Anglers targeting bream in the Clyde struggled a little, but were rewarded with some extremely nice by catch – big duskies and plate-sized flounder.

There were also some good mulloway landed both on bait and lures with the biggest being 7.3kg on a bream stick using a live nipper.

The sand flathead fishing off Durras was as good as it gets; fish were found in 30-35m of water and responded well to squid baits and plastics. I found Gulp nuclear chicken irresistible in the deeper water rigged on a paternoster set up, squid on the bottom and plastic on the top.

Again the marlin action was dynamite! Still plenty of bait being marked and it's not uncommon to find multiple fish on these bait balls. Some boats were lucky enough to the hit double digits and some cracking fish were caught.

I'm personally licking my wounds after losing a PB marlin out wide on a JB dingo. I believe it was a blue marlin and definitely over 150kg. I'm still trying to comprehend the power of this fish – it emptied the spool of my Tyrnos 30w running 24kg line in two lightning runs, and it was game over before we had time to bring in the other rods.

Locally, fishing has been good in Burrinjuck, Googong and Lake Ginninderra while Lake Burley Griffin and Tuggeranong have both been very inconsistent. The only anglers faring well in these systems were those chasing mud marlin (carp). 

Trout streams in the region are definitely a good option, all running and producing fish on flies and small minnow style lures.

The Bidgee has had some better results with the colder mornings now kicking into play. The serious cod anglers are starting to gear up as normally autumn and early winter is the best time to catch that dream fish.