October is the start of great things to come! The beach fishing is really on the improve, with a variety of cross species like the Australian salmon in numbers, and normally they’re of good quality this month.

There are plenty of whiting around, with some quality fish showing up. North Narrabeen lagoon entrance is fishing well at the entrance as well as the first half a dozen gutters southward. In the lagoon entrance you can easily get away with using a light 1.5-1.7m rod suitable for 2kg mono or braid with your 2000 size reel. It only becomes a problem if you want to go into the surf zone with that type of outfit, especially if the surf is 1m+. It pays to take a 3m+ rod/reel 3-4kg outfit enabling you to use sinkers in excess of 2oz without the rod tip loading up too much before you even cast it.

When you can get them, blood worms are the best bait. Pink nippers, beach worms and tube worms also catch their fair share.

Further north, Warriewood beach, like Mona Vale is not fished as frequently as Narrabeen but is producing good results. Heading south of Narrabeen, Dee Why has a good population. Dee Why and Mona Vale have some quality tarwhine and bream as well. Curl Curl has good numbers of bream, and you can expect up to five fish an outing with a few whiting. This beach is very rippy, and that being the case nearly always has a gutter or two that has a depth of 2-3m.

Manly has a mix of bream, whiting and some flathead. Mulloway have made a showing, with a report of a 12kg fish from Dee Why. It’s worth you putting in the effort. A few salmon have been picking up livies, butterflied fish baits and squid baits.

The bronze and dusky whaler sharks have not shown up in numbers yet, with only the occasional one being reported. However, towards December onwards they will be the dominant predator on the beaches.

There’s been another report of a good mulloway of nearly 1m from mid Palm Beach. My pick for mulloway in October is to fish the New Moon highs from Saturday the 10th to Sunday the 18th, then the full moon highs from Sunday the 25th to Saturday the 31st. take into account that it’s great to fish those really late tides, providing you have the next day off or you don’t mind having had hardly any sleep, especially for the weekday worker.

The rock fishing is improving with an increase in species, especially towards the end of this month. The kings are making a showing, with fish to 80cm being reported from Flat Rock at south Curl Curl, a few from the Hat and some from Bluefish as well. Jet poppers, white Slapstix and small/medium sized live yellowtail are working OK. There’s luderick, salmon and some nice squid from these spots, too.

We’ll see more snapper caught this month and, like the kings, they will increase in number as the month progresses. Distance casting and wash fishing for snapper is one of my very favourite forms of fishing. Bluefish, south and north Curl Curl, Warriewood, south Whale rocks are some of the better locations for good snapper. It pays to stand up from a high vantage point, where you can see the dark and light patches indicating the sand and reef edges. Cast out to these lighter patches when you are distance casting to vastly reduce the chance of snagging. Besides that, between the sand and reef is a likely spot for a nice red.

Fresh squid is nearly always a great option. I normally use strips and the head section. Bottle squid with a tube size of 5-10cm make a sensational snapper bait. As I always say though, it’s good to use a variety of baits. I normally have two to three types. Salted slimy mackerel and salted striped tuna strips are a good choice, and cuttlefish sometimes catches fish when the squid fails – strange as that may sound to a lot of anglers.

The rock blackfish and groper are still two of the main species with the luderick at this time of the year. The Hat and Little Bluey at Manly, north Curl Curl, Long Reef, Warriewood, Mona Vale Rocks, Bangally Head have all been producing.

This month have a go at the whiting, bream and mulloway off the beach. Off the rocks, the big pigs and an increase in snapper and king numbers should make it interesting. Good luck to all anglers.