Local lakes fished well. Googong was clear, 100 per cent full and ideally suited to lure fishing. Some nice Murray cod to 90 centimetres were caught, mostly on large soft plastics. The southern end of the reservoir was the most productive.

Golden perch came on the bite just on dark in Yerrabi and some nice fish were taken on Noxious spinnerbaits.

Lake Tuggeranong has a few algal problems but some Murray cod to 50cm and golden perch to 40cm were taken on spinnerbaits and deep divers.

Burrinjuck was the outstanding fishery in the region. At the Woolgarlo local tackle shop, workers Mick McGrath and Luke Credlin found nice goldens to 47cm and plenty of redfin, all on Burrinjuck Specials.

Matt Brett and his brother from Leeton fished the Main Basin for several nights and were rewarded with cod of 101cm,102cm and 122cm. The largest fish was caught at 5.30am. All the fish were caught on a 120mm frog pattern AC Invader.

Kayak angler Terry also did well, landing 11 cod for the weekend. Golden perch are showing in larger numbers. One group landed seven in one session. The fish are congregating around flooded trees in the deeper water and taking shrimps and yabbies. Trolling has not been especially productive.

Plenty of redfin are showing, taking scrub worms, blades and small soft plastics. Carp have been very active, taking almost any bait offered and a wide range of cast and trolled lures.

Light tackle anglers found plenty of bream and bass on lures in the Clyde River. The best of the lures were the Strike Pro Enticers and two-inch Finesse grub.

Mudeyes are on the move at Eucumbene and recent hatches have attracted a lot of fish to inshore areas. This activity should continue and intensify during the hot weather in coming weeks and should result in some top-class night-time fly fishing.

Patchy weather has curtailed some offshore fishing along the coast but those who got out early found snapper to about 2kg off Ulladulla, Kioloa and Batemans Bay. Small to medium-sized flathead were relatively easy to find on sand and gravel patches in 25m to 45m of water right along the coast.

Estuaries were heavily fished but yielded some good feeds of bream, flathead, whiting and tailor. Wagonga Inlet was particularly productive.

Dr Bryan Pratt is a Canberra ecologist.