After enjoying what has been the most consecutive weeks of sublime weather in recent memory, mother nature is about to give us our annual Autumn reality check, with the first real cool and windy south westerly change of the year.
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While some will no doubt store the fishing gear and simply reach for another layer of clothing, the keen anglers among us know we are now entering the best time of year on the piscatorial calendar.
On the beaches, the mullet are now travelling with hopefully a few lucky enough to reach their destination.
Usually this signifies the commencement of the best action of the season for other targeted species.
Hopefully this will apply to the mulloway who have been elusive for some time now. On the positive side however, tailor numbers have been excellent, with plenty of fish on both North beach and Lighthouse.
Bream and whiting also remain consistent, while North beach has also held a few nice flathead on the southern end.
Off the rocks, tailor remain consistent however dawn or dusk is a must. Blackfish also remain excellent, with virtually any ledge worth a go, whilst bream numbers and quality have also begun to pick up.
On the drummer front, reports are most encouraging for this time of year, with quite a few ledges around Plomer and Big Hill already worth a look, as long you locate the ledges that are reasonably free of sand. Hopefully we could be in for a cracker pig season once the water begins to cool.
From a land based game perspective, longtail tuna remain viable targets from the favoured ledges and should remain so for a few weeks yet at least.
In the estuary, bream numbers remain terrific, with the breakwalls producing consistent hauls of fish. Live yabbies, gut baits and fresh mullet have been the pick of the baits.
Flathead numbers remain reasonable, with the better results coming from areas downstream of the Dennis Bridge.
In the Hastings, blackfish are improving with great results one day yet average the next. Once the water cools a further degree or two, look for a little more consistency.
With greenweed scarce at this early stage of the season, best results have been achieved on cabbage, however those persisting with artificial weed are beginning to see good results as well.
On the mulloway front, now is the time of year to chase the larger models from the lower reaches.
Once the mullet assemble en masse, you can bet a few decent fish will be shadowing them.
On the offshore scene, results over the past week have again been mixed despite ideal conditions.
The close in mackerel action has slowed, with cooler water and a lack of current seeing bites hard to come by.
The pending strong offshore wind change however may see their activity resume.
On the reefs, some nice snapper have been taken off Lighthouse beach and Lake Cathie on plastics, while a little wider a few terrific pearl perch and kingfish have been on offer.
With the lack of current last week, a few took the opportunity fish the deeper waters, with great results on Blue eye, long fin perch and nannygai among other species.