Warmer weather, those insistent southerly winds are gone for a while, and it really looks good for a spot of river fishing.

If I was fishing the river this week my first target would be a few flathead starting off around Pelican Park then drifting down around the bottom of the tide - flicking a decent size soft plastic heavily weighted then bouncing it down the dropoff into the deeper water.

At this time of year flathead are moving downstream getting ready for breeding.

With warmer water and the days getting longer, now is the perfect time to start chasing that big flattie. It’s the early bird that catches the worm.

It is also about now that the river gets invaded by those hungry little school mulloway. It’s not uncommon to get a few of these while throwing plastics at flathead so next time you hook up to what you think is a flathead that speeds off faster than normal it could be a jewfish that has whacked your lure. 

Bass season has opened with a bang. Have you got your first for the season or are you still looking?

As far as I can tell when that rain came the bass hightailed it upstream as far as they could so next session I will be land based bank bashing (old school bass fishing!).

That’s what Riley Reckons this week.