The pelagic predators, which typically seek water between 20 and 22 degrees, are not often seen this time of the year, especially close to shore.

Brent "Hammer" Hancock from Tackle World Port Stephens said the catch this week was an encouraging sign that warming waters, after some wet and wild weather earlier this month, would bring with it a wide array of fish to chase through the Christmas and new year holiday period.

"A young guy, Jake Hodges, actually caught a cobia off Birubi Beach this week," Hancock said.

"It was only a little one, a 77cm cobia. That's a bit of an odd catch off the beach, especially for this time of the year.

"We don't usually see cobia until at least February, then through March and April."

Hancock said the cobia catch was part of excellent reports coming off the beaches this week.

"The beaches are full of whiting and mulloway at the moment," he said.

"The water has warmed up so the beaches are fishing well.

"The bay is fishing exceptionally well too. There's plenty of big flatties around and there's also lots of sand whiting.

"We're selling tons of live worms, and you'll get whiting on that and obviously on surface lures.

"The soft plastics are popular with the flathead but you'll catch them on good old pilchards as well.

"I think Christmas Day is a banger weather-wise, so it looks pretty good."

Offshore fishing has also shown signs of life as anglers get back out in hot and calm conditions following the spate of rough weather.

"The offshore scene has been good," he said.

"There's been kings on the local reefs and I know a guy who caught a small yellowfin on Tuesday.

"There's dolphin fish on the shelf and the FAD and I wouldn't be surprised if a few marlin turned up in the next week or so.

"There's been a couple of boys out on the shelf chasing blue marlin, I wouldn't say it's been red-hot but it's going to go any tick of the clock.

"I think once we get off the back of this full moon, another week, it will happen."

Fisherman's Warehouse, Marks Point, owner Jason "One For" Nunn was searching for positives after a chaotic few days following two cars smashing into the back of his store on Monday morning.

One was the composure and good fortune of a young female driver, whose car was speared through Nunn's workshop by the other vehicle, whose driver appeared to suffer a medical episode and lose control.

No one was seriously injured in the accident but there was substantial damage to boats in Nunn's yard and the store itself, which re-opened quickly but was then closed on Wednesday while further safety checks were carried out.

Nunn said the female driver was "a hero", given the composure she showed, and she "was very lucky to be alive".

"There was a big fibreglass boat right where she went through only a few days before but we relocated it," he said.

He said two boats were written off and all others were damaged in the accident, which came at one of the busiest times of the year for the business.

Adding to the strain for Nunn was the loss of compromised stock and need for security personnel and temporary fencing.

Gifts of a carton of beer and bottle of bourbon from shop regulars helped ease the pain, as did the potential for top fishing next week.

The Christmas prawn run is set to start next week. Nunn said a southerly change will make fishing uncomfortable early in the week but it should also enhance the prawn run and fishing overall.

"There's still been some nice blue swimmer crabs in the lake, which is good to see this time of the year," he said. "There's nice flathead getting caught. We're seeing the males pairing up with the females, who are starting to get heavily roed, so it may be an early spawn period and we need to be mindful of that.

"There has been some cracking whiting getting caught on the sandflats, some in the 40s or better, and there's also some top-class bream there.

"There hasn't been much action offshore but in close there's a run of snapper on, especially off Swansea, and the main reason is the water warming up. There were some caught on Tuesday night up around the 4kg mark.

"There's also nice kings around the island, in the channel and lake. I know there was a 12-kilo king caught in the lake this week, and that's pretty impressive."