Interestingly squid will come right up into a berley trail at times and are always willing to grab hold of a yellowtail or pilchard on offer.

Last week's tsunami warning caused quite a stir forcing many to reconsider their day on the water.

Wayne Coles and crew chose to stay inside the harbour and were well rewarded for their decision by spinning up 20 bonito and letting many go around Shoal Bay and the headlands. Great snapper bait, the bonito, along with Frigates and Watsons Leaping bonito were sitting under schools of slimy mackerel and could be jigged from down deep. The bonito heads were later used for crab bait resulting in 12 blue swimmers around Karuah. Rod Gorman and his mate reported excellent mud crabs and blue swimmers way up Tilligerry.

This recent action has pushed the 'crabometer' up to a shaky four.

Stockton Beach is turning it on with cracker whiting for the Chadder crew and thumping mulloway bounced up the beach by Shane Peters and Chris Balzer.

Last week I reported that regular Stockton Beach fisho "Schoey" caught a luderick on a worm half way down the beach, strange. Well this week he noticed a clump of kelp moving along the sand only to discover a 2.2kg mud crab going for a stroll. What next?

Tailor up to a robust 2kg have gathered in healthy numbers from Boat Harbour to Fingal and are rearing to tango on dusk and dawn. Doddsy and his mate worked the white water off Boat Harbour headland for quality fish.

Two spots that regularly produce day break tailor are the southern rocks on Box Beach and the out crop in front of Barry Park at Fingal.

Be there before sunrise because when the sun becomes established the tailor take off.

I've spent a while on the Terranora Lakes, Tweed Heads, chasing mangrove jacks with live bait.

My mate down the creek caught the best jack for the week, 3kg - on a strip of tripe!

Tune in to Port Stephens FM each Friday at around 9.30am for my weekly round up.

STINKER