The state's annual trout season opened at the start of October for freshwater fishos.
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Many streams and rivers are in great condition with minimal rain events for this time of the year.
A few locals headed west and successfully caught trout around the Armidale and Ebor area on fly gear.
Lake Cathie has started to produce school prawns following the September full moon.
I would expect that numbers and size will continue to increase after the October and November full moon.
There is also some whiting on the chew in the lake, along with some reasonable flathead. Live prawns have been the bait of choice.
In the Hastings River region, flathead is once again the star attraction and will likely remain so over the coming months as we head into the warmer months.
As seems to be the case nowadays, those throwing lures are accounting for the better levels of action, with soft plastics, soft vibes, blades and hard bodied divers all working well.
Of course, bait fishing remains a viable approach with live bait being arguably the premier offering, although prawns, pilchards, yabbies and mullet strips will also prove effective.
Just remember, keep your bait moving when chasing flathead, as they are an ambush predator, usually waiting on the bottom for food to come to them.
If your bait is stationary or anchored to the bottom with a large sinker, flathead encounters will only be incidental at best.
Off the rocks, some solid bream have been taken from around Point Plomer along with the odd tailor and drummer. Around the Lighthouse at Port Macquarie a few larger mulloways were caught through the week on lures.
Further south in Camden Haven, for offshore fishing the weather hasn't given anglers many chances to head to sea for a fish.
If there is a break in the weather this weekend, snapper would be my pick of fish from pretty well all inshore reefs from Lake Cathie to Crowdy Head.
Further offshore, fishing the deeper reefs this time of year always provides consistent numbers of kingfish on live bait and jigs. Fishing off the beaches last week, a few local anglers reported catches of salmon and school mulloway in front of Lake Cathie and on North Haven beach.
Up at South West Rocks, Back Creek and around the local wharfs are producing the good-sized bream on bait and lures.
Offshore reports from the past week that it was quiet all around with only the odd snapper caught and a few larger sized kingfish are starting to school around Fish Rock.
There was also the odd Mahi Mahi caught out wide around the South West Rocks and Hat Head FADs, with mixed reports from day to day which is expected at this time of the year.
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