Decent amounts of fish moving through the Trinity Inlet have been keeping local anglers and travelling punters busy. From the classic mangrove jack and barramundi through to a large Spanish mackerel caught in the heart of the Inlet, it's been a busy week in the local waters! River mouths and breakwaters across Cairns and surrounding areas are seeing thick schools of queenfish moving through, eating almost anything thrown at them, with the occasional larger model giant trevally coming through and sizzling the drag washers on the little light reels. Out to the blue water, larger boats and charters are punching it out in the chop and hitting the reef in search of delicious demersals and pelagics, where coral trout, nannygai, and Spanish mackerel have been the popular freezer fillers. Young gun anglers are getting stuck into their jungle perch and sooty grunter while drifting down the sweet water in their little punts, and others are hiking through the mountains in the crystal-clear rivers and scenic streams chasing the same species. It's been an eventful week with some awesome captures in the mix!
How's this for a very lucky capture: Warren managed to stick hooks into this solid Spanish mackerel in the heart of the Trinity Inlet. Not only a cool place to catch one, but he hooked it on a live herring on a single hook with no wire trace!
Cairns Local Waterways
Mangrove jacks have been taking a liking to a fair range of lures this week, from paddle tails, frogs, and prawns through to large hardbodies and swimbaits getting crunched whilst targeting barra; they certainly won't shy away from a large meal if the opportunity comes around. Rat barramundi have been patrolling the thick timber laydowns through the Inlet, where floating a live mud herring or mullet along the snags has seen these aerobatic fish taking the bait. Fingermark have been caught through the sticks, taking live bait intentionally set for barra, but the one that tops the cake this week is a solid Spanish mackerel caught on a live mud herring, on a single hook, with no wire. How lucky is that! Persisting with lures through the snags, anglers have found barras by casting the mangrove edges with small paddle tails and shallow-diving hardbody lures. Surface lures across the flats in pockets where the wind backs off or is sheltered from the weather have been seeing some hungry boofs from barra. The calmer water allows the lures to work to their full potential, working similarly to a fleeing mullet or baitfish. Barra love boofing a good fizzer such as the Bad Breed Sprockets; these little beauties have been claiming some good fish through the Inlet and Barron River recently.
Georgia caught herself a nice little grunter on her own brand-new rod combo. Very nice catch; I bet you can't wait until Dad can take you out on your next fishing adventure with your rod!
Jack got onto this nice little barra whilst snag bashing through the Inlet.
Rick, Jack's dad, with another nice barra. The boys are getting into a rhythm and finding more each trip.
Staff member Brayden with a nice little jack on a Nils Master snag bashing through a southern river.
Reef Fishing
15 knots is a manageable wind prediction for the larger private boats and charter boats to head out and keep their clients occupied getting stuck into the reef species. It'll likely persist with the windy conditions for the weeks ahead, but everyone is waiting for the break in the weather with the 5-knot predictions to have their sick days and get on the water. Those who have set out over this week have found themselves some numbers of nannygai, bagging out quickly on isolated rocks and rubble patches, with the occasional red emperor showing up on the inshore grounds still. Coral trout are among the various species filling freezers, along with other emperor species and mackerel.
A delicious coral trout caught onboard Blackout Sportfishing Charters in some favourable conditions.
Game Fishing
Spanish mackerel are proving to be in some exceptional numbers where trolling only a couple of times over a mark has seen anglers bagging out with double and triple hook-ups filling the bag limit easily. Inshore wrecks are holding some decent numbers of these toothy critters with the occasional large cobia coming for an inquiry from the structures. Marlin reports have gone quiet for the game boats chasing them; however, fewer boats on the water chasing them this week is likely a contributing factor.
A few perfect eating-size mackerels caught aboard Blackout.
A nice little double-up on Spanish mackerel with Blackout. Some nice little white caps in the background on a blowy day, the boys still got stuck into them.
Rivers, Estuaries and Beaches
Inshore pelagics are an interest on many anglers' minds recently; for some, it's an absolute must-catch on their bucket list, and enthusiastic anglers will travel across the world in search of these fish. The opportunity to catch a solid GT that generally hangs off the Great Barrier Reef, not only inshore but on the coast, is absolutely incredible. River mouths harbour an accessible waterway for anglers to fish from the sand and target these serious line burners, and this is the time of year to begin the chase of the giant trevally land-based. Models around the 10–20 kg mark have been showing up, whereas the elusive 30-plus kilo models are few and far between; some have been hooked, but the gear hasn't been adequate, sizzling off the whole spool of line or even gear failure has seen these powerful trevally proving who's boss. Queenfish have been covering ground along the coast, being at one river mouth one day and somewhere completely different the next. Thick schools have been eating a variety of lures; when they are hungry, they'll eat just about anything. Sight casting them with surface lures is by far the most exciting way of targeting both giant trevally and queenfish. Watching as they make wakes along the surface or spray baitfish everywhere, then sending a cast through them, they charge the lures down with their fins out of the water and their eyes almost breaching the surface. Some even follow right to the end of the cast and when they hit, it's just mayhem, especially on the bigger fish.
Brayden with a small queenfish sight casting them with the Nomad Ridgeback in millpond conditions. If only it was heavy tackle season, this would be a prime bait!
Freshwater Rivers and Dams
Drifting down the southern sweet water rivers has got to be one of the most relaxing and scenic ways to chase sooty grunter and jungle perch in FNQ. Getting to view and fish such a large area of near-untouched rivers and being able to get a small punt into the snags where being on foot is near impossible. This drifting method has proven to be super effective, with anglers covering a large amount of water in such a short period of time, finding some quality sooty grunter on their adventure. On foot in the skinny water, hiking to the top pool is another popular method for finding the larger-sized jungle perch in the system. The majority of these freshwater rivers trickle down from deep in the mountains and end up taking anglers to some of the most stunning waterfalls. These waterfalls are considered the top pool the jungle perch can navigate their way upstream to, but also where the majority of people don't even get to see these incredible landscapes — a special place very few people actually visit. Sometimes it's not all about the fish, but it's about where these fish take you. Jungle perch are probably the species that take you to the most stunning destinations and landscapes FNQ has to offer; it's incredible the places we travel to for a small game of tug-of-war with a fish.
Daniel with a nice little double hook-up with Ryan. How's the colour difference on these two sooties!
Saxon with a ripper sooty caught in the streams down south.
Daniel found this beautiful jungle perch on a drift in the sweet water.
Lachlan with his first Saratoga! Such a prehistoric-looking fish.
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.