Having just experienced probably the most harshest winter period in over a decade in the tropics we have to look forward to brighter days ahead with the introduction of Spring.

I'm not going to bang on too much with the negativity but just for example from the start of July to mid August we only saw 5 days where the weather stayed under 12 knots. For the rest of this time frame it was in excess of 18 knots and upwards to fresh and frightening. It's been a write off for many wanting to head offshore.

There were only bigger sized vessels that could tackle the elements in the conditions and surprisingly there were plenty of quality fish caught. It proves the fishing is still great at this time of year on the reef but it has been limited to where you can fish and obviously on a bigger, stable craft. Numbers of coral trout have been healthy, small mouth nannygai have played a significant role and there's been a smattering others including spangled emperor, long nose emperor, cattle dog cod, baldy bream, moses perch and trevally. On a 'reel' positive the Spanish mackerel have been a regular highlight with some impressive days recorded at times on the float or trolling lures.

Looking ahead there has to be a break from the vicious cycle of weather and this will open up all sorts of opportunities. The deeper waters holding the large mouth nannygai and red emperor will be high on the priority list and they've had an extended break from anglers for quite some time. The weeks ahead are still prime time to see some serious action from these fish. Also expect to come across some other exciting species such as cobia, jobfish, trevally and a continued run of spanish mackerel. For the light game enthusiasts we should start to see some small black marlin action on our known grounds as we speak.

The calmer waters have been a haven for many on our rivers and estuaries and there's been some quite reasonable action along the way. Big queenfish to 1m have been a highlight, golden trevally have been enjoying the inshore scene and fingermark have remained mostly consistent in the deeper water with plenty of structure around. We'll start to see mangrove jack and barra gradually kick into gear as the day time temperatures are already slowly incrementing. Typically there is also a good run of river trevally up to 2kg which provide genuine fun and will continue to do so in weeks ahead. 

Conditions can only get better but be assured we are coming into a blue ribbon fishing phase.overall on our fishing calendar.