Busy boat ramps saw a lot of traffic this week, with a hint of nice weather swinging through it allowed anglers to get out and scratch their reef itch for the couple of calmer days until it blew up again. Nannygai, coral trout, Spanish mackerel, giant trevally, cale cale, fingermark, tusk fish plus a couple of rare unique captures, the list just goes on for the species caught over the weekend out in the blue. Inshore, boats heading along the beaches, mud flats and mangrove-lined river systems saw barramundi being a hot species to target over the king tides with big fish being convinced to bite large lures or big live baits. Freshwater rivers have been producing plenty of jungle perch and sooty grunter for the young groms, with Tinaroo even seeing a nice sooty grunter caught flicking small plastics around the weed edges. Tinaroo also saw the larger model barramundi turning it on over the new moon cycle where the numbers and size of fish being caught has drastically improved compared to the past couple of months. Further from home, the Gulf of Carpentaria has been producing some amazing barramundi fishing and into Cape York, travelling anglers have managed to tick off their first barramundi plus many more off their bucket list.
Saxon managed to fight this nice cale cale on the silly string. Such a bizarre looking critter but they can certainly pull some string, that's for sure!
Ryan has travelled all the way up from South Australia and managed to get himself his first barramundi on the small Nomad Switcher Shrimp, well done mate!
Reef Fishing
A break in the trade winds fell over the weekend where many anglers managed to sneak out and hit the reef, finding a wide variety of species from the blue. Coral trout were coming in thick for anglers fishing with the new Buku Flutter Bomb jigs, working them through the bommies. Large mouth nannygai schools congregating off isolated rocks fell victim to the 130mm Nomad Squidtrex, being the standout lure plucking many of these delicious fish. Even some great sized red emperor took a liking to the Squidtrex off the isolated rocks too. Out wide off the shelf, deep dropping has been achievable using electric reels; those who did head out captured many rosy snapper and quality sized flame tail snapper coming over the gunwales and filling freezers.
Gina found this ripper red emperor in some near-millpond conditions.
A beautiful eating species, a rosy snapper, a member of the jobfish family, caught by Simon.
The boys from OutatheblueFNQ with a double up on some coral trout.
Some nice sized nannygai caught aboard Exceed Sport Fishing out from Port Douglas.
A fair few unique captures came from the reef this week. Maori sea perch is an infrequent little capture where some of these have been caught land based! On the lowest of tides you can walk to the edges of the inshore reefs and cast off of them, something that doesn't happen quite often, and to find these little gems in general is pretty special. Coral trout and tusk fish were even caught flicking pilchards and small paddle tail lures from these inshore reefs. Maori wrasse and barramundi cod were another two rare and unique captures from the reef, both getting caught as bycatch on the boat and released unharmed.
A cracker nannygai caught from Gina.
Isaac found this little ripper, a stunning little Maori sea perch, one of the most gorgeous fish from the GBR.
Trent with a cool Robinson sea bream, a bit of a unique capture!
Estuaries, Beaches and Headlands
Huge king tides are the biggest cycle of tides Cairns gets, reaching 3.4 metre highs and 0.2 metre low tides this week. These can be favourable tides for the avid barramundi fisherman targeting their trophy sized fish. Rocky headlands, flats and the beaches have been fishing extremely well, either on foot or from a boat, both being easily accessible. The muddy flats off the esplanade have seen many anglers fishing the higher tides with many barramundi being caught; natural lure profiles such as a soft plastic prawn or even surface lures representing a mullet are effective for the shallow water. Threadfin salmon schools have been congregating off the beaches and river mouths, seeing many land-based anglers getting stuck into these alien looking fish.
Ryan from Tackle World Tully with a ripper flathead from his local river.
How's this ripper buck muddy caught onboard Hooked Up Charters in Port Douglas.
An inshore Spanish mackerel caught on a top water Nomad Riptide off the headlands down south from Saxon. Pretty scenic backdrop in this pic.
A nice little barra caught on the new ABU VoltIQ reel from Clint and Joe around the beaches.
Freshwater Rivers
The picturesque streams have continued to provide some quality captures for the anglers keen to walk the miles on foot through the rainforest. The bigger model jungle perch have been taking a liking to natural lure profiles; with their great eyesight and slow growth rate these fish are incredibly smart. Representing a natural fish, bug or frog is called matching the hatch and is a super effective method for targeting the wised-up perch. Frog profiles have been fooling some of these larger fish, plus getting an awesome top water bite from these beautiful freshwater fish is pretty special too. Sooty grunter have been chewing hard in the western rivers where some big models have still got the antennae of cherabin or red claw still hanging out of their mouths.
Kynan with a quality JP caught on a natural soft plastic frog profile.
Tinaroo
The new moon cycle certainly kept anglers occupied, producing some great size and numbers of fish over the moon cycle. Anglers bank bashing have caught some great fish throwing large profile swimbaits and live baits, while boats have caught some quality fish using Live Scope to effectively cover ground and find the big hungry barra that live in the dam. Strolling has been very effective, getting a reaction bite out of the XL models where it is proving its versatility in both deep and shallow water, covering all bases. A solid sooty grunter has been pulled from the dam, caught pitching small soft plastic lures around the weed edges, with mouth almighty also showing interest in the soft plastics as well.
The Gulf and Cape
Angus found this solid sooty over the night casting plastics around the weed edges.
Shane with an XL barra from up the hill, measuring 121cm. I think you need a saddle for this donkey!
Across to the Gulf of Carpentaria, the barramundi fishing has been exceptional, seeing the numbers of fish staying consistent through the week in the remote river systems. Karumba has been a tourist hot spot with the flats out the front being incredibly busy; large barra are getting captured through the shallow reaches around the mangroves, predominantly being targeted using Live Scope.
Dry season is renowned for being the best, and really the only, time of the year to travel up to Cape York for anyone wanting to fish and four-wheel drive to the tip comfortably. Travelling anglers have taken the opportunity with their car rooftop tinnie to fish the rivers around the tip and have managed to hook into their first barramundi, plus hooking many more throughout their trip.
Emily has managed to reel in her 50th saltwater metre! A special fish this one.
Another shot of Emily's 50th saltwater metre caught in the Gulf.
Need gear, bait or just a bit of local advice?
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