Hopefully all the avid readers got stockings full of lures over the Christmas period and picked up some great bargains on all the sales days that followed. I know I certainly added some new gear to the collection.

Each year I try to set myself a goal to target a new species, or one I have not targeted for quite some time and I would encourage everyone to do the same.

Throughout December, there has been some great threadfin fishing up in the river town reaches with plenty of people getting jacks and grunter too. The creeks and estuaries certainly copped a hiding with the holidays, but are fishing well even under all the pressure.

Closed season for our dominant sportfish is still in action, but there have been reports of plenty of threadies, blue salmon and golden snapper around the river, predominantly towards the mouth with all the islands and narrow branching creek systems.

The town reaches have been holding a good population of threadfin and grunter. The threadies have been going well on lightly-weighted plastics using a prawn-like pattern. There have been numerous mangrove jack caught around the area recently, with most of them being taken on soft plastics.

There’s been plenty of small mullet around the ramps lately and all around that 7cm mark, making them perfect predator lollies, especially for the big bull sharks that have been in the river.

In the creeks and on the beaches there have been really good numbers of flathead lurking, especially for this time of year.

Grunter have not been an issue to target either, and have even been schooling up hard against mangrove edges.

Whiting have been a consistent catch over the shallows on both lures and lightly-weighted yabbies pumped from the yabby beds.

Bream have been a common catch around the inlets, feeder creeks and rubble patches, and they have been hitting pretty much anything thrown at them. The most consistent lures recently in the estuaries would be the Gulp 3” Minnow in watermelon pearl and the Rapala X-Rap 8 in olive colour.

The combination of summer heat, storms and the abundance of small baitfish has turned the fresh right up. The best areas are around the lilies or tree lines. Small curl-tail plastics such as the make any fish in the freshwater lagoons come out and play! With a few more hot days getting into the middle of summer with the occasional rain, the freshwater areas should be filled will sportfish to target. Whoever wants to take up a challenge, casting a fly around the lilies should get good results.

The crabs this time of the year are extremely active and full to the top with meat. With all the summer sales, crab pots are cheap as ever making it an affordable day on the water for anyone to give it go! Crabbing is a great way to pass the time when the fishing is slow, and I know many people who go crabbing without wetting a line. For me, a few pots out is just another bit of fun while out chasing a prized catch on rod and reel.

It’s time to make that New Year’s resolution to target a species you haven’t targeted before or for quite some time!