General News
6 August, 2026
Jungle creeks luring anglers
SOOTY grunter and jungle perch are species being caught in freshwater habitats.
Freshwater
WE are extremely lucky here in Tully, we are fortunate enough to have some of the best freshwater fishing in Queensland.
Our jungle creeks provide some of the best conditions and habitat for our native species, jungle perch and sooty grunter.
Tully has some the largest of these species and an abundance of creeks and streams to explore.
During our run of bad weather, fishing these creeks up in the mountains can be a great option.
Not only is it a lot of fun, and you can catch a lot of fish, it can also be quite challenging as you will find yourself climbing up boulders and crashing throw thick rainforest.
A lot of young local fishermen have been making the most of our jungle streams and are having great results.
So, get out there and give it a crack.
Estuary
WITH our unfortunate luck with the wind, more people are using our saltwater rivers with some fantastic results.
Despite what most believe, winter can be a great time of year for estuary fishing.
There’s an abundance of flathead being caught around our river mouths and sand bars, shallow divers and smaller soft plastics are doing the damage.
Massive schools of blue salmon have been reported moving into our rivers such as the Tully, Hull and Murray.
Blue salmon are great fighting fish and are extremely aggressive to lures.
These guys can be found in the deeper holes in the river, so a decent side scan sounder will help to find them. I’d recommend using vibe lures as the salmon use their whiskers to feel vibration. This style of lure seem to get the best results.
The mangrove jacks are seemly unfazed by our cooler weather and there are still plenty being caught skip casting mangrove lined banks.
The new Arma 105mm GP doctor paddle tail has been an absolute stand out since its release.
Plenty of grunter are still being caught in the deeper holes mostly on squid and prawn as bait.
Winter is a great time to chase grunter.
I have noticed a lot of the caravaners who have travelled up to chase mackerel are making the most of their time here and are lined up fishing the river mouths and having a ball catching whiting and bream.
During winter our estuaries are teaming with them and not many locals fish for them, so it can be some fantastic fishing.
Offshore
THE wind and rain continue to make it hard for people to head offshore, although early mornings have been calm enough to fish our inshore reefs and islands and, the few, who our getting out, are having great results with plagues of mackerel, both school and Spanish.
They are mostly trolling dead baits and hard body divers such as a Halco Lazer Pro.
Winter is an amazing time of year for inshore fishing. With the cooler water, deeper water species will push up into our shallower inshore areas.
There was plenty of coral trout caught over the week in the close in areas.
I’ve even had reports of people catching large coral trout straight off the rocky headlands.
Don’t be discouraged by our recent weather, as you can see there’s still plenty of great fishing to be had, so get out there and enjoy the amazing area we live in.
– Ryan Sanger, Tackle World Tully
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