I must say that my interest on the surf side of things really died this month. I put it down to the previous two months when the salmon and I didn’t meet eye to eye on the beaches. For some reason when I was on the sand, the fish weren’t.

During the month, the Turville Shield Surf Competition was held along the Bass Beaches. Fished by many anglers, the comp was won once again by Team Tackle World consisting of Brian Rinaldi, Emil Akoui, Harry Montebello and Harry Watson. The boys have now won the Turville Shield four years running, a fair effort I think. Next month is the 46th Oakdale Surf comp, let’s see if the lads can back it up and take that out to, I’d be surprised if they don’t.

Brian also headed out with his son David on a few occasions with one being to Anzacs Beach at Cape Woolamai. The boys were fishing the high tide and managed a great catch of 18 salmon to 1.1kg. Bluebait accounted for all fish.

Although the salmon still haven’t been as thick as they have in past years, anglers have still been rewarded. Tackle World Staff member Mitch’s parents Loris and Jeff have taken to the surf over consecutive weeks. Their method has been spinning with Lazer lures and the fish have been very responsive. Although not managing a bag of fish each time, they have caught some very good quality ones.

There is no way to sugar-coat it; the winds have certainly kept plenty of anglers off the water. Sure some have ventured into the blustery conditions and caught fish but it has been a quiet one.

Jason Tabone, a regular weather battler has given it a good go of late around Corinella. This area has had quite a lot of attention purely because anglers can escape almost any wind and still have a chance at catching quality fish. Jason has managed plenty of undersized gummies and a 4.5kg elephant; all were returned to the water. On one occasion fishing the last of the run out tide, Jason’s rod loaded up and he managed a very nice gummy shark estimated at 9kg on squid bait.

Ben fished the start of the flood tide when the fresh piece of snook fillet he was using for bait was eaten. After a short battle, Ben managed a 20kg gummy shark.

Gawaine Blake from Think Big Charters also headed out with his mate Ron, while the ‘Think Big’ machine is getting a motor upgrade. The boys also fished near Ventnor during the run out tide. Fishing with fresh calamari baits, they had a hot session catching two gummies weighing 8kg and 12kg.

While gummy sharks were the hot topic of the month, elephants were also reported. I received an email from Bruce who had been fishing out from Corinella. He had been doing very well catching and releasing gummy sharks and salmon, however he did manage an elephant shark on a pilchard. The fish was released.

With the unsettled weather, there were plenty of anglers hitting the shoreline rather than risking it and taking the boat out. The first good report I heard was from two young brothers Manga and Waata and their friend Brian. All three fished from the Corinella Pier after having their rods and reels set up by Tackle World staff member Peter and were advised on how to catch gummy sharks, later returning to the store with a nice gummy shark.

If the weather is too rough to get out in a boat, try Stockyard Point. Stockyard Point is at Jam Jerrup and fishes best on low tide. The best baits are the oily ones such as eel fillet, tuna, red rockets, calamari and don’t underestimate the power of the humble pilchard.

Try using 80lb leaders with a 6/0-8/0 single circle hook or a two hook rig. Surf rods for a long cast with 6000 series reel minimum such as a Shimano Nexave. 20-30lb braid will also enable a further cast.

One god tip is to wrap your bait onto the hook with Bait Mate so that the pickers can’t steal it while you wait for that line screaming run. Also remember the glow sticks for the tip of your rods while fishing during the night.

I passed this information onto Ben Gheorghiu and his mates. The following day, I received and email from Ben of their success. Although Ben said it was extremely cold, they did manage 3 gummy sharks all over 3kg.

The following week, Ben and his mate headed down again, managing to pick up a 4kg gummy and a 3kg elephant shark.

Although that was a great effort, the award for the most prestigious fishing session goes to Mark Gray. Mark has been learning over the past 12 months or so about land-based gummy fishing at Balnarring Beach. After putting in the time and effort Mark and his mate were well rewarded with a fishing session they may never get to experience again.

The boys were fishing the low tide, purely to enable casting into the deeper water beyond the rocks. Within 10 minutes of the first cast, Mark landed a nice 4kg gummy shark. Following that was pure mayhem with the final count being 10 gummy sharks caught and released with the smallest being 4kg. They lost a further 4 on the rocks with one estimated at 20kg and took one home at 7kg’s for dinner.

Now that’s a super effort and they only fished for 3 hours.

I am hoping with the state the current weather situation has been in, that next month there will be more days available to get out in the boat. Still, the land-based scene is truly on fire and it is now worth hitting the beach to try your luck at land-based gummies.

What will the next four weeks bring to the table, well I am not holding my breath but a good run of more gummy sharks wouldn’t go astray nor would a handful of early season snapper taken from the Western Entrance.

However, there is one thing I do know and that’s if you not on the water, you haven’t got a chance.