Anderson Inlet is renowned for its ever changing sand banks, which can pose a quite a hazard for visiting anglers and even the not so observant locals.

Like the sands, the fishing is constantly changing although with the warmer water, it’s really started to fire. Michael Cawley at Rod Bending’s Fishing at Inverloch says there has been very good numbers of salmon to 2kg throughout the Inlet from the entrance to Mahers Landing. Lures and whitebait have been successful and down towards the deeper water near the entrance, plenty of good size whiting are taking bass yabbies and pipis.

Mahers Landing has been productive for salmon, silvers and gummies that have been taking a variety of baits, mainly on the run-in tide. Mixed in with these quality fish are any number of midget flathead and whiting. I guess that’s just something we have to put up with.

Venus Bay is still good for bags of salmon to the 2.5kg mark on the run-in tide. At night there have been quite a few gummy sharks and good size flathead taken on squid, pilchard and fresh fish fillets.

Ray Mountain at Shallow Inlet says that this is shaping up to be a bumper season. He should know because he has had the caravan park in that part of the world for the last 8 years. He says that salmon to 3kg have been caught on baits and lures near the entrance. Further up the channel he says that two of his regulars, Ron Girling and Peter ‘Grumpy’ Rawson, had a great time recently on whiting to 40cm on pipis. They also caught plenty of mullet. Other anglers have been catching flathead to 3.5kg. Snapper to 45cm have not been uncommon along with 1.5m gummies. Add to that good numbers of silvers and it’s easy to see why the Inlet is a popular destination for fishermen at this time of year.

Looking at the western side of Inverloch, around the Flat Rocks, there have been very good numbers of whiting to 43cm taking bass yabbies. Silvers are also in this area along with garfish, which take a lot of beating on the table, especially when properly boned out.

Further out from Flat Rocks, in the deeper water, there are gummy sharks in good numbers. They have been taking pilchards, sauries, squid and fresh fish fillets. Large couta to over a metre have also been taken, along with good size salmon. The couta can be a nuisance when they bite off lines, possibly when pursuing shiny swivels and terminal tackle. Using dark coloured swivels and hooks when the couta are around is a good tactic.