Steve Cooper holding a solid Gummy shark.

What a great time of the year to wet a line as wherever you look most species of fish seem to be on the chew. Along the southern coastline, Kingfish and Blue fin tuna are feeding out wide and anglers are gearing up for some long awaited fun. If you don’t have the means to travel the distances offshore often needed to target these fish then don’t panic, as there’s plenty more on offer a little closer to shore.  In our sheltered bays and harbours small boat owners are catching plenty of big whiting and snapper and a good run of calamari squid has anglers grinning to the tune of a great feed. It’s almost a fishing platter as there are so many scale clad treats available for the catching. Off the beaches, Mulloway and a variety of sharks are carving their way through a number of different baits that include arrow squid, pilchards, salmon and mullet. Weed is about your only problem as it makes fishing the surf hard work. But get it right and the rewards are often very sweet. You just never know what’s coming next from the beach with some absolute monster rays set to test your stamina and tackle to the distance. Gummy shark have been numerous in number both offshore and land based with some hefty fish weighing at 30kg or more. Remember these larger models are generally breeding females that should be returned to the sea. As there are plenty of smaller sharks being landed in the mix, it’s not hard to pick up a feed. In many estuaries including the Glenelg River on the Victorian, South Australian border anglers are cashing in on a good run of school jewfish on bait and lures. Bream have also been prolific on bait and some excellent estuary perch have been caught casting small minnow styled lures around the downed timber and the undercut banks. In many of the larger inland lakes redfin have been a winner with some fish weighing in at 2kg or more. Hume has been a consistent spot and there’s always a chance at a giant cod or a thumping golden.  Anglers are still catching a few golden perch along the Murray on bibless lures and spinnerbaits and a few cod are being landed on an assortment of baits and lures fished around the snags. As mentioned earlier, it is a great time of year to wet a line as it seems that everything sporting fins and scales is happy to have a feed. From here on in as we head towards some kinder weather, fishing in our own local waters will only improve.