Over the last month we once again saw a lot of kingfish caught on Pittwater and along our coast. Unfortunately most have been small but there is still the odd good fish around to keep you on your toes.

The better way to catch a kingfish on Pittwater has been to catch a few fresh squid and downrig the various structures along the river. Once the kingies have been found it’s a matter of dropping a jig, soft plastic or squid strip to hook up a few of his mates. Most fish are undersized but they are great fighters, especially on the lighter tackle.

The areas to catch them have varied from day to day but downrigging live squid amongst the moorings should see you tangle with a fish or two. The bigger fish still seem to be hanging around the Careel Bay through to Mackerel Beach area.

Barrenjoey Head and West Head are also seeing a fair bit of activity. Schools of slimy mackerel and yellowtail have been showing on the surface periodically, and under or around them have been kingfish and samsonfish as well as the odd trevally.

Flathead have been pouncing on soft plastics when fishing the shallows on a dropping tide. As the tide decreases and with flathead moving back into the deeper water, a well-placed cast into the shallows will often see an enquiry from off the drop-off. If you want to dangle a bait and drift, The Hill has been working well (The Hill is the drift from Towlers Bay entrance to Taylors Point).

For those who stop off and buy some live bloodworms or nippers there are decent whiting on the sand at Palm Beach, Lovett Bay and Towlers Bay. Drift the deeper water at Towlers Bay for best results, but be prepared to lose a heap of nippers to undersized pickers.

Squid are scattered throughout Pittwater at the moment and most areas have one or two to play with. The better colour at the moment seems to be the flashy jigs in the 2-2.5g sizes. Areas to try are at Towlers Bay, Morning Bay, Portuguese Beach, The Basin, Mackerel Beach and Palm Beach weed beds. It’s well worth the effort, trust me.

Offshore the seas have been rather rough on most days but on those good days it’s absolute heaven. Once again this year there are varying currents and eddies along our coast and there have been captures of mahi mahi (dolphinfish) in 30m of water off Barrenjoey Headland, free jumping marlin off Warriewood and some big flying fish for them all to chase.

If you get out on the right day you can be snapper fishing in 30m of water and be in with a real chance of a dollie or billfish hitting your live bait under a balloon.

The reef fishing on the bottom has been a tricky affair. The surface currents have been very warm but the water on the deeper water reefs has still been cold. I am sure it will change soon but at the moment we are catching big morwong at the Trap Grounds off Broken Bay instead of snapper and pearl perch.

The deeper water grounds as mentioned are producing big morwong, small reef flathead, nannygai and there is still the odd patch of teraglin about. The better baits have been pilchards or fresh squid. Take out extra sinkers with you as the leatherjackets are starting to show up again.

I hope this report sees you getting out on the water to enjoy the company of friends and family.