After the last couple of months the weather has finally settled allowing anglers to fish further afield. For those lucky enough to fish the gutters and beyond, the results have been fantastic.

June and July are traditionally good months for coral trout and so far this year has been a corker. I’ve had reports of guys bagging out on trout several days in a row from 1770 to Fraser Island. Most of the catches have been out wide but there are still a few in close on the shallower reefs. Livebait is responsible for most captures but lots are still being caught on squid and flesh baits.

Cod, coral bream, snapper and scarlet sea perch have also been fishing well and should continue to do so for the next few months.

Bream and flathead are still around in good numbers and responding well to bait and lures. Soft plastics and minnows are producing the goods and if that doesn’t work try flicking poppers in the shallows.

Bream better than 32cm have been smashing surface lures and when devour them they look more like a barra than a bream. It’s great visual fishing and worth a shot if nothing else is working.

Winter is very productive around the many islands between Fraser and the mainland.

Slow trolling lures at varying depths around the rock ledges, bommies and sandflats that surround these islands is like a lucky dip of species – you never know what will hit the lure next.

I spent some time trolling around the Sandy Straits recently and had a blast catching several species of trevally, spottie mackerel, cod, flathead and a 150cm barracuda! That’s not bad for an area that needs green zones put in place to preserve fish stocks for the future!

So if battling the crowds for a feed of winter whiting isn’t your thing, why not try a spot of trolling? You might be pleasantly surprised.