May should be quite interesting if the past few months have been anything to go by. Reasonably calm and predictable weather along with quite a few fish on most fronts – what more could you ask for?

If you’re a soft plastics aficionado then May would have to be your favourite month. The flathead have just about shut down but if it’s reds and jewies that turn you on, you should be out there throwing plastics in the Shoalhaven River, off the Comerong Breakwall or in Jervis Bay.

Most anglers I’ve spoken to are catching fish and a local band of soft-plastic crazies are doing very well on jewies in the river and snapper in Jervis Bay. They don’t give too much away when it comes to divulging locations or fish caught but you can’t keep everything secret. Several of these guys have been spotted fishing early mornings and rumour has it that some nice fish are being caught.

As I write this I’ve got a few weeks to finish the new boat with radios and sounder to be fitted along with a canopy and clears. This hasn’t stopped us getting out and doing a bit here and there. We’ve sneaked out a few times and caught a feed of squid and we had a great session in JB a week ago tossing metal lures at washes around Target and Long Nose.

I was hoping to find some salmon but instead we hooked some thumper tailor on light tackle. Some of the fish were nudging 2.5kg and my daughters had an absolute ball on light tackle.

There are some nice salmon about and back in March we had a heap of whitebait around that in turn attracted some big schools of frigate mackerel. For a month or two it was pelagic heaven with schools of salmon, tailor and frigates just about everywhere you looked. Great fun on light threadline outfits and 6lb or 8lb braid.

Jervis Bay has also been producing some good catches of squid. I know some anglers who reckon squidding isn’t worthwhile because they aren’t fish and they don’t fight a lot. My family love fishing for squid and we also don’t mind a free fee of fresh calamari. I love get out and have a family day of squid fishing on the water with Christine and the kids.

If the seas are up and outside fishing is all but impossible or if the gamefishing scene is quiet well usually pack a picnic lunch and head out in Jervis Bay for a day of chasing squid. We’ll often toss a few soft plastics for a red or even throw some small metal lures into the washes for a salmon or tailor.

We’ll find somewhere sheltered to have morning ea or lunch and if the weather is warm well have a swim also or even have a play with the biscuit behind the boat over at Long Beach. These really are great times spent as a family and with the kids growing up rapidly, I’m really making the most of our times together.

My young bloke is an apprentice carpet layer and gets around a fair bit with his work. He was out in Kangaroo Valley recently working near the Kangaroo River. He couldn’t help checking it out for fish at lunchtime and found some good schools of carp swimming about.

I can remember catching some nice carp on fly a few years ago up that way when I had a ball on fish to 6kg on 2kg tippet over a No 4 fly rod. Some people will also tell you that catching carp isn’t real fishing, either, but I’ve spent up to 15 or 20 minutes trying to land a solid carp on 2kg tippet, so they do fight.

I saw them cooked up as the main ingredient on the TV show Iron Chef recently but don’t ask me to even think about eating one. But I might have to head back up the Kangaroo Valley some time and have another go at those carp on fly.

Our family is excited at the arrival of our new boat, an Evolution 550 from PM Marine in Melbourne. Paul and Melinda Junginga were fantastic and delivered an immaculate boat with a rocket launcher and 150 E-Tec motor on time and without a hassle. It has dual batteries and isolator in the transom along with a tackle locker and deck wash. A very neat live-bait tank is incorporated in the passenger seat pedestal and there are lights under the gunwales and in the cabin.

It looks like we’ll miss out on the marlin this season but I’m hopeful of finding a few yellowfin and albacore to keep us busy in Autumn and early Winter.

We’ll also be spending a bit of time out chasing kings with downrigged livebaits or jigs this Winter. We had a ball last Winter and I’ve got a few new tricks I want to try this season.

We’ll also be out chasing reds in close or inside Jervis Bay and probably getting the odd feed of calamari. After several months without a boat, the family is champing at the bit to spend some time on the water. I reckon the Platinum 550 will be very well suited to that.