In the last few weeks the fishing around Lakes Entrance has been nothing short of phenomenal, especially the offshore scene.

Large schools of striped tuna ranging from 1-4kg have been smashing schools of pilchards on the way out to the snapper grounds. They are best targeted with a spin outfit and Lazer lure retrieved as fast as your arms can wind. They make great sport and even better bait.

A few mako sharks have been following the schools so it pays to have a bigger outfit ready to go. To date only a handful of makos have been landed and released.

The snapper have been hot with most to 2kg being taken, along with the occasional larger specimen. Jane Ireland fished with her father and my neighbour Jol and they had a great session resulting in full bag limits of snapper to 4.5kg, and an encounter with a very large bronze whaler, which took a liking to the hooked snapper.

In the estuary, there have been good numbers of luderick taking weed along the walls with Kalimna being the pick of the spots. Schools of spotty salmon have been entering the system in the early mornings following the baitfish.

It has been great to see multiple anglers chasing the salmon, with many parents hooking the fish and letting their kids fight them to the boat. Salmon are a great beginners fish and when you find the school it will provide hours of fun.

There have also been good numbers of pinkies along the rock walls, as many anglers found out during the recent Vic Bream Classic. There were many hook-ups that we thought were thumper bream but turned out to be pinkies. They have been responding well to small plastics, metal blades, or baits such as pilchard and local prawns.

The prawns have slowed and hopefully we will get at least one more month out of them. Just remember the limit is now a 30L bucket for prawns per person. This is still a lot of prawns, but if you experience one of those hectic nights just remember the bag limit.

Out at Lake Tyers the water has cleared and the mysterious disease seems to have gone, so as a result the fishing is starting to fire again. The bream seem to be everywhere, from right down the bottom near the pub right up to Nowa Nowa in the snags. Hardbodies and small plastic grubs are still doing the most damage, but live garfish and local prawns have seen many fish taken by bait soakers. Some real thumpers have been taken.

Ripper flatties have been hooked and lost by unsuspecting anglers chasing bream on light gear. One particular story of an angler chasing garfish and hooked a croc, estimated at about 5.5kg, fought for about 45 minutes before the number 14 long shank hook pulled from the beast’s mouth.

The surf has been hit and miss, with one day being brilliant but the next day the weed will turn up and hamper angler’s efforts.

There have also been some good salmon taken along with a few smaller gummies. We had a session a week ago and had four bites but missed them all! I suspect they were small whalers or school sharks, as they bit through 60lb leader like it was cotton. Striped tuna cubes have been the best bait, and the tuna frames make the best berley when tethered to a rod holder and allowed to roll around in the shore break.

That’s about it for me for this month. If you have any pics or reports feel free to email them to me. Take it easy on the water.