The billies however were a lot smaller with most under the 100 kilo mark and some down to under near 40 kilos and were predominately juvenile black marlin.

The offshore water temps are still warm with some pockets recording 25 degrees plus and the good news is, the current is still raging down from up north.

There are a few days of south to sou’east wind forecast that should push this water well towards the coastline.

Watch for bluebottles on the beach at the high tide line as this usually means the marlin are very inshore and the possibility of wahoo and rainbow runners also increases when this happens.

Expect to see parking lot style traffic at Wollongong, Bandit and Trap reefs over the coming days or even weeks as there were quite a few billfish feeding on slimey mackeral bait schools over those spots earlier on Monday and Tuesday just gone.

Sounds simple but find a bait school, jig up some slimeys, rig one with a suitable hook and slow troll around the same area – it won’t take long.

For those chasing snapper there have been some excellent fish about the closer reefs with plenty of 1kg-2kg reddies as well as samson and pigfish in good numbers.

There were plenty of decent sized kingfish about as well as some monster bonito, with the main issue of trying to get them to the boat before the attendant seal/s knock them off as they just appear from nowhere.

Bait is as thick as seen for many years and there is no shortage of fish feeding on them - big and small.

The flathead drifts were still producing excellent sized fish with all the usual haunts fishing extremely well, both deep and shallow.

Beaches have been fishing consistently still with some good sized whiting about and some monster tarwhine mixed in with them. In the same gutters, there has been some excellent flatties fall to soft plastics.

www.reeldealfishing.com.au  Email: garywade@tpg.com.au