The fishing should continue to improve this month with the days getting longer and the water climbing towards 17°-19°c in the dams and rivers.

The trout season opens this month and the streams up in the Barringtons have been flowing well over past months and along with the annual stockings from the Ebor Hatchery by the Barrington Gloucester Fishing Club there should be plenty of good trout.

The rivers around the lower Hunter are in excellent condition and have just started to produce some nice bass. With warmer weather they will continue to improve.

The bass will be holding up down around the lower reaches and very close to the top of the tidal zone, the ideal place to start fishing.

In these lower reaches you can expect the bass to take small diving minnows and lipless crankbaits around the banks and rock walls. Upstream where there is more cover, 1/4oz spinnerbaits, Beetle Spins and blades are better options.

I have been using the new Jackall Chubby SSR casting to cover and along the shallow banks with some excellent results. It resembles crickets and grasshoppers swimming along the surface.

This month with the warmer days it will be worth cracking out the surface lures. One of my favourites for the rivers is the Crickeye, made by Paul Nicel.

Lake St Clair has been fishing reasonably well over the past couple of weeks with good bass coming off the banks on soft plastics and spinnerbaits. There is good weed off the banks and the water is very clear.

The water is still quite cool at around 17° but it should not be long before the gudgeons appear.

Early starts are the best way to fish the banks with surface or suspending lures. Or try a 2”-3” plastic on a 1/16oz head retrieved slow and steady so it runs down around 1m-2m.

Jackall’s Clone Fry plastics resemble the firetail gudgeons to a tee and are also available in a high float version that is excellent as a suspending jerkbait.

There are still some deep school fish in around 10m that are best targeted with ice jigs and plastics later in the day. These bass are around 36cms and in excellent condition.

This is also a good month to troll over the deeper weed using lures in darker patterns that run down around 5m. There are plenty to choose from in the Stuckey, Halco and Viking ranges.

Bait fishers will also have a ball from the banks for catties. Drop yabbies and worms down around the timber up the Fallbrook and Carrowbrook reaches for bass and goldens.

Glenbawn has been fishing pretty well when the wind has been clement. Bass have been coming from the banks on plastics and the odd school fish has been taking ice jigs.

This month as the water nudges 17° the fish should coming from all around the dam.

The back of the dam is probably best with good areas for trolling along the 5m-7m deep gullies, prime casting banks and timber in the old river for spinnerbaits and casting deep lures.

The Narrows also has good sunken timber adjacent to deep gullies and weed near the points.

The bottom section around the main basin is good for bait fishos and the areas near the little and main walls will be good for trolling.

For lures and up to date info call in at the kiosk and see Peter or Carol and they will steer you in the right direction.

Glenbawn faces immense pressure this month because of the many tournaments so it is advisable to get out early and make the most of the longer and warmer days.

I have just finished helping the boys from the DPI hatchery at Port Stephens with an initial stocking of 50,000 bass into Glenbawn and St Clair; there will be a further stocking this month.

The annual Glenbawn Classic is on September 29-30 with two sessions on the Saturday and one on the Sunday. This is a catch and release only comp with the proceeds going to help stock the dam.