Building tides, reasonable winds and clear blue skies have seen the enthusiasm and motivation grow over the week for anglers across Cairns. With some better weather rolling through, the local river systems have seen a fair few anglers fishing the mangrove coastlines chasing the classic barramundi and mangrove jack. Even some keen anglers and charters punched it out to the reef in the manageable winds where some rare fish have been caught and a variety of other table fish have come over the gunwales. Rocky headlands have been producing more barramundi on the warming rocks and even some solid mangrove jacks have been captured from the rocks on the sunny days. As Tinaroo slowly starts to warm up again, numbers of fish are starting to move around more and feeding over longer bite windows compared to how short they were in the peak of winter. And in the crystal clear freshwater river systems have seen the young guns walking more kilometres in search of some cracking jungle perch and sooty grunter.
This week's cracking catch has to be this Māori Wrasse caught by TomandLivFishing whilst flicking the reef flats with a Nomad Madscad. Cracking catch Tom!
Reef Fishing
Favourable weather hung around off our coastline for a little while there, where keen anglers made the run out in 15 knot and below winds and found some quality mixed bags from the reef. Plus a few rare and unique captures were caught too. The run out has been generally quite choppy with the mix of wind and current inshore but once at the reef it breaks up the wind and swell producing some nice, sheltered water to fish.
There has been such a diverse variety of species caught this week, loads of red species coming in! Whilst bottom bashing the trout grounds, there has been larger “reef run” mangrove jacks caught this week convincing anglers it would be a solid red emperor but it's a quality jack taking the bait instead. Numerous coral trout have been caught from the fields of bommies and in the mix, some delicious cattle dog cod have been found as well. Even a rare barramundi cod was caught bottom bashing from one lucky angler! Talking rare, another lucky angler casting the flats has found himself a rare Māori Wrasse. Two rare and unique fish that are both considered an endangered species. Both anglers who were lucky enough to come across these impressive fish were respectful with a real quick photo and released unharmed to swim another day!
This rare species is a Barramundi Cod caught by Tallis from FNQ Travellers. Such a unique looking species, and one on many anglers' bucket lists.
Ava from FNQ Travellers managed to find this delicious Cattle Dog Cod on their trout mark.
Tallis with a perfect eating sized coral trout caught bottom bashing, some great variety for these guys!
How's this solid Mangrove Jack caught out at the reef by this lucky angler on Dragon Lady Charters!
A very nice Red Emperor caught on board Reef Runner for another lucky angler.
Another quality size trout from Dragon Lady.
A decent sized Large Mouth Nannygai on board Reef Runner.
Game Fishing
The billfish front has been quiet with many of the game boats waiting to spend their efforts for the next up and coming competitions. Private boats however have been on the chase in search of the deep blue water and heavy bait schools. Trolling skirts and large teasers through the grounds has seen sailfish captured and even a blue marlin having interest in the spread out wide but unfortunately not having any interest in feeding.
Spanish mackerel have still been schooling up on the inshore wrecks where some keen anglers have taken their small tinnies out in the choppy conditions and found themselves some quality mackerel on some light spin gear. Travelling yachts have been stocking up on fresh and top quality Chris Bolton gar for their travels around Cape York. Their reports have been consistent over the previous weeks with mackerel coming in easily around the reef edges, pinnacles and inshore wrecks.
Staff Member Atti and his mate Brodie made the run out to the inshore wrecks in some unfavourable conditions for their small tinnie but they still found some great fish!
Brodie with a great Spanish Mackerel for the inshore wrecks.
Atti with another Spanish from the tinnie.
Estuary Fishing
In the good old Trinity Inlet, barramundi have been on the chew as the tides are building leading up to the full moon. Anglers fishing the local Esplanade and Pier have convinced many barra to bite and even some large queenfish have been caught off the pier as they are cruising by. Doggie mackerel or school mackerel have been coming through around the leads channel markers, and some have even been captured off the local pier casting metal slices as far as possible and burning them back in with speed. Into the thick of the mangroves, barramundi, mangrove jacks and grunter have been caught pitching realistic prawn imitations into the structure.
Brenden convinced this angry jack to chew on one of the new Molix Prawns pitching them deep into the mangroves.
These fellas certainly know how to use their camera, a cracking shot of this barra on the new Molix Prawn caught by Lucas.
The Prawn down the hatch of another Barra from the fellas!
Even a nice little Grunter couldn't resist.
Freshwater Rivers
Drifting the picturesque sweet water down south this time of year is absolutely glamour. With less rain coming down the mountains and into the river systems, the muddy sediment can finally settle, making the clarity the best it'll generally get. Whilst drifting down these systems the scenes are incredible, spanning from rainforest country to cane fields, seeing everything from crocs, cassowaries, pigs and even deer on the riverbanks. Even the small things, Ulysses butterflies, kingfishers, snakes and lizards, the list goes on. Through these systems, sooty grunter, jungle perch, and barramundi have been captured this week. Casting small, natural-profile hard bodies that replicate rainbowfish, and soft plastics that imitate cherabin, has undone some great fish for these anglers.
On foot, anglers are hiking kilometres through the skinny streams on their pursuit for jungle perch and sooty grunter. Some quality fish have been caught this week, those getting rewarded are walking some huge distances to get to the more remote parts of these rivers where not too many people often hike to. Especially for the jungle perch, being slow growing and with exceptional eyesight these fish are incredibly smart. Often going to the more remote rivers further out of town and walking further than most people would venture to, will be your best bet to find jungle perch that haven't likely seen many people before. Once again, casting natural lures through the rivers will be the best bet to fool the wiser fish.
Ryan managed to find this awesome jungle perch from the boulders on a small prawn imitation.
Alex with a nice dark sooty from the mountains.
Another sooty grunter caught by Alex.
Tinaroo
With slightly warmer weather and a lot less rain the dam has finally started to drop its capacity, it's not very noticeable but it's dropping slowly. The baitfish will eventually have to recede from the weedy edges and back into open water leaving the safety of the structure. Barramundi will have to follow suit out of the weeds as well but luckily for them they are the apex predator in the dam, excluding the freshwater crocodiles that do call Tinaroo home and do often prey on barra and all the other species of fish that live in the dam too. But the barramundi will be patrolling the edges of the dam as the water continues to drop in search of bony bream, rainbowfish, tilapia and many other baitfish they gorge themselves on. Replicating the natural bait can increase your chances on a big barra from the dam, matching the hatch in other words. Swimbaits like the new Berkley Chop Blocks replicating the bony bream or tilapia, or even hard body lures in similar colours and patterns to the bait can be a great option too. Surface lures over the nighttime have caught a few large models already, walk the dog style lures or fizzers replicate a fleeing or dying baitfish and the barra can't resist an easy feed.
Week Ahead Outlook
With potential showers passing through over the weekend and leading into the start of the week, we say goodbye to the blue skies once again. Keen anglers with a good quality rain jacket will likely hit the water over the weekend still making the most of their time off. The tide is slowly dropping just after the full moon but still has a reasonable amount of movement over the weekend, likely seeing the barramundi fishermen targeting them in the salt and even up in the dam between the showers.
Out to the reef, the winds will pick up and sit at a consistent 20 knots for the weekend and further into the week the wind is slowly coming down on the long range forecast. Some charters will still operate in this weather over the weekend and some keen anglers will still head out in the wind in search of fish to fill the freezer. If the long range is right we could potentially see multiple days under 15 knots, manageable conditions for some but not all. When will we get another 5 knot weather window open up?
Dexter with a very nice Mangrove Jack caught off of a rocky headland on a prawn imitation.
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.