Whiting have been on in recent weeks, with good specimens out on the beaches and in the river. Worms have been the most popular bait, and little poppers have been taking their share as well. Bassday Sugapens are still the most popular popper choice for these fish.

Out on the beaches, there are some really nice bream around and squire off the headlands. There have been a few big snapper been taken off the headlands too, with a 5.3kg one caught only a week or so ago. Floating out a pilly is your best bet to catch a snapper.

Beach fishers are catching some reasonable size dart, and there are still some nice school-size mulloway being taken on the wall at night and off the headlands. Some nice tarwhine are also prowling the open beaches.

Inside the river, the flathead fishing has been a bit ordinary. There is the odd monster around, but certainly the fishing still could improve on the flathead front. It should start to improve soon though. At the moment the water in the river is still very clean, but it’s likely we’ll get more rain before long, and that will give us the dirtier water we need. The flatties are taking a mixture of bait and plastics, with the most popular plastic being the 7g Zerek Live Shrimp. Anglers are also picking up the odd school mulloway in the river.

Some big snapper have been caught offshore in the last couple of weeks. We recently had two 10kg snapper weighed in – a 10.6kg specimen from Black Rock and a 10.4kg snapper from an undisclosed location. There’s also the odd cobia getting caught.

A couple of yellowtail kingfish have been caught off the Bluff recently, in the 60-70cm size class.

If you’re keen to catch some crabs for Christmas dinner, there are a few blue swimmers around and the odd mud crab, with the better catches of muddies coming from further up the river.

For more information on what’s biting and where, drop into Iluka Bait & Tackle on 3 Owen St, Iluka. You can also reach them on 02 6646 5217 or ‘Like’ their page on Facebook.