Local estuaries are awash with whiting, bream, flathead and jew fired up by a well-timed prawn run and some perfectly placed big high tides, according to Jason "One For" Nunn, from Fisherman's Warehouse at Marks Point..

Inshore reefs are producing bonito, trag, flathead, snapper and kingfish. while out wide warm water continues to push up against the coast in patches, encouraging various pelagics.

It will be interesting, to see how water temps fare over the next week or so as we settle into a steady nor-east holiday pattern.

Brendon Hughes, uncle of Fish of the Week winner Blake Staniland, reports plenty of family friendly trumpeter whiting round the back of the oyster racks up at Port Stephens this week.

"Only little ones but lovely eating," Brendon said from his Soldiers Point holiday HQ. "Peeled prawns are the way to get them, lightly weighted and just drift - great fun for the kids."

Jason reckons the surface bite for whiting will only get better the bigger the high tides gets and recommends surface lures like your Jackson EB Panic and Sugar Pens.

Bream are spread out along the rocks walls and oyster racks of most estuaries.

"The bream can be a bit timid and will probably get more skittish as holiday boat traffic increases," Brendon said.

"But when you find them, there are usually a fair few about - so give them a bit of attention.

"I find skip baiting soft plastics under surface lures is a good way to convert followers into eaters."

Blue swimmer crabs are about in numbers but Brendon had a word of warning for people putting their traps out these holidays.

"Lots of holiday 'sharefarmers' about too," he said.

"I pulled up in my boat today as three guys were looking at my traps. I asked if I have any crabs in MY traps and they assured me they were just looking. I got a dozen, but it was a close run thing."

Jason reminds everyone to ensure their witches hats are clearly marked and numbered 1-4, otherwise DPI Fisheries might take an interest.

Randal Mason, from Teralba Lakesiders Fishing Club reports a number of members have been regularly on the mullaway money this week in the lake.

"We had a member this week got two and of course he only kept the one (limit is one per person over 70cm). Another Lakesider member John Thoroughgood got his first grey ghost last week."

Jesse Dedman, from Hunter Fishin', reports a particular trend towards lures.

"We've had live baits of mullet, yellow tail and tailor out while working lures over a number of sessions with nothing taking our livies and all fish being caught on lures," Jesse said.

"Squidgy paddle tails around the 90mm-110mm sizes and Samaki or Berkley vibes of the same size doing the job.

"Find some structure whether it's man made, drop offs or deeper holes holding bait and the jew won't be far away."

Meanwhile, there's been some cracking kingfish caught in Swansea Channel over the last week.

The December prawn run was heaven sent for those looking for a Christmas Day feed. Indeed, Randal defied the usual "late night, run-out tide" approach by scooping 2kg on Monday in daylight.

"You just got to know what you're doing," he said.

"The keys are a legal push scoop and look for spot with plenty of weed and a bit of sand. It's best if its long weed, because that holds the prawns."

With any luck the prawns will run for a couple of days more, continuing to fire up feasts both on land and in the water.

"It's the perfect angling storm, right in the middle at Christmas," Randal said.

Port Stephens Fisheries Institute has played a key role in rearing juvenile dusky flathead released into key estuaries along the NSW coast recently as part of efforts to enable large scale stocking of the species.

Identified with a visible flourescent tag on the underside of their jaw, the stocked fish will be monitored to see how quickly they adapt to the natural environment and how fast they grow.

The stocking complements an active flathead tagging program already underway in Lake Macquarie as part of DPI's Trophy Flathead Program.Success was seen in action recently when gun Lake Mac angler Dan Guilfoyle recaptured an 83cm dusky flathead he'd originally tagged on July 17. The fish was once again released in excellent condition.

"Dan believes that fish of this calibre are too good to catch once," DPI reported. "These recaptures highlight that dusky flathead is a resilient species that can handle catch and release as long as they are handled correctly."

To report the recapture of a tagged fish, email fisheries.enhancement@dpi.nsw.gov.au.