Finding time between days off and weather patterns is one of the most frustrating things, especially when trips planned for a few weeks gets scrapped from bad weather or those days when you should have gone yesterday. Luckily enough there are many spots around the area to fall back upon, such as the Boyne River, Fitzroy River and flood plain lagoons.

After a long burst of heat with spots of fresh flow every now and then, the river is a very good fishing ground at the moment, especially up in the fresh. It’s easy enough to drop your boat in at the ski gardens and head upstream but the right lures are needed; generally 7cm shallow diving minnows with a chromed colour will work, particular with a glistening green or blue top.

A lot of fishos smashing this area have caught the fish on lures with a single large black spot on the side and generally always hardbody lures. A slow retrieve from the snags over weed beds are getting the bigger fish. Don’t miss the fish, many people upgrade hooks, but what about the splits?

The salt is fishing well, especially in the harbour with many fish being taken on little hardbodies and plastics. A slow retrieve with little twitches seems to wriggle the lure well enough to stimulate a bite. Best times for this fishing is early morning on a half tide running into full. Try to stick the rock bars and oyster beds for the best success.

A lot of people fishing in this area lately have been using bright vibrant colours in a medium diving bib size to stir up the bottom but still be visible; hey, if it’s working why not give it a go!

A breaming outfit with 6-8lb braid, around 7ft rod and a 10lb fluorocarbon leader seems to be catching anything from bream and cod to queenfish and trevally.

The lagoons have been fishing well with many of the fish responding to the walk-the-dog technique rather than a popper. The theory is that the baitfish are skiting along the surface at the moment, which is similar to a walk-the-dog retrieve on surface lures.

Even with light gear a heavy mono is good to help the lure track and float better, as well as keeping the nasty gills of some species away. Ultra sharp hooks are required when surface fishing to ensure a better hook up. Always replace rusty hooks and splits to get the best out of your lure.

A walk-the-dog retrieve is achieved when your rod tip is raised high and then twitched a few times a second as the lure is slowly wound in. Alter the speed to suit, just remember sometimes you’re looking for a reaction strike so don’t be afraid to speed things up!

The crabs are going extremely well with many large bucks bagged around the port, obviously the further from other people you put your pots the more success you will have.

Good bait for the pots are chicken carcass, fish frames from some reef trips or just a typical bag of mullet heads from the local bloke.

Fish light get the bite.