The Summer species should still be around in numbers this month and some of the larger mangrove jacks seem to be caught as they start to fatten up for their excursions offshore.

Don’t be afraid to upgrade the size of your lures and livies to tempt the bigger specimens. I have been casting 14cm Rapalas and getting some bigger fish. I remember one fish that blew me away on 30lb braid! The power of these fish still never fails to amaze me.

The Jacks have been well spread out throughout the Tweed and it has just been a question of casting the rock walls and snags or picking a good-looking spot and drifting a few livies.

April is also a very good month to chase the larger GTs and other trevally in the Tweed. Once again, try to chuck the bigger lures to deter the smaller fish.

We have been having a fair amount of success chasing these fish up the Chinderah arm of the Tweed at night. The river truly comes to life at night and I have found it quite hard to leave the peace and quiet of the river (sometimes disturbed by fish chopping bait) to go back home.

One just needs to be a bit more wary when traversing the river at night because there are sometimes large trees and other debris floating around that can be quite hazardous to navigation.

At the time of writing the flathead were really starting to get active again. The majority of these fish were still rather small but there were some good keepers among them. Flicking softies around the flats above Super Cat and the Piggery has been productive. In the Terranora Arm the area behind Seagulls and up behind the airport have also been good.

Drifted pillies and mullet fillets have also been accounting for a few of these fish. A good technique is to get a few live herring and drift them, lightly weighted, along the sandbar drop-offs. We have scored some good flatties doing this as well as a few other species.

The whiting will also still be around in numbers with a few good-sized bream starting to show their faces as well. I am looking forward to chasing the bream on softies again this Winter. It’s amazing how we fishos are: When it’s Winter we can’t wait for Summer and when it’s Summer we cant wait for Winter! I suppose that is the beauty of the Tweed, it is a year-round fishery that always has something to offer the fisho.

The action should really start to fire in the upper reaches this month, as long as the rains give us a bit of a break. But if we get these constant downpours then take careful note of the previous few days’ weather before deciding to go upstream or down.

The flats up around the Piggery, Super Cat and Fingal have all been producing good numbers of whiting with some good sessions also up around Condong. Try to fish as light as possible for these fish, especially on the top of the tide when the water really cleans up.

If you want some good up to date advice or some gear for a quick trip up the Tweed then pop in to Angler’s Warehouse or call them on 07 5536 3822.

April is a good month for the inshore reefs. Trolling hard lures around the edges of the reef will produce a mixed bag of yellow fin tuna, mackerel, mack tuna or wahoo. If you want to target the wahoo try trolling Hex Heads around 12 to 14 knots for some spectacular strikes.

If the Nine Mile doesn’t fire, give Fidos a go. Some very large GTs and big-eye trevally have also turned up as well. If you are targeting mackerel then slow-trolling live slimies or tailor is an excellent technique.

Anchoring up and floating pillies and livies down a berley trail will also bring results. Don’t be surprised if a small black marlin grabs a bait intended for mackerel because there are still a few around.

April is a good month to fish the Tweed coast so get out there. You will probably have to excuse me – I normally say that every month is a good month for fishing because we all know that a bad day fishing beats a good day working!