Chance to take spot of shelter
THE run of great weekend weather will come to a halt with the forecast of winds up around the 15-20 knots that will only mean the bigger charter boats fishing at the reef.
Most fishing will concentrate in locations sheltered behind the reefs targeting coral trout and spanish mackerel.
Both barramundi and mangrove jacks will be high on the target species this weekend on lures and live baits with the Cairns Inlet, Mourilyan Harbour, Hinchinbrook Channel and the southern rivers all firing and worth a fish.
Mangrove jacks are also becoming more active and also taking lures aggressively.
Both Lake Morris and Tinaroo Dam have fished well on big barra and with the full moon on Monday targeting a dam barramundi will be on the cards.
Last weekend, fishermen enjoyed light winds and calm seas allowing them to fish offshore.
Several boats ventured wide to fish the outer reef drop off chasing a variety of pelagic species including wahoo, yellowfin tuna, mahi mahi and large spanish mackerel.
Fishing has been red hot with some quality fish caught trolling skirted lurers and rigged baits.
Giant black marlin were also keeping the heavy tackle anglers busy with plenty of big fish being hooked off the Ribbon Reefs to the north west of Cooktown and down to Linden Banks north of Cairns.
Reef bottom fishing fired up on coral trout that were again in excellent numbers off Cooktown, Cairns and Port Douglas with local reefs Batt, Tongue, Oyster and Sudbury all fishing well.
A great mixed bag among the trout captures included cattle dog cod, emperors, painted sweetlip and trevally.
The small rocks in the deep channels of Trinity Opening and Grafton Passage produced some nice nannygai but mostly over the tide changes and if you could find peace from the sharks that are in plague proportions and decimating catches.
It’s time for the fisheries authorities to address the massive problem of shark deprivation of catch and admit it is a serious issue that has been ignored and denied for too long.
Locally, the Cairns Inlet and Barron River has seen a hot barramundi bite on both live baits and lures with quality fish being caught.
Local charter company All Tackle Sport Fishing had a hot day this week landing six barramundi from seven hook ups ensuring the anglers (above) were all smiles.
Most of the southern river and estuary systems have also been producing large quantities of barramundi.
The Russell/Mulgrave, Johnstone, Maria Creek, Murray and Hull rivers have all producing fish with small lures like the Jackal Squirrel accounting for many.