There has been quite a lot of rough weather in the past few weeks. Big seas, rain and wind has made beach, rock and outside fishing difficult with only a few days of good conditions here and there. However when the conditions have been good then the fish have turned it on with good catches being made in all areas.

The beaches have been seriously eroded by the southerlies and there isn’t much formation on any of the beaches. A few days of calm weather and some light winds from the northeast will soon fix the beaches up. The calmer seas allow the schools of baitfish to get into the gutters along the beaches and the fish follow them in to make a meal out of any they can catch. Jew, tailor, bream and salmon are lured into the gutters by the baitfish.

The Manning has produced plenty of fish over the past month despite the bad weather. Luderick are on the bite from the retaining walls at Harrington and Manning Point on weed, cabbage and fresh nippers Most anglers are catching at least a dozen fish a trip.

Some big bream are being taken from the walls on mullet strips, mullet gut and yabbies. The best fish are weighing over a kilo whole. Further upstream around Croki, flathead to one and a half kilos are being caught on soft plastics and live baits. A few school jew to 8kg were landed around the last full moon but none are around now that the moon is dark.

Some good catches of bream to over a kilo have been made from Harrington and Crowdy beaches. The southern ends of the beaches fish best because of the protection they get from the southerlies. Salmon are still in residence on the beaches but tailor seem to have taken leave for a while. No doubt they’ll be back on the bite when the baitfish come in on the beaches.

When conditions have allowed some good catches have been made offshore. Snapper to 5.5kg have been taken on soft plastics and bait from around Mermaid Reef and the Shoals. Trag to three kilos have come from the northern grounds and a few pearl perch have been caught out on the wide grounds in 100m of water.

In days gone by, August used to be the worst month of the year for all types of fishing. The westerlies blew for days on end and it was the time of the year when all keen anglers over hauled their rods and reels and made sure they were ready for the good fishing to come. Now August is good to fish and the early part of September is usually assaulted by westerly winds and flat seas that make fishing a pain.

In the estuary luderick and bream will still be around and the early run of chopper tailor should have started. Drummer will be on the bite from the rocks after spawning and a few big blue groper will be cruising the gutters around the headlands.