The big news is the bream; they are everywhere.

By all reports many anglers have had some fantastic fishing sessions with fish numbers on the rise.

Georges Bay has been firing well over the last month with fish moving into the bay and onto the flats in big numbers to feed hard on the rich food available.

Some anglers have stated that they have never seen so many bream on the flats and this will set the scene for a cracking summer for flats fishers.

Methods have varied and bait and lure anglers have taken their share of quality fish. Bait fishers have reported that prawns, mussels and fresh crabs have been the best baits and for the lure angler 100mm Pro Range Squidgy Wrigglers in Wasabi, Bushy’s Stiffy Minnow in Prowler and the StrikePro Prawn in 905G being the standout patterns.

There has been also been some fantastic sized silver trevally caught, with many fish being found in the Moulting Bay area and midway down the channel out towards the bar way.

The fish in Moulting Bay seem to sit just off the edge of the weed in around 13-17ft of water.

Throughout the bay there are some very large Australian salmon. These fish seem to be roaming the bay a little but once a school has been found they offer amazing light tackle action, particularly on soft plastic lures such as StrikePro Reaction Baits 3” minnow and Squidgy Flick Baits in 85mm.

Without a doubt this is probably the best time of the year to be fishing Georges Bay with the variety of fish on offer, salmon, bream, tailor, mullet, leatherjacket, mackerel, garfish, snapper, trevally and squid are all active and available in the bay at the moment.

Grants Lagoon at Binalong Bay has been producing some fantastic fishing since it broke open and had a good flush of clean salt water.

Good bream and trevally have been caught, once again using soft plastic lures and small, bibbed lures. The trevally will respond well to 100mm Squidgy Wrigglers in Wasabi colour fished over the edge of the drop off into the deeper water and the bream absolutely smash bibbed hardbody lures when fished over the sand flats in a few feet of water. Bushy’s Stiffy Minnow in Red Eye Prawn being a popular colour for the bream.

It’s vitally important to the ecology of these coastal lagoons to have a seasonal flush and break out to the ocean. Normally winter and spring rains would do this on an annual basis but with a few years of low rainfall it had been nearly three years since Grants had opened to the sea.

Now with the system being reset and good clean saltwater introduced back into the lagoon the fish have fired up and will feed hard, giving anglers the opportunity to experience some great lagoon fishing.

January should see an increase in offshore water temperatures, anywhere up to 20C on the shelf, which should see good numbers of albacore and striped tuna hit the coastline.

The smaller fish should show up first and most will respond well to smaller 4-6” trolling lures such as small Christmas trees and feathers.

With the water temperature rising we should also see an increase in bait schools and krill offshore. Once this appears the yellowfin tuna shouldn’t be far behind.

The coastline and around Elephant Rock and Binalong Bay should also see the huge numbers of arrow squid that have been a regular seasonal visitor every year. With these should be schools of yellowtail kingfish and large Australian salmon, offering anglers some fantastic inshore coastal fishing action.

Jamie Henderson owns St Helens Bait & Tackle right next to the fabulous Georges Bay. Call Jamie on 03 6376 2244, he has all the latest in tackle and bait and all the latest fishing information.