With warm weather, warm currents and recent rain, fishing this month should be a whole lot of fun and a very rewarding experience.

The Hastings River has been fishing exceptionally well and things should only get better this month. Flathead numbers have been great and the big breeders are still on the move and feeding freely. I’ve seen quite a few fish over 70cm caught and returned to the water.

With the amount of bait fish in the estuaries at the moment I’m sure these fish will still be lurking around this month. Make sure you handle them with care and preserve these beautiful fish.

Schools of salmon have been haunting local anglers and the odd mulloway is giving people a surprise. I’m sure we’ll see an influx of big-eye trevally in the river, too. These fish are great sport and are most active early morning, late afternoon and after dark. Look for some deep holes close to structure and you’ll find these fish ready for action.

Only 30km south of Port Macquarie is the beautiful Camden Haven River, where this month the fishing will be great. From whiting to bream and mulloway to flathead, the area has it all.

There is great access for land-based anglers and it’s ideal for boaters as well. The rock walls at the mouth of the river will be lined with holiday anglers looking for a feed and with fresh bait and good tides they’ll do well this month.

And if you like tossing lures then the upper reaches around Ross Glen and Kendal are well worth an outing. Surface fishing will be great with bream and bass on the cards.

Offshore action, as always, has been very dependent on the conditions and lately getting outside has been tough due to strong winds, big swells and lots of current.

When the conditions have been favourable the fishing has been great. Mahi mahi have been in good numbers with some excellent size fish showing up and this month game anglers will be converging on Port Macquarie to enjoy their sport.

While marlin are the primary targets tuna, mahi mahi and sharks will be rounding out their bags and giving them reason to keep trolling the deep.

Those heading into the fresh should reap some good rewards. The bass in recent Summers have been exceptional in the upper reaches of the Hastings. It’s canoe-only territory and I’m sure there will be lots of keen anglers making the trip to Long Flat for a trip down the Hastings.

Surface fishing will be good early and late in the day with diving minnows and soft plastics during the middle of the day getting some action. It is important to remember that the Hastings is a relatively small fishery compared with some of its neighbouring rivers and we need to look after the fish and make sure they are handled with care and returned to the water as quickly as possible.

Red weed has plagued our beaches and the lower reaches of our estuaries for some time now but hopefully this month it’ll be gone and things will get back to normal. Beach and rock anglers have done it tough through Spring with heavy weed making fishing almost impossible.

When the weed has cleared, good numbers of whiting and bream are still on the beaches with the odd school mulloway succumbing to beach worms.

This month heading north or south of Port will be the go. The North Shore should have some nice formations on the beach and if the weed disappears fishing should be good. 4WD access is the best here so make sure you have the right equipment and the necessary permits.

Lighthouse Beach, stretching all the way to Lake Cathie, should also prove worthwhile. If the mouth of Cathie Creek is opened things will be very interesting and with the local whiting biting, it’s sure to be shoulder-to-shoulder fishing.

Check out the tournament section for results of the Sundowner BREAM Classic, which was a huge success.