The land is heating up and so is the water, especially in the rivers and lakes, so for the best fishing, find the warmth. Here are a few ways you can do this.

The most obvious way is to keep an eye on the water temperature reading on your sounder. The Bega River is a fairly long system so travelling upstream, you can monitor the changes in the temp on your sounder and select the warmer water where the fish are likely to be.

If you don’t have a sounder, stop regularly and put your hand in the water; you will feel the difference.

When you find a warm change, start looking for fish, especially bream in shallow water over gravel. These fish are often attracted by shrimps, prawns or baitfish that also seek out the warmth.

There are good numbers of black bream in the Bega River and once you’vbe found them, several fish can be captured out of a school on bait or lures.

These fish may move due to a tide change bringing cooler water, so it then becomes necessary to follow the warm water.

You can also see a colour change, with the murky water often warmer, so a good rule of thumb is to start upstream and following it with a receding tide.

There are many other species also warming to the conditions.

Flathead especially like the warm shallows, as do whiting, tailor, mullet, luderick and estuary perch.

Further inland, the sweetwater of the Bega River is also heating up, producing some excellent bass. Some of these fish have been over 50cm and many have been 40cm-plus.

All you need is some deep water with plenty of structure. Most of the other rivers or lakes are producing similar results so there is some good angling available.

Things are hotting up for the reef anglers with tiger flathead dominating some excellent bags. From 30m out is where you will find them, with larger fish from greater depths.

The shallower water will produce sand flatties and some gummy or small whaler sharks.

On the reefs you can expect the usual array of snapper, morwong, jackets and ocean perch, while out in the canyons species like hapuku, blue-eye trevalla, ling, perch, alfonsin and gemfish are becoming popular as anglers acquire the electric reels to target them.

Out wide, keep an eye out for striped, yellowfin, albacore and the odd bluefin tuna.

Tathra Wharf is always popular over the holidays with plenty of silver trevally providing great sport for young and old. Yellowtail, slimy mackerel and garfish are also there with the bonus of some great calamari.

Salmon and tailor provide fun not on the wharf, the rocks and beaches.

Fishing the beaches at night is definitely worth a try for gummy sharks, small whalers and the odd jewfish on fresh fish strips or squid.

Brogo Dam’s bass are becoming more active but you still have to pick your times up there. A warm days leading into a balmy evening is best.

Some great surface activity may occur on dark as fish smash lures all the way to the boat.

The annual Brogo Bass Bash, hosted by the Far South Coast Bass Stocking Association, will be on the weekend of December 1 and 2, email --e-mail address hidden-- or phone 0427 934 688 or 0427 934 857 for an entry form.

This is now an open invitation event and all proceeds go to the stocking program for the dam.