But all good things come to an end and anglers are encouraged to make the most of it.

"I reckon it'll remain Saturday, Sunday but come Monday it might be all over, red rover," Hammer forecast.

"Right on my day off."

Inside Port Stephens, and throughout Hunter estuaries, bream are starting to stack up around structure like breakwalls and oyster racks.

"Mark Schmakeit, we call him 'Schmakkie', nailed some nice bream up to 40cm on plastics up towards Karuah during the week," Hammer said..

"Ray Fuel's been doing well too. The go-to lure has been the Gulp Crabby, a little soft plastic, 2 inch long. As the name suggests, it's a similar sort of crab creation. Goes well."

Flathead continue to flourish in places like Tilligerry Creek, but they'll start to go dormant as it gets colder.

"There's heaps of frigate and mac tuna in the bay, feeding on frogmouth pilchards and whitebait," Hammer said

"The trick to catch them is small metal spinners that mimic what they're feeding on."

Still some nice jewies throughout local estuaries. Troy Govard got an 18kg fish in the port this week.

"There's also been a couple of kingies on the breakwall and a few luderick, but they're not full-on at the moment," Hammer said.

"You have to use lighter flouro-carbon leaders to get them to bite. We need those cold winds to hit before they get thick."

There's a stack of travelling bream along Hunter beaches.

"Guys have been getting them off Fingal Spit and Fingal beach," Hammer said.

"They're really keen on our local king worms and we can't keep enough in stock. Really smashing them."

Been some good tailor turning up after dark responding to garfish.

Off the rocks, anglers are seeing bread and butter species like bream, luderick and drummer.

Tomaree has seen a few long tail about too.

Offshore has been very fertile with the calm conditions enabling a lot of access.

"Plenty of trag and jews on the inshore reefs - 21, the Big Gibber," Hammer said.

"A mate of mine, 'Socksy' got a 12kg jew yesterday.

"Some good snapper coming off the deeper reefs.

"Now that we're off the full moon, and if the swell picks up a bit, we should see snapper move into the shallows

"Plenty of longtail tuna about. Chris 'Man' Drake from our shop got one 15kg.

"A few nice kings in the shallows too, going the live baits.

"Even a few marlin caught on the shelf. The Omen and Born Free got a mix of blues and stripes over the weekend."

Fish of the Week winner Michell Pryke summed up fishing when contacted about her big leatherjacket.

"I think I just jagged it," she said. "My husband and I were out on the boat off Wangi, I put a prawn on the hook and the rest is history.

"Now my husband Colin has to live it down. I always outfish him."

Michelle and Colin headed out to Moon Island on Wednesday, and although conditions were pristine they didn't catch anything of note.

"It was a nice, very calm through the channel, and lots of throwbacks but nothing to report," Michelle said.

Data is in for "Operation Small Fry" and the news is kind of good for Hunter Waters in that we don't figure too highly.

Operation Small Fry was a crackdown conducted by NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) Fisheries over the last year targeting prohibited size fish offences across NSW.

In total 5379 illegally harvested fish and shellfish were seized from 1350 offences resulting in a whopping $102,500 worth of on-the-spot fines. Twenty-six individuals will face court.

"Greater Sydney was the worst performer with five metropolitan postcodes in the top 10, including Pyrmont (1), Kyeemagh (6), Port Botany (7), Kurnell (8) and La Perouse (9)," NSWDPI Director of Fisheries Compliance, Patrick Tully, said.

"Regional areas in the top 10 offending locations were Port Kembla (2), Woolgoolga (3), Shellharbour (4), Eden (5) and Merimbula (10)."

The remaining hotspots making up the top 20 in order were: Swansea Heads, Banksmeadow, Mulwala, Picnic Point, The Entrance, Windang, Cronulla, Jervis Bay, Chipping Norton and Batemans Bay.

Men were the most prolific offenders with 30-34 year-olds being the most over-represented age group.

Whiting, snapper, bream, tarwhine and kingfish were the most common species involved.

A total of 652 reports were logged through the Fishers Watch service, doubling since 2013, with people now able to report to DPI through a smartphone and the free FishSmart NSW app.