Cooktown

Where there is bait, there are fish

COOKTOWN

Justin

Coventry The weather last month was expected, with strong winds and light showers, but it made fishing hard and venturing out to the reef almost impossible. So the only option was heading out camping and fishing outside of Cooktown with the rest of the southern state escapees who have taken over the Cape.

The camping adventure did provided some much needed fishing action. Although still hard as overcast days seemed to shut down the fish, but there was still the odd one here and there.

Barramundi can be finicky fish with weather changes, and will often follow your lure without much conviction to strike – it’s frustrating to say the least when you can see When targeting some archerfish, the author’s son James caught this monster catfish.

them but can’t get them to strike. As I’ve said previously, dropping lure size can help, and it’s better to be fishing than sitting around home! Well, maybe not on those

The author with a beautiful looking 74cm saratoga. rainy days…

The top water action was still great as we came across some nice saratoga, the largest being 74cm, and they are such a beautiful looking fish and very aggressive, even when the weather is poor. We also managed to find a few large catfish, which push the limits on the barra gear and lures. Some of the lure bibs where bent and busted after the encounter, but it does make for a good fight. I’m sure some eat ducks looking at the size of them, but they will eat anything.

My son James tried to catch some small archerfish with a spinner lure but managed to catch a monster catfish. The spinner managed to survive and bring the monster in after a mammoth fight. So there has not been much barramundi action but still some fun to be had.

The weather has now improved and the herring are in massive schools around the wharf with pike also in large numbers. This means one thing, the fishing is about to go nuts!

Mackerel will soon be here in large numbers as the bait school continue to grow, and the resident barramundi will be lurking underneath to pick and chose any straying bait fish. The wharf will see plenty of action this month and there will be little room there as the locals and tourist

Now is the best time to be on the water at Port Douglas.

From page 46

This type of water temperature has already awoken the likes of barra and mangrove jack in our calm water coastal systems. The coming weeks are ideal for these highly requested species. We don’t receive much rain and the river conditions are aided by good water clarity and handy tides. To add to the side show we’ll still have high quality fish on the go including 1m queenfish, stocky golden and river trevally plus the local favourites of good sized golden snapper and grunter. These last two mentioned species are just superb on the palate.

As you may get the gest this is the best time of year to be part of the fishing action with all and sundry firing on all cylinders. We pray to see as many of you up here soon to enjoy as to what I describe as the best fishery in the world!

The changing weather can impact barramundi’s enthusiasm for following lures. But persistence will get results.

Saratoga put up a great fight, even when the weather is poor.

descend to catch some fish for dinner. So if you’re in Cooktown this month, check out the wharf and see if you can catch a barramundi before next month’s closure, or perhaps see if there’s a nice Spanish or small school mackerel around.

Barramundi are very good at running under the wharf and rubbing the line around the oyster covered pillars so having heavy lines is the go. However, it is still hard to stop a large fish from cutting through the thickest mono on those sharp oysters. Going hard on the fight puts a lot of strain on your gear and I’ve seen a 9/0 straighten on some big barramundi, but it’s either going strong or suffering the wrap around under the wharf. Anyway, it’s a very exciting fight to be had. The reef fishing should be great. As the weather windows will start to open up, there will be plenty of hungry fish out there and should be easy to get some nice fresh coral trout for dinner. The mackerel will be active as well.

The small marlin should be in close to give the small boat fishers some fun, if they put the time and effort into trolling the channels between reefs. So much to look forward to and the start of the best time of the year with regard to some great fishing opportunities.