Moruya mates Cameron Cabban and Mark Brown were fishing in Moruya River for the fourth consecutive evening.

The Cabban-Brown contingent has pulled bream and flathead up to 40cm using nippers fresh from the soggy sands of Moruya River.

The pair's young daughters have also helped out with a customised method of catching poddy mullet, a bait flathead find hard to resist.

''We were fishing off the ramp last Sunday and there was an old fella there with a bag of flathead and bream. He said it was the best fishing he'd seen in years,'' Mr Brown said.

As Canberrans begin their annual pilgrimage to the South Coast, they face a classic long, hot summer with the drought tightening its grip. Cyclone Laurence is, however, expected to generate a wet Christmas as it crosses the continent and develops into a rain-packing low-pressure system.

But the anglers at Moruya had near-perfect conditions yesterday and the summer solstice ensured a luxurious day's fishing was just a little longer than usual.

For more on this story see today's Canberra Times.