We’ve had a slower start to the snapper season with the cold weather still looming around the beginning of September.

Lots of fish had been sounding but due to the cold water temperatures they were not feeding, though we did have the odd pinkie taking the bait so we knew that they were out there. So as always the patient angler relies upon the weather to dictate when the start of the new fishing season begins.

Finally the thrill of finding the new season snapper has found us in 50m of water out through the heads. Though they are still small in size they were plentiful and enjoying their fresh flesh bait such as squid and pilchards.

As the warmer months are approaching we can expect to see the bigger snapper coming through the heads and making their way into the bays.

St Leonards has been the place to be for whiting this season with reports of people bagging out. Though other areas have struggled to reach their bag limit they were still able to produce whiting ranging between 30-37cm, which made it well worth the effort. A larger supply of whiting should appear through spring and can be found by fishing the flood tide and using fresh squid for bait.

We have also found that trolling for the short fin pike on light gear has been a bit of fun, providing some entertainment on the water whilst waiting for the tide change.

The warmer weather is seeing the bigger squid being caught out in the bight. As the squid like to congregate around the weeded areas we have found that drifting over the kelp beds has been a great place to find them.

The brighter jigs are to their liking and it seems that the trusty baited jigs have provided the greatest success in attracting the larger squid.

At the moment the odd salmon can be best found trolling at the end of the ebb tide at the back of Corsair. Using white Ockys on 2-4kg light outfits is the way to go targeting this species. Hopefully this season will bring us a large supply of salmon again as we saw in the 2008 season where they were busting up right before your eyes, with the birds working them as hard as the anglers.

Don’t forget the good old flathead. With the ease of hooking them up they can be great entertainment for the beginner or for the young fishing enthusiast.

October will see the bigger flatties showing up providing you with plenty of opportunities to supply the family with a great feed. The flatties can be found on the drift in the east in about 20-30m of water, with squid being their preferred bait.

Granted it has been a slow start to the snapper season, but with the weather warming up it won’t be long before anglers hear the sound of their rods peeling with a red beauty waiting for them on the other end, reminding them that it was all worth the wait.

Spring is here now and it’s just the beginning, expect the fishing to get bigger and better from here in.