Light tackle marlin season is on the roll and small billfish are on the chew with more game boats loading up with gear in further preparation for the season and competitions. Charter boats are still satisfying their clients in the sloppy conditions managing to secure some quality bags of mixed reef species from coral trout and large-mouth nannygai to Spanish mackerel as well. Bush trips over the Gulf or up the Cape are a heavy topic with many anglers seeking some better weather and some incredible fishing in remote destinations. Locally, barramundi have been finding warmer patches of water across Cairns from rock bars and headlands to mudflats and even sunny patches warming themselves up at the break of daylight with anglers managing to sight-cast them as they sunbake. Giant trevally have finally started to congregate in the rivers as they try to push upstream giving anglers the opportunity to chase some incredible inshore pelagic fishing. Mangrove jacks have been chewing across the lower reaches of freshwater rivers on the light JP gear and in the thick of the mangroves as always. Black jewfish and fingermark are schooling up around the wrecks and channel markers throughout the inlet keeping the inshore anglers entertained with a bit of diversity.
Jack with a nice little fingermark off the local pier.
Jack with a jack, this young fella always gets stuck into some quality fish!
Game fishing
Billfish are travelling through on their seasonal migratory patterns with many juvenile black marlin and the occasional sailfish getting captured, plus yellowfin tuna which are still on the bite off the outer reefs. Dedicated anglers are so far managing to secure at least one billfish daily for their efforts, so far it is ramping up to be a promising season ahead. A fair range of techniques are getting trialled such as running a spread of teasers consisting of dredges, spreader bars, daisy chains and large crawling birds all used to attract the fish to the boat then switch baiting them with a well-presented bait. Trolling contour lines and temperature changes has proven to be effective as well, finding some deep blue coloured water with a right mix of bait and current has seen marlin and sails following those lines in search of food. Whilst trolling for the game fish some boats are finding thick mackerel schools and losing a lot of skirts and gear as they sweep through the spread, instead relying on swimming baits like garfish and mullet to convince the marlin and sailfish, which is not as costly when a toothy mackerel swings through but still very effective on the billies.
Jordan on the leader of this nice juvenile black marlin on board Reel Teaser.
Reef fishing
Braving the consistent trade winds, keen anglers and charters have persisted and pushed out through the chop, finding sheltered water once they are at the reef. Bottom bashing has produced a fair range of demersals and finned fish, the good old delicious coral trout has been quite an easy find with some quality eating-sized fish in the mix. Eskies have been filled with many other species consisting of red emperor, large-mouth nannygai, spangled emperor plus Spanish mackerel being a really quick and easy bag filler. Chasing the maccies has been as simple as flicking an unweighted pilchard or garfish out the back and just waiting for the drag to sing. Another effective method is trolling around in search of new marks, why not send the lures out the back whilst you're looking for new ground to drop a line.
How's the colours on this delicious coral trout caught by Lilah.
A nice deep red coloured trout on board Dragon Lady.
Dragon Lady managed to find their bag limit of mackerel with ease in some choppy weather.
Local saltwater systems
Barramundi have been the hot topic of the local waterways, chasing them in many ways, shapes and forms is the best thing about these fish, there are so many ways to fool a barra to eat in many locations across Cairns. Live baiting is a foolproof method especially for the land-based or old school anglers. Pitching a live mullet and even garfish off the snake drains around the Esplanade has seen a fair few barramundi coming through and even some decent sized grunter have been taking a liking to the live garfish. Snag bashing is another effective method, flicking the timber structures like the mangroves and cottonwood trees. Covering ground has seen more barra come over the sides in the Daintree and Trinity Inlet this week. Deep-diving hardbodies such as the Jackall Squirrel and heavy weedless plastics getting them down deep and right in the structure is a great way to potentially see yourself a barra. Some anglers whilst flicking the mangroves have sight cast barra out in the open as they are making the most of the warmth from the sun as it just hits the water in the early mornings. Headlands on the calmer weather days have seen some barra plucked from the stones where shallow-diving hardbodies and swimbaits over the rocks on the incoming tide has proven effective on the sunny days. General rule of thumb is a sunny day, big tides and incoming tide around the change either low or high tide and in the peak of winter. The rocks heat up from the sun through the day and as the water starts to rise over the warm rocks baitfish will congregate in the warm patches of water and the predatory fish will follow suit.
Staff member Atti plucked this nice barra from the mud on a Samaki Prawn.
Daniel managed to find this quality barra on top water from the Daintree River.
Another nice golden barra from Daniel caught again off the top.
Giant trevally are pushing into the rivers and giving the mullet schools a fair hassle. Some huge models are getting captured sight casting them as they bash through the baitfish or simply just cruising along on the surface as their wakes come through. Pitching almost anything past their face is going to convince them to strike, however surface lures certainly get the blood pumping as these giants are swimming full speed with their eyes, shoulders and fins all out of the water as they boost along at full noise after your lure. Once they hit it's just mayhem from there and there is another proper rush of adrenaline as they do their big drag-burning runs. It's quite special to have these fish inshore and in the rivers, opening up this kind of pelagic fishing to anglers without having to head to the reef in these windy conditions.
An absolute brute of a river GT from Tropical Sportfisher.
Staff member Brayden with a nice close up of a river GT on the Nomad Ridgeback Long Cast.
Local freshwater systems
Tinaroo saw some large barra over the week, from forward facing sonar off the boat to bank bashing some decent models have been captured with even some more sooties getting caught off the bank. Fishing from the boat in the timber, using LiveScope as an effective tool anglers have managed to navigate through the trees and find themselves some feeding fish. During hot bite windows anglers have found the barra pushing up to the surface in the deeper water where plastics such as the Raid Fish Rollers burning them past their nose has seen near instant bites. Whereas the bite window slows and the fish retreat to the deeper water these plastics are effective using the strolling technique coming into play causing a reaction bite from the big girls. Off the bank, the old school method but still effective Reidy's B52 lures have claimed a few under the moonlight, slowly rolling them along the points and bays.
The freshwater rivers have seen jungle perch and sooty grunter caught predominantly on foot for the keen anglers walking the pristine streams. Where more boaters have sent their small punts down the sweet water getting themselves hooked into numerous sooty grunter, jungle perch and even some sweet water barra. The sugar cane drains have continued to produce, with weedless paddle tails under the moonlight accounting for some quality barra from the skinny water.
A nice-sized jungle perch from Freshwater Creek caught right on dusk from staff member Brayden.
Out Bush
Anglers venturing from the city have sent off in search of some better weather and most importantly get stuck into some quality fishing. Over to the Gulf, Burketown and Karumba have still been producing some incredible fishing days with some travelling anglers managing to stick hooks into their first barra, not only that but find themselves a nice metery in the mix. Reports are still coming in with anglers cracking over 50 barramundi in a day with many threadfin salmon and even some giant black jewfish in the mix. To the Cape, tourists are making the most of the dry season four-wheel driving to the tip and fishing in between the drive. Car topper tinnies have been the go for anglers wanting to wet a line in some of the remote river systems the Cape has to offer, where the ever faithful Gold Bomber lure has claimed many barra up the Cape over this week.
Into the remote freshwater rivers anglers have found themselves getting stuck into bulk numbers of sooty grunter out west in the Walsh and Mitchell River systems and even some remote systems around the Mount Surprise and Gilbert River region. Into the Cape some anglers have ventured into some more remote freshwater rivers finding themselves endless saratoga, barramundi and even sooty grunter and tarpon.
Staff member Brayden with this quality-sized saratoga from a river up in Cape York.
A perfect shot capturing the stunning features on this prehistoric species.
Saxon hiked a remote river down the south-east getting stuck into bulk numbers of sooty grunter on his bush trip.
Week Ahead Outlook
Some pearler weather looks to be on the horizon, from what we can see a pressure system over NSW is putting a dampener on the trade winds for us here over Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday giving us some favourable fishing conditions to call in sick and hit the reef! Large tides over the week will likely see avid barramundi fishermen hitting the water either up the dam or in the salt chasing the bigger girls over the new moon period. It'll likely be a busy week on the water especially if the weather stays as good as it looks, it's a long-awaited opportunity we've all been waiting for!
Staff member Atti with this solid jack from a freshwater pond, crunching the Panic Stations Mullet.
Another shot of the big freshwater jack, these little brutes hit lures hard in these ponds.
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.