The Manning area really took a beating this Winter with plenty of southerly weather. The rain has been hard to put up with but the winds have done some damage to the local beaches.

Some parts of Crowdy Beach have been eroded so far back that substantial trees have toppled into the ocean.

The beach is so narrow in places that it is unsafe to drive when the tide is half-way in. Added to this is the fact that there are no decent formations on the beach to provide cover for fish.

At the present time it is a matter of throwing out into the ocean and hoping a school of tailor comes along and eat your bait.

A couple of weeks of north-easterly winds are needed to rectify matters.

The Manning River has provided the best fishing in the area.

Bream are feeding in schools along the river, with the sea walls on the Harrington side and the Spur Wall on the Manning Point side producing good numbers of fish.

They are taking soft plastics and bait of all kinds, with night anglers getting the best results.

Luderick are also on the bite on weed during the day and on fresh yabbies at night.

Flathead can still be caught in most parts of the river but most bags are small.

School jewfish to 13kg have been caught from the shore at Chinamans Point and smaller fish have been taken from the river wall.

The end of the sea wall has been the best spot to bag a feed of fish.

Chopper tailor have been caught in numbers from the end of the wall and the occasional good fish of a kilo has also been taken.

A jew of 15kg was caught on a soft plastic lure from the same spot and smaller fish were landed from the beach near the wall.

Crowdy Beach has tailor and a few salmon but they are hard to track down because of the lack of decent formations on the beach.

The rocks at Crowdy Head are worth a try for drummer and groper. A good berley trail is necessary to have a good outing on these species.

Offshore results have been poor in recent weeks with leatherjackets taking most of the baits and cutting off heaps of terminal tackle.

Those crews able to find a spot without jackets have been able to catch a few small snapper and some flathead.

There have been no surface fish around but by October there should be some bonito to take a trolled lure.

This is traditionally the month for big jew in this area. There are not the same numbers of big mulloway around now as there were 25 years ago but there is always the chance of picking up a 25kg fish on the full moon in October.

In the estuary, luderick will be on the bite day and night and school jew usually show up in the river.