17 September 1999 - Volume 3 Issue 11

Heavy Tackle

The season is only one day old and Kin Anderson of New Moon III (a brand new state of the art sportfishing vessel on its first charter mind you !) tagged and released a magnificent 1,100 lb giant Black Marlin.

My wife spoke to Kim only minutes after the release and he and crew were obviously stoked. He was about 42kms wide of Cairns on the Linden Banks and caught the fish on 130 lb tackle. The angler was using a 20 lb Yellow Fin Tuna as bait, which he had caught earlier, and cop this.

Before releasing the marlin, the crew salvaged the tuna from the billie and on the way home to port they ate the yellowfin. Amazing stuff.

Only yesterday I heard of another unconfirmed report of a capture / release of a 550 lb Black also. After a very disappointing Light Tackle season from June until now, the fleet is very excited about this magnificent start. Kim has been at the game for a long time and reckons we are in for a bumper big Marlin season. The First Heavy Tackle tournament gets under way on the 29th September, The Penn International Big Game Masters, and we will know a lot more after this prestigious event.

As I write the Dunk Island Light Tackle tournament is in full swing and action has been a bit slow. Only a few small billies / sailfish landed.

Reef Fishing

With the magnificent weather and calm seas there have been plenty of boats on the water. We are experiencing one of the best Spanish mackerel seasons for years and there appears to be heaps of them everywhere. Reported captures are coming in from Kings Point, High Island, nearby islands and most reef structure and bommies.

Methods include standard ganged hooked gar and pillies, trolling lures and jigging as well. Coral trout, sweet lip and red emperor are a little harder to find but still a consistent catch.

Rivers

The Daintree River, some 100 kms north of Cairns is still the pick of the local streams. The tides of the past week however were not too conducive to good captures, the upcoming bigger tides however will push the salt water further upstream bringing the barras right up past the launch ramp at the ferry crossing. Anglers in the know are still producing good numbers with most activity coming form the shallow warm water.

There are plenty of trevally and small queenfish keen to hit a well presented live sardine or prawn bait as well as bream, grunter and cod.

Estuary

This system is still not producing on a regular basis, its patchy to say the least. Good size barra are coming from the snags and wrecks but not on a consistent basis, one one day and nothing for the next few. That's fishing ! There are plenty of small grunter, trevally and bream about but the salmon have not shown up yet. The weather conditions have been just perfect for a few weeks now, but I notice a big high is about to move through Australia over the next few days which will herald the return of the SE winds.

Tourism

Cairns is in the grip of "tourist fever" right now with heaps of visitors enjoying the many local attractions. There is so much to do in this tropical paradise and the town can cater to your every need (almost). The next few months offers some of the most consistent weather of the year, just great for fishing, diving, snorkelling, sailing, cruising, rafting, kyaking, ballooning, horse riding, train riding, Skyrail, beaching, drinking, relaxing,night life, wild life parks, casino etc. etc.

Boy! I need a rest just thinking about it. Get your bags packed and get yoursef up (or over) here, and you won't be disappointed.

GOOD FISHING,
Les Marsh