With decent weather in the wake of big seas mid-week, Brent "Hammer" Hancock, from Tackle World Port Stephens is predicting healthy fishing prospects this June long weekend.
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"I know plenty of accommodation has been booked up here, the fishing looks good and I reckon it will be on like donkey kong.
"The swell should drop off come Saturday, and air and water temps are still pretty decent, so we're gearing up.
"I know some locals are a bit iffy but restrictions have been eased and the area needs it to be frank."
Plenty of bream in the bay and luderick going off on local breakwalls.
"The beaches will fish really well after the big seas and I'd expect to see bream, tailor and with the full moon on Saturday, it might well be worthe a jewie bash," Brent said.
"Should be a good chance to get offshore too.
"A lot got out last weekend and reports were a bit hit and miss.
"That might reflect more on the angler than the area.
"Plenty of nice snapper about off Fingal and in close.
"Places like Allmark Mountain fished really well for bar cod.
"I reckon Broughton Island will fish well in the coming days. It's going to be typical winter fishing."
Big bopper
File this week's Fish of the Week under the heading "you don't see something that big that often".
Cuttlefish are not rare in these waters, but rarely do you see one this size.
Fridge mechanic Roy Gascoine was bottom bashing with his fellow fridgie John Horton off Swansea Heads when something struck.
"We were catching yellowtail and flathead and at one stage I decided to gang-hook up some squid and yellowtail hoping for trag or a miracle jew or snapper," Roy recalled this week.
"The conditions were good, there was a lot of people fishing and lots of berley around.
"We were just sitting round talking about life, then bang.
"This thing's nearly pulled me overboard.
"It didn't run, but it pulled line, and John's said 'You've got a jewie'.
"It wasn't running though and I couldn't get it up.
"I thought I had stingray or Port Jackson shark
"It went straight to the bottom and I had to get my mate to help me get it off.
"Took me over 10 minutes to get it in and at fist I thought it was a big octopus, but John, who's a pretty experienced fisho, said 'nah, that's a cuttlefish'.
"It took the yellowtail BANG, no bite, just swallowed
"Tell you what, the beak is lethal.
"You don't want to get your hand near that."
The boys were keen on two things, avoiding the ink, and keeping the cuttlefish for dinner and bait.
"Mate, John was very concerned about his boat getting inked because it's very syruppy and doesn't wash off easy," Roy said.
"Plus they're great eating and the heads make great shark bait.
"We put some tentacles on the smoker later that afternoon and had it with chilli and lime and it went very well with some oysters."
Hammer says cuttlefish do enter local waters to breed this time of year and that they can get big.
Expensive lesson
Fisheries recently nabbed a man fishing off Nelson Head in Port Stephens, which is within the Fly Point Corrie Island Sanctuary Zone of the Port Stephens - Great Lakes Marine Park.
Officers found the man in possession of two snapper illegally taken, one undersize, and issued him a $500 penalty notice.
He took the matter to court and lost, the penalty being increased to $700 and the man ordered to pay $1400 in court costs.
Valley joy
People up the valley are rejoicing with a bit of fishing normality now that recreational dams like Glenbawn , Lostock and St Clair are back in operation.
"Restrictions came off mid-May and locals are definitely enjoying being able to get out and be normal again," Jacquie from Aberdeen Fishing and Outdoors said.
Finding closure
The annual closure for trout and salmon for designated rivers and streams across NSW comes into effect on June 9 after the long weekend and runs until the start of the October long weekend.
There are still a number of trout dams across the State that anglers can continue to fish for trout during the closed season, many of which have been stocked as part of the NSW DPI fish stocking program, NSW DPI Senior Fisheries Manager Inland Cameron Westaway said.
A zero bag limit applies for Australian bass and estuary perch came into effect for NSW rivers from May 1 and runs until August 31.
But the species can continue to be taken within the bag limit of two in freshwater impoundments and in rivers above impoundments during the closure period.
