THE HUMID misery of Summer should be starting to subside a little this month but some very hot fishing is still on offer with a wide scope for all.

Around the rocks, anglers are managing to knock out a feed. The annual tailor run has commenced, with rock ledges holding some reasonable choppers. Tailor certainly provide plenty of entertainment, gorging themselves on lightly-weighted pillies or gars on ganged hooks or all manne3r of lures – except for soft plastics!

Tailor are great light tackle adversaries, putting in a great tussle all the way. The next few months will see the tailor run improve as migrating fish push north. Size will also increase, with choppers replaced by larger greenbacks.

Good numbers of blackfish are still poking about with Point Plomer to the north of Port Macquarie being the pick of places to roll a few. These fish have been prevalent right through the Summer, providing great angling for the long float brigade. Fishing for blackfish is a cheap affair once you’ve purchased the gear. The bait can be found at your feet, with cabbage easily gathered from rock pools on site.

Night anglers are still rolling a few fish with good numbers of school jew still cruising the sudsy holes. Not all the fish have been huge but schoolies in the 6kg to 8kg range are certainly nothing to sneeze at. Worms have being doing the damage on these silver torpedoes, which suck them down like spaghetti.

Estuary anglers are still enjoying some great action. Bream, flathead and whiting remain prevalent right throughout out system. Lure and fly fishos have being getting their fair share of action with bream and flathead belting artificials without mercy. The next few months should see little change until the first of the westerlies kick in, putting a different slant on the playing field. So if the long wand, or throwing a few lures, is your go, get out and stuck into it while the action is still there.

Lake Cathie, to the south, is still turning up some thumper whiting. Fish of half a kilo are certainly great sport, worthy adversaries and fantastic eating. Live prawns are the gun bait and they can be gathered easily with a scoop net from the lake. If you’re not keen to get wet dragging a net in the dark, freshly pumped yabbies should get you some action.

Mud and blue swimmer crabs remain in good numbers and are a great by-product of a fishing session. Dillies are the way to go, easily slipped over the side on the way to do a spot of angling. Checking them regularly is important as muddies have a bad habit of going through a dilly pot like a screaming chainsaw. Heavier-grade mesh is available but can be hard to attain.

Outside anglers have had flat seas – hooray! But screaming currents have been making bottom fishing almost impossible some days. Even the use of braided lines, with their thinner diameter and low stretch, is not helping with that nagging current pushing south hard. Fishing on the closer grounds has produced reasonable boxes of snapper, flathead, morwong and the usual suspects.

Rumblings of a few mackerel have been bandied about, with a few of these speedsters being taken from Barries Bay. The next few weeks should set the trend for the rest of the season with, hopefully, a better showing from the mackerel that over the previous few years.

Cobia have been poking about with some small specimens boated. Cobia are a great fighting fish, putting in all the way to the boat and when that dorsal fin breaks the surface, these chocolate brown bruisers are often mistakenly called as sharks. Cobia are greatly sought after for their succulent table qualities but they must have keen eyesight, because as soon as they see a gaff, all hell usually breaks loose.

Photos courtesy of Ocean Star Fishing Charters.