"The water's good, the bait's there and there's been an encouraging mix of blue, striped and black marlin about," according to Chris "Man" Drake, from Tackle World Port Stephens.

"Jye Claydon got four stripes last weekend. The McAndrews, on Shelby, got two stripes. Size has been solid with fish reported over the 100kg mark.

"Interest is high among the locals and anglers are keen to take advantage.

"At the moment, the charts are very encouraging - nutrient rich water with good upwellings.

"Bait feed on that and the marlin feed on the bait.

"While that continues the fish will be there.

"Those regular little southerly pushes have been great for keeping the water temps up.

"They stop the nor-easters turning the water over."

Meanwhile, Chris reports local Port Stephens charter boats have been doing well along inshore reefs.

"Dr Hook (Brad Horn) and Hammerhead (Terry Hunt) have reported good catches of pearl perch and snapper, with reds nudging up round that 5kg to 6kg mark," Chris said.

"There's been some great kingfish on the inshore reefs too. Mike Bonichi and the King brothers got fish upwards of 20kg this week, stick-baiting.

"Then one of them went wide and got a striped marlin - not a bad day's fishing."

Beaches have been fishing good with some great bream and nice whiting up to 40cm.

"The biggest bream I've heard this week was 45cm caught on pippies," Chris said.

"They've been in good numbers, particularly going on dark.

"Whiting are getting better along the beaches as the water warms.

"At the moment it's sitting around 18-19 degrees, which isn't too bad but it could be better."

Mujlloway have been responding big soft plastics in the gutters - ranging in size from school fish up to 10-15kg, caught down round Birubi.

Crabs are showing up in good numbers inside the bay but remember to stick to local crabbing rules.

Witches hats are banned in Port Stephens to protect turtles.

"There's great flathead and whiting inside the bay as well," Chris said.

"Conditions are looking good this weekend for a fish, wind won't be too bad, no rain although we sure could use it, and the tides are approaching ideal with early morning and late afternoon changes."

Kai Axisa, from Fisherman's Warehouse, at Marks Point, reports his boss, Jason "One For" Nunn, got onto the marlin last Saturday fishing on Luke Stansfield's boat Fifi.

"They got 2 from 15," Kai said. "Jason was on the rod for one and Pat [Jason's son] got the other I think.

"Another local, Chris O'Toole, went out Monday and got four stripes and a blue, so there's quite a few marlin around."

Closer to shore, whiting, bream and the odd nice tailor have featured along Newcastle and Lake beaches.

"One of our customers has been getting great whiting on Blacksmiths breakwall fishing at dusk on the run-out tide," Kai said.

"Inside the lake, flathead are lurking in the shallows, the squid have been patchy, although there's been good green-eye just outside Swansea Channel, and the bream have been sensational."

In a NSW fishing first, DPI has stocked more than 1000 juvenile dusky flathead into Lake Macquarie as part of a research project to enhance populations.

The Port Stephens Fisheries Institute successfully reared juvenile dusky flathead, and released 1200 fish measuring around 15cm in the southern areas of Lake Macquarie.

A visible fluorescent tag on the underside of their jaws allows anglers and DPI to identify them as stocked fish.

Ian Weimer took overall honours at the Teralba Lakesiders Fishing Club December weigh-in cum Christmas Party held at Teralba Bowling Club last Sunday.

With only three comps left in the season it looks like a race in three for for championship glory with only one point separating Ian from hard chargers Craig Kerr and Brendon Stoppart.

"You have to be consistent to win it and these guys will have to be half dead to miss the next three events," club secretary Randal Mason said.

Teralba Lakesiders is a proud, longstanding club with a refreshing attitude to sustainability practices.

The club adheres to a half-bag limit for its comps, runs a brag-mat catch and release flathead tournament and elects to take higher than DPI required lengths on species.

"We're an old club with a lot of good fishos and they're onboard with sustainable fishing practices," Randal said.