tiotony

have gone with a pair of shimano sakana 6-8kg shore spin rods, because of the 9 foot length to help with casting distance, and 4000 Thunnus reels with 20lb Sufix 832.

Machans and Holloways. Note the mullet/ gar in close on the beach are hit and miss and usually only at dawn - its uncommon to see so many and its usually a struggle getting livies on the beach because the bait is out of castnet range. Also have to be wary of stingers when castnetting this time of year obviously - if there's stingers about I just don't castnet.

shame we can't fish the base under the wharves any more, where 50lb was silly string! I'm daydreaming about getting longer casts in + not getting owned every time I go lately......... Come 1st Feb, I'm keen to get an 80 to take home

6-10lb served me fine for years on the beach, because you'd rarely get a barra over 80 and the blue salmon averaged 50. Been watching the size go up the last 5 years or so since net free, and metreys are pretty normal now - used to be unicorn fish 20 years ago in Cairns. And the blue salmon (staple Cairns beaches fish) are all way bigger than they used to be.

By the way, blue salmon are incredibly fun in shallow water on light tackle! Tides and wind are good all week, but think I'll take a break (waiting on a sale so I can get a couple of good 'upgraded' beach livebaiting rods).

So I recently put up a post asking for tackle suggestions, as due to progressive increase in fish size at my local (likely due to net free zone) I'm often outgunned these days on the 6-10lb outfits that used to be adequate. Here's some culprits spooling me: Christmas afternoon me and AFO member pancakes and haggis (Callum) hit the beach after lunch. Got plenty of live mullet, and Callum was managing much further casts than me on his longer rods (as compared to my 3-5kg SP outfits), even with his 30lb braid. This made it apparent there are more fish holding out further now and 30lb braid is up to the task (unlike me trying to be 'sporting' and getting smoked on my little 2500 Daiwa Sols These two were around 105 and 85 and were released quickly being closed season and all. Went again at dawn this morning to be greeted with high tide, dead flat water and fish busting up on mullet and gar everywhere, and literally saw a metre barra launch clear of the water on arrival. The bait was being herded onto the beach so only took one cast to get 10 or so mullet. I got owned four times in a row on the 10lb - two bustups due to me using as much drag as I dared on the 10lb (and actually too much), and two spoolings resulting in clamped spool and bustup. Unfortunately only get about 150m of 10lb braid on a little Sol and its not enough. Also saw the kids just up from me land two big king salmon and drop a big barra in this time. Number 5 was substantially smaller and fairly easily turned; blue salmon in the 80's:

Actually the Thunnus I mentioned is a baitrunner style reel. I'm a Daiwa guy but the Shimano Thunnus seems to be the best bait feeder style reel on the market. Baitfeeders are definitely handier for live baiting and I've still got a 2500 baitrunner and a 2500 Spinfisher liveliner; the baitrunner has a bit too rough a drag for light line on big fish and the problem with the Liveliner is the 'free spool' function isn't very free spool at all; pretty much making me drop a lot of fish when they feel the weight. As such both 'beach livebaiting' outfits I'm back on the 2500 Sols (which I actually use for SP's too). Rod wise I'm looking a bit more high end - possibly Saltist Hyper M-OverS80-2/4; I generally stick to mid-high end Daiwa rods because they are excellent rods IMO. Line wise I use Sufix 832 a lot but it doesn't cast well. Have been trying Savage Gear Silencer in the 10lb; super thin and casts great, but I'm getting a great deal of unexplained bustoffs. Think casting a 10-15cm mullet on a long leader as far as possible with as little lead as possible. Due to erosion they've made breakwaters along the beach and are pumping in sand. It's apparent this has changed the nature of the beach completely (shallower in close) and the fish are definitely much further out than they used to be. This has also caused the creek mouth to be closed off to the sea for the longest I've seen in nearly 30 years fishing there - been closed for about 10 months now so I can no longer use the creek runoff to carry baits out and us locals think the creek may now only be open for short periods after cyclones. Also the beach south of the creek (Machans beach) basically no longer exists as the water comes right up to the breakwall now. If a natural vegetation nature strip was left between the beach and the houses to prevent erosion instead of building houses right on the beach and making breakwalls, we wouldn't be having to mess with the natural state of the beach. Climate change is blamed in the press but studies on the Cairns northern beaches erosion problem (can be found on the internet) all conclude its 100% because of removal of the vegetation which anchored the sand.

Since (I expect) declaration of the net free zone, the size of fish at my local beach spot has been increasing year by year, to the point now that I am regularly bringing a knife to a gun fight and getting spooled often. Typical example was yesterday evening where I was spooled twice (both times I was lucky enough to break off at the fish end and not at the (emptied) reel end. Other than two obvious shark biteoffs (or possibly mackeral), managed to hold onto one that was manageable: This was released at the water's edge (as you can see its being washed by waves) after a quick measure at 97cm and a quick photo. Was by myself so dehook while keeping it in the water (as per the rules) would have been impossible. Do note I'm chasing salmon/ queenfish etc. and not closed season barra (until February anyway). So I'm basically using 3-5kg 7 foot SP type rods and 2500 Diawa Sols on which I have gone from 6 up to 10 pound braid, live mullet or fairly large strip baits on a long 30lb leader and as light lead as I can get away with whilst still getting a decent cast. So, can anyone suggest specific rod, reel, braid brand etc. that will allow me to lob out a live mullet or strip bait a decent way, on lets say 25lb braid and often casting into the wind? I'm thinking maybe 4000 size Shimano Thunnus baitrunners with 25lb braid, on possibly an 8 foot rod to compensate for losing casting distance with the heavier braid. Possibly also biting the bullet and upping lead size but I'm not keen on that. Thanks in advance

My goal for 2021 is to land one of the XXL king salmon/ spanish mackeral that keep spooling me on the beach - this will probably involve upgrade from using silly string (6-10lb) for them; am eyeing off 4000 size shimano thunnus baitrunners full of 20lb braid. Have been spooled 3 times in the last 3 sessions and am very over it - manageable blue salmon and queenfish in the evening then hook onto torpedos right on dark, that spool my 2000 size Daiwa Sol's in about 20 seconds

Not something I'd do.

Just walk any beach and chuck at the washed out trees, even if its very shallow. I found a vid of someone doing it. Plenty of JP's in Freshwater creek at the bottom of my street here in Redlynch if you want to drive down this way; but they spook very easily unless the water is discoloured after rain.

Actually also just thought, you may get lucky and arrive after a rain event/ cyclone - if so (and the flooding has cleared), there's always fish hanging around the trees that get washed out on the beach (because the fish have been washed out too and go for the only available cover). I've had some massive sessions in years past walking the beach and chucking little plastics at trees in close to shore.

I never fish at port because I'm too lazy to drive that far from Cairns to fish, but if you drive up the road to Mossman there's plenty of big JP's in the Mossman River. All creeks have JP's in them anyway. Further north, I hear Wonga beach fishes really well on high tides - get some pippies on the beach, catch a whiting, then fish it live and should get something - good for tripletail there and they love live whiting. However, being April you might find yourself in the middle of monsoons and/ or strong south easters, both of which suck for fishing the beach. And those wolf herring mentioned in previous post are the absolute best strip bait - I've caught more big king salmon on them than any other bait.

Dunno if it will work down south there, but back when I used to boat fish the halco scorpion 150's in the 'mullet' colour in the 5m diver version trolled over reef in 10-20m of water were deadly. You have to troll them on braid (so they wobble really hard - mono has too much stretch so they dont wobble as hard), and troll as fast as they can take - about 6.5-7 knots. You may need to adjust the bib to get them to swim completely straight. Also worked was the halco laser pro 190 in the 'mullet' and the blue colours, in the 'crazy deep' version - note the crazy deeps always need adjusting so they swim straight. Again troll as fast as possible - about 5.5-6.2 knots. Use in 20-30m of water over reef. The wahoo also love them if you go off the reef to about 80m depth. Big GT's in 10-20m of water love these too. Once you get a fish troll back over the same area. Back when I lived in Kiribati (see: https://www.facebook.com/betiofishos/) I trolled with others in the boat using various other lures/ rigged baits, and I reckon 19 strikes in 20 were on my rig. Must troll on braid (with 2m of jinkai leader to absorb some shock, and 6 inch wire at the lure), and troll as fast as they will go (after adjusting so they swim straight.

Looking at the weather report looks like it'll be pretty rough out there this weekend. I'd be maybe sitting on live baits in a deep hole in the inlet at the very low tide around lunch time for fingermark - like off the sugar wharf. Seem to be massive fingermark in the inlet at the moment, and you'd be out of the wind. Or possibly do a dawn high tide on the flats off the hospital for grunter and salmon. Some of the seafood shops are selling yellowtail up from Cardwell at the moment - if it were me I reckon I'd sit on a fresh yellowtail fillet in either spots; the fish seem to love it. I'm landbased so won't be doing any fishing till the wind drops.

Yeah mate thats southern end of Holloways. SE winds are back now so will be only sharks again.

About waist-chest deep

mid 80's is the biggest blues I've caught. Average is around 55-60.

So after about 8 months of fish drought on the beach (brought on by relentless SE winds, which makes it shark city), finally the wind swung to the NE this week. Knew my local beach would fire, and after work didn't want to waste fishing time castnetting so grabbed some fresh yellowtail I saw advertised at a fish shop on the way home. First cast with a yellowtail fillet was smashed as I was putting the rod in the holder. Saw two mates down there who had only got sharks on live mullet, so was pleased with the result on the flesh bait - blue salmon no.1 Second cast the bait got smashed before I even got the bail arm over; resulting in blue salmon no.2. Third cast hit within a few minutes and resulted in a substantially bigger no.3 salmon. More than enough for me; salmon don't release well (I think because they fight to the death on 6 pound braid), so time to go home. Have noted the salmon have been very keen on the flesh baits the last couple of years, so grabbed some more yellowtail for another crack over the weekend. Now that they've hit the beach, history over the last 25+ years fishing the same spot tells me they'll be a sure thing for the next few months. Soft flesh so I bake whole, pick the meat off and use in pasta bake, fish cakes, and fried rice - which will be on the menu weekly for the next few months until the barra and king salmon show up on the beach. Good fishing times ahead! sal.mp4

I've heard of one caught at Yeronga

True eh about snag bashing in the inlet - get lures chucked at them by tourists all day every day. I tried burley trail at Kamerunga sunday arvo which just brought in bullies. Then this afternoon at Holloways on the high tide for 30 minutes with gar from the Barron; didn't even get a single run. Fishing's terrible in Cairns in south easters.

Can't help you too much mate. I'm a land based angler (by choice) and with almost all of the accessible areas banned from fishing in the inlet, I never go there anymore. I concentrate on the warm months salmon and barra on the beach now. All I can suggest; forget buying bait and throwing lures at inlet fish that see lures every day. Live bait is the key so get a castnet and fish live bait anywhere and you'll get fish. Use a long leader with lively baits and in the inlet you'll always get a good fingermark or something. Lightest or no lead and most natural presentation is the key - the livie will get smashed. Other option without castnet; find a nice spot next to snags and burley heavily - plenty of big bream in the inlet this time of year and jacks, cod etc will be attracted too, but there seems to be a lot of bull sharks around this year that have been making my burley trails in the Barron a waste of time. Last option; if the SE wind dies there will be heaps of doggie mackeral around the leads to the inlet.

bread

the river pikey bream are generally much darker than that, really a black colour - I'll take a pic next time I get one

got nothing; as soon as I had fish in the burley trail the bullys were coming in and smashing them. Then 15 minutes to get fish burleyed up again, only for the sharks to come in and disperse them again