Cairns Fishing Report August 15th

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

Each week, the Tackle World Cairns Fishing Report brings you the latest local insights across Far North Queensland. From the reefs off Cairns and Port Douglas to estuaries like the Daintree, Russell, Johnstone, and Hinchinbrook, we cover what’s biting, where to go, and what gear is working. Whether you’re chasing coral trout, nannygai, or mackerel offshore, or barra, jacks, and queenfish inshore, the Tackle World Cairns team has your FNQ fishing forecast sorted.

Reef Fishing

The blustery weather has kept smaller boats tucked away, but larger charter vessels have made the most of sheltered reef systems such as Arlington, Sudbury, Batt, and Tongue. These protected grounds have been alive with quality eating coral trout, which have been smashing strip baits combined with pilchards, that automatically self-burly when bitten. Mixed catches of reef jacks, sweet lip, emperors, and trevally have kept anglers busy between trout bites.

Spanish mackerel numbers remain strong across the district, with fish readily taking floated pilchards, trolled garfish, and deep divers like the ever-reliable Halco Laser Pro. Bag limit numbers are quickly obtained with hungry schools feeding on the reef edges and trout bommies. When the wind allows, the deeper paddocks still hold good numbers of nannygai but fishing them in the swell has been challenging. On calmer windows, expect nannygai, red emperor, and other deep reef species to come into play. Sharks are still in abundant numbers decimating catches of both bottom and pelagic species for the ice box.

The light tackle billfish tournaments kick off next week with Townsville, Innisfail & Cairns events following each other. Small black marlin numbers have been reasonable and hopefully we see an impressive tag & release scoreboard for the competing game anglers at all of the tournaments.

Islands & Headlands

Close reef and headland sessions have been firing for Spaniards, particularly at Dawson Reef and Cooktown’s Indian Head, where trolling lures and floating baits have delivered red-hot action. Cooktown Wharf has been a surprise allrounder, producing not just Spanish and school mackerel, but also queenfish and trevally feeding hard on dense herring schools.

South of Cairns, those making early-morning runs to the inshore islands before the wind picks up have been rewarded with quality mackerel on rigged garfish, wolf herring, and deep-diving lures. A few barramundis have been showing along the coastal creek mouths and foreshores, while flathead have provided a great fallback target when pelagic action slows.

Spanish mackerel have continued in great numbers on the reef edges and around the inshore Islands.

Rivers & Estuaries

The upper Endeavour and Daintree Rivers have been producing quality barra and mangrove jacks, with live herring, soft prawn imitations, and deep-diving minnows all working well. Mourilyan Harbour has remained consistent for both barra and jacks when bait, warmth, and structure align with fish schooled in select locations.

The Hinchinbrook Channel has been a standout, offering shelter from the wind and delivering solid catches of jacks, fingermark, and grunter. The Russell River has given up small trevally and the odd queenfish on surface lures during the early making tide, while southern coastal creek mouths have produced quality barra on live prawns, mullet, and herring. The Cairns Inlet has fished reasonably and should improve dramatically on the building moon phase from Saturday. With plenty of bait prawns in the system, they will be the premium bait along with herring.

Fresh Water

Lake Tinaroo turned on a great bite over the recent full moon, with monster barra hooked on large soft plastics. As water temperatures climb towards summer, this fishery is set to go into overdrive, especially leading into the September and October moons.

Modern live sonar technology continues to reshape impoundment fishing, allowing anglers to target specific trophy fish with precision. Many new lure models are being designed to show up clearly on sonar screens, with refined profiles and actions to trigger bites from wary fish. Stock is arriving now, well worth checking out in-store before the prime barra months begin.

Weekend Outlook

The weekend forecast is finally showing some promise, with winds dropping back to around 10–15 knots, giving more small boats a shot at the reef. Coral trout should remain the standout target on the sheltered inshore reefs off Cairns and Port Douglas, with Spanish mackerel also on the cards trolling baits & lures or floating pilchards & live baits while bottom fishing.

For the bigger boats, calmer seas will open the door to the deeper rubble patches and isolated rocks in areas like Grafton Passage and Trinity Opening, where largemouth nannygai, red emperor, gold band snapper, and other deep-water species should be firing with the building moon.

Estuary and river fishing is expected to bounce right back — live prawns will be the premium bait for fingermark in the deep holes, while barra and jacks will be active around structure and gutters in Cairns Inlet, Mourilyan Harbour, and Hinchinbrook Channel. Prawns have been readily available in most of the systems including the Cairns Inlet. Early-morning lure casting over the run-out tide should be productive in the Daintree, Russell, Johnstone Rivers, and Maria Creek using soft plastic prawns or small diving minnows like the Jackson Jester. Surface lure fishers should find queenfish and trevally smashing bait in the improved conditions with the Russell & Tully Rivers worth a fish.

Late afternoon and evening high tides will be prime time for grunter and the occasional barra on the estuary flats as they drain, with lightly weighted strip baits of garfish or mullet. The impoundment barra bite at Tinaroo is expected to remain strong for those heading up the hill. And those willing to soak pots overnight in the estuaries might also pick up a feed of mud crabs.

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.