First and foremost I would like to wish all the readers of NSWFM a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and I hope that your Santa stockings are filled with plenty of new fishing gear and that you find the time to get out there and enjoy your fishing as much as I do.

Before I get into my report for December I would like to let you know that the Sutherland Shire Council is planning upgrades to 10 of our existing boat ramps. The works are scheduled to start from May 2016 and finish June 2018.

The types of changes will vary from place to place, but in general they will be upgrading some of the actual boat ramps, providing some new facilities for small craft such as canoes and kayaks, the demolition and replacement of existing wharfs and jetties, floating pontoons, and an upgrade of nearby foreshore and car parks.

These projects will be jointly funded by Council’s input of $2.62 million from the Infrastructure Program, along with grants totalling $1.74 million from NSW Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) under its Boating Now program. This is a total spend of $4.36 million.

So over the next two and a bit years you will start to notice a number of changes to these 10 launching facilities in the Sutherland Shire and the only inconvenience you will have to put up with is the closure of some of the existing ramps while the work is done. These changes are sure to make boating in the Sutherland Shire a more pleasurable past time.

If you are into beach fishing the following beaches will start to fire over the next month and into the New Year. Maroubra, Bondi, Coogee, Green Hills, Wanda, Cronulla, Wattamolla, Marley, Garie, South Era, Burning Palms, Stanwell Park and Coal Cliff will be the pick of the beaches for bream, whiting and dart during the day. You can also try fishing during the night for tailor, Australian salmon and mulloway.

For those of you that don’t mind fishing off the rocks back into the gutters that will run parallel to the rocks at the end of some of the beaches can also hook into silver trevally, drummer, luderick and the odd groper. Kingfish will have started to show up in their usual haunts in Botany Bay and the Port Hacking River. Places that are worth a shot are Sutherland Point, Henry Head, Bare Island, the Drums, the end of both of the runways and trevally alley in Botany Bay. Also try in the Port Hacking southwest arm, Lilly Pilly, Jibbon Point, Sandshoes, Jibbon Bombora and Shark Island.

The best bait by far is live squid which can also be caught at all the places listed above. If you can’t get live squid you should buy some fresh squid or catch a few yellowtail and slimy mackerel. I have also caught kingfish on live poddy mullet that were meant to be taken by flathead.

Dusky flathead, bream, whiting, flounder, silver trevally and the odd legal sized snapper can also be caught at the above places. You will need to have run in the water and you will need to have a small, but steady berley stream going out the back of your boat.

As mentioned earlier, the dusky flathead will be one of the fish species that will be around in number during December. So get out those soft plastics and blades and start working those drop-offs. If you don’t like using artificials you could always try to catch small yellowtail and or poddy mullet, hooking one through the nose and dropping it over the side. They can also be great to use when fishing from the shore.

One of my favourite places to do this is from the beach that runs for Brighton-Lee-Sand to Dolls Point. All you need to do is find a patch of sand and cast you bait out and wait for the flathead to grab it. This section of shoreline is a great place to bring the family.

Josh Wilson sent me a short email about some of the fish he and his dad have caught in the Georges River around our area. Some of which have included mulloway and bream. His latest was a cracker! Keep up the great work Josh.

If you would like more information of the fishing in southern Sydney, just send me an email at --e-mail address hidden-- and if you have something to report or a photo you might like to see in the magazine just send me an email.

There will be upgrades and changes made to the following 10 boat ramps and their facilities.

Bonnet Bay Boat Ramp Bonnet Bay

Burnum Burnum Sanctuary Boat Ramp Woronora River

Captain Cook Bridge on the Southern Side

Connell Road Boat Ramp Oyster Bay

Lugarno Ave in Burraneer Bay, Port Hacking

Holts Point Place Boat Ramp at Sylvania

Old Ferry Road, Georges River at Illawong

Scylla Bay boat ramp and wharf at Como

Tom Ugly’s Bridge Wharf at Sylvania

Tokin Street Boat Ramp at Cronulla