As usual for this time of year we have salmon arriving in big numbers and the so-called summer fish such as whiting seem to go quiet for a while.

Many of these torpedo-like fish are being taken in the vicinity of the entrance. Albert Summers and his mate had a great day out on the salmon even though they were chasing whiting. They battled around the Lewis Channel for no result and then moved outside on a flat calm day. It was here that they spotted a big school of salmon and decided to investigate. On their first cast they each hooked up and landed two around 1.8kg. The good fun continued for quite a while and when they decided that they had enough fish and headed for home.

Inside the inlet there have been quite reasonable numbers of garfish being taken on the run-in tide. The best baits have been small pieces of pipis or presentations of dough. If you can put up with the cold, a light and dip net is a very effective method of catching the mini marlin. They can be timid and the best time to try your luck is to wait until there is a black moon and head out on the rising tide. There is a limit of 40 garfish, which is enough as there were plenty of big ones around at the moment, and they should stick around.

Waratah Bay is really firing with very good numbers of salmon being taken on the run-in tide. The fish are not huge but around the 600gm mark which makes them great on the table. Ren Hamilton has been doing very well and uses whitebait and surf poppers for the best results.

At nearby Shallow Inlet the big salmon have arrived as per usual at this time of year. Bill Reynolds is the caretaker of the caravan park and says that they are up to the 1.8kg, which is around 4lb on the old scale. They really give a great work out on the surface lures they appear to be favouring but even so they will also take a variety of baits. The run-in tide seems to be the best time to wet a line and no doubt the big fish will be around for a while yet.

There are also quite good numbers of silvers to the 1kg mark mixed in with the salmon that are taking whitebait and squid. This area is one of the few spots where an east wind seems to have no dramatic effect on the fish, providing it’s not a howling gale.