Winter around the Tweed provided pretty good fishing: bream and blackfish were in excellent numbers, there were loads of tailor in the river and off the beaches, trevally terrorised the baitfish and the offshore grounds produced good snapper, pearl perch and kingies out to 50 fathoms.

The Continental Shelf and wider grounds delivered some XOS bass groper and blue-eye trevalla off the bottom, while those keen on trolling still experienced reasonable yellowfin tuna and the odd striped and blue marlin.

Some of these fish will still be on the cards as the warmer season starts to take over but we can expect the summer species to kick in towards the end of October and into November.

October can be a bit of a transition month around the Tweed because it is the time that we experience a significant change in seasons.

Last month was one of my favourites for fishing around this area because most fish feel the warming trend and it spurs them into feeding.

Unfortunately when October rolls on many of them have subsequently settled down into their usual feeding patterns and can be a bit more difficult to catch.

In saying this, though, the change of season could be a bit early or even a bit late, which can mean that the fishing in general can be a bit hot or cold and we will often not be able to pick it.

I pretty much take it as it comes and if the fishing is a bit on the tough side, I try a bit harder. And if it is easy and they decide to play the game, then it’s a bonus and I make the most of it.

Species like flathead should be fairly consistent through the estuary system with some big fish still hanging around the lower reaches of the river.

Bream will start to spread back through the entire tidal reaches of the river as their spawning urges come to an end.

The blackfish should still hang around a bit longer but once the water temperature gets up a bit more, they too will start to thin out.

Mangrove jacks will fire up this month and as soon as the temperature gets up around 21°C to 22°C you can expect these prized fish to get really active.

Casting or trolling diving minnows around the rock walls, rock bars and other likely looking structure around the Tweed could well see you connected to one of these red devils.

Unfortunately, they do make light work of any tackle that is not up to the task. Taking a bit more time in preparing your gear is well worth the effort.

Live whiting, bream or mullet will also take their fair share of jacks but you definitely tend to experience a lot more bust-offs when fishing livies because by the time you know you have a bite, these red terrors are already on their way back home.

Still, it is great fun trying to get them back out!

The offshore grounds can still produce some good bottom fishing this month with snapper, pearl perch, tusk fish and trag the main targets for those chasing a feed.

Yellowtail kingfish, amberjack and samson fish should also be around in reasonable numbers out on the wider grounds if you want to get your arms stretched.

We do a lot of jigging charters on board RU4REEL at this time of year –September through to the start of November seems to be the best time to target these strong fish.

There were some barrel-sized yellow fin tuna out on the continental shelf last month and hopefully these will still be around in October; they are awesome fun to catch and excellent eating.