The good news around Port Welshpool is the good numbers of garfish putting a smile on the faces of anglers. These have been mainly caught on the run-in tide.

They have not been huge but are still very nice on the table, especially when filleted. Of course the smaller ones make excellent bait for just about any fish.

Whiting are still playing hard to get in this part of the world and it would be fair to say that the Lewis Channel has been one of those spots which has been measly. The royals have not been in very good numbers and if you can manage just into double figures then you have bragging rights.

I was speaking to George Wright who has had a battle to find a fish but did manage some silver trevally, flathead and whiting on the last half of the run-out tide, when this finished so too did the fish. George said that they were up to the 36cm mark, which he was happy with and did not catch any that were undersize. Pipi and Bass yabbies were the most productive of the baits. There were other boats nearby but George said that he didn’t see any other fish caught.

Snapper and gummies

Even though we are in the cold of winter, there are some nice periods of calm conditions where boaters have been headed towards the entrance. Snapper to the 6kg mark have been taken when the flow has not been too fast, along with gummies and flathead that have been taking a variety of baits.

Outside the entrance in around the 20m mark there have also been gummies and flathead making an appearance with pilchards and squid being very successful. Yellowtail kingfish have also been taken on surface lures when conditions allow. Salmon have been appearing in big schools and as previously reported they seem to be a little hook shy. By this I mean that when approached by boaters there will be a couple hooked and the school will disappear and re-surface quite a few hundred metres away. I was talking to one such angler Don Talgert who said that he was frustrated by this behaviour and decided to open up a couple that he had caught on a shiny lure to find the fish absolutely full of small whitebait. No doubt this could be why the fish weren’t all that keen on taking a lure as they already had their bellies full. Maybe use smaller lures with cast and retrieve methods if they get finicky.

The jetty has been fairly quiet but when conditions have allowed there has been a sprinkling of garfish, silvers, leather jackets and the odd whiting turning up on the run-in tide.