MANGROVE JACKS ARE ON THE BITE
WHILE conditions were good for local reef fisherman off Cairns last weekend many southern anglers were hampered by strong inshore northerly winds that made fishing difficult with stirred up rough water.
Off Cairns and Port Douglas, reef fishing has been excellent on coral trout with Arlington, Michaelmas, Moore and Batt Reefs all producing fish on the bommies in the 30-40m depths.
While a few spanish mackerel were caught on floated pilchards they were a little quieter than normal but should fire up again this week on the building new moon and tides.
Cobia have been in big numbers and I presume they are feeding up before spawning.
The closely related sucker fish are in plague proportions and an annoyance catch and constant bait stealers.
Unfortunately, bull sharks are also in big numbers and stealing many hooked fish.
Bull sharks seem to be out of control in all fishing environments and are dominating the previously prevalent reef sharks and whalers.
The black marlin season has gone from strength to strength this season with several giant fish in the 1000-1200lb mark hooked this week from the Ribbon Reefs north of Cooktown to Linden Banks just north of Cairns.
The Cairns Inlet has fished well this week with several barramundi caught on live sardines along with mangrove jacks in the structure and gutters.
While the Cairns Harbour flats have seen grunter, blue salmon, trevally and estuary cod all taking live and strip baits.
The southern rivers and estuaries have also fished well on barras and jacks in the salt.
Freshwater fishing has been fruitful on sooty grunter, jungle perch, tarpon and small barramundi in the upper reaches of the Tully River with small surface lures and soft plastics working well.
Tinaroo Dam also fished well on the points over the northerly winds with multiple metre-plus barramundi caught casting surface lures and soft plastic at night.
This weekend looks like only the bigger boats will be fishing the reef before the closure with SE winds around the 15-20knots forecasted.
The second Coral Reef Fin Fish closure starts Monday, November 5 through to Friday, November 9 when only pelagic species can be targeted.
While the barramundi spawning closure is now in force mangrove jacks, grunter, blue salmon and estuary cod have all been on the bite in the estuaries and will be prime targets this weekend.
Barramundi can still be targeted in the stocked impoundments like Lake Tinaroo and fishing will be red hot on these monster fish with the hot weather.