At the moment we seem to have gotten rid of all the nasty cold, wet, southerly weather, and warmer days and north easterly winds are dominating.

I’ve had a bit of time to check out the upriver parts of the Manning, including the fresh water upstream as far as Tiri crossing. Before the rains of a month or so ago the Manning was very low and only just flowing, but a week before the heavy rains the springs that flow into the river opened up. This put about a 3ft rise in the river. The water was gin clear and flowing well. Then the heavy rain upstream occurred and the river rose to 8ft and the water was filthy.

The river has since cleared and is running nicely, with the water covering most of the gravel patches. There are plenty of schools of mullet working in the shallows but the fish are small, only 20-28cm in length. Bass have been taken as far upriver as a mile above Tiri and no doubt they have travelled upstream to the headwaters of the Manning and the Gloucester rivers. It seems that this year will be a great one for the freshwater anglers.

It seems that quite a lot of the mullet that came downstream this year did not go to sea but spawned and went back up the river. This will make the next mullet run something to behold.

The bream have moved up the river and many schools of fish have been seen around the bridge at Taree and further up river towards Wingham. At Harrington a few bream are still being caught from the rock walls but the best catches are coming from upstream.

Luderick are biting well on weed and at night, on yabbies. There are no big ‘bronzies’ being caught, only smaller, darker fish to 500g.

The mulloway turned up around the full moon for a few days, and fish to 15kg were caught on live baits and soft plastics.

At the present time our beaches are flat with a gutter running nearly the full length of the beach. The northeasterlies will form the holes, gutters and sand flats that provide good fishing features in the next few weeks.

A few tailor have been caught on bait and lures from the beaches and rocks, but we will have to wait for the Christmas run of fish before the numbers increase. Smaller salmon to 2kg can be taken from both Harrington and Crowdy beaches. The southern end of Crowdy beach has produced small bags of bream to 1kg.

There have been plenty of snapper coming in around the 5kg mark as well as smaller specimens. Both the northern and southern grounds are producing fish. Kingfish to 14kg have been landed on jigs and live bait, and pearl perch to 4kg have come from the wider marks. Flathead are still being taken on the drift from the wider marks.

Overall, November can be a very productive month for river and outside anglers. In the river luderick and whiting will be the most predominant species while boat anglers will be able to troll lures for bonito and mackerel as well as live bait for jew and snapper around the close-in reefs.