PLENTY OF ACTION ON THE REEFS
WITH continuing good weather and reasonable conditions on the water again this week reef fishing has been very popular.
Reef bottom fishing is really firing with coral trout aggressively feeding up to put on condition before they spawn, both in the shallows and down to 40m depth.
Spangled emperor are also thick as they also get ready to spawn and are up in the trout country.
Large mouth nannygai have been excellent all year and plenty of fish are still being caught in the deep water on the rubble, gutters and isolated rocks in the open paddocks.
Most reefs are fishing well with Moore Reef, the grounds off Moore Reef to the east, and Pixie to the north fishing well.
I personally enjoyed a great day out reef fishing on Tuesday and while the seas weren’t too kind, still managed to catch a great mixed bag of coral trout, spangled emperor, stripeys, dark tail sea perch, painted sweetlip and spanish mackerel.
Much to my surprise I only lost one fish to sharks, which is very unusual at this time of the year.
Mackerel have continued to bite on the tide changes with Sudbury Reef producing fish both on the troll with deep diving lures and on floated pilchards.
Several fish are also still being caught around the islands including Fitzroy, Dunk and the Family Group.
Fingermark have fished very well this week in the Cairns Inlet on live baits as have mangrove jacks that have become more regular captures.
Barramundi are also being caught on the drains and around the structure on live baits.
To the south, Hinchinbrook Channel has seen a good barra bite on lures both in the drains and snags and should be sustained as the warm water has them fired up.
Most of the southern rivers including the Mulgrave, Russell, Johnstone, Murray and Tully Rivers are also fishing well on barramundi and increasing numbers of mangrove jacks.
In the Cardwell area, some big grunter are taking strip baits and local prawns.
With the forecast for 10-15 knot winds tomorrow, plenty of boats will again look to hit the Reef chasing a mixed bag of bottom fish and spanish mackerel.
Coral trout and spangled emperor have been feeding up before spawning and being caught in the shallows and mid depths and worth targeting.
With both the barramundi and mangrove jacks also starting to fire, a trip to Hinchinbrook Channel should be productive on the current set of tides.
The Cairns Inlet is also fishing well for locals on fingermark, jacks, barra and a few blue salmon have moved on to the flats.