Winter weather has finally arrived on the far south coast, with many locals already looking forward to summer. With cold windy weather over the past month you really need to rug up if you want to spend a day on the water.

With the bad weather has come big seas and rough conditions. With very few boats getting out wide there has been little to report on the game fishing front.

Closer to shore there are flathead, both tigers and sandies, still being caught. Good fishing has been had on the snapper with anglers catching fish on both bait and lures. The winter months see the cuttlefish backbones washed up on the beach, and as long as the cuttlies are around the snapper should be on the chew. If you’re tossing plastic lures, white is a good colour choice. When chasing the snapper, an early start will see fish caught in close around the headlands. As the day progresses you should move out a bit wider as the action slows.

The pesky leatherjackets, which made it near impossible to fish, have finally moved on. It’s a relief to not have to worry about them stealing sinkers, hooks and anything that moves.

Fishing the beaches at this time of year means salmon and tailor. Fishing in early winter gives you the best chance of catching a big tailor, but you can still get decent specimens in late winter.

The big schools of salmon are constantly moving up and down the beaches, visiting all the gutters. Whether you’re fishing bait or lures, the rising tide is the go.

The fish are still biting in the estuaries, with good catches of sand whiting around the entrance area to all the local estuaries. Fresh baits of worms and nippers have been the go, with some good catches had on the last of the run-out tide.

Dusky flathead are still being caught at this time of year, and a slow lure presentation will get you more fish as the colder water slows everything down. Those bigger tailor also have been entering the estuaries, terrorising the schools of whitebait that school up in the deeper areas at this time of year. The recent rains moved the fish towards the front of the rivers, but as the water clears the fish will start making their way back upstream.

Black bream are now feeding up in preparation for spawning that will take place around spring, with the fish heading towards brackish water.

Good fishin’, Capt Kev.