Only a trickle of rain has fallen in the Eden area but a lot more is needed to really fire up the fishing.

Good rain creates good conditions for the fish to spawn in the rivers, especially for the estuary perch, bass and black bream. A thorough downpour will flush out feed and really benefit the fishing in years to come.

Offshore over the past month we still saw a few decent sized yellowfin tuna caught but the season is all but over for the game fishers until just before Christmas when the new season starts.

One fish that has given anglers something to look forward to for the Winter is the snapper and all indications show that it should be a good season with plenty of fish to 2kg and a few fish to 4kg being common.

Whether fishing with baits or lures, get in close to the headlands and reefs early and late in the day. When the fish slow down, move out wider and fish deeper.

Good fresh pilchards, fish fillets, squid, octopus, and cuttlefish are all gun baits and are best fished unweighted in a berley trail.

Other reports have indicated good catches of morwong, Maori wrasse, flathead, silver trevally and, if the water gets cold enough, snotty-nosed trevally. However, be aware that there are quite a few barracuda around and these fish will take hooks, sinkers and everything else in their way.

Plenty of lure anglers have been targeting snapper on soft plastics. There are a large variety of plastics available but the 100mm to 150mm sizes seem to produce the best results.

Use jigheads that let the lure flutter down gently and select the right weight, dependent of the current.

The beaches also fish well over Winter with good numbers of big salmon and tailor frequenting the gutters. The average size of the salmon is around 2kg.

The entrance to the Kiah River has fished well for yellowfin bream with the best area along the rock edge. Further into the river, fish are being caught on live nippers on a rising tide.

Wonboyn has produced good sized tailor in the lake and around the entrance.

Yellowfin and black bream have been caught around the oyster leases and in the river with lure fishers doing well on hardbodies and soft plastics.