WIND DROP A WINDFALL FOR FISHOS
MANY boats took advantage of a drop in the weather last Sunday and fished the reef and despite the neap tides fishing remained red hot.
Off both Cairns and Port Douglas good numbers of coral trout continued their bite with fish being caught in the shallows and on the mid-depth bommies up to 40m.
Sudbury Reef to the east of Cairns and the western edge of Michaelmas Reef to the north fished best. Large mouth nannygai also fired on the rubble patches and small rocks in Grafton Passage and off Moore Reef.
Eastern Patches also saw a few large mouth nannygai caught along with good numbers of small mouth nannygai on the edges of the pinnacles. A few spanish mackerel were caught while bottom fishing on floated pilchards but no great numbers with the slow tides.
They will fire up this week on the building tides, up to the full moon next Tuesday.
The Heavy Tackle Black Marlin Season has kicked off with several boats already reporting tagging and releasing several black marlin along the Ribbon Reefs from No.4 up to No. 10 northwest of Cooktown.
South of Cairns reef fishing has been steady with fish being caught on the reef and the shipping channel shoals. Sharks continue to be a major problem, taking hooked fish and enforcing many shifts to different locations.
Several schools of macktuna and long-tail tuna are busting the surface feeding on small bait fish around the inshore grounds and islands and have been targeted by the sports fishermen on light spin gear casting small metal slugs. Often other species will be feeing under the schools attracted by the falling burley and can be targeted on soft plastics.
Locally, the Cairns Inlet has been very patchy with fingermark, mangrove jack, trevally and the occasional barra caught on live prawns and sardines. Hopefully as water temps keep increasing fishing fires up.
Hinchinbrook Channel has seen both barra and jacks taking soft plastic prawn imitations, fished slowly in the snags and gutters. Hard bodies have also accounted for several fish on the last of the run-out tides.
This weekend is not looking good for those hoping to fish offshore with SE winds around the 20-25 knots forecast. The rivers, creeks and estuaries will the favoured locations out of the wind chasing barramundi and mangrove jacks in the sheltered locations like Hinchinbrook Channel.
With a full moon building over the weekend Tinaroo Dam should fire up in the wind protected areas on the points and river bed drop-offs on big barra at night. The Tinaroo Barra Bash starts Friday night and is worth entering with a lucky entry draw prize of $10,000 (see opposite). It may be worth setting a few pots in the estuaries chasing a feed of mud crabs. too.