Finally the warmer water is pushing into Pittwater and it’s starting to make a difference.

The incoming tide is pushing the warmer water into Broken Bay and Pittwater and there are some decent hungry fish coming aboard.

Early mornings we are seeing schools of kingfish, salmon and tailor milling around on the surface and most of the action is happening between Longnose Point and Soldiers Point. There is a common theme between all species at the moment and that is they want small baits or lures.

Small, clear soft plastics are accounting for some salmon whilst the 10g-20g metals are catching most of the tailor.

Kingfish, as we all know, can be a fussy bunch at the best of times and this month will be no different on Pittwater.

Downrigging small live squid will be the undoing of many of the kings this Summer but at the start of the season they will also hit small yellowtail or slimy mackerel. Both can normally be obtained on baitfish jigs at Barrenjoey Head or West Head.

For a greater chance at a kingfish you could be better off targeting Barrenjoey Headland with live yellowtail or slimies as the sun rises.

There has been a fair amount of activity around Barrenjoey as well as West Head. Downrigging will put you in with a great chance at catching a king but remember to trust your sounder and lower the bait to the same depth as the balled-up baitfish.

The other thing to try is to add some Glowbait to your livie before downrigging it. By applying this glowing coating you are making your bait show out from the rest of the panicking baitfish and rendering it more likely to be attacked.

Squid are again difficult this month but over the next few weeks we should start to see an increase in numbers as the small squid quickly grow and become noticeable.

Areas to try for smaller squid are the weed beds in Careel Bay, off Palm Beach and at The Basin.

No top colour seems to exist at the moment because the squid are changing their minds from one day to the next.

If you take a mate out with you, one of you should try fluoro colours and the other natural colours to find out what is working best. If you find it difficult to catch squid along Pittwater, head out to the ocean side of Barrenjoey Head and drift around with two squid jigs hanging off a paternoster rig.

There are some fish starting to chew around the reefs along Broken Bay. Bream, trevally and flathead are being caught at Flint and Steel, Middle Ground and right through to Juno Point.

The bigger jewfish shouldn’t be far away now and these areas will produce a few on the bigger high tides. Best baits at the start of the season are fresh-caught squid, yellowtail, pike and slimy mackerel. Try your better ‘secret’ spots on the tide change for your best chance.

Along the coast the fishing is starting to pick up. We have kingfish off most headlands between Broken Bay and Sydney Heads, with Newport Reef and Barrenjoey Head the best areas recently.

As the warmer water pushes along the coast the fish will move with it and it won’t be long before Long Reef sees its fair share of action.

There is also the odd school of bonito along the coast. These can be caught on fast retrieved metal lures to 20g or trolled bibbed lures.

The reefs further offshore are turning up quite a few fish when the leatherjackets aren’t there. Boultons Reef, the Trap Grounds, Mona Vale Wide and Long Reef have all seen snapper.

When a jacket-free reef is found there are marbled flathead, morwong, teraglin and nannygai to be caught.

The depth changes each week and we are at the moment chasing the areas that have current. The current seems to shift the jackets off the reefs and they seem to group in areas that have little to no current.

So as you can understand, one day you might hit paydirt in 30m but the next day you will succeed fishing wide in 85m.

Flathead are gathering off Broken Bay through to Narrabeen in 50m-70m, where they can be caught rather easily if the trawlers haven’t been hitting them.

Please take only what you need for an immediate feed and release the rest so they can be caught next time. Best baits have been pilchards or the sand eels that are being spewed up by the caught flathead.

Just use a paternoster rig or soft plastics and both will see you onto many fish before too long.

To keep up to date with reports and our activities you can find us on Facebook.