Cairns (Australia) Fishing Update

[Fishcairns]

CAIRNS FISHING UPDATE

 

Hi All,

Well I have been at it again……..tripping of to remote Cape York to get my fishing FIX and boy did I have an absolute ball. This trip was undertaken with a couple of good fishing mates in Keith Graham of Bransford’s Tackle Shop and Terry Holman of Fish Hunter fame (one of the best fishing guides in Queensland). Now Keith is a writer of some note so I cheated a little and let him do the typing.

 

His report on our exploits is now posted on the Fishing Cairns web site so if you want a good read, together with some excellent pics of our memorable captures, just follow the liks to the Fishing Cairns report pages.

 

And as for the local scene, here is a brief report on the situation.

 

River & Estuaries

Brrrrrrr!.......its cold. Only 12 degrees early yesterday morning but thankfully the mercury climbed to a very pleasant 26 by mid afternoon. Ah, winter in the Tropics, don’t you just love it. This cool snap can have a drastic effect on catch rates however, and sometimes a different approach is required to give yourself the best chance at quality fishing. Subtle things like scaling down your tackle / line class and switch to smaller lures. Adjusting your targets too can make a huge difference to your day and if you want to experience the best this region has to offer at this time – well then spend a few bucks and go out with a guide.

 

The finest will still land you quality fish and show you some of the superlative country and waterways around our region to boot. Guys like Terry Holman can produce the goods when condition are a bit trying, with his last charter to the Daintree producing 6 barra, 14 mangrove jacks, 4 flathead (yes, we do catch them up here during the winter months) and 5 trevally. Now I’d be happy with that.

 

We should soon see plenty of silver & black bream enter our rivers & estuaries as they prepare for spawning along with the usual winter species including sickle fish, estuary cod, salmon (when calm conditions prevail) , trevally and queenfish. A metre long silver streak thrashing from the waters surface is a sight sure to get you heart pumping.

 

Blue water

The cooler waters should see our prime targets, coral trout, red emperor, large and small mouth nannygai and sweetlip move up onto the shallower reefs as the waters cool. Remember to check your chart and make sure you are not in a green zone though as heavy penalties apply if caught. There will be many visiting anglers in our region as hordes of southerners (and Kiwi’s) come up here to escape their winter and ignorance of the rules and lack of local knowledge is not an excuse for illegal fishing.

 

The light tackle scene is red hot at the moment, one charter operator reported a quadruple hook up on quality spaniards last week. They managed to land a couple of them with the best going to 20 lb, the best for the day being a very respectable 32 lb. They also landed two dog tooth tuna, arguably one of the toughest of tunas found anywhere and a humungous 1.5 metre dolphin fish (mahi mahi).

 

Cape York

If you read my above mentioned report you can get the drift………the cape is firing in both the rivers / estuaries and near shore blue water. No where else in Australia can you experience all of the different types of quality light tackle / sportfishing on offer, all in the relative comfort and safety of a 6m custom vessel. You see the prevailing winds blow from the South East and up there, this becomes a land breeze making it quite comfortable to fish offshore in relatively small craft.

 

But remember, this is absolute peak season and unless you are quick to book, you had better make plans for next year.

 

That’s about it for now…….I have another ace up my sleeve in the form of a report on my recent trip to the States chasing the “holy grail” of calm water fishing – the legendary large mouth bass. Its coming up soon.

 

Catch ya on the water, regards Les

www.fishingcairns.com.au

[Snatcher]

Excellent report