Traditionally August is a windy month, the prevailing westerly helping to make the beaches and headlands good places to fish.

With good numbers of drummer coming from the southern headlands, more of this action will be available this month.

The beaches have been producing some thumper bream and those venturing out after dark have been well rewarded. Tailor numbers around Port are always reasonably low but the mail I’ve received indicates Point Plomer, Big Hill and Delicate have been performing well and worth a trip.

Salmon have been in decent numbers and should be easy targets from the beaches and headlands. Look for good-sized gutters along Lighthouse Beach and if the conditions are right they should be feeding freely and willing to take metal slugs, cut bait or pilchards. The good old Thai fishcake recipe will again be in full swing.

Offshore action has been good with reports of some nice snapper and pearl perch. Conditions should be good if the currents hold and the winds don’t get too strong.

Leatherjackets should be still about and the inshore reefs should be the places to target some big snapper. The Cod Grounds should also be worth a try this month; good fish were caught there last August and if the currents are friendly there could be some great catches. With deep jigging techniques taking off I’m sure we’ll hear some good reports.

If you fish out of Port Macquarie or Laurieton and get some good captures then drop me an email or, better still, send me some high-resolution pics.

The river has fished consistently well and should continue to do so. Those willing to put the work in have earned some good results.

Wayne Bale and I had a morning session on the Camden Haven chasing bream and managed around 20 and half a dozen flathead. We had eight bream over 32cm fork length and also caught two unlikely characters, a maori cod and maori groper.

The fish came from a variety of structure, from the rock walls down the mouth of the river to the flats, natural banks and oyster leases on a selection of lures from soft plastics to hardbodies. The tide was high when we encountered these fish but we have had somewhat tougher sessions on the low tides.

When the tides have been low, I’ve been heading up the Hastings River chasing bream in the snags and coming up trumps with some nice fish, a few good flathead and the odd bass. Brendan Kiely joins me regularly and was lucky enough to catch his first bass on one trip, then followed it up with a 48cm bruiser that jumped all over an Ecogear SX40. Hard lures have been working a treat in the timber and well worth trying if the conditions down the bottom of our systems are too tough.

Those wanting to take home a feed this month can’t go past the luderick. The walls have been packed lately with those soaking weed and getting a nice feed for the table should be little trouble.

If you’re willing to brave the cold nights then setting up with a bait along the walls or any decent drop-offs will get some good bream. Don’t be surprised if the odd school mulloway turns up and from what I’ve heard lately, there are a few sharks about. It would pay to be careful when reaching over to land your catch at night.