After a couple of wild days during the week, anglers took full advantage of the conditions.

Lake Macquarie is just getting better and better, with plenty of great fishing for all manner of species.

Whiting will enjoy the bigger tides during the lead up to the new moon this coming weekend.

Fishing the last couple of hours of the rising tide and the first couple of hours of the falling tide will give anglers better results.

Flathead and bream have also been rewarding anglers for their efforts. Locating bait has been key to getting fish.

Working around the points of the western side of the lake and Pulbah Island are great places to start. There has been some big blue nosed bream caught around Pulbah Island.

Blue swimmer crabs have been caught throughout the lake from Warners Bay south beyond Pulbah Island.

Yellowtail kingfish have been smashing poppers around Swansea Bridge.

Halco Roosta popper in 135 mm and 195 mm lengths have been working well.

Kings can also be found around Broughton Island and if it's big kings you want, that's the area to be heading.

The fisheries FADS off Nelson Bay, Newcastle and Swansea have been deployed. It won't be too long and there will be kings and dolphin fish in these locations.

Plenty of anglers have been chasing bass in the dams and rivers.

Casting and trolling lures have both been effective in the dams, whilst it's been all cast and retrieve work in the rivers.

The new moon next weekend is usually when the first prawns of the season start running. Swansea Channel during the outgoing tide is always worth a look with a spotlight and a prawn net.