Bemm River

[ben475]

Heading to the Bemm with some mates for a few days next weekend.
Haven't been there since I was a kid, we fished the lower part of the river and did well on the bream back then.

Planning to fish the inlet and the river from the boat and also head down to the beach with the long rods.

Thinking running sinker with prawns as bait.
Probably try trolling for a tailor at some stage.
Surf poppers and casting metal slugs down at the beach.

If anyone has any other tips it would be much appreciated.

[sandef]

take scrubbies the water is very high hard going at the moment

[Lightningx]

Sounds like a great trip!
Good luck and let us know how you go :thumbsup:

[skronkman]

I dunno what it's like with so much water in it at the moment but here are some pointers from my Bemm experiences.

Use your sounder to find the bream. Use downscan (400-800kz) and you'll see them clearly if they are bunched up. Start your search from the where the lake meets the entrance all the up to the entrance shallows. When you find them, they'll take lightly weighted bait, small curl tails and small vibes. I like vibes in the deeper water.

In the shallows at the entrance their are some monster flathead! And they are shallow, think 100-300mm water on a sunny morning. But they spook easily so you need a long cast and a fairly light jig head. 4" curltails worked for me.

There are some schools of big tailor in there, casting or trolling shallow divers or metal slugs should get you some. Only eat em fresh or make fish cakes. They don't freeze well.

Spinning off the beach catches salmon but you want light or offshore winds and not too much swell for the experience to be enjoyable and productive.

Watch out for snakes in/near the waiter.

In a small boat, take the adventure to swan lake from Bemm. It's magical. Don't get lost though!

If you head up the river be very careful of under water obsticals. Especially at the top end near the bridge.I removed the skeg from an outboard up there. Maybe the high water will prevent this issue?

There are some big bass and/or EPs up the river (at least rumours of) but I couldn't raise them when I tried.

Above the bridge there are trout in the river if you want to go trekking, no boat access obviously as the fresh water is dammed.

[purple5ive]

/\ some great info there mate.
the water level is extremely high atm.

[ben475]

thanks for the tips! will give some of that a go.

how small a boat are we talking to get to swan lake? it looks interesting on google earth.

[purple5ive]

thanks for the tips! will give some of that a go.

how small a boat are we talking to get to swan lake? it looks interesting on google earth.

If you can float in 40cm of water then you will most likely make it in.

[smile0784]

Good luck mate

[skronkman]

I did it in a 4.2m tinny easily. I'm sure something bigger would be fine with all the water in there now.

[Blue]

Ben 475, See Mark at the store,he has Lakes Entrance prawns and they are a real good size.
Peel the body, leave the head on, thread a Shiner style hook from the tail up into the body with barb out thru the belly, a hitch or to around the tail and you have the perfect bait to float down or use the tiniest of sinkers.
Try to be fishing the edges at first light, fish guaranteed.
During the day,try drifting across the flats up near the Entrance ,there are drop offs there and anything can jump on.
These things worked over the recent long weekend, check out the big goanna that hangs around the storm hut near channell entrance, he loves a free feed of snags.
Good luck, it doesn,t get much better than The Bemm.
Blue