Fishing In Port Douglas

[vemanner]

Hello!

I've just returned from a 3 week family holiday in Port Douglas. We absolutely loved it. My daughter decided to start crawling while we were there too, but when I wasn't running after her I managed to get a bit of fishing in.

Its a really top place to fish. Lots of options. Fishing off the rocks for all kinds of fish. I caught my first GT's throwing little metals into the bait schools. Great fun. There are also stacks of reefs just off the beach too. On clear days with the polaroids on, you can see hundreds of them. I got out amongst it one day and pulled out 3 good sized coral trouts. The biggest of which, around 50cm. I kept that one for dinner, and I've got to say its the best fish I've ever eaten. I also caught a couple of small and large mouth nannigai and a moses perch.

There is also an estuary with a lost of structure to fish amongst. I caught a pretty big flathead casting small plastics at pilons near the river mouth. I didnt know you got them that far up, and it ended up being my biggest flathead on plastic, even though I didnt measure it. I also caught a Dorab Wolf Herring on a deep diver I was casting at the wake of kayaks. First time I'd ever seen one. Lots of barracuda while I was there, which I caught most often.

Further up the river I spent quite a bit of time casting lures around the marina. I saw barra on a couple of occasions but could never get them to take my lures. I caught some estuary cods, different trevallys, and random other bits and pieces all on lures there too.

I must say I had a fair bit of trouble with the charter operators up there with many of them not calling me back and some stuffing me around etc. There are a heck of a lot of them up there, with dozens to chose from. I would recommend you get some good references of charter operators if you plan to go out with them up there. I had the feeling some of the ones I got onto would rather go to the pub. I dont want to upset anyone, but it was just nothing like the kind of professionalism and knowledge I'm used to with the charter operators down here on the central coast. Although I did meet some other fishermen while I was up there who ended up giving me some good contacts... so feel free to message me if you want them.

Great fun all up. Lots of different fishing options and a great place to take the family.

Marty

Edited June 16, 2010 by Marty 1

[johnv]

sounds like u & family had a great time away Marty well done, its always good to see when the kids start crawlin cause then u know they will be into everything & the next thing is they start walking.Its so bad when u make the time to do something & then the people dont get back to u & they have to run a buissnes all year round .

cheers john

[wannabefisho]

Great stuff Marty!

I fished there on a charter @ the end of high school and the Coral Trout are for sure one of the finest eating fish around.

Great to hear you got a few different species while you were there, its always great to add new ones to the list and shorten the list of "to catch" species.

Tight lines

Anthony

[rf4@aapt.net.au]

Yes it sure is a great place to fish have been up there many times and have always caught heaps of nice reef fish and yes the Trout is hands down the best eating fish in the world I reckon anyway, I have been out on several different charters and they can be a bit difficult to guarantee a spot but MV Norseman has always been preety good and one of the bigger operators leaving from Port Douglas.

Richard

[vemanner]

Yeah nothing like catching a species you've always wanted to catch. Glad you guys agree about the coral trout as an eating fish. I reckon i'll be hard pressed to find something better tasting, although... only one way to find out. I reckon port douglas would be the perfect place to take your own boat. I did all my fishing off the shore, but reckon a boat and a sounder and just about anyone could do well. Especially in the estuary systems around there. There's a bunch of rivers north of port douglas I'd love to spend a day on.

It's funny that you mention the Norseman. I was casting lures at it where it lived at night on a bunch of different occasions!

[dacian pascu]

Hi Marty. Met you at the wharf in Port Douglas. Sounds like you had just as much fun as me, what a spot! Nice Coral trout. I ended up getting 2 nice Cobia and more GT's with Kerry from Blackout Sportsfishing. I'll hopefully get round to putting some pics up soon.

[rooster]

Gday Marty 1 it was good to meet you at the bend at the marina

I was the one pretending to fish, but was well focussed on

getting lagered.

Ended up doing a private charter on the daintree, picked up a couple of small

gt's in the mangroves, a medium golden on the flats and some barracuda.

As you said the barra had shut down, the water was a chilly 24-25 degrees.

used 3 inch suspending bibbed minnows which caught everything and slow towed

some 2 inch live herrings innefectively, big tides were important.

Looked at heading out but it was blowing 18-20 knots consistantly at the bar

and i didn't want to work too hard. Thanks for inspiring me to fish.

Cheers

The Rooster

[beachwormer]

Hey mate, are you talking about Dickson inlet as the estuary, or Daintree river?

If you did all your fishing shore-based, didn't you come across a few crocs? I remember when I was there 15 years ago it was alive with them!

Where did you stay if you don't mind me asking?

[slinkymalinky]

Great holiday by the sounds of it, Marty. That's a very tasty looking fish in the photo... I agree with you and definitely rate Coral Trout as a top eating fish. Sweet, firm, white flesh... yummy

Good advice about charter operators. I think anywhere you go there are cowboys but major tourism destinations are the worst because I think a lot of operators never have to worry about repeat customers so they don't care.

Cheers, Slinky