Now that things are starting to warm up it’s time to check our gear and make ready for the Summer ahead. Kingfish, bonito, tailor and salmon are welcome visitors to our southern waters in Summer and provide plenty of action for anglers keen on chasing surface speeders on light tackle.

The gear you require for this type of fishing is a light spin stick of around two metres matched with a suitable threadline reel and spooled with 6kg fine line.

I carry two important lure types throughout the whole Summer when chancing pelagics. The first lure type is a great standby and has accounted for plenty of fish over the years – small chrome slices. The other lure type I favour is soft plastics. Small Squidgies and Slider grubs are ideal for fussy salmon, and larger stick-type plastics are great choices for kings. Just keep them away from toothy critters like tailor and bonito.

Early morning starts are the key because on some days the action may only last until 9am but will repeat itself later in the afternoon. It becomes a ritual each morning as we cut across the Bay looking for birds feeding, showing us where to start the day. Plenty of fast action usually follows.

When you have found a feeding school try to work out the drift or the direction the school is heading and allow them to approach you. This will stop you from spooking them and sending them down. Once a school goes down they may not resurface.

Trevally and flathead are also caught from underneath surface feeding fish. If you allow your plastics or metal slices to sink to the bottom you may be surprised at the mixed bag you end up with at the end of the outing.

So there you have it. This should give you plenty to do before the surface speeders grace us with their presence once again this Summer.

1) Kingfish are great fun on light gear.