from the Bottom Lake through to Gypsy Point.

Flathead are being caught right through the system but it can take a bit of moving to locate a patch of fish. Once found, any of the multitude of soft plastic lures dragged in front of their faces will work.

The bigger fish are there but they are definitely harder to catch. The biggest fish caught recently was caught on live mullet near Cape Horn. It was released and would have weighed around 6kg.

Three days either side of the full moon was productive with clients landing a total of eight fish over 4kg.

Offshore fishing has been good with keen local Jimmy Mako reporting good catches of gummy sharks at the 125’ mark off Gabo Island.

Flathead action has been steady with good-sized fish caught drifting in around 60’ of water.

Some big crayfish are about and local diver Jason York has caught crays between 2kg and 3kg.

Salmon are still on the beaches with different gutters producing at different stages of the tide. Yellowfin bream are also being caught off Bastion Point Beach.

Flathead are being caught right through the system but it can take a bit of moving to locate a patch of fish. The author shows that chasing them can be worthwhile.