With the water temperature pushing 20c there is no doubt summer is on its way.

The blend of southern and northern species that are here at the moment make it an angling all sorts. Here’s the rundown for the bay this month.

Rooneys, the Gutters and the 25 fathom hole are all performing well with reports of snapper, trout, red emperor, cod, sweetlip and mangrove jack taking live bait, plastics and cut baits. On the surface all the tunas, Spanish, school and spotted mackerel, cobia and trevally are giving baitfish a touch up.

Live baits, plastics and jigs are all working well with trolling being the obvious other option. The local reefs are also fishing well with Bagimba, Moon, Mckenzies and the Arty producing plenty of snapper, sweetlip, blackall, parrot and trout on baits and plastics. Estuary cod are abundant at most spots taking live and dead baits but the pick of them all are live pike in the 150-200mm size. They are big enough to get a decent hook in them and are a good size to be swallowed clean.

Whiting and bream are prolific around most creek mouths and yabbie beds taking worms, yabbies, plastics and poppers. Flathead are still in their prime and there have been plenty of big fish around this year. Fish pushing the magic meter mark are keeping anglers on their toes and if targeting the big ones an upgrade in trace is a good idea. I personally recommend fluorocarbon in the 12-15lb range as the minimum for big flathead.

Golden trevally are working the flats foraging for small fish and crustaceans and are easily stalked on foot. Live whiting are the preferred bait fished on a small running sinker with at least a meter of trace. Casting flies, plastics and flasha lures is very effective and a good way to cover the whole beach. Many other species respond to these methods so you can expect the likes of queenfish, tuna, shovel-nosed shark, mackerel and sharks in the mix.