Trevally at this time of the year come into their own around our southern estuaries and there are certainly plenty of spots to target them in Botany Bay.

Trevally seem to prefer deeper water around structure and I find they like the cleaner water around the entrance of the bay. These fish always seem more active from around 8am through until 10am, with the sun on the water.

Berley is the key when targeting trevally and I find chicken pellets, pilchards and bread are a winning combo, but remember to keep it as fine as you can so your peeled prawn stands out floating down the berley trail. On a run-out tide first up in the morning, a great spot to try is the Oil wharf. At this time of year, the light westerly wind in the morning should help you hang the right way and allow you to fish towards the wharf on the falling tide.

Watts Reef is also good on the run-out tide. Anchor your boat with a reef pick on top of the reef and allow the tide to float your boat just over the drop-off. This will have you fishing over sand in around 10 metres of water on the edge of the reef.

Bare Island is another top spot. I find if you anchor your boat with a sand pick and fish towards the reef, you should find trevally in good numbers.

Trevors are great sport on light tackle and should keep you busy if a good school picks up your berley trail. While they should provide plenty of action, keep only enough for a feed and let the rest go.

The container wall is a heavily-fished spot but still produces plenty of trevally at times. All these spots work on both tides and it’s up to you to work out the best plan of attack on the day, just as I do.

Most of these spots should also produce tailor and the odd bream at this time of the year. If your day has started at 6am, pick one of the spots that I have named and berley with chopped pilchards and fish with ganged hooks and a nice slice of pilchard and allow the bait to drift with the berley. If the tailor don’t show, then change over to a 1/0 9555b Mustad baitholder pattern hook and try for the bream that may have moved in to take advantage of the pilchard berley.

All of these spots are also great for leatherjacket, so it’s worth fishing the bottom around structure. I find the paternoster rig the best method to do so and a thin slice of fresh squid should do the job. At times these spots may not produce any trevally, tailor or bream so give the bottom a shot for leatherjacket you may be surprised.

Last month I let you in on a few items that help in catching fish as the water temperature starts to fall. We spoke about the Parasail 4 sea anchor used for drifting, berley and why it is important, Squidgy and Slider soft plastics.

Another item I find very handy is a good pair of polarised sunglasses. I have tried many brands over the past five years, including plenty of the cheaper pairs and a few of the better quality glasses.

For the type of fishing that I do day-in and day-out, the Mako range suits me down to the ground. I find them very light to wear and good at cutting through the glare on the water surface. This is very important when spinning for flathead around Botany Bay or the Hacking River, allowing you to pick the change in bottom depth and type, helping to pinpoint prime flathead territory.

Something else that helps me locate and catch more fish every outing is simple: Moving around and trying different spots and different methods. If spinning for flathead is not producing, try anchoring up and fishing towards structure for trevally. If that's no good, try trolling along the headlands for tailor or salmon. If you have spent at least half an hour trying each of the types of fishing I have listed at a good selection of the above spots, you should have filled in the morning well and boated a nice feed of fish.

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There’s still a chance of a Botany Bay king this month.