A very nice fresh water barra caught in the mountain streams from Marc.
Wild windy weather pumped through Cairns for the majority of this week, but anglers still managed to find pockets of nice weather, and they got stuck into some quality fish. Sheltering inland or in the creeks has seemed to be the only option with this miserable wind. Fresh water barra, jungle perch, sooty grunter and mangrove jacks were all on the chew throughout the week. Where the reef, small weather windows opened up early in the week where charters kept their clients happy with some great fish with the weather potentially allowing us to get out again over the weekend and into next week. Reports from the gulf and cape are still coming in with ridiculous numbers of barra per day for many anglers, some anglers managing to rack up 100+ fish days!
Reef Fishing
The punch out is always the hardest and generally quite wet in smaller boats, but once at the reef it is a much more manageable environment to comfortably fish. Just before the big blow came through anglers punched it out and managed to get some reasonable mixed bags of demersal species and some pelagics in there too. Largemouth nannygai and the delicious coral trout came overboard for most punters hitting the isolated bommies, wonky holes and rubble patches.
These delicious coral trout were caught aboard Blackout Sportfishing charters using the shelter from the reef to find these great trout. Pretty choppy in the background here.
How's this awesome barramundi cod a rare capture from the Great Barrier Reef. This one was released unharmed from Dragon Lady Charters.
Game Fishing
Trolling the reef edges or wrecks has produced some great eating size Spanish mackerel for a few anglers. Choppy conditions have seen these mackerel quite aggressive with some free swimming around the boat and finding interest in people's reef captures. For those bottom bashing, using a live bait drifting out the back on a separate rod could potentially see you some bigger pelagics crunching the live bait. On the other hand serious game anglers are gearing up for the light tackle marlin season, where some smaller private boats are already sending it out in search of the first couple black marlin of the season.
A very nice Spanish caught aboard Dragon Lady Fishing Charters.
Rivers, Estuaries & Beaches
Finding shelter in the creek is an easy task whilst out the front is blowing 30+ knot winds. Anglers tucking into the mangrove coastline seeking some flat water are convincing the hard fighting mangrove jacks to come out and play the game. Skipping frogs right up as far as the eye can see into the mangroves is a very effective method on these larger tides. Fingermark are coming out from the wrecks throughout the inlet as well as the occasional barra tucking right up against the structure. Soaking live baits across a tidal change along the edges of these sunken boats can produce these smarter resident fish to come out and get fooled. Flathead are starting to be on the chew with this cool temperature change, majority coming as by catch for anglers flicking along the mangrove edges.
This nice jack came aboard Exceed Sport Fishing Port Douglas on their mother's day fish.
Another great jack aboard Exceed Sport Fishing Port Douglas.
Jack found this ripper flatty whilst targeting mangrove jacks in the Inlet cant complain with that as by catch.
Freshwater & Dams
Young guns venturing on foot through the mountain streams around Cairns are finding some quality jungle perch through the gin clear water plus sooty grunter are still being captured in the streams south of the city. Some young anglers are finding the occasional and prized fresh water barra deep into the mountains and even found a golden Khaki Grunter where 1 in 100,000 of them have this golden gene! Tinaroo has turned it right down a notch as barra are beginning to settle down and conserve energy in the chilly water, however they still need to eat at some point. Keen anglers sticking out the later nights finding these short bite windows are still convincing some of the larger models to have a nibble.
Jace found this nice little fresh water barra in these mountain streams.
Marc managed to find this nice jungle perch from the streams.
Marc managed to find this beaut barra from the streams
Weekend Outlook
With the tides slowing down leading through next week, so is the wind for a few days at the start of the week, but unfortunately looking quite windy from the middle of the week onwards. This could be an opportunity to punch it out early and chase reef species targeting the demersals or pelagics such as mackerel, or even troll a bait or skirts in search of the juvenile black marlin that could have potentially rocked up. Walking the freshwater streams is another great way to escape the howling coastal winds. With less and less rain the rivers will continue to clear up and fish better in the coming months. With the new moon forming this coming Sunday, anglers will most likely be chasing larger barra through the large night time tides over the weekend in the salt water. Tinaroo could produce these XL models for the keen anglers fishing through into the night. Casting surface lures or shallow divers hard up against the bank on the points and bays is a great way to cover ground and find the big hungry barra that will be on the hunt in search for a feed on the build up to the new moon.
How's this golden Khaki Grunter Saxon caught whilst trotting through the fresh water streams down south. A rare and awesome capture one to be stoked with that's for sure.
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.