The temperatures are now becoming more stable and, with the swag of different species getting caught, there are plenty of reasons to head out fishing.

For many anglers August is when they start to target barramundi. The recent cooler weather has kept the fish quiet, but conditions this month are better suited to barra fishing.

Casting lures or live bait into sunken snags is generally a successful method. One of the best lures to use is the Koolabung Razorback Prawn 80mm in a natural silver colour.

Another popular, and highly productive, method to chase barra is trolling and using deeper diving lures that have a good rattle. Troll through deeper stretches of the river with structure while keeping an eye on your depth sounder to anticipate any fish you may be about to drive over. A good tip when trolling for barra is to hold your rod and twitch the lure as it is swimming.

Quality catches are coming from southern estuaries such as Morrisseys Creek and the Haughton River when using this technique.

August is also the month to be crabbing around Townsville with decent bucks snared when the pots have been set with fresh bait. When setting the pots, look for smaller creeks and drains with deeper water close by with plenty of mangroves – the crabs seem to love those areas!

The blue water scene is still red hot with some great pelagics getting caught, along with good hauls of nannygai.

Consistent numbers of smaller spotted and doggie mackerel are turning up inshore around the main shipping channel and Magnetic Island. School mackerel can be tricky to find at times so troll hardbody diving lures around the main channel to locate the schools.

For their larger relatives, Spanish mackerel catches are mainly coming from trolled gar and wolf herring baits on the shoals and further out over the wrecks and reefs. When trolling these baits it pays to use a rod with a softer tip as this will increase your chances of hooking mackerel that may be a little timid.

Great reports of large mouth nannygai are filtering in with some of the best offshore nannygai fishing happening right now. Anglers targeting nannygai at night have had the most success with some real cricket scores landed with the average size from about 4-6kg.

A few trophy size red emperor have also been caught which are regarded as the premier reef fish to catch with their hard fighting attitude and excellent table qualities. Just keep in mind that when they are on the chew and coming over the side very quickly that you only keep what you need and abide by the bag limits – it can be easy to lose count.

Overall, the fishing doesn’t slow down for August. There are stacks of action on offer if you are keen enough to go chasing it!