Offshore anglers will be rewarded this month with yellowfin tuna and albacore on most sport fishos’ radars.

With the water hovering around 20°, yellowfin to 60kg will be encountered, as they have over recent weeks.

The seas are usually quite calm during Autumn, allowing the smaller boats to venture further offshore, where the tuna are.

Most anglers will concentrate their efforts from the 70-fathom line to the continental shelf while looking for bait activity, temperature breaks and the ever-reliable tuna terns.

Some albacore to a whopping 20kg can also be expected in the coolish water, along with the odd mako shark.

Trolling smaller skirted pushers is ideal because you can cover a lot of water. Once you locate the fish, try reverting to burley, cubes and live bait – it can pay massive dividends at times and save plenty of fuel.

Snapper will continue to chew on the inshore reefs, with all the usual haunts producing. Use fresh tuna, pilchards and soft plastics for best results and concentrate on early mornings with a tide change.

The flatties have gone a little quiet but those fish being caught are quality. The flattie grounds off Pambula have been the hot spot for a feed of sandies with some big tiger flathead in the deeper water off Long Point. Expect also a few morwong, trevally and leatherjackets.

Local beaches are fishing extremely well for some big salmon, which are liking pillies rigged on ganged 4/0 hooks on an Ezy Rig combination.

Paternoster rigs with bait on one hook and a surf popper on the other are also producing outstanding results.

All beaches are holding fish but the two hot spots lately have been the main beach at Tura and North Bournda, just south of Wallagoot Lake.

Look for the deeper gutters, which are plentiful, fish the incoming tide and you should be in business.

Tailor are also around but are mostly small. Over the next few months, expect bigger tailor to show up.

I have also heard of nice bream and decent flathead from the Pambula River mouth on live beach worms, with pilchards, blue bait and larger soft plastics accounting for some of the flatties.

Rockhoppers targeting a feed have done it hard, with little or no suitable washy water. When conditions get better bream, blackfish, drummer and groper are all possible with fresh weed, cabbage, prawns and cunjevoi best.

I would target spots like Short Point, Long Point and Tura Head.

If you like spinning with metals, May is a cracker for bonito and mackerel tuna. Kingfish are also on the cards with Tura Head and the Merimbula Wharf the hot spots.

Merimbula and Pambula lakes are still producing bream, flathead, blackfish, whiting and mulloway on bait and lures but fresh bait has certainly been best for bream.

Nippers and squirt worms are ideal. If you can’t get the live stuff, fresh prawns or striped tuna should suffice.

Pambula is holding good numbers of trevally over a kilo – great fun on light tackle and not a bad feed if prepared the right way.

We’ve also had a stack of frigate mackerel in Pambula Lake harassing baitfish schools. These little bullets have been loads of fun on light tackle with metal slugs and fish-style soft plastics.