Cairns Trip - Day 11

Went to the top end of Trinity beach again. No luck. Went to the jetty that evening, but again little luck. By this point I had probably given up fishing in Cairns. It is really only good if you have a boat -- which I didnt have.

Cairns Trip - Day 10

Went to the top end of trinity beach. Got a meter long ribbontail. Lost a lure, and (foul?) hooked a milkfish but didn’t land it. (Pic is a ribbon tail caught on the jetty)

Cairns Trip - Day 9

Went on a fishing charter with Alex. Alex was HOT – he got a flounder, a big fingermark that we kept, a toadfish, a grunter, and a queenfish. I got a grinner. The rest of the party (5 people from NZ) got two toadfish, a small fingermark, and a small trevally.

The wind was coming from the North. I went to the jetty to try for the afternoon – lots of bait fish to be seen. I got a follow from a large silver thing. Not much catching though.

Cairns Trip - Day 8

Went to the palm cove jetty with Elizabeth. Got something large that ran for a while and then spat back ½ a soft plastic. Got a hit immediately after that cut the line. Then it went quiet.

Cairns Trip - Day 7

Went to Yule point really early to see what I could russle up. Nothing. Went to Port Douglas and fished off the rock wall at the park. Got nothing. Tried 4 mile beach. Got nothing.

Cairns Trip - Day 6

Went to Yule Point first thing in the morning. Lots of bait, but nothing hit the fly. Tried spinning and got 2 small fingermark? and a flathead. The tide was rising, and Yule point is a falling tide fishery.

Cairns Trip - Day 5

Got up early and went to Four Mile Beach (at the bottom of Port Douglas). The plan was to fly fish the shallows at dawn. But it took me a long time to get to the beach and find access. I got the spinning rod out for a quick recon fish. Started wading out in bare feet towards a sand bank– the water got up to my knees, and then started getting shallower . Saw a splash to the end of the sand bank, and let fly with a tassie devil. Bang – something reeled off line. Eventually it tired, and I started gaining line. Saw a long thin fin flapping – thought it must be something exotic. And it was – a ray hooked in the tail. I broke the line and let it go. Noticed two rays on the bottom within sight – suddenly the bare feet didn’t look so good.

The tide was coming in, so I moved closer to shore. In the gutter behind the sand bar I got a trevally. Moved into shore and down the beach. Saw some bait so I tried casting near the bait – got a small flathead.

Came back to the apartment and took the kids shopping. Hit ‘Erskines’ tackle and asked about shore based fishing – to be told there was bugger all in the Cairns area.

Rigged tip a clear tip 7 weight tropic line for the next day

Cairns Trip - Day 4

Went to the creek at 6:00 am. Right where I had been the previous night there were 3 slides from crocodiles – each about 40cm across. The crocs appeared to be about 1m.

Tried a Pop-R. Heard a splash and, looking across, saw a reed move. Dropped the pop-R right next to the reed and got a hit. Popped it once more and got another hit. Nothing more though, Finally got a tarpon on a soft plastic – and it went straight up – lots of fun for a small fish. But, when all is said and done, they were using bigger fish as bait off the jetty.

Went to the jetty and got a small ‘scad’ and a ‘sort of flathead’

Drove up the coast and scouted out the fishing.

After dinner went to the jetty and looked. About 40 people, many drinking beer. Not much catching.

Cairns Trip - Day 3

Kurandra train and Skytrain.

Got back and tried the jetty. Got a cowfish on a gulp. The weather was windy and the water was murky.

After it got dark gave up – no fish appeared under the piles of the jetty. Went down to the creek and heard losts of activity, but got nothing.

Cairns Trip - Day 2

Got up early and went to the Jetty to fish. It was calm at fist, but by 10 a sea breeze was starting. Fished using soft plastics – gulps. Saw another fisherman doing the same. We got lots of nibbles, and I lost one without feeling anything – the line just went slack. Eventually got a small stripped fish with lots of spikes.

Went to the fishing store at lunch time to get gulps and some rattle based lures for the murky water. Eventually found the owner, and got some good info on where to fish. Hot spots were Port Douglas – the bottom of 4 mile beach, the palm cove jetty, around the point from the palm cove jetty, a headland between Port Douglas and Palm cove, and finally a creek near Palm cove which had its outlet to the sea blocked.

That evening went to the creek (pictured) – got 3 hits, but no fish. Had an audience. Went to the jetty for 10 minutes and tried the rattletrap, but no luck.

Cairns Trip - Day 1

Got up at 4:00am for the flight to Cairns. As usual, there was mass panic and waving of arms involved in the trip. We got to Cairns at about 2:30. By the time we got a car, got to the hotel, and settled in it was 4:30, and I was dog tired. I walked down to the palm cove jetty to check it out – there were 20-30 people fishing. Not much catching though! There was a strong sea breeze, and the water was cloudy.