What a difference a few weeks can make! Since I penned my last article heavy, very welcome rain has doused the locality. Flooding was minimal but a good fresh was in the Hastings River system with that brown tinge persisting at low tide.

The rain will have kick-started some great fishing with much needed nutrients now flushed into our system. The drought may not be over but hopefully we are well on the way, especially when it comes to angling.

Rock fishos are still managing to grab a feed. Drummer are still poking about but the season on these black powerhouses is drawing to a close. But that is not to say a few cannot be coaxed to the line through Summer with a bit of persistence.

This time of year the Christmas chopper tailor usually start to run. Mostly these fish are only just choppers although there is sometimes an odd decent fish among them.

Choppers can provide great entertainment when targeted on light spin tackle and are a welcome sight to jewie anglers. Jew just love fresh tailor and large fish can suck down a whole chopper easily.

The Summer months usually see plenty of jewfish action around most local headlands and along our beaches, so gear up and go for one of these large critters. When sunup or sundown coincide with a tide change you stand the best chance. Remember if you’re using live tailor that they have to be the minimum legal size of 30cm and there’s a bag limit of 20.

The large fresh had anglers grabbing for large minnow lures to target jewfish cruising the local walls. When a large fresh is on jew hang at the mouths of rivers looking for an easy feed of schooling mullet waiting for floodwater to recede before proceeding back upstream.

A few good fish were taken but not the size or numbers I have seen on some previous freshes, but catching one of these big fish on a lure is definitely a buzz.

As the fresh clears I expect some good action to take place in the Hastings. A few blackfish are still poking about with most good anglers still managing to scratch out a reasonable feed. This year’s blackfish run has had its ups and downs but has still been very reasonable.

As the water clears I expect flatties to be prevalent, as there were good numbers available before it rained. Soft plastics are certainly user-friendly and a great way of introducing kids to their first form of lure fishing. Flathead are suckers for these multi-coloured tails around sandy drop-offs as the tide runs along.

The next few months are a prime time to target bream on artificials. This time of year sees resident fish move upstream to take up residence in the many snags, rock bars and ledges of our river system.

Bream have similar attributes to bass and are suckers for surface lures. There is nothing better than tweaking a fizzer or Jitterbug and watching it being engulfed by an angry bream – it certainly gets the adrenalin pumping.

It hasn’t been much fun for the offshore fraternity with wind, rain and swell all putting a dampener on offshore excursions over the past month. On the days Huey has smiled upon us there have been a few fish for the taking.

Bottom bouncing has produced some nice reds and mowies along with a few nice samson. Close-in reefs are also producing some nice reds with Nick Parsons boating a ripper fish of 11kg from the shallow water. Fish of this size are a lifetime catch.