The good news is we’ve had a cold snap and with it the water temperature has dropped a couple of degrees which means it’s snapper time here in the south east.

Last year the snapper started to fire for me around the end of May, but with water temps sitting up around 23-24°C a bit later, this year it was more like the end of June. The other good news is that the snapper are widespread and so far this season we’ve had some good sessions on the 33 fathom line, the 35s, Deep Tempest and the 90m line south-east of Tempest.

I’ve also had some very nice fish getting caught on the 29 fathom line off Moreton island and from the Cathedrals south of Point Lookout.

The quality of fish being caught has also been very good and the shallower reefs out to around 70m have seen some top quality fish being boated. The wider grounds are producing good numbers but the most of the fish are in that 35-50cm range, which are top shelf for the table.

As I’ve stated in many reports, unless you're fishing at night on the anchor, don't bother with paternoster rigs for snapper. Stick to floatlines and you will have much better results.

Along with the snapper of late have been plenty of school sized amberjack keen to eat livies out around the 42 fathom line. Some days we’ve been having more trouble catching the livies than the amberjack! When chasing the ambo’s I use a single hook paternoster rig of either 80 or 100lb leader connected to 50lb braid and that seems to do the trick most times.

There have also been some great mulloway caught recently and we’ve managed to boat a few on charter from the Shallow Tempest area. The ones we have boated have fallen to floatlined pilchards but I know some anglers who have been getting plenty on plastics.

The next couple of months are definitely snapper time east of the South Passage Bar and now that the water temperature has dropped, catches should continue to improve, so get out there and nail a few.

With morning south westerlies dominant at this time of year, don't be afraid to do a later start and fish the calmer afternoons once that westerly has dropped out.

• Until next month enjoy your fishing, take care on the coastal bars and if you’d like to join me on charter (Max 8 persons), give me a call on (07) 3822 9527 or 0418 738 750. You can now also visit my new website at www.outlawcharters.com.au.