As I sit here writing this report, it’s raining, yet again. As far as generally trying to live outdoors, plus trying to get a vegetable garden going; it’s tough work with all the waterlogged back yards (including mine) to contend with.

October, like the past few months, has been very wet with on average five days out of seven being wet, wild and windy. To find an all too rare warm, sunny late spring day to get out there and wet a line just doesn’t seem to coincide with the weekend or any days off.

The start of November hasn’t seen any radical change in the weather pattern, so here’s hoping the sun finally does come out in a big way in December.

The Curdies River remains high and fast-flowing with muddied water still heading downstream. Of course, the mouth remains open and if ever any high seas pile sand up at the river mouth at Peterborough in an attempt to block the mouth, it would be simply pushed back open due to the massive outpouring of fresh.

Despite all of this, the bream still need to feed and are currently active out in the lake. They do want to push up into the river to spawn, which may not happen this year, but concentrations of fish can be found just outside the river mouth away from the main flow.

Bait is the best bet with many options open to anglers. Many begin with bought, frozen baits such as prawn, pilchard and river whitebait, which all work on a given day. Then when a mullet or salmon comes aboard, these can be used as fresh bait for bream. The flesh with the skin left on and cut into strips is a top bait, and don’t forget the hard mullet ‘ball’ found amongst the guts of a mullet. A hook will penetrate this ball and many old timers have sworn that this is definitely a gun bream bait.

Don’t entirely discount soft plastics as worm, shrimp and prawn patterns will work if fished very slowly away from the main current. Make sure the plastics are well-scented ones and don’t be afraid to add extra scent. The bream will hunt down your offering by smell alone due to the muddiness of the water.

The offshore scene has been generally quiet again due to most days being affected by bad weather. A falling or low barometer is a good indication to stay at home and give the ocean a miss.

The lucky ones that have managed to get out on a given day have caught some excellent school shark to 21kg out in 40m and deeper. The by-catch has been some solid pinkie snapper to 46cm, as well as the odd sand flathead to 1.5kg. Fresh squid that has been cut into strips has been the gun bait.

Hopefully the next report will bring better news regarding the salt and estuary scene down our way. I mean, the sun has to eventually show itself, doesn’t it?