From an angling perspective, this period of relative stability is certainly most welcome, with areas outside the estuaries now able to be fished in a degree of comfort, and angling across the board seeing more consistent results.

From this point onwards our summer angling season should hopefully begin to really fire up.

In the estuary, flathead are again the best bet with both numbers and quality improving each week as the waters slowly warm.

All manner of hard and soft lures are proving effective, with whitebait also producing great results if lures are not your scene. Along with the flatties, some nice mulloway to around 16 kilos have been snared off both the North and coal walls, with large soft plastics particularly effective.

Increasing numbers of tasty whiting have also been offer from around the Back Channel, Blackmans Point and Limeburners and should only improve as summer approaches.

Lake Cathie has also been producing an outstanding run of whiting despite the system being closed, with surface lures now really beginning to produce results, particularly on the larger fish.

On the bait front for whiting, beach worms and yabbies are the go, as to live prawns which can be scooped in the lake after dark.

On the blackfish front, results however remain patchy although the odd good fish is on offer for those willing to put in the time. Sea cabbage and greenweed flies have both worked well.

On the beaches, results have been quite encouraging for this time of year. North beach is fishing consistently well for mulloway, with quite a few fish in the seven to 10 kilogram range taken on beach worms.

Lighthouse has held a few nice bream along with some terrific whiting on the shallower sand spits.

Tailor remain a little spasmodic, with South Beach at Dunbogan being the pick of locations. Whitebait has been particularly effective on what tailor are about.

Off the rocks, things have been a little quiet, however those chasing blackfish on cabbage report some nice bronzies and the odd drummer are still inhabiting the washes around Plomer.

Bream numbers have been reasonable, primarily after dark with tailor and mullet fillets working well. On the tailor front, Diamond Head and Big Hill have both been worth a look however the average size has only been in the chopper class.

Offshore, last weekend finally saw reasonable conditions with plenty of vessels taking advantage of the calm seas.

Snapper numbers remain solid, with some terrific fish taken on both baits and lures. Close in off Bonny Hills and in 70m off the Lighthouse were both productive locations.

Those fishing the bottom also scored a few pearl perch, occasional kingfish and some terrific flathead. On the pelagic front, the FAD is holding some reasonable mahi mahi, while wider out a few blue marlin are about, including a 214.5 kilo model caught earlier in the week.