Sunday might be the better of the days, with things looking even brighter into the next week, according to Jason "One For" Nunn, from Fisherman's Warehouse, at Marks Point.

"I don't mind the sou-easter as opposed to the nor-easters which I hate," Jason said. "Nor-easters undo what the southerlies do, which is keep the warm water in along the coast

"The nor-easters scour it out and give you cold, brown water devoid of fish."

Jason headed wide last Sunday aboard Fifi, trolling all the way, and found to his delight a good temperature break and a lot of dolphin fish on the Shelf.

"About five Lake Macquarie Game Fish club (LMGFC) boats headed out and although it was a bit bumpy going over the bar, once out there we found water temp around 25 degrees and lots of bait and fish," Jason said.

"We got a 12kg mahi mahi and released a few smaller ones and I tagged and released a 70kg striped marlin which was my first for the season.

"Heading in I dropped a black marlin right in front of the ships about three mile out.

"With the LMGFC Big Fish Bonanza tournament on next weekend, this is very encouraging for trailer boats.

"Hopefully with the sou-easters prevailing the water should stay consistent."

Ben Jones went wide on Sunday too and lost two fish, while Shannon Riley tagged a blue marlin about 140kg and lost another blue and a stripe on the Shelf on the Monday.

The Annual Big Fish Bonanza Tournament runs next weekend January 29-30 and is the first of the annual local game fishing events in Hunter waters.

"With this spread of fish inshore to offshore it's looking open to anyone to win because there's such diversity," Jason said.

"Cross fingers we get some good weather. There's a good prize pool available and organisers are hoping for a really good roll-up."

Everyone was talking tsunami warning last Sunday after the volcano off Tonga, and the crew aboad Fifi can verify something surged into local waters that morning.

"When we got down to the boat Sunday morning about 5.45am (looking for a 6am bridge), I noticed the wharf bouncing and thought, 'hello, it's going to be interesting on the bar'," Jason said.

"Then as we passed the little inlet near the Boatrowers Shed at Blacksmiths, water was gushing out like whitewater, which was something I've never seen before, and particularly unusual because high tide wasn't due until 8am.

"Normally, the tide will trickle in and fill the mangrove bay and marshland but when we got there the water was heading in the opposite direction like a rapid

"It was so weird we stopped the boat to have a look because it should have been calm. I wish I'd recorded it."

Jason's theory is there was indeed a tsunami-like event early Sunday morning, courtesy of the Tongan volcano, that filled the inlet.

"It had to be the aftermath of an oceanic surge," Jason said.

"The water level in the inlet must have been a foot higher than what was in the channel and water was pouring out, even though the tide was coming in.

"It was incredibly unusual and most people wouldn't have noticed it."

Jason's tip for fishing beaches and estuaries this weekend is to seek southern protected corners.

"On the beaches, whiting would be the preferred target, but strangely enough, we've seen a few salmon this week," Jason said.

"In the lake too, strangely tailor about in the last week. Fish up to 45cm. Still some nice whiting on the flats.

"Squid have been a bit hard to come by, but the next prawn run due to start on Australia Day night should fire them up.

"Still some nice kingies in the channel up to 75cm."

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Teralba Lakesiders Fishing Club weighed some quality fish at their January outing last weekend.

"We saw three good jew, some big bream, luderick, whiting, some nice flathead and some great lake snapper," club spokesperson Randal Mason said.

"The highlight was Ian Weimer's 69cm lake snapper which weighed in at 3.22kg. Truly a magnificent effort.

"Rob Botham's 103cm jew wasn't too shabby either."

The Great Aussie Pub Fishing comp due to be held in Newcastle on February 11-13 has been rescheduled to October 14-16 due to COVID concerns.