Hot weather over the past few months has really increased the water temperature inside the lake. The warm ocean temperature has yielded good fishing both offshore and in the lake and of the many keen visitors to Mallacoota, few have gone home disappointed with the fishing.

Some great bags of fish are coming in from offshore with the cleaning tables in town getting a real work out. Consistent good conditions have allowed boats to venture out to sea day after day. But boats haven’t had to go far to get amongst the fish, with good bites to the south out off the Ariels and to the north out around Gabo Island.

Big schools of striped tuna are offshore with good results coming from boats trolling a variety of lures. These fish are real speedsters that really test light gear. Even though they are no good for eating they provide good action for anglers who are lucky enough to be in the right spot at the right time.

Yellowtail kingfish are also being caught on the trolled lures but with plenty of schools of slimey mackerel it can be hard to find the kingies as they move around feeding on the abundant supply of slimeys. Good catches of sand flathead are being made with the bigger fish out wider and the smaller fish closer to shore. Gummy sharks are still being caught with fish to 1.3m common.

The entrance are has really started to shallow. As the entrance moves, sand has been dumped into the lake and judging by the amount of sand building up it won’t be long before it closes to the ocean. This cycle has been naturally happening for years, the lake closes, then fills after good rains, then breaks through to the ocean and then blasts all the sand out to sea forming a good channel entrance until it silts up again and closes. The problem experienced with other lakes on the south coast of New South Wales stems from buildings that have been built too close to the high water level, preventing the lakes from building up enough head of water to blow the sand out to sea.

Good fishing for silver trevally, flathead and yellowfin bream has been had by those fishing from the John Bull channel marker back towards the entrance. The trevally have been caught on a variety of soft plastic lures with bait fisherman having success on local prawns and nippers. Those fishing the shallows at night using fresh baits, such as nippers, live prawns and worms, have had the best fishing for the bream. Lure fishing for bream, in both the Top Lake and Bottom Lake has been good with fish caught around the marking on hardbody lures and in the deeper water by those using vibes and soft plastic lures.

Good fishing, Capt. Kev.