CONDITIONS BRING LOTS OF ACTION
THE best conditions on the water arrived late last week and greeted those fishing in the Cairns Bluewater Light Tackle Billfish Tournament, held out of Fitzroy Island.
Thirty-four boats tagged and released 83 billfish for the three days of fishing (see full report in special feature).
Reef bottom fishing was a little quieter but those who worked hard still managed to catch some reasonable numbers of coral trout on the bommies in the 30-40m depths with west of Michaelmas Cay fishing OK.
Spanish mackerel were patchy but a few fish were caught trolling rigged garfish along the inshore reef edges.
The southern shipping channels off Mission Beach and the Tully region produced numbers of Spanish mackerel along with a mix of doggy and spotted mackerel on floated pilchards and live sardines and yakkas.
The local wrecks and headlands off Cairns have seen plenty of large metre-plus queenfish caught casting both surface lures and high-speed metal jigs, along with a variety of mackerel species and trevally.
The Cairns Inlet has fished reasonably well on fingermark, bream and trevally, with live prawns that continue to be plentiful the top bait.
Most of the estuary systems have seen the barramundi and mangrove jacks go quiet with the recent cold snap, but they should fire up again as the temperatures rise.
Queenfish have continued to be caught on poppers and other surface lures in both the Russell/Mulgrave River system and the Daintree River, with several fish exceeding the magic metre mark.
Mud crabs have been moving in most of the estuary systems and will be worth chasing this weekend on tides.
Conditions on the water at present are fantastic, with light winds and calm seas.
The forecast for tomorrow is variable winds around 10 knots that will see reef and estuary fishermen smiling.
Small billfish will be a main target for the light tackle anglers, with the grounds east of Fitzroy Island to Moore/Sudbury reefs popular targets.
Spanish mackerel should fire up with the full moon on Sunday, with trolled wog rigged garfish and deep-diving lures enticing a few fish.
Coral trout should again be in good numbers on the middepth bommies with Oyster and Moore reefs worth a fish.
With the cold snap still lingering, fingermark and trevally will be the main target species in the estuaries on live prawns and sardines.
Queenfish should continue to be schooled in the rivers and taking surface lures.
The winter staple species of whiting, bream and flathead will all be popular targets also, with freshly pumped yabbies and local prawns the premium baits. the bigger Lake Tinaroo