A happy New Year to all our readers and I hope you’re off to a bumper start, landing plenty of fish with a few PBs thrown in!

After the huge dump of rain at the start of December, the Shoalhaven River has livened up. Good patches of prawns have really turned the flathead on, with fishing from either bank by wading out to the edge of the sand flats or drifting east of the Nowra Bridge bringing the greatest success.

Bream have arrived in good numbers and are happy to take almost any kind of surface lure. Early mornings and late afternoons are best, as the massive amount of ski and wakeboard boats about during the day tends to shut them down. This also goes for the bass. Both species are liking the Megabass Siglett and Tiemco Magnums at the moment.

Mulloway are still around in their usual haunts like the canal and The Pole at Greenwell Point, with both bait and lures working well. It’s fresh squid for the bait guys and Shad’s Jew Candy lures for those who want to cast all day.

Monster flathead are definitely on the chew in St Georges Basin. Head east and work the big dropoffs with large paddle tail soft plastics on 1/4oz jigheads for best results. You may also get to wrestle with the elusive Basin mulloway!

Take some lighter gear and shallow diving lures to throw around the flats. Some of the best bream will be caught at this time of year and they’re great fun on 2-3lb fluorocarbon fished straight through.

Around the Jervis Bay cliffs are hordes of rat kingfish, coming up in quarter acre clouds at times. While you’re on your way out there, drag some skirted lures around to pick up the bonito that are available right now.

The marlin have moved in for the summer and the land based game fishos have dedicated any spare time, plus some sick leave, to try and land the big one. If you head out to The Tubes you’ll see people camped out day and night, and if you’re lucky maybe find some space to wet a line. To any boaties fishing around this area, just be aware of the guys on the stones who might be hooked up to that fish of a lifetime. They would certainly appreciate not having their marlin or tuna cut off during the fight.

If you’re after a feed of offshore flathead, head through the Crookhaven mouth and take a left. Line yourself up with the surf club and start a drift using a paternoster rig baited with salted whitebait or prawns. This should see a few lizards hitting the deck in no time.

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The new Mrs Ali Osterloh with an awesome popper-caught giant trevally from her honeymoon.

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Mrs Ash McGoldrick with a Murray cod caught out at Lake Mulwala.