Wagonga Inlet has continued to produce good-sized mulloway on bait and lures.

While guiding there recently a client, Helen, had an experience she won’t forget in a hurry. After using soft plastics for 45 minutes, she hooked into quite a formidable opponent. Using 6lb braid and 10lb trace, 35 minutes passed before a beaut 11.77kg mulloway was safely in the boat. It was a great angling effort in deep water and the smiles aboard the boat said it all.

Other mulloway have been landed too, with the average size around 8kg. A lot of these fish are falling to fresh squid and live mullet but targeting these bronzed brutes on plastics does it for me. The fish are widespread throughout the system; find some bait and concentrate your efforts around it.

The channels are still holding good quantities of bream and flathead with huge schools of mullet towards the entrance. Every day on the run-up tide anglers are having a ball on the mullet near the 8 knot sign on the eastern side of the channel. Bread and dough is all you need for the mullet, with fish to 1kg common.

With the cooler water this month expect bigger trevally to enter the system. Small plastics like the Squidgy Wriggler, 3” Gulps and Juro Firebaits will work. Live nippers and striped tuna should also do the trick.

Montague Island has been sporadic at times; the kingies bite one day then nothing for the next two. It does get frustrating but as a rule, if the current is pushing south, the kings will bite. If not, target something else.

When they do decide to chew, all methods will work. Bigger kings on the surface are a possibility this month, especially if there are sauries around. Slow trolling live slimy mackerel will get you results too. You will get bigger fish but be prepared to lose baits to the seals.

May is prime time for yellowfin tuna and fish to 60kg can be expected. The continental shelf to the 1000-fathom line is the place to fish, with 24kg stand up the minimum tackle in my books. You never know when a jumbo will decide to play the game. On 24kg at least you’ll have a chance of landing it.

With the cooler water albacore should be prolific, with mako sharks following the tuna schools.

The inshore snapper run should be in full swing with good fish on most inshore reefs. Potato Point, Brou and Fullers are the pick with fresh squid and cuttlefish the preferred baits. Morwong, dory and flatties should make up the rest of the bags.

The flat seas we usually get in May sometimes make rock fishing difficult, with no wash. Drummer, blackfish and bream will still be there but you might have to fish a shallower rock ledge or one that has a bommie in front of it. The best around here is Dalmeny Headland. With very fresh bait it’s your best chance of getting a feed.

For those who target pelagics off the stones, this month is ideal. Bonito, mack tuna, kingfish and longtails are all a possibility with lures and live bait the best methods. Mystery Bay, south of Narooma, would be the pick but the rocks at the golf course are worth a look too. Nearly every good tuna I’ve caught off the stones around this area has come in May so now is the time to target one.

The beaches have been alright without being red-hot. With the flat seas, gutters are hard to find and so are the fish. The best gutter is still at Tilba, with salmon and tailor having a chew. With the flatter seas, fishing after dark on a rising tide will see you catch a lot more fish, especially with beachworms, pilchards and bluebait.