U-TURN ON BAN RELIEF FOR FISHOS
FISHERMEN’S despair turned to relief on Wednesday night when a ruling banning recreational boating and fishing due to coronavirus was all over social media but was overturned by Queensland Fisheries on the advice of Queensland Health. So, fishing and boating is still permitted.
Locally there have been several nice barramundi caught in the Cairns Inlet on live herring and jigged soft plastics and vibes.
Several fish have been in the high-80cm range with some anglers being busted off by bigger fish from the jetties around the pylons and bottom structure.
With the neap tides fingermark and trevally were in good numbers in the deep holes holding good bait schools. The Barron River has also produced a few barra on soft plastics.
Most of the southern river and estuary systems are fishing well on barramundi and mangrove jacks in the back eddies and feeder creeks pumping freshwater after the consistent recent rain. The upper freshwater section of the rivers have been dirty and difficult to fish with small barramundi, sooty grunter, tarpon and jungle perch caught on small poppers and soft plastics.
Hinchinbrook Channel has fished well on barras and jacks on lures in sheltered locations like Benjamin Flats and areas on the winds leeside around the island.
As the tides have built, grunter have also fired up in the Channels creek mouths and Missionary Bay.
The headlands and inshore rubble along the Cassowary Coast saw some quality fingermark caught on live squid and herring.
Most estuary and river systems have seen good numbers of mud crabs moving from their holes with the influx of freshwater, the Cairns Inlet, Hull River, Murray River and Hinchinbrook Channel all producing numbers of these delicious crustaceans.
There will be a break from the strong SE winds this weekend, with the forecast for about 10 knots for Saturday and even lighter on Sunday.
Fishermen will be eager to fish their favoured reef marks chasing nannygai, coral trout, red emperor and various other reef species to put food on the table in these difficult times.
The drains and gutters will be the prime locations casting shallow minnows like Lead’s Hi-Jackers and soft plastics around the low tide, while the flats will fish OK as the water runs off from the high tide. Grunter will be running on the big tides with a fresh strip bait of mullet, gar or squid ideal.
Fish the first couple of hours of the runout tide from high. Another consideration if fishing the reef is the Coast Guard & rescue may not be in service and all anglers should check on safety requirements before heading to sea.
Ensure you read my special feature on the latest fishing restriction due to the coronavirus or you could be heavily fined for non-compliance.