Cooktown

from Fishing Monthly Magazine | November 2022

Karratha

Calm days, hot fishing

COOKTOWN Justin Coventry

The weather has been great with some absolute glamour days on the reef – crystal clear waters and the reef shining through from below. These days make the most beautiful views with reef below and rising rainforest mountains as a backdrop. We do live in a beautiful part of the world. lots of days to head out wide and do battles with monsters from the deep.

The marlin boats have arrived back in force, and the travel will bring some wealthy tourists to our shores to chase the elusive 1000lb marlin. It brings some impressive boats to our wharf with motherships to accommodate the guests on the reef and then use the marlin boats to fish for the day. It’s a bit on the

There is a small window between the two 3-week mackerel closures to chase these speedsters in November.

Even though it’s not like this all of the year, summertime weather see more chances to see it than any other time of the year. The build up to the wet season brings not only the heat and humidity but the onset of some great reef fishing opportunities with

extreme for me but hey, all the best to them and it will be interesting to see how the season goes. Featured Boat Something which will be of interest is the new closure for mackerel this year and how that goes with these marlin boats working through it. I’ve added the advice from the Dept of Fisheries below.

Management actions for the east coast Spanish mackerel:

A northern closure in east coast waters north of 22˚S (located slightly north of Stanage Bay, between Mackay and Yeppoon) for two three-week periods (six weeks total) in October and November each year. The northern seasonal closures will provide vitally important protection for spawning aggregations. The first northern closure will run this year from 22 October 2022 to 12 November 2022 and 21 November to 12 December 2022.

This has caused some controversy, as any new regulation would, but I have seen numbers drop over the years as fishing pressure has increased on these fish. But there are still good catches coming in and does seem that closures might work, but essentially it means trolling is off the cards for the closure as releasing a The reef fishing has produced some decent fish, like this nannygai.

Spanish mackerel after fighting it with big lures and hooks would see few survive the experience. Many fish have trebles stuck in gills and bleeding out, especially with trying to remove tackle. I would be very surprised if any fish would endure through this ordeal if they were to be released. Which means, even though the marlin fleet are targeting marlin, there are lots of Spanish mackerel by-catch that are thrown back and most wouldn’t survive.

Same goes for recreational fishers and trolling for other species. I know there is a concession for this year fishing charters but next year 2023 season the rules applies to charters as well.

The barramundi closure has started as well, so no take until 1 February 2023 and it’s been a cracker of a year with some great sessions on lures. This shows that numbers are sustainable and the wet season closures are doing well to have numbers stable and to be increasing. I think netting closures have also helped. The river systems in the Cape are pristine with little impact from pollutants, so the fish thrive in our waterways. I can’t wait for next year to start chasing these heart pumping adrenaline producing sport fish. Barramundi fever is still but will have to abate for a while and return in force on the 1 February 2023.

The reef fishing has been great with some nice captures of coral trout and large mouth nannygai around. Spearfishing is also providing some nice painted crayfish for dinner. What better place to be than on a hot day than in the 7th wonder of the world harvesting a nice collection of seafood for dinner. Did I mention how blessed we are to live in such a beautiful part of the world.This coral trout was caught while stick baiting.