As we head towards another winter, the months ahead provide some of the best fishing around here. There are few visitors to the area, but this is the time for keen fishermen to enjoy the great fishing the Eden area can offer.

Those anglers with big boats heading out chasing game fish are well catered for with a big all-weather boat ramp at Quarantine Bay. At present there has been a great run of striped marlin. These fish are between 70kg and 130kg and have been caught to the north of Eden and south down towards the border. Fish have been taken on trolled lures and live baits, and the successful anglers have found the bait and stayed in the area until the fish turn up.

Striped tuna are out there and it shouldn’t be long before the yellowfin tuna put in an appearance, followed by the southern bluefin. Fishing for kingies has been slow so far this season, but a few good fish are starting to be caught, so hopefully the coming month could see them really fire up.

The fishing on the inshore reefs has been good, with catches of snapper to around 2kg, which is a great eating size. Good catches of sand and tiger flathead have also been recorded. Once the fish are found, keep working the area and you should end up with a good feed. Quality snapper are also being caught off the rocky headlands. If you’re keen to catch a snapper off the rocks, it is important to be soaking baits at first light.

Good drummer, blackfish and bream are also being caught from the same rocky headlands. A berley trail gets everything stirred up.

Plenty of salmon have been caught from the local beaches, along with sand whiting and yellowfin bream.

The local estuaries have been fishing well. A little rain has kept things stirred up, with catches of whiting and yellowfin bream on fresh worms, nippers and prawns. Dusky flathead are still being caught, with anglers fishing with live mullet and soft plastics catching plenty of fish.

The upper freshwater reaches are fishing well for bass, and with all the creeks and rivers flowing, things look good for the months ahead.

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Big bream are being caught — it’s just a matter of being in the right place at the right time.

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Puddles with a nice flathead caught on a soft plastic.