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Sep 25, 2005 - Volume 9 Issue 3

Well spring is here and the fishing has just leapt ahead in terms of species to target and the quality of the angling. Its that time of year when mother nature sure cranks up the activity level as many of her creatures prepare to mate / spawn / make babies etc and a good number of prime tropical fish species are no different.

River & Estuary:

Barramundi, who have been fairly inactive during the "winter" months, have shown up in all the usual places and catch rates have quadrupled with the rise in water temperature. I had a memorable day up the Daintree last week. We tossed minnow lures to the mangrove edges and although only landing 4 barra, my clients lost another ten fish to inexperience at handling jumping fish. We also landed 5 jacks, a couple of estuary cod, cudas and trevally.

The Johnstone Rivers are also producing trevally on the incoming tide, quality flathead, big jacks and tarpon as well as the barra.

And fish are not the only things getting more active. I had another report of a big 30lb golden trevally being taken right under the boat by a hungry crock. If you ever needed a reminder to stay out of our waters and respect these ancient critters this is it.

Blue water scene:

My wife & I were very lucky to be invited onboard the 65ft game vessel, the fabulous Joe Joe, last week and we had the most beautiful flat seas out on the northern Great Barrier Reef. Capt. Barry Cross (one of the best in the business) and his crew sure looked after us like pampered guests as we cruised, fished, wined & dined through three glorious days. Although not serious into the fishing this trip, it was more R & R, we had some memorable moments tossing big poppers to GT's, floating pillies for spaniards, hand lining for succulent coral trout and even playing with some pretty big barracudas in the shallow bommies. Barry was such a good host, he even let us win the card games - thanks mate!

The marlin season is just about to crank up into full gear, the first tournament was held a few weekends ago and my good mate Capt. Kim Andersen (fishing from a new vessel names Manu-Kai - a 40ft O'Brien) scored the trophy at the Hinchinbrook event. His four marlin on the second day put him way in the lead and he was never headed. The fleet is reporting marlin sightings almost every day now, I just had a call from Moana and they have tagged three already today so far…….just missed one as we were talking.

The season is looking very promising indeed so if this is your go, you had better get in quick. The best skippers have very little availability left for the season.

Reef Fishing:

If my little experience onboard the Joe Joe was anything to go by, the reefies are chewing their head off at the moment. I know the trout are moving up into the sallow reefs at present and this highly prized fish is a must target for the bottom bouncing brigade. Big spaniards are also about and these too are mighty good on the plate………I just had a beautiful crumbed fillet of mackerel burger for lunch cooked my the missus. She is still talking out that trip!

Cape York:

After my journey into the wilds of Papua New Guinea, its was a more sedate task that had me back up to Horn Island (tip of Cape York) a few weeks later to guide on the good ship Mantaray. Terry Holman, Capt. Kim and myself had six great clients to show the subtleties of barra (and other) fishing as we cruised down the west coast of Cape York to Weipa.

Although this charter was a bit subdued as far as barra numbers go due to poor tides, the clients sure made up for it with plenty of species encountered. A heap of trees caught, and a evening tropical BBQ on the beach - barra, trout and muddies - all cooked on the hot coals.

The highlight for me though was the christening of my brand new G Loomis (GL 2) baitcaster on a 2 metre saltie. The stupid creature actually struck my lure at the mouth of a small draining gutter and put up a very spirited fight on the 30lb braid before being cut free at the dory. See; all I needed was a long rod. (Refer last month's report on the Morehead River trip).

Fly Fishing:

Without a doubt, the fastest growing sector of the sport of fishing has to be the rise in the popularity of fly fishing - and especially tropical salt and fresh water fly fishing.

Saratoga In The Savanna: Commencing on the 1st September 2005, Fishing Cairns in conjunction with the Mareeba Wetland Foundation, offers exclusive one and two day charters to the Mareeba Tropical Savanna and Wetland Reserve. These are fully guided FLY-FISHING ONLY charters that are tailored to give anglers the best possible chance to target the magnificent Gulf Saratoga in a series of wetlands, lagoons and billabongs uniquely suited to them, and that have been closed to recreational anglers, until now.

So guys, get your gear out - check those drags and sharpen the hooks - WE ARE ENETERING A PERIOD OFFERING SOME OF THE BEST FISHING OF THE YEAR.

See you on the water,
Les Marsh

October 17 2005 Update

The 2005 Lizard Island Tournament was held from October 8-15, and was a great success with our Cairns boats being right up in the winners circle. With a total of 47 boats entered, the far north was well into the top ten. Our advice is that 506 marlin raised, with 390 bites and 157 tagged. The competition was won by a southern boat with a score of 14 fish tagged and released. Local boats Allure, Seabay and Billfish came in with a fantastic 11, 10 and 9 fish respectively.