The past month in wonderful Weipa has seen consistent fishing offshore and in the estuaries. The barramundi fishing has been some of the best I have seen for this time of year, thanks to a great wet season, and larger size specimens have been found in good numbers.

GT, queenies and tuna have also graced our waters this month and have provided some exciting offshore fishing.

May is generally one of our most consistent months of the year, and this is once again true for 2010.

Estuary fishing has been outstanding, with reports of fingermark, king salmon, blue salmon, grunter and barramundi flowing in. Most fish are being caught on large live mullet in smaller creek mouths towards the entrance of the river system, and the Mission River bridge has accounted for some meritorious captures.

Lure casters have also been rewarded for accurate casting, snaring good numbers of barramundi and mangrove jacks on shallow diving lures and soft plastics. The number of large mangrove jack being caught in the rivers has certainly increased this year, with some fish measuring in at a whopping 58cm.

Large volumes of bait in Albatross Bay have finally been located by marauding schools of Spaniards and longtail tuna, creating an exciting and tiresome day on the water for anglers.

Spaniards have been captured most consistently on the troll around nervous bait schools and also on deeper reef systems. Try using a lure that will swim to a depth just below the bait school, but make sure you have plenty of line on your reel! I have found a troll speed of around 4-6 knots seems to work best on these toothy speedsters.

Tuna have been a little skittish, but chasing them with small slugs of around 50g has proven to produce best results.

The drop in water temperature over the coming month should see the pelagic action really fire up. Expect to see plenty of Spanish mackerel and tuna working the surface, and also those gear-testing trevally working the reefs.

Bottom fishing reef areas should also fish quite well, with large numbers of fingermark and black jew already being found this year.

I would expect to see species such as barramundi and king salmon become a little more elusive over the next few months. The river fishing in general will slow up due to the drop in water temperature. Live bait will be your best bet for middle year estuary fishing.