With the holiday period over, the town is starting to settle a bit after a hectic few weeks.

Kingfish action is now in full swing with everyone getting in on things. There have been patches of fish off North Head but the bulk of the action has been, as usual, off Mowarrie Point.

The size of the fish can vary from day to day with plenty of undersize ‘rats’ one day and fish to 9kg the next.

The kings can be found in close, not far from the headland while at other times the best run is a couple of kilometres offshore. Using a sounder to locate the schools takes out a lot of the guesswork. Then employ a number of techniques to hook up on these hard-fighting fish.

Big soft plastics such as large Squidgy Flick Baits or Firebait Pelagic Minnows can be dropped to the bottom and then hopped and jigged – then hang on. Good strong hooks are required for this sort of battle and the Bassmaster range offers various weights and styles on quality hooks that won’t let you down.

On the occasions when the kings come to the surface it’s hard to match the excitement that comes from casting poppers and watching the spectacular strikes.

Farther offshore, the action on striped marlin has started to fire up with a couple of captures reported already. There has also been the odd yellowfin tuna caught with the main run well over the continental shelf.

Plenty of sharks have been sighted, from the shelf right through to the inshore reefs.

Inshore there has still been a feed for those soaking baits with flathead, morwong, leatherjackets and snapper all to be expected.

For those fishing the beaches, the building tides of the morning around the new and full moons have been the best option for bream, whiting, tailor and small salmon.

One beach angler recently found a patch of good sized salmon and was surprised to catch a kingfish of 70cm that took his metal lure.

The rivers have been fishing well for bream, flathead and tailor with lures and fresh bait the way to go. Schools of sand whiting have been showing up in all the estuaries with squirtworms and live prawns the top baits. It’s best to use these on a run-out tide at night for maximum results.

With the hot days there has been some great popper fishing for bass with the new Strike Pro Rack Raider catching plenty of fish.