Various species around Cairns and surrounding regions have kept the angling community occupied this week. From the Tinaroo Barra Bash through to the giant black marlin on the outer edge of the Great Barrier Reef, and even large sooty grunter in the western rivers plus barra, threadies and saratoga from the Cape, it's always busy here in Cairns and there is always something to be caught somewhere!
Anna with a nice Spanish mackerel from Getlost.Staywild and Salt Diary
Uriah lifting his winning barra from the Tinaroo Barra Bash
Local Estuaries
The Trinity Inlet is starting to warm up further with the barra only getting hungrier. Various techniques have proven to be effective for them over the past week. The most effective method has been snag bashing, where anglers are fishing tight to the mangrove structures, pitching weedless lures deep into the timber, with the new Mintoss Johnson soft plastic being very effective on the barra this week. Threadfin salmon have been showing up around the Inlet and beaches. Working small soft vibes like the Nomad Vertrex slowly close to the bottom with large lifts can entice these alien-looking fish to bite. When working the vibe, make sure to always keep a tight contact with the lure. On a big lift it will make the vibration, but on the drop it's important to keep the line as tight as possible. Sometimes a real slow wind as the rod tip is dropping to pick up the slack line works well. Threadies will generally hit the lure on the drop, hence why it's important to keep the line tight, otherwise you could miss the bite! A slow roll across the bottom can be effective for the threadies as well.
Frank convinced this nice barra from the Inlet to chew the new Mintoss Johnson, measuring 59cm
And another on the Johnson from Frank, pushing 64cm
Freshwater Rivers
Out west of Cairns are the Walsh and Mitchell rivers. In the upper reaches of these two huge systems are some more desirable species to target. Sooty grunter are a popular river fish to pursue. They eat a wide range of various lures and also put up a great fight. It's no wonder all the enthusiastic anglers are keen on putting in many kilometres hiked, or even kilometres paddled, for this species. Canoeing the upper reaches of these rivers has been effective for the anglers giving it a crack. Effective for many reasons, mostly getting to unfishable banks or locations where they are inaccessible to be fished land based. Plus, it's stealthy and quiet, slowly drifting downstream, where often bank bashing can make a bit too much noise, often spooking the wiser fish.
Finn had a ripper session paddling down the western rivers, getting some quality sooty grunter
Another cracker sooty from Finn
He's certainly made the most of school holidays and got some numbers of fish on this trip, well done, mate!
And one more cracker sooty from Finn
On the other side of the Great Dividing Range and in the local rivers closer to Cairns is the desirable and highly targeted jungle perch. Another species high on the target list for many anglers. Jungle perch are generally smarter and have exceptional eyesight, often shying off heavy leaders and unnatural lures. This particular species requires a bit more skill and stealth to find the bigger models. Cicadas are starting to chirp, and any landing on the water surface won't last long when there is a hungry JP around. This will make the perfect opportunity to throw one of the cicada imitation lures and get a visual topwater bite from the perch.
Saxon with a quality JP from his local waterway down south
A decent local sooty from the jungle from Saxon
And a cracker jungle jack from the young gun
Tinaroo Barra Bash
Over the weekend, Tinaroo had many boats out and competing in the Barra Bash, where some quality fish were captured. Not only were barra on the target species list, but pest fish were also on the list. One angler managed to reel in a total of 205 catfish, removing them from the dam. A fair few giant sooty grunter were also captured, with the biggest coming in at a whopping 50cm for the winning junior angler! The adult sooty measured in with a cracking 49cm fish and another came in at 48cm. These are some absolute footballs!
Into the barra category, the junior angler managed to reel in a cracker 104cm barra, winning his position in the non-LiveScope category. The biggest non-LiveScope category fish for the adults came in with a 110cm barra, with the same angler taking out the biggest length of combined fish with 6 fish totalling 3.12m! The biggest fish LiveScope category saw a whopper 120cm fish hit the magic mark on the brag mat. And the longest combined length went to a great distance of 8.88 metres long with 9 fish! The keen junior angler took out his place in the category with a cracker 96cm fish. Well done to everyone competing and well done to the placing anglers!
Dexter with a cracker 120 hitting the deck! An absolute cracker from the dam!
And another giant pushing 110 from Dexter
Uriah scored himself first place in the junior category without LiveScope, pulling in this 104cm barra!
Congratulations Uriah, I bet you're stoked!
Game Fishing
60 years ago marked the date of the first 1000-pound black marlin captured by Captain George Bransford and angler Richard Obach, weighing in a 1064-pound fish onboard the original Sea Baby game boat, setting the new 80lb line class world record. This particular capture is famous for putting Cairns on the map as the giant black marlin capital of the world! 60 years on, the grander is still the pinnacle of the game fishing scene, bringing anglers here from all across the globe.
The 60th Anniversary Cairns Black Marlin Tournament marks the date from the first grander and was a very successful event, with a total of 72 black marlin captured and released across the game fishing fleet. The boat Viking II took out the major 1st-place prize with champion angler Jermy Goon managing to reel in a total of 6 fish! 2nd place came with Reel Work hot on their heels for the entire competition until the final day's fishing, where Viking II managed to push away from the pack, claiming another 2 fish on their tally, and Reel Work unfortunately staying on their 4 fish on the final day's fishing. It was very tight between these two boats through the whole 4 days' fishing, with a countback for Reel Work putting them in the lead for the majority of the tournament. It was neck and neck and all came down to the final day!
The big fish are slowly rocking up and it's only the start of the season. A giant 900lb fish was caught and released for Calypso on the first day's fishing and another monster 800lb marlin was released by Moana III. More fish rolled in with a 700lb fish for Centrefold, and Tataki with a 650lb fish, with the crew even managing to plug a satellite tag into it. This will hopefully provide some important scientific data on the geographic position and movement of the marlin, plus water depth and water temperature and more information from this fish in the next 12 months once the tag is released from the fish. Four other 500-pounders came in for Abyss, Kiama, Hellraiser and Big Business as well.
All these boys have been in the game for long enough and can take one look at a giant black marlin and get a close estimate on the weight of the fish, then release it to swim off and continue its legacy. Longevity for the fishery is important, and the health of these prestigious world-class fish is respected across the entire game fishing fleet. Catch and release is the only sustainable way to continue practising this incredible form of sports fishing for years to come. With the giant black marlin coming through every year on their migratory patterns, it's important to preserve the fishery, with the big girls coming back for all these years without fail.
They've always been here, and they'll always be here if it's continued to be practised and respected like how it's been for the past 60 years.
Oceanic Fishing Charters with a giant black marlin on the end
A quality shot of this aerobatic marlin from the Cairns Professional Game Fishing Association Facebook page
Flipping out! Another shot from the Cairns Pro page, thank you Kelly!
Cody with a ripper wahoo onboard Shaka
The Cape and Gulf
Out to the Gulf of Carpentaria, barramundi are the major attraction for many anglers travelling across, and they have been on the chew. Karumba has been exceptionally busy over the school holidays, with an easy bitumen road the whole way there and plenty of air-conditioned accommodation. It's a great destination to go for a holiday with the kids and get them out on the water. The flats out the front have had a lot of traffic coming through chasing the XL barramundi that patrol the mangroves. Some cracker models have been caught soaking live baits around the mouth and using LiveScope, trying to find the bigger girls. Threadfin salmon and blue salmon are thick as well, with many perfect eating-sized fish coming through, mostly being caught as bycatch while chasing barra.
Further up the coast and into some of the freshwater rivers and lagoons in the Cape York region. There is still a fair bit of water around in a lot of the swamps and lagoons around the Cape, but it's only starting to heat up and it won't take long and it'll be sweltering hot and sticky conditions. Early morning and late afternoon are the primo times to fish whilst it's cooler, and conveniently are both good bite windows for the classic saratoga and barramundi in these waterways. Natural cherabin and frog soft plastics have been convincing these prehistoric saratoga to have a bite.
Staff member Lance with a nice barra from Kowanyama
Another Kowie barra from Lance
Clay with a nice threadie
And ticked it off the bucket list, a nice toga from the freshwater lagoons
Lance has dinner sorted!
Week Ahead Outlook
A potential of glamour weather could be on the horizon looking at the long-range forecast, with winds slowly dying off over the weekend and continuing to drop throughout the week. Unfortunately, the reef fin fish closure and Spanish mackerel closure are on the horizon, lining up in the pearler weather we are about to get. Starting from 8 October, both Spanish mackerel and reef fin fish closures start over the new moon period to protect the spawning fish. This will likely see more trailer boats on the water in the pursuit of billfish, still making the most of the glamour weather.
Thomas from Salt Diary App and Getlost.Staywild loaded up on a dino trout from the GBR, not long and we will have some pearler weather again!
Need gear, bait or just a bit of local advice?
Swing by Cairns Tackle World at 172 Aumuller Street, Bungalow to chat with your local independent fishing experts.