BIG BOATS HAVING ALL THE LUCK
STRONG wind and rough seas over the past week have severely restricted fishing options, particularly last weekend, with some wild weather witnessed locally.
Clifton Beach residents reported waves crashing on to the esplanade road on the high tide that was whipped up by strong winds Saturday night.
With winds moderating slightly midweek some of the larger charter boats fished the reef, chasing bottom fish.
Dragon Lady Charters fishing out of Port Douglas saw their clients enjoy a great session on mixed reef fish including small mouth nannygai, large mouth nannygai, red emperor, coral trout, reef jacks and spanish mackerel on floated pilchards.
There have been a few nice mackerel also caught by trolling wolf herring and lures around the southern islands like Dunk and the Family Group.
The big run of spotty mackerel is over as the main concentrations of fish have headed south. A few school mackerel are still around and being caught on floated pilchards and silver metal jigs.
The Cairns Inlet fired up midweek with several nice barramundi caught on live sardines, on the draining flats’ gutters. The bigger tides have also seen a few grunter running on the estuary flats. The Barron River also continues to see several barra caught casting small lures at night.
To the south the Russell River is seeing queenfish entertaining anglers throwing poppers and stick baits with some aerobatic jumps and fast runs. Barra and jacks have been in reasonable numbers in the southern rivers and Mourilyan Harbour with soft plastic prawns and paddle tails working well. Hinchinbrook Channel is producing some quality grunter to 65cm on strip baits of fresh mullet and squid. These are great fighting – and even better eating – fish.
As the cold snap has abated and warmer nights have developed, big barra have been caught over the full moon, casting from the banks and fishing the points from boats.
With SE winds around the 15-20 knots the bigger boats will still look to fish the sheltered reefs chasing a mixed bag of bottom fish along with spanish mackerel. Small boats will be looking to chase barramundi, mangrove jacks, fingermark and grunter in the estuaries and creeks.
The Cairns Inlet, Mourilyan Harbour, Murray River and Hinchinbrook Channel should all produce fish.