ANYONE who has been on the water over the past couple of months will know that the surface fish are going crackers.

Inside the Port, numerous schools of Bluefin Tuna are turning the calm surface into a washing machine during their feeding frenzy.

Feasting on swarms of whitebait, the tuna take no prisoners as the small fish try desperately to escape the snapping jaws of the predators.

I’m told by local tuna experts that this spring run of fish is the best on record, with enthusiasts taking time off work to motor out into the bay to toss a lure at the boiling surface.

The strike is immediate, meaning that you are in for a monumental battle for the next half hour.

Young local champ Koby Price, with a little help from father Harley, locked onto a monster.

Sometime later eight-year-old Koby regained the strength to have his photo taken.

Outside the heads it is a similar story with huge schools of salmon swimming north chasing the unfortunate whitebait.

I targeted snapper in front of Fingal Lighthouse through the week only to be stampeded by XL salmon with no intention to leave the water when hooked.

Also present over every reef that I visited were gatherings of slimy mackerel and yellowtail.

If the presence of bait fish is any indicator of the health of the system, then we are sitting on a recreational fishing gold mine.

By John ‘Stinker’ CLARKE