Issac has managed to find this quality sized barra from a fresh water stream, certainly a sick little capture in that gin clear water
Inshore & Estuaries
Fingermarks have been on the hit list for many anglers fishing inshore finding them on jigs and vibes hopping them through the hungry schools whilst trying to wrangle them from the hungrier bullies pinching their portion. Unfortunately many decent fish had been taxed by these pesky grey suits. In the Trinity Inlet fingermark have been found hugging tight to structure where slab baits such as mullet fillets or even vibes again have worked well. Off of the beaches and piers queenfish schools have been moving through where they have been seen blowing up on large schools of mullet and gar fish. However, large bull sharks have been hot on their tails shutting them down and turning them off the bite. Tempting these somewhat finicky fish whilst they are being bullied isn't easy, but anglers have still plucked a few this week casting small poppers and floating stick baits at their wakes as they cruise past. The mangroves have produced numerous jacks for anglers skip casting frogs and prawns into the thick structure, even small queen fish and GTs have been caught on the outskirts of the sticks.
Isaac reeled in this decent finger mark on his inshore outing
Frank found this nice little trevally whilst snag bashing through the inlet.
Snowy with a ripper mangrove jack pitching deep diving hardbody's into the mangroves.
Staff member Atti with a decent Queenfish caught on sunrise
Game Fishing
Persistent trade winds have kept the smaller boats inshore or in the sheds as the bigger boats send it out in the white caps in pursuit of marlin as the light tackle season is kicking off to a great start. Choppy conditions have boosted the confidence for those anglers chasing the blacks as more southeast winds means more marlin travelling back along the coast on their migratory patterns. Mackerel are still thick, wrecks, ledges, pinnacles and wonky holes are all still producing these toothy critters on live baits and trolling lures. Off to the shelf anglers wanting a proper arm stretching are donating many jigs to sharks and the hard fighting dog tooth tuna sizzling them back into the reef. Some anglers have even snuck out securing a very nice doggie and Spanish mackerel on a spear!
Reif managed to send a spear flying into this quality Dogtooth Tuna caught off the local banks!
Roberto with a cracker Spanish mackerel on the Ikigai Marine pole spear, some serious skill involving boys well done!
Reef Fishing
Bottom bashing has still produced some quality bags for the charter boats and their customers, even anglers who are keen enough in their larger reef boats have punched out and got stuck into their demersals as well. Red emperor have still been found in shallow waters whilst targeting nannies and trout, can't really complain with that as bycatch! Chinaman on the other hand have had anglers convinced it's a quality fish fighting right up to the boat, and even the first glance down deep seeing red everyone's cheering, until it's hit the surface and the sighs start. Unfortunately full of ciguatera, these hard fighters and beautiful looking fish are not a desirable table fish and are a no take species.
With the pearler weather last week, heaps of pics were sent in. It'll be rude not to include some overlapping pictures from the glamour days.
The Reef Runner crew punched out in some choppy conditions getting their clients onto some nice trout.
A cracker cod caught on board Reef Runner.
Oscar found this cracker Jobfish whilst jigging out on the banks.
Marcos with this bright red trout caught jigging out in some deeper water. The deeper the water the redder these delicious fish get.
Freshwater streams
Drift missions are a stealthy way of floating down the picturesque sweet water down south, allowing anglers to get to areas in the heart of sooty and jungle perch rivers that are inaccessible by land. Bulk numbers of sooty grunter and perch came over the sides for anglers where a rare capture of a piebald sooty grunter has taken the cake for the coolest fish this week! With a gorgeous pattern made from unpigmented scales mixed in with their usual darker sooty colored tones hence the name, a capture of a rare piebald sooty is considered to be a 1 in 1 million chance with this variation!
Back on foot in the skinny water, the young and agile anglers are pushing their way right up the fresh in search of the biggest jungle perch of the system. Generally, the top pool is where the dominant perch will be and anglers will put in the hard yards to get there. On the hikes up to the further reaches of these systems you could find many other species that live in the fresh like tarpon and jacks as well, but a pleasurable bycatch of barramundi has been caught in the gin clear water. I don't reckon many anglers, if not any anglers would complain if they found a quality sized barra right up in the streams!
This rare specimen was caught from Ryan, a staff member from Tackle World Tully. Truly a fish to be stoked about and a fish of a lifetime, yet Ryan's caught 3 of these piebald sooties!
A very nice jungle perch from the skinny water on a larger profile lure Isaac has convinced to take a bite.
Another beautiful jungle perch on a more natural presentation from Isaac.
Weipa Fishing Classic
The Weipa Fishing Classic fell from Friday the 5th of June to Sunday the 7th of June where anglers fished their hearts out targeting a wide variety of scoring species. It was a busy weekend at the Weipa show grounds with over 3000 people through the gates every night and more than $240,000 worth of prizes that were handed out. The reef species categories ranged from cobia to tusk fish, coral trout and more reef species, with bill fish and estuarine species as scoring categories too. Some of the impressive captures to come from the weekend were a 94cm and 103cm barramundi, 3 bill fish captures and a 19.36kg mackerel. For the junior category there were many young guns in the mix reeling in some quality fish from a 72cm barra, 1.74kg grunter and a 5.33kg king salmon the juniors have done well! There was many other placing fish in the mix, the list goes on. It was certainly an incredible turn out for the event even with some pearler weather on the side to top it off for everyone. Well done to all the anglers who persisted over the weekend and got stuck into some quality fish!
Young gun Oscar scored 3rd place in the threadfin category with this ripper fish. Well done mate!
Felix reeled in this very nice grunter scoring the 1st place position in this rank. On fire mate!
Vic stuck hooks into this ripper thready whilst fishing the Classic.
Dave with a very nice barra he managed to pluck from the snags in the competition.
Felix with another cracking fish caught in the comp, a very nice barra!
Oscar found this nice little queenie in the classic.
Weekend Outlook
The drizzly and windy weather patterns will likely continue into the next week seeing the larger boats punching it out offshore and the smaller boats sticking to the coast and rivers. Marlin will continue to be found though the weeks ahead as anglers have signed their entries early for the 60th anniversary Cairns Black Marlin Tournament held later in the year. These anglers will be looking to hone in their skills and knowledge on these fish, dialling everything in and testing their gear before the competition is held. Barramundi anglers will likely be rigging up their gear over the weekend with the new moon falling on Monday the 15th, Tinaroo or the salt could produce some large barra for these persistent anglers.
The young gun anglers Oscar and Felix with their prizes they had earnt from the Weipa Fishing Classic, well done boys!
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.