September; longer days and with spring on the way, the fishing on Flinders Island lights up.

The main targets are still the resident species, with flathead, calamari and gummies the main target for the boat angler and salmon and trevally the most prolific on the beaches.

As the water warms into October we can expect the first of the new season run of snapper, followed later by the kingfish and then albacore in December.

Spring is probably the best time of year for surf fishing on Flinders, with the North East River the favourite hot-spot.

This large saltwater inlet at the northern tip of the island is a great fishery year round, but the late winter and spring often provides the best results.

Fishing methods are very much a wide choice for the angler, with anything from bait fishing with a surf rod to flyfishing producing good results.

Having strong tide flows in and out, timing is important, the couple of hours each side of the slack being usually the best. For tidal information we use Devonport as our reference for local times and subtract 55 minutes, as being well east the tides are earlier.

From the North East River south, the coast of Flinders is a long ocean beach all the way to Pot Boil Point, with only one large rocky outcrop at Red Bluff.

This is accessible by 4x4 and as the water warms up, Red Bluff provide some spectacular surf fishing, particularly early morning and evening.

While the main staples are salmon and flathead during the day, sharks run through the shallows at night and Red Bluff yields good catches of gummies regularly and more exotic sharks such as threshers occasionally.

Offshore in September is probably the quietest month. Striped trumpeter are closed so the main action is based in the 450m water fishing for blue eye, hapuku and other deepwater species.

This is an opportunity-only situation as excellent weather is required and September can be a windy month.

In closing, please note the striped trumpeter season is closed from 1st September to 31st of October and the cray season from 31st August to the 5th November.

James Luddington operates the Strait Lady on Flinders Island and is the islands most experienced skipper for a wide variety of fishing experiences. James can be contacted through www.flindersisland.com.au/fishingtours

A nice gummy shark from the Pot Boil area.