Weather rained supreme last weekend and into the early part of this week, with over 150mm recorded in and around the Hunter, washing hopes of fishing off the radar for most.
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But heading into the full moon this week, tides are on the rise along with optimism.
It could have been wetter, as they found out down on the South Coast where over 300mm fell.
But this weekend the forecast is for mostly sunny days, minimal moisture and light winds, affording anyone with fishing cabin fever the chance to scratch that itch.
Yellowfin and albacore were in abundance on the Shelf leading up to last Sunday's rain bomb and with any luck they'll still be about as things settle down.
Snapper fishing is expected to be rich with opportunity in the wake of the blow, while in closer to shore, estuary systems are dealing with a big flush of freshwater raising expectations jew, bream, tailor and flathead will be about in numbers.
"There's a lot of water coming out of Swansea channel as fresh water continues to flush, and this will be influencing where the fish are over the coming days," Jason "One For" Nunn, from Fishermans Warehouse at Marks Point, said.
"The weekend will boast morning and afternoon high tides which will be ideal for fishing.
"There's plenty of salmon poking around the channel and along the breakwater, with some very big tailor mixed in - fish up to 70cm.
"There's been a lot of snapper activity along the coast offshore and this weekend will be a great chance to target them again, from Norah Head all the way up to Port Stephens.
"There's also been some nice kings coming off Texas reef."
All local estuaries are holding a lot of freshwater, so expect to see bream, jew and tailor about.
"There'll be two or three foot of freshwater on top but beneath that you'll find the salt and the fish," Jason said.
"Luderick will be about in numbers too, washed back into the entrance of estuary systems.
"The beauty is over the next couple of days there will be a lot of water pulling out of the lake on the run out.
"So it's a really good time to have a crack in the morning high tide as the clean water pushes in."
Beaches continue to be knocked about by big seas with a lot of sand being dragged off locally, and the most likely species you'll find this week will be tailor and salmon.
"But with all this big fresh pushing out, there may be some bream washed out and round onto the beaches too," Jason said.
Wide eyed
Offshore anglers will be gearing up for another crack this weekend following widespread success out wide in the lead-up to last Sunday's blow.
"People got yellowfin Thursday, Friday and Saturday before it all went pear-shaped," Jason said.
"We headed out on Saturday and got five albacore and Pat [Jason't son, the Marks Point Marksman] got a yellowfin about 40kg. It was his first ever fin. Usually Mick Walker beats him to the rod. There was about eight or nine boats out on the Saturday and everyone caught albacore, which seem to turn up when you get a bit of wind."
Jason said, unlike Thursday and Friday, conditions on Saturday were very windy as squalls slid down the coast from the north.
"It was OK going with it but anytime you had to turn into it, things got a bit lumpy," Jason said.
"The albacore came very early in proceedings, like the minute we put lures out in around the 700 fathom line, and then the yellowfin came.
"Most fish caught were up around the 30kg-40kg.
"The catch was spread amongst 'the fleet', so to speak, and if you moved around, you got fish. It was pretty good fishing, although pretty uncomfortable and raining as we headed back in. We did fear at one stage that the low pressure system had come early."
Fin-tastic
This year's yellowfin run has been the most consistent in years and it's drawing attention from down south.
Jason said he's been contacted through the week by anglers from Jervis Bay considering travelling up for a crack.
"The blue fin bite has headed east down there and there's no yellowfin about, so there's talk of people heading up, but you'd want to be keeping an eye on the COVID advice.
"The fish have been in our waters since the June long weekend, nearly eight weeks, which is incredible.
"You'd have to go back 20 years to find that sort of run during winter. It's not going to last forever and as ocean currents swing back around, it may drift further out or head down the coast. But if you're a game fisho you'd have to be happy."
The Blacksmiths boat ramp was packed last Friday as everyone took advantage of favourable conditions.
"I wouldn't be surprised to see everyone heading out again this weekend because if you snooze you lose with these fish," Jason said.