SPAWNING TO DELAY REEF ACTION
THE second coral reef fin fish spawning closure came into force on Wednesday and runs until midnight Sunday.
During this five-day closure, no bottom species can be targeted or taken to allow them to spawn undisturbed.
Pelagic species like spanish mackerel, dolphin fish, wahoo, tuna, cobia, marlin and trevally can be targeted and taken during the closure.
The bigger boats that braved the windy weather report continued good catches of coral trout, large- and smallmouth nannygai, spangled emperor and cobia.
Several big spanish mackerel have been caught around the islands, wrecks and reef edges on floated pilchards.
The heavy tackle black marlin season has slowed but a few big fish have still been caught north of Cairns on Linden Banks and the Ridge.
Generally, the season runs through until early December and is extended offshore to the seamounts and tuna schools.
This week has seen estuary fishing very tough in the Cairns Inlet with live bait very scarce and hard to catch.
The strong wind and rain has ensured ordinary conditions and most fish have shut down.
A few fingermark have been caught in the deep holes along with small barracuda.
The southern rivers like the Tully and Murray along with Hinchinbrook Channel have fished a little better with mangrove jacks still taking lures and bait in the salt.
The upper freshwater sections of the Russell/Mulgrave River, along with southern rivers, are fishing well on sooty grunter and a few jungle perch with soft plastics and poppers working best.
A massive giant trevally was caught on light spin gear and small popper in the salt section of the Johnstone River (Innisfail) with Will Pritchard’s Fish Hunter Charters last Friday.
Will said the angler did a great job on the light gear despite the big GT almost spooling him several times.
Tomorrow will see moderate conditions on the water with winds around the 15-20 knot mark forecast but dropping out Sunday and into next week.
Those who sneak out on Sunday will be restricted to chasing pelagic species but can get stuck back into bottom fishing from Monday onwards to coincide with calm conditions.
The light winds should also trigger a massive improvement in fishing in the estuaries and inshore locations.