Cairns Trip - 1 Oct 2015

[SgtBundy]

With time due for a family holiday and the kids keen to see the Daintree and Reef we booked 10 days up in Cairns for a big trip away, something we have not done for a while. Of course, I couldn't let the opportunity go without getting in some fishing. I took a travel rod and some kit with me but between activities and logisitics of getting around without transport I only managed a few hours off the wall near the marina on my own. However I had a full day booked for a private charter with just myself and the guide so it was completely free to do whatever fishing was on offer.

Originally I wanted to try for both GTs on the reef and try for barramundi in a river or estuary somewhere, but as the weather forecast became clear the operator suggested we pick one or the other due to the combinations of forecast winds, tides and travel needed. He had mentioned the barra were not co-operating of late so I went for reef instead, and due to the winds he suggested a place further south that offered some protection but took us an hours or so travel to get down to from Cairns.

We launched at Mourilyan harbour which was great in itself, it just looked ready to fish - as he was putting the boat in a buoy nearby was surrounded by busting up fish, and within about 3 minutes of launching he had a cast net on top of some sardines which he threw in the live tank. The run out was spectacular, with either side of the harbour dressed in rainforest down to the water, even on the ocean side. The below shot doesn't do it justice, there was literally palm trees and vines down to the water.

We headed out to some nearby islands which gave us some cover from the wind. As we arrived we saw HMAS Canberra (large new helicopter landing ship) operating nearby which added some sights for the day with landing ships running around landing tanks and vehicles on a nearby beach for most of the afternoon.

We got out to the first mark to try for GTs and before the first cast the operator saw tuna near the boat. A quick throw of some metals for nought before we tried warming up for GTs with some stickbaits. I got a follow by what we thought was a massive mangrove jack (it looked like a red GT in the water). While I was doing that the operator was playing with some lighter gear and hooked onto something - thinking it a tuna he handed it to me to bring in. It came in easily and to both our surprise it was a small but legal Coral Trout which we kept in the live tank to possibly take home later.

We switched back to trying for GTs and got out some larger heavy stick baits - as he showed me an example of using it with a short cast he got a big hit from likely a GT but it dropped. It became my turn and after about 5 minutes of retrieving that lure I was reconsidering my desire to chase GTs - the TV makes it look so easy, or maybe I am just too soft being in IT, but damn that was some work, mostly the fast retrieves as I was ok with the casting. We stuck with it for a while working around this first mark but with no hits and increasing bird activity nearby we switched back to light gear and metals. Soon we had a big bustup of tuna breaking the surface with birds diving on top and once I got the hang of casting where they were going (they moved fast) I was soon hooked up to something that had no desire to come towards the boat.

A big initial run and slowly I got it turned and brought it back, as it got to the boat it took off again but went under the boat. With some effort and help I got the braid off the hull and around the other side of the boat. After a few more minutes of fighting we had it boatside but as the guide tried to tail it it kicked off and dropped the hook. It was a good size northern longtail tuna - unfortunately neither of us had any photo kit going despite my gopro, his sports camera and multiple phones being on the boat. My first tuna hook up and I loved it - it was I think a 6-10kg rod but it was fully bent over and with 30lb braid it was still screaming off - great fun.

The school surfaced again and we chased after and soon enough I again hooked up but the braid popped as soon as it took its first run - I am guessing from the earlier hull contact. We switched to another rod that was rigged with one of my metals and gave chase again and hooked up once more to another solid longtail. This time more careful of moving it around the boat I was able to hang on to it and with a few screaming runs away from the boat I got it up alongside. This time we went to get a photo and the operator was putting his underwater camera together while I held it at the boat, which it was happy to do little tuna circles. As the operator put the camera in I caught a gray shape come in from the back of the boat, my tuna kicked off but within a second was taken whole by a 3-4m bull shark right in front me of. An awesome sight that I was just enjoying the spectacle of - not even disappointed we didn't boat the fish, just excited and even laughing to see this in action. Sadly my gopro was not setup yet and the operators camera card was full so we missed the shot - he splashed around a bit and kept the sharks near the boat (by now a second larger one joined the first) and I have some gopro footage of that, but nothing more than shapes in the water. We ended up having to move off the area because the sharks would not leave the boat.

After the shark bit off the lure I replaced it with one of my own and on the next hookup I got it busted straight away - seems I tied a bad knot and it simply undid under pressure. Unfortunately that was about the most action I captured on gopro - my crappy knot getting busted off, which left me feeling rather amateur.

We moved on to trying for some GTs again at another mark but they again proved elusive. We continued to have bustups all around us and groups of birds work working the area the whole time. We switched between chasing these bustups, which often moved too fast for our drift or away from us entirely, to going back and hitting the GT marks. I began to regret the GT focus as merely the retrieve action was wearing me out - I was worried what would happen if I actually hooked up. During one of these sessions we had a massive spanish mackerel get airborne about 150m from the boat - out of nowhere it launched out of the water a clear 20 feet diving back in almost straight down.

When we sounded a large school underneath us we tried a sort of jigging approach with metals that got us a small mac tuna that managed to run me around the boat again. It was a fairly quick fight - we landed it and sent it back.

Around midday the bird and surface activity dropped away and with no GTs showing up we took a break and moved into a nice spot near one of the islands beaches to anchor for lunch.

After lunch the operator spotted some nearby bait fish which he tried cast netting for but they were too quick - pretty much we only used the baitfish we had as live burley - if he wanted to try and keep fish near the boat he would throw them in, we didn't use them on lines at all.

In the afternoon we continued the same patterns - a few GT attempts broken by chasing bust ups. Eventually we got into a bustup that I managed to get a metal into and hooked onto something that had weight but stayed down, not doing much. After putting on some pressure it woke up and screamed off and I was having trouble turning it - eventually I got some line back and brought it back near the boat but before I got sight it took off again, then again for a 3rd time. After a minute or two of constant drag whine I started getting some headway and along side the boat we had a large, fat, mac tuna. As we got it up it was disgorging lots of baitfish and even something larger that looked like a small trevally. The operator got a firm hold of it, got it to finish throwing up its meals and we finally got a picture of me with a fish, even then the bugger still shat on me. I am not sure how it goes as far as mac tuna but it was a solid fish for me and a solid fight, so I was stoked.

We sent him back and after a few lulls of him not kicking (with us expecting him to be sharked) it kicked off and swam away.

The rest of the afternoon was mostly chasing more bustups. We spotted some very large tuna like fish leaping clear of the surface in a channel between the islands and gave chase but they disappeared before we found them. We followed some birds later without much surface bustups and hooked into a small oceanic queenfish, only about 30cm or so, so another new catch for me.

Even though it was only around 3pm we had a long drive back to Cairns and it had been an early start, so we headed back to the ramp. Even on the 10 minute run back there was bustups still going on everywhere around us. I am not sure how normal that is but it was awesome compared to any of my previous fishing exploits.

All in all even though I never hooked onto a GT and didnt get into any Barramundi it was still an awesome day of fishing - chasing those bust ups was so much fun and the power and thrill of hanging onto those tuna was just fantastic. The sights of so many fish, sharks, the stunning location, good weather (if a little windy), nature and even background of the military in action made it a brilliant day.

I took the coral trout back with me and did it simply in foil on a shared BBQ at the caravan park, but my wife said it was the nicest fish she has eaten. I had some but in my tired state I managed to slice my finger open on a can of pineapple and for some reason it put me off dinner (being knackered from casting poppers all day might have been related).

Happy to recommend the operator by PM if anyone is interested.

[tyrone07]

Awesome report, definately my style of fishing. Throwing those poppers around hours on end definately wears you down. You should be fit enough to jig for kings in 100mtrs of water now.

[Yowie]

Sounds like a bit of fun with a different style of fishing to down here.

[SgtBundy]

I havent really done much boat fishing down here but chasing the schools of tuna and having them scream off when hooked was great fun. There were probably heaps of bait and other options we didnt even get to. Feel spoilt now because it was a whole different world to my previous land based sessions with the odd nibble...

Cant wait to head back -

Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

[MV Sunray]

Great report. Fishing in the estuary at mourilyan harbour can be productive too. Fished the Barnards a few times myself. Once I was invited by a pro from kurramine beach. He Downrigged large wolf herring for Spanish mackerel which seemed to work really well. Great report once again makes me wish I was fishing up there at the moment. Paradise!

[SgtBundy]

Yeah - the harbour was just one of those places that looked like "fish here". The operator told me they got a solid GT inside there on a 2-5kg rod while flicking some prawn plastics, they had to chase it for 3km out to open water before they were able to land it. Those islands are a great spot - the beaches and caves on them would just be a great place to take kids exploring, let alone the fishing.

Moving between some of the tuna schools he did run some trolled lures hoping for spanish mackerel which he said were regulars there too - but no takes, just the one we saw go airborne.

[W4z]

That was a very enjoyable report, thanks for sharing. Sounds like a top day out

[fragmeister]

Great report and good to see you getting in among the fish.

Having been to Cairns myself I can really understand the impact the abundance of life

has after living in Sydney.

Cheers

Jim

[SgtBundy]

Agreed - I think I am a spoiled now - not sure dangling a prawn for small snapper will cut it any more

[fragmeister]

Agreed - I think I am a spoiled now - not sure dangling a prawn for small snapper will cut it any more

LOL. Yep! it can certainly have that impact.

Hopefully that will wear off in a few weeks.