Reasonably mild winter conditions have seen a number of anglers accessing inshore hotspots and doing really well.

"A few guys were out on Monday and Tuesday this week," Hammer reported.

"Jamie Culver and his mate got some great ones around Broughton fishing after dark trailing baits down a berley trail.

"Another guy Luke Cash fished Tuesday morning and got snapper up to 70cm on soft plastics up round Seal Rocks.

"Terry Hunt was out on Monday and did likewise around Fingal Island.

"It's definitely that time of year for your snapper."

With a reasonable weather forecast this weekend, it might be worth a shot.

A few showers are predicted but easterly winds should keep the temps mild and hopefully the swell abates.

"Saturday looks good and Sunday looks like a ripper," Hammer said.

"It feels a bit warmer and water is still about 19 degrees. These easterlies should push in a bit of warm air.

"We've had a new moon this week with big tides so there has been a lot of water movement and that always gets the fishing going."

Couple of longtails caught in and around the bay last weekend

"Tyran Thompson got a really nice fish on soft plastics casting for snapper around the shallows of Broughton," Hammer said

"There's been a few reports of them in the bay

"If temps stay up and there's bait, they are always a chance.

"I've caught them all the way up to August."

Fishing inside Port Stephens has been dynamic with bream, jew, flathead and luderick keeping punters busy.

"John Taylforth caught an 80cm jew tossing a Jackson lure at bream which is pretty good bycatch," Hammer said.

"Plenty of bream around the rock walls and oysters racks as you'd expect this time of year.

"There's a bit of discoloured water coming down the Myall system after the rain and the shortcut at Tea Gardens has been going off.

"Same with luderick - Nelson Bay breakwall has been standing room only for luderick."

Bream and tailor abound on local beaches.

"After dark there's been some really big tailor," Hammer said.

"A guy I know, let's just call him 'Gary', got a beauty about 2.8kg on Birubi on a whole garfish.

"The swell is tipped to drop off a bit over the weekend so the beaches might be attractive."

Mark "Wilba" Williams reports some significant milestones for the Lake Macquarie Trophy Flathead Fish Tagging program being run by DPI.

The program involves the tag and release of big lizards over 70cm with the aim to collect data on the species with the view to future management of it.

A crack team of 10 lake anglers have been on the job and recently the "Flathead Whisperer" Steve Norris notched his 100^th 70cm-plus fish.

"That makes him the first angler in NSW to tag and release 100 large flathead in the Trophy Flathead Fishery Program," Mark said.

"It's a testament to his dedication and skill.

"Steve has averaged one 70cm-plus flathead every week since tagging began in October 2017 which is a pretty mind-boggling achievement.

"Flathead is all he focuses on with his trusty Samaki vibes, everything else is bycatch."

Fellow flathead tag team member Dan Duilfoyle notched the program's 250^th big lizard the other day.

Gamefishing enthusiasts around the world tuned in to the annual World Cup Blue Marlin Championship, a one-day, winner-takes all, global shootout held each year on July 4.

It might be Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Kona, Madeira, Bermuda, Cape Verde, the Azores - wherever blue marlin lurk.

Anglers pay $5000 entry fee per boat or $8000 per person in a secondary event called the Big Blue Challenge and have from 8.30am to 4.30pm in whatever time zone they're in to register a blue marlin, minimum weight 500lbs (226kg).

Everyone's linked into HQ by technology and if there's any doubt about your report, the organising body reserves the right to administer a polygraph lie detector test (Rule 13).

Last year 148 boats competed and Hawaiian boat Trouble Maker won both comps to register a $1million payday.

Newcastle Fishing Co-Op will host a life-raft course in coming weeks to demonstrate how to survive if the you go down. It's aimed at the commercial fishos but members of the public are welcome to view the action at the marina.