Our fishing front has been pretty quiet locally with the trade winds picking up to a consistent 20 plus knots off the coast for the majority of the week plus some heavy showers passing through. Most anglers would stay in the comfort of their warm and dry homes, however the keen anglers who persisted in the unfavourable weather managed to get themselves stuck into some great fish. The Townsville Billfish Shootout ran for two of the three days with the first day cancelled due to windy weather, the other two days fishing were a success with boats managing to catch both sailfish and marlin with numerous fish called over the Skeds through the two days. Locally the Great Barrier Reef had a break from the boating traffic with everyone waiting on the next weather window to swing through again. The local estuary systems have seen less traffic both on foot and in the boats, but some anglers have stuck out the miserable weather and managed to find some nice barramundi and mangrove jacks for their efforts. Anglers have also ventured into the mountains and into the freshwater seeking refuge from the weather, finding themselves some quality-sized jungle perch and sooty grunter as well.
Game Fishing
The Townsville Billfish Shootout was the first of the billfish competitions held here in Far North Queensland to kick off the season. With day one cancelled due to the weather, it was all down to day two and three to score a placing. Day two kicked off slowly with the first 10:10am Skeds called out with only a couple of raised fish and only one hooked. The first capture was a sailfish tagged at 10:30am by Cabokazi and the first marlin was tagged at 12:19pm by Akuma. Around the turn of the tide the numbers of fish started to roll in, the 1:30pm Skeds were called in with 6 total fish captured with many more fish hooked and even more fish raised, but by the time the 4:15pm Skeds were called there were no more captures for the day and only one more raised fish.
Day three was the be-all or end-all for some boats, the first marlin came in early at 7:44am caught by Infinity with only 4 other fish tagged by the time the first Skeds were called at 10:10am. The first sailfish of the day came in at 11:26am by Hardline and the rest of the Skeds were not called out until the presentations. The champion team taking the major $10,000 prize was Southern Comfort, tagging the most fish, with runner-up team Cabokazi getting the $5,000 prize.
The next competition to roll around is the Innisfail Billfish Shootout held over three days of fishing on the 7th, 8th and the 9th of September. In between now and then if the weather allows, there will be more boats fishing for marlin and sailfish with the numbers hopefully starting to ramp up as the light tackle season continues.
A quality shot of some of the contending boats in the Billfish Shootout down in Townsville, taken by Ash
Nice little sunrise coming over the Townsville marina, shot by Ash
Local Estuary
Through the local waterways persistent anglers have stuck it out in the unfavourable weather and found themselves with some quality captures. On the local pier barramundi have still been biting over the slower tides taking a liking to small paddle tail soft plastics and a classic live bait, especially smaller mullet getting the nibble. Deep into the mangrove coastline anglers plugging lures through the heavy cover have been finding the occasional mangrove jack in small numbers, they are proving difficult with the slow tides and cooler water. Small trevally are still causing a ruckus as they patrol the mangrove edges, seen blowing up on schools of mullet out in the open and jelly prawns deep in the mangroves. These things still fight quite hard going pound for pound even at their smaller sizes, mostly getting captured as bycatch as anglers are pitching their lures through the mangrove structures and timber laydowns.
Young gun Jack is always on the water at any possible opportunity, and he managed to get this nice rat off the local pier
Another barra from Jack, caught on a small paddle tail off the pier
Riley with a quality mangrove jack from the mangroves
Tanguy with a nice mangrove jack caught from the sand in a small coastal creek down south
In the bigger freshwater river systems, the smaller tides have been favourable as these systems are nearly impossible to fish on the huge tides. Soaking live baits through the heavy timber has seen some quality barra convinced to bite across the Daintree River region with charter boats keeping their clients happy. And in the Russell and Mulgrave Rivers, barra have been caught on live bait around heavy timber structure with even some barra caught pitching lures deep into the cottonwood trees.
Robert plucked this solid barra pushing 94cm on the brag mat down in the Russell River, proving the fact the big ones have to eat at some point
This nice chrome barra came from a local river system down around Townsville, caught by Tanguy
A nice barra caught by Daly from Outtatheblue FNQ down close to Townsville
Freshwater River Systems
Hiking some kilometres through the freshwater is a great way to keep warm and active whilst it's drizzling that cool winter rain and blowing 20 knots on the coast. While dodging the Wait-Awhile fronds and Gympie Gympie bushes it's also important to keep an eye out for snakes in these river systems as getting bitten right up in some thick country could be devastating. Apart from all the things to be mindful of, the serenity is breathtaking, often in remote areas with no other people in sight. Some of these rivers are absolutely stunning, especially hiking to the top pools where the jungle perch can't get any further. These top pools are normally waterfalls that not many people have ever ventured to or even heard about. Enthusiastic and fanatic anglers have pushed right up to these pools in some rivers around the FNQ region and managed to find themselves some quality jungle perch and even a couple of footy-sized sooty grunter on their hikes. Frog surface lures such as the Mintoss frogs have been a popular pick this week with anglers seeking a natural topwater profile as their go-to preference to convince the wiser fish.
Riley found this solid sooty grunter on his little freshwater adventure
Tanguy with a cracking jungle perch in some pretty scenic boulder country, caught on a shallow-diving hardbody
Saxon managed to find this solid low-40s jungle perch in one of his local rivers down south of Cairns
New staff member Kynan with a rippa JP from the fresh
Reef Fishing
Trickling on from the last glamour weather window, the reef talk is still alive with anglers reminiscing over the beautiful weather we had. Coral trout, spangled emperor and even Spanish mackerel were caught land based off the inshore reefs on the super low tides allowing anglers to access these areas that would usually be underwater for most of the year. Whilst out in the boat, we have seen photos of some quality red emperor and even some coral trout caught off isolated rocks and rubble patches.
Victoria and her son with a delicious trout from the glamour weather
Victoria's son with another quality table fish
Riley plucked this local coral trout from a shallow reef edge, land based, in the extremely low tides the previous week
Daly from Outtatheblue FNQ found this cracker red emperor in some nice shallow ground over the pearler weather
Week Ahead Outlook
Building tides and dropping winds will see the avid barra anglers heading out across the local rivers and mud flats in search of the big girls and some will even head up to Tinaroo and make the most of the full moon cycle. The weekend and days following through the week look to be around the consistent 15-knot winds where some keen anglers and charter operators will take the opportunity to head to the reef, where once at the reef it is quite easy to find some sheltered water to fish. Billfish numbers will continue to increase as the bigger boats can fish comfortably in 15 knots, plus more anglers are getting their gear prepared for the following billfish competitions.
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.