April is the start of our land based game season. Hopefully the rains that we had at the end of summer won’t mess with the season too much. The Spanish mackerel don't mind a little colour, but the longtail tuna are a bit more finicky.

Watching the weather and sea surface temperatures closely will help you to be out on the stones at the right time with the greatest chance of pulling one of those pelagic speedsters up on the bricks. It can be a bit of a lucky dip when you send out your live bait or throw a lure at this time of year, because you never know what you might hook. The bycatch sure can be interesting, ranging from mega tussles with sharks or marlin, to a nice tasty mulloway.

LBG is all about early starts and long days sitting in the elements with not much action. You may think that sounds boring, but trust me, the times when it all does comes together can have you walking around with a smile on your dial for ages and it’s very addictive.

So if your spouse gets upset with you going out for a quick bream fish, don't take up LBG fishing because I know blokes that go missing for months on end when the longtails are working the east coast.

If this is all happening on land, you can bet it will also be happening outside as well. The boat fishos should be getting the same species at the usual spots like Shark Bay and Angourie. There are not many things more fun than trying to put the brakes on a longtail tuna with light gear. It always pays to have a casting outfit rigged up and ready to fire, so if you see a bit of bird action, you’re ready to go — and they can ‘go’ quite quickly sometimes.

If chasing an upgrade on your Spanish mackerel, you can't go past trolling a live bait. Try any of the usual suspects like yakkas, mullet or gar, but by far the best is a slimy mackerel. Slow trolling one around any of the inshore reefs should see you in with a good chance of connecting to something big.

In the river, everyone will be keeping an eye out for the mullet and what feeds on them — the mighty Clarence Valley mulloway. Find the mullet and you can guarantee a few big silver slabs won't be too far behind.

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Some of the fun things you can get into at this time of year — boat a cobia…

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…maybe a nice Spanish mackerel…

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… or do what local mulloway fisho Mark Pixie does, and concentrate on the silver ghosts when the mullet are around.