Windy conditions continued to rip through the coast this week, with a little bit of drizzle to top off the miserable weather. However, keen anglers persisted through it all and there have been many metre plus barramundi caught this week in a fair range of locations across Cairns and surrounding regions, and further on into the Gulf and Cape. Consistent trade winds have left the reef nearly unfished this week, but the large game boats are still out in pursuit of the juvenile black marlin before the light tackle competitions kick off that are quickly approaching. Travelling yachties are still plucking mackerel on handlines with ease and nannygai bags are still getting filled for those braving the conditions. Chilly weather up in the tablelands has made for the perfect campfire weather, with Tinaroo and Koombooloomba being great destinations to camp with accessible fishing close by. Barra are still on the bite in short windows, with sooty grunter coming in thick at Koombooloomba and the odd, near rare capture of one at Tinaroo. Local freshwater streams and creeks are proving to be fishing quite well, with many jungle perch keeping anglers entertained and the occasional freshwater barra from the streams being a nice little surprise. One pretty special capture from this week has to be the brute of a Queensland groper caught land based, not only one of them but two, one after another!
Whilst targeting sharks off the piers down south, a giant Queensland groper took the bait and gave these anglers quite the surprise. Being a protected species, this one was released unharmed.
Marlin and Jesse with another Queensland groper caught just 15 minutes after the first one. Such a special fish and pretty cool to get back to back that quick! This one had a real quick pic taken and was sent off to swim another day.
Cairns Local Saltwater Systems
In the heart of Cairns, the Trinity Inlet and surrounding areas have been producing some quality barramundi over the previous week. The big girls have been on the chew, and many anglers have been finding these hungry fish. Large and natural profile lures have been fooling the wiser fish of the bunch, from large prawns and natural paddle tails to huge swimbaits. Most natural profiles have been getting crunched by these big girls. Fishing snake drains and channel edges through the inlet, live mullet has been getting the smaller barra to have a feed, with the occasional large grunter and fingermark having a chew as well. Tarpon have been seen schooling up on the surface in thick groups, circling around each other, where tiny jelly prawn imitations have convinced some to eat, though the school spooks after one fish or a missed bite. Large mangrove jacks have been feeding aggressively in the freshwater ponds, seeing some absolute crackers getting captured on live baits.
Archie managed to wrangle this solid barra, going a metre on the dot. Quality looking barra, this one.
Hiro found this cracker jack from a freshwater pond measuring 60cm, it would have pulled some string!
Staff member Brayden convinced this 101cm barra to have a chew on a large swimbait.
Tyreek convinced this nice chrome barra to chew the 4-inch Mintoss skip prawn on some light leader, nearly pushing the metre mark.
John found a nice urban barra measuring 106cm chewing the Irukandji Sicario.
Brodie with a little GT caught from the inlet on a prawn lure.
Freshwater Rivers and Dams
Koombooloomba Dam's water level is still quite high, but the sooty grunter are heavy on the bite with the occasional and elusive barra being found in the mix. The deep timber has been fishing well with schools stacked up around the structure, and small vibes are getting down into the hungry schools plucking some numbers. Deep-diving hard body lures cast through the trees are another way to get down into the depths where the fish are congregating. The elusive barramundi has been caught on the light gear while targeting the sooties, a pretty lucky bycatch avoiding getting chafed off on light leader. Tinaroo Dam has been the complete opposite, where barra are on the chew and the occasional and elusive sooty grunter have been captured off the bank. Big barramundi have been slowly showing interest in surface lures pitched around the weed edges, with small soft plastic frogs and fizzers getting subtle boofs from the barra in their short bite window periods. The freshwater streams have consistently produced jungle perch and sooty grunter, plus some bycatch consisting of tarpon and mangrove jacks, for the anglers on foot walking through the crystal clear water. In freshwater creeks, jungle perch are getting fooled to bite real early morning on surface lures like the Jackson RA popper, with even a little rat barramundi caught on the JP gear near Goomboora Park.
A little sooty grunter from Koombie, a cool little release shot with a deep-diving Nomad D-Trak getting into the zone.
Daniel from Tackle World Tully with a cracker soot from his local river taking a cherabin imitation.
Reef and Game Fishing
Weather continues to hold the smaller fishing vessels inshore and in the creeks, but the weather isn't stopping the game boats and yachties travelling the coast. Competition anglers are still getting prepared for the upcoming Billfish Shootout out from Townsville, putting all their gear to the test before the comp is held. Killing time between trolling, the wonky holes, rubble patches and isolated rocks are fishing quite well, seeing the large-mouth nannygai schools stacked up and filling the bag limits quickly. Travelling yachties heading around the coastline are not having any issues finding their mackerel, it's as simple as putting out their handlines and setting sail. Hopefully a glamour weather window is on the horizon soon, we are all still reminiscing on those glass-out days.
The Gulf of Carpentaria and Cape York
Over west, the Gulf has been producing some big barra over their smaller tide cycle between moons. Karumba and Normanton have been fishing exceptionally well, with some gun anglers hitting the 50 plus fish days and some quality sized ones in the mix. Further up the coast into Pormpuraaw and Kowanyama, both areas are fishing quite similar with some serious numbers of fish getting caught. Around the tip, saratoga have been eating almost anything cast at them in the isolated lagoons and freshwater rivers stretching right through the Cape York region. Over on the east coast, Starcke and Marina Plains have been exceptional for the barra, seeing many decent sized fish caught. Lakefield National Park is another hot spot for anglers where the freshwater barra are chewing quite well, as well as clouds of mosquitoes chewing at some camps too.
A quality land-based barra caught from Kytel in Normanton on a Berkley paddle tail, measuring 104cm! Certainly a capture to be stoked about, mate!
Jake managed to break in his new Daiwa Ryoga on this cracker 97cm barra from Marina on his last bush trip.
Ryan managed to get stuck into some good barra from the rocks and caught this little coral trout as bycatch, how sick is that!
Week Ahead Outlook
Trade winds will continue to pump through the coastline of FNQ, seeing the large boats fishing the light tackle and yachties using the winds to their advantage to travel. Inshore, the tides are building again leading into the full moon, likely seeing more barramundi anglers hitting the water either in the salt or in the dam. Anglers wanting to get away from the weather will be heading for more bush trips to the Cape and Gulf, finding some better weather and most likely getting stuck into some more quality barramundi and saratoga, plus all the other goodies in between.
Ashton with a quality barra going 116cm on the brag mat from the southern systems.
A good sized fingermark from a southern estuary caught from Jackson.
Jackson with a decent grunter caught in some glamour looking conditions down south.
Need gear, bait or just a bit of local advice?
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