There are plenty of species to target at this time of year around here.

You could chase salmon, tailor, bream, drummer, groper and luderick off the rocks and salmon, tailor, leatherjackets, bream, silver trevally, slimy mackerel and snapper in Botany and Bate bays. Offshore there are morwong, snapper, chinaman leatherjackets, sweep, pigfish and yellowfin tuna while the estuaries have luderick, bream, whiting, leatherjackets, garfish, mullet, tailor and large flathead.

Fishing off the rocks is not for everyone but if you want to target salmon, tailor, drummer, groper and luderick you could try fishing the Kurnell Peninsula, Boat Harbour, from Shark Island to Sandshoes in Bate Bay, Jibbon Point to the Cobblers, The Balconies, Wattamolla, North Garie, South Garie to South Era Point, Burning Palms, north and south Stanwell Park and the ledge at South Coalcliff.

If I had to single out only one bait for each species I would use whole pilchards for salmon, whole garfish for tailor, peeled prawns for bream, abalone gut for drummer, red crabs for groper and for luderick, green cabbage.

For those who don’t have a boat, try for salmon off the beach in Yarra Bay and at Wanda, tailor off Bare Island and Greenhills Beach, leatherjackets off the breakwall on the northern side of Port Botany and Boat Harbour, bream under the southern side of Tom Uglys bridge and The Alley, silver trevally off Sutherland Point and Oak Park, slimy mackerel in Congwong Bay and snapper off the end of Molineaux Point.

Boat anglers can target salmon in Yarra Bay and Osborne Shoals or troll for tailor along the Molineaux Point breakwall and at Voodoo.

You could try for leatherjackets beside any of the channel markers and the northern side of Jibbon Bombora. There should be bream at the mussel grounds off Dolls Point and Shelly Beach Point, silver trevally at Shark Island and The Drums and slimy mackerel and snapper at Watts Reef and Blackwoods Beach.

If the seas are reasonably calm you could try for morwong, snapper, chinaman leatherjackets, sweep, pigfish at places like the Wedding Cake Island (S33°55.544, E151°15.900), the Twelve Mile (S33°55.660, E151°28.510), The Peak (S33°58.760, E151°21.760), the Hacking wreck (S34°08.330, E151°09.050), The Hump (S34°13.667, E151°07.045) and The Restaurant (S34°14.200, E151°00.200).

My main baits would be pilchards, strips of tuna, bonito, pike, yellowtail, squid, whole prawns and slimy mackerel.

At Browns Mountain (S32°02.04, E151°39.50) or The Peak (S33°58.760, E151°21.760) you could troll or cube for yellowfin tuna.

In southern Sydney you can fish in the Georges, Woronora and Hacking rivers, all of which are very productive during August. It is just a matter of working out what you are going to target and stick to it.

Here again is a list of places and fish: Luderick, Soily Point and Woronora Bridge; bream, Bald Face Point and Lilli Pilli baths; whiting, Maianbar, the end of River Road and Bonnet Bay; yellowfin leatherjackets, northern side of Tom Uglys Bridge, Cooks River breakwall and South-West Arm; garfish, Gunnamatta baths, Prince Edward Park and Lugarno; mullet, Audrey Bay, the southern side of the Captain Cook Bridge and Picnic Point; tailor Lilli Pilli baths, Woolooware Bay entrance and Kangaroo Point; large flathead, directly out from the ramp at Bonnet Bay, The Moons and Greys Point.

Whether it’s the first time you scored a soccer goal, rugby try or parachuted out of a plane, your first fish on a lure or your first metre-long flathead, the first time for everything is special.

Scott Lyons and I teamed up together for the first time a few years ago and started teaching fishing classes on the water. The day was not about catching bags of fish, it was about teaching other anglers how to go about refining their fishing techniques so they, too, could experience firsts.

Now, after two years’ planning, Scott and I have produced our first DVD, on how to fish Botany Bay.

We are going to give you the chance to win one of five free copies by writing up to 200 words and submitting a photo about your own first in fishing. Post your entry to Fishing Firsts, 1 Sabugal Road, Engadine, NSW 2233.