Billy Williams reckons the number of pointers around Birdie Beach is getting less as the weather cools, although he did manage to bag some healthy blackfish, using plenty of burley and green weed, on the weekend.

Lake Macquarie has also been susceptible to Mother Nature, although the recent influx of fresh water seems to have pushed some good size bream down towards The Dropover and Swansea Channel.

They might even be feeling that because it's starting to cool, maybe they'll soon be heading north for winter. Smart fish!

Fresh, or better still live, prawns and live worms are the best baits, with nice fish also being caught on plastic prawn, or shrimp as the Yanks call them, imitations.

There's also a good chance you'll get yourself a feed of whiting as you're chasing bream because there seems to be numbers of these delicious fish around at the moment.

And they've got a bit of size about them, too, with several reports of fish around the 40-centimetre mark heading for the dinner plate.

Another sure thing at present is squid, whether it be calamari squid out of Lake Macquarie or those two-to-three kilogram green-eyed beasts hugging our coast at the moment.

You don't need a boat to catch yourself some tasty cephalopods; just get yourself a squid jig and head down to your lit local public jetty after dark.

Squid tend to like a bit of light and you should be able to catch the family a feed of calamari fairly easily.