Quite a few customers chose to fish in close after the deluge of last week and they were rewarded with some nice reds. No monsters but good numbers of fish between 1.5 and 2.5kg.

Fresh slimy fillets were the go-to baits for the inshore reefs with the bait stacked up in massive numbers at present.

Out on the deeper reefs there were plenty of reports of barracouta. Unfortunately this seems to be a growing trend for the Illawarra over the warmer months but underneath them there were plenty of snapper and pig fish awaiting a bait to drop through.

A couple of customers even used some of the barracouta for slab baits and pulled some nice reds on them going over the 3kg mark. Although the pick handles were thick in some spots, a quick move away from them saw most boats get back onto quality fish.

Along with the reds there were plenty of blue mowies, some horse trevally and some hard pulling black spot pig fish.

Divers up and down the coast have been reporting plenty of big hoodlum kings about with more than 10 speared last weekend over the 15kg mark from different places.

Divers also reported they are not solitary big fish scouting the reefs but big schools of 20-30 fish and bigger with some estimated at over the 20kg mark.

Port Islands, Bellambi bommie and Minnamurra, as well as the rock platforms under Sea Cliff Bridge, have all been holding good numbers of these hard-fighting fish at present.

Slow-trolled slimeys and squid or better yet down rigging the above mentioned should see your arms getting stretched.

The flathead drifts were still loaded with excellent sized fish with the 40-metre depth mark being the go-to drifts off Stanwell Park and the National Park.

Amongst the flatties there have been some monster flounder and plenty of gummy sharks too.