Glamour summer weather has officially set in and the majority of Cairns anglers have made the most of the long-awaited opportunity. The barra closure officially commenced on Sunday 1st November for the tidal saltwater and estuarine river systems. However, that hasn't stopped the die-hard barra enthusiasts switching up their tactics and methods for the freshwater impoundments, where some quality barra have been caught! The Great Barrier Reef has also seen a huge amount of traffic this week, with the glamour weather absolutely turning it on with some amazing glass-out conditions. Dogtooth tuna, footballer trout, red emperor, Māori wrasse and green jobfish, to name a few, are only just the tip of the iceberg of what's been caught from the GBR. Plus the marlin scene is still ramping up, with many large black marlin coming in and even a giant 1000 pound fish in the mix.
So much has happened here in Cairns. It's been an exceptional week for fishing!
A giant black marlin, this right here is the reason Cairns is on the map in the game fishing industry. A cracker black jumping off the back of Bounty Hunter before its release.
Reef Fishing
Our beautiful Great Barrier Reef has produced some quality table fish for the anglers getting amongst it. With glass-out days, the opportunity to head to the shelf has allowed the deep drop rigs to get wet, seeing some of the higher desirables coming over the gunwales. From flame tail snapper to rubies and some big green jobfish, these are on the list of some of the best table fish from the shelf! Bottom bashing in the shallow water closer to the reef structure has produced numerous amounts of coral trout, large-mouth nannygai and some quality red emperor that have been keeping anglers occupied. Spanish mackerel opened up for a short window between the moon cycles, allowing anglers to fill their freezers before the ban again, and it seems like there is plenty of them around!
How's this for a nice jobby! A few people put this species right up there with the best eating fish. A shot from Isaac onboard FNSF.
Ben Gregory put his Seaborg to work, filling his esky with some desirable red emperor and large-mouth nannygai.
Noah got this ripper mack on a fresh Chris Bolton Gar.
Dallas with a nice double up of these tasty trout.
Quality photography from Toby on this nice gem of a trout.
Clay with a pretty cool capture from the GBR, a nice barramundi cod that put up a good fight and was released.
John got this ripper nanny bottom bashing the reef.
Elliott with a cracker-sized coral trout caught whilst on the troll.
Casting the reef flats has produced some quality captures for those anglers seeking the topwater adrenaline rush, from some XL giant trevally to some quality coral trout and even some huge Māori wrasse that have given anglers quite a good arm stretching.
Isaac can get his clients onto some incredible fish like this Māori wrasse. This one was sent back to swim another day as they are protected.
A cracker GT onboard FNSF.
Elliott with a very nice GT caught popping the bait schools.
A beautifully coloured footballer coral trout from Isaac on FNSF while casting over the picturesque reef flats.
Game Fishing
Giant black marlin is what Cairns is renowned for and this past week has shown the world why. The game fleet has been pulling in some great numbers of quality fish ranging from 600-900 pounds, with the majority of the big ones coming in around the 800 mark. The boat Akira went 2 from 3 on two separate 950+ pound black marlin, some absolute giants! Wild Turkey managed a decent 850 and Shore Thing reeled in a 900 and an 800, being the two biggest from their 7 caught over 2 days!! The biggest of the week so far came in with a cracking 1190-pound giant black marlin. This right here is what Cairns game fishing is renowned for!
Logan on the leader taking this nice little black for a ride on the back of Bounty Hunter.
Another small black moment before the release from Bounty Hunter.
Considered to be a highly targeted game species is the classic dogtooth tuna, a hard-fighting, genuine drag-burning ocean missile. Not an easy capture, with anglers commonly losing many to the reef with their intelligence to head to structure and bust them off, or even the tax man coming and having his take on the fish. But this week has been crazy, the number of fish captured and even the sheer size of some of these incredible fish.
A big doggie from Isaac on FNSF.
Another happy client on FNSF with this nice sunset dogtooth tuna.
James managed to wrangle in his first dogtooth tuna in his tinny!
Another quality doggie from Isaac on FNSF.
Toby managed to plug this one from the reef, sending a knife jig down into the deep blue.
Freshwater Impoundments
Storms are building up in the tablelands, seeing large pressure changes swinging through and making the barra hungrier than ever. From plugging plastics and surface lures off the bank to live scoping the big girls in the deep timber, many different methods have been effective for them. However, the young guns have proved you do not need a boat to catch quality fish and you can still catch some great barra land-based here in Cairns!
Staff member Brayden, commonly saying “you don't catch 'em sleeping, do ya”, proved to us you most certainly do not, unless you're dreaming. Plugging away through the early mornings paid off with this cracker 112cm barra erupting on his surface lure, caught land-based!
Dexter with a nice golden lily pad brawler slurped up the Irukandji paddle tail.
Saxon with a quality sunrise shot and a quality barra too from Tinaroo.
Another early morning brawler for Saxon, land-based.
Koby with a nice river-run barra sight-casted with a glide bait.
Henry with another sight-casted barra from the skinny water.
Another mundi from the dam Koby convinced to bite while casting off the bank.
Week Ahead Outlook
Three closures are now currently in place during the spawning periods of certain species: the reef fin fish closure and the Spanish mackerel closure, with a no-take practice in place, plus the barramundi closure in place for three months. Reef fin fish opens back up on the morning of the 11th of November, however the Spanish mackerel closure is a longer period, opening on the 27th of November. That won't stop us keen anglers, there is plenty of fish in the sea! We've still got our marlin game fishery, yellowfin tuna and wahoo out wide and even a few sporadic longtail schools inshore to target. Not to mention fingermark are still an accessible species during the closures, and of course we have the impoundments to fall back on. Koombooloomba and Tinaroo are both ideal locations for a weekend getaway to still chase our iconic barramundi.
Georgia made the most during the barra closure and put her efforts into targeting saratoga in the freshwater up in Cape York, reeling in this nice 73cm toga!
A quality shot of this Scleropages jardinii.
And to top it off, another cracker saratoga from the Cape from Georgia.
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.