Cairns Fishing Report | October 10th

Welcome to this week’s edition of the Tackle World Cairns Weekly Fishing Report.

A short spell of calm weather late last week opened the reef and islands to just about everyone, from small vessels to the larger offshore crews, and the fishing was red hot. From Cooktown to Hinchinbrook, reports have flooded in of coral trout and Spanish mackerel in big numbers, while the deep water turned up nannygai, red emperor and cobia for those who pushed a little wider. The estuaries and rivers also fired, with barra, mangrove jacks, queenfish and blue salmon keeping rods bent, and mud crabs making a strong showing for October. Even the freshwater systems are producing, with barra, jungle perch and sooty grunter on the chew. It’s been a true all-round week of Far North fishing, one of those rare windows where most systems came alive at once. Here’s the full wrap-up.

Reef crews were treated to superb conditions and a strong bite right along the coast on Thursday and Friday. The inshore reefs from Cooktown through Cairns and down to Hinchinbrook all produced coral trout in excellent numbers. Bommies and ledges in 15 to 30 metres held plenty of feeding fish, with most caught on strip baits and pilchards.

Spanish mackerel were thick across all the reefs and outer patches, smashing trolled garfish and lures, and hitting floating live baits and pilchards. Quick bag limits came from Eleven Fathom Patch, Eastern Patches, Sudbury Apron, Thetford and Michaelmas Reefs off Cairns. Big Spaniards were landed around Dunk Island and the Family Group Islands where trolled wolf herring attracted the larger fish.

Those working the deeper paddocks and rubble found plenty of bottom fish, with largemouth nannygai, red emperor, spangled emperor, cobia and trevally all reported in solid numbers. The mix of reef species has been excellent, with red throat emperor, hussar, stripeys and sweetlip filling out the eskies on the southern reefs. Adding to the excitement, the Port Douglas Marlin Challenge wrapped up last weekend, where several giant black marlins were tagged and released from around Linden Banks and The Ridge. Game boat Wild Turkey took out Champion Boat honours, capping off another successful heavy tackle tournament.

The islands also turned it on. The Family Group Islands offered consistent catches of coral trout, red throat, sweetlip, stripeys, moses perch and small nannygai for those fishing baits. Anglers trolling wolf herring and diving lures along the pressure edges and pinnacles picked up solid Spanish mackerel with several bigger fish amongst them both around the Family Group and Dunk Island.

Around Cooktown Wharf, the action was steady with mackerel, barra, queenfish, trevally and jacks feeding on the abundant bait schools. The Cardwell Rock Wall has seen several big barra landed including a couple of the magic metre mark. Jetty fishing along the Cassowary Coast has produced mackerel, queenfish, trevally, barra and fingermark with live baits performing best.

The cleaner water has the estuaries firing from top to bottom. The Endeavour and Daintree Rivers both produced barra and mangrove jacks, especially around heavy timber where live baits and hardbody lures did the trick. The Cairns Inlet continues to fish strongly for jacks with the odd barra on live mullet, while the Barron River has been the consistent system this week with several metre plus fish reportedly caught on live baits and lures.

Further south, Mourilyan Harbour, Maria Creek and the Hull River all fired for barra and jacks on rattling minnows and soft plastic prawns. In Hinchinbrook Channel, the barra bite has been excellent with fish feeding along the mangrove edges and drains, mixed in with trevally, queenfish and blue salmon. Crabbers also did well, with pots catching multiple muddies over the bigger tides.

The major river mouths including the Russell River have seen queenfish and trevally back smashing topwater lures with the cleaner water in the systems. Several big barra have been caught casting shallow big minnows like the Reidy’s Big B52’s along the bank of Tinaroo Dam.

Freshwater fishos have also had plenty to smile about. Lakefield National Park continues to produce solid barra catches in both the lagoons and tidal creeks, especially on early morning or late evening sessions with surface lures and shallow divers. In the upper Tully and Johnstone Rivers, sooty grunter and jungle perch have been active, taking small surface walkers and poppers in the shaded backwaters along with some solid barra.

Tinaroo Dam continues to reward persistence with metre plus barra landed on swimbaits and big plastics slow rolled along the points. With warm days and cool nights, the conditions have been spot on for those fishing after dark. The prime bite period being pre dawn as the bait rises to the surface. Fishing will intensify as the water temps rise and don’t forget to purchase a permit when fishing any Queensland Stocked Impoundment including Tinaroo.

The downside is the forecast heading into the weekend as it keeps fluctuating due to changing influences. This will force difficult decisions on pre planned trips with the best option checking the forecast and observation immediately before heading to sea. Coral trout, nannygai, cobia and Spanish mackerel, which are all on fire, will all be targeted if the conditions are favourable to fish the reef. Conditions look to calm off on Monday, possibly Tuesday but continues to evolve.

The run out afternoon tides will see inshore anglers targeting barra and jacks in the Rivers and Estuaries. The estuary flats will be worth a lure cast as the water drops out of the mangroves while the creek snags will fish best before dusk close to low tide. Live mullets have been scoring some quality jacks around the low tides fishing the sunken structure, while fingermark should take a live herring or prawn in the deep holes of areas like Mourilyan Harbour and Hinchinbrook Channel on the night small moving tides. Queenfish and trevally should be fired up if the rain holds off and the water clarity stay clear in the major rivers like the Russell, with topwater lures providing exciting strikes and fights. With the forecasts rapidly changing and evolving, a quick check of the current observations will be a safe bet before hitting the water.