After the reasonably solid swell from last week, the anticipation was high for a good snapper bite but as the swell subsided, the water went crystal clear and most fish species, including the reddies, seemed to disappear.

What’s more, the slow current resulted in swarms of barracouta invading most reefs and made conditions very tough.

Those guys that fished much deeper than usual, did find some nice snapper and the deeper they went, the quality of the fish improved.

Some nice reds came in from wide off Bandit and Wollongong reefs but the tackle attrition from the “pick handles” was very high.

There were plenty of cuttlefish popping and floating on the surface and even with light offshore westerlies, strangely enough, there have been very few fish picked up off the carcasses as yet.

There have been some good sized pigfish and blue mowies coming in as by-catch for those chasing the reds but majority of the snapper have been on the smaller size, around 30-40cm.

The flathead drifts have still been producing good fish but lack of current for a change and slight winds have made it tough going.

However, those who are persistent have still been returning with a good bag of fish with the better fish coming from the deeper sand drifts.

Beaches continued to fish well for winter whiting and bream, numbers are down which is normal but the size is definitely making up for lack of fish.

Flicking plastics off the beach breaks has been producing good numbers of flathead off a few undisclosed spots up in the more northern beaches from Corrimal and above.

The mulloway have been really quiet of late but again flat clear seas make it hard to target them off the beaches.

Off the rocks, hard body minnows and soft plastics fished into the little wash there has been around have been the preferred method for a few school-sized jews.