If you’re willing to brave the cold weather and westerly winds, July should produce plenty of fish and there is generally a lot less boat traffic than in the warmer months.

One Mile and Samurai Beach are producing some good size tailor and school mulloway, and the old-fashioned pilchard on a set of ganged hooks should produce plenty of tailor. It also pays fish a two-hook paternoster rig, one with the gang and the other a Gillies surf popper. That way even if you lose your pilly you always have a chance of hooking up.

Love them or hate them, there should be plenty of salmon on the beaches, and the same methods that work on tailor also work great for salmon. These fish also generally bring in a lot of sharks chasing them in close.

Now is my favourite time to fish Stockton beach for mulloway. Beach worms produce plenty of fish but a lot are undersize soapies. Small live yellowtail often produce the bigger jew and there should be plenty around the 6-10kg range. I only fish for beach mulloway an hour either side of high or low tide, high being the favourite, and I spend a fair bit of time searching for a decent hole which will produce at both high and low tide. Remember that camping and fires are both prohibited on Stockton Beach.

In the rock washes the drummer should be well and truly into full swing and there should be some nice grouper and bream around with them. Peeled prawn and cunjevoi are favourite drummer baits and they go hard. There should also be plenty of salmon coming from the rocks which provide some great fun spinning lures.

Now is the time to jig for kings in the deep water, with Allmark Mountain being a spot which produces some great kingie fishing at this time of year. Allmark Mountain sits roughly 28nm east of the heads, and as well as kingies it fishes well for bar cod and other deepwater bottom species. It is also pays to fill the tank with livies at Cabbage Tree before you head out as jigging is very hard work, and it’s always good to drop a live bait down and have a bit of a break. That is until a big kingie inhales it!

This time of year is snapper time and there are some great fish taking floating baits in the shallower waters from around 10-30m. Low light periods are prime times and a steady berley trail and natural sinking bait are very important to produce more catches of big reds. Broughten Island, The Sisters and boat harbour are known snapper spots which produce plenty of fish.

Edith breakers also fishes very well for snapper on plastics – just remember it is a artificial lure only zone and no anchoring while fishing. Be very cautious of this as Fisheries officers can even fine you even for having rods rigged up while anchored.

Game anglers should be getting stuck into the yellowfin out wide and there should also be plenty of mako sharks.

There should be plenty of winter (trumpeter) whiting around with worms being top bait. The break walls should be fishing very well for luderick and bream this month. The co-op break wall is a favourite and can also produce some nice mulloway at times.

Bream should be in good numbers in the bay this month, taking a wide variety of bait and lures, and there should also be plenty of good size flathead sitting in the deeper water. My favourite plastics for big lizards are 5” Gulp Jerk Shads, and remember a release is better for the 65cm+ lizards as they are more than likely breeders.

School mulloway are in good number in the deep holes and around the Karuah River bridge.