You couldn't ask for a better lead up to Christmas, with the fishing absolutely bonkers up here. Everyone I have spoken to seems to be cleaning up on their chosen species whether it be up a creek, in the estuaries, on the reef, or bluewater fishing.

The northerlies have made conditions difficult to fish out the front, however, if you can get out, there are stacks of mackerel around Point Vernon, Fairway Bouy and Moon Ledge. The flats are still producing decent bream, whiting, and there are flathead everywhere. The creeks have been a popular choice while the wind is playing up, and why not when there are jacks, cod, threadfin salmon and big grunter getting around? A few muddies have been potted lately, with plenty of jennies among them but enough bucks to make it worthwhile.

Platypus Bay has been mental for the past few months with film crews and fishing journalists from around the country chasing our annual run of black marlin. Every year the numbers seem to get better and double figure shots at billfish per day has been a common occurrence inside Fraser Island. There have been a heap of pictures on social media including the estimated 70kg bigeye tuna caught on fly by sight casting in the flats recently. Out wide over the bar a couple of big boats had a great day chasing blue marlin and then backed it up with a staggering 39 black marlin in one day on the light tackle grounds. That is world-class fishing in anyone’s book! Around Rooneys, most fish are 10-30kgs and around 1-3 years old – on light threadline and overhead gear they are a tonne of fun. There are plenty of other species feeding on the bait with mackerel, longtail and mac tuna along with a host of other species taking everything from plastics, metals, fly and on the troll. With an ocean full of pelagics to play with and everything else going off this Chrissy is shaping up to be a cracker!

Good luck, be safe and have a very fishy Christmas!