General News
22 July, 2026
Plenty of mackeral offshore
RELENTLESS winds mean estuaries best place for catching barred grunter and crabs.
Freshwater
THE freshwater systems continue to provide young fisherman with plenty of entertainment.
Although the water is too cold for a swim, those keen enough are rewarded with some great catches of sooty grunter and jungle perch.
The further you travel up the creeks into the mountains, the better the fishing seems to get, so make sure you have some good water shoes for hiking up the rocky terrain.
I like to use Crocs myself as the rubbery shoes tend to grip slippery rocks better and the holes in the shoes make it ideal for walking through water.
The Jackson R.A. Popper, everyone’s favourite freshwater lure, has returned to the shelves after being missing in action for a few years and they are already getting some great catches.
These poppers dominated the freshwater market for several years and I know a lot of fishermen are very happy to see them return.
Estuaries
WITH the ever-relentless winds, a lot of fishermen have been fishing our local estuaries and have found great success.
The barred grunter is still being reported in great numbers and size, mostly coming from our Hinchinbrook area.
Squid and prawn are the best bait for chasing grunter. I’d recommend a size 3/0 bait holder hook on a running sinker rig.
The barramundi front continues to frustrate lure fisherman, with only getting small bite windows and not a lot of hook ups, although those using bait are seeming to do a lot better.
Some great sessions have been reported, with live prawns, mullet and mud cod all working great.
I’ve even heard a few reports of them taking a dead bait or fillet off the bottom.
If you’re wishing to catch these barramundis on lure, using prawn imitations are getting the most action, particularly the Samaki weedless prawn.
Make sure to bring your crab pots as there’s been a lot of big full mud crabs around.
I even managed to get a feed of crab, so you’re in with a good chance.
Offshore
ONCE again, we are met with small weather windows.
We were lucky enough to have a break in the wind the other weekend and a lot of fishermen took advantage of it.
The mackerel are well and truly arrived and are in big numbers, the usual mackerel grounds are producing some great school and spotted mackerel. 8 Mile in particular seeming to have the most numbers with lots of reports of people bagging out.
Several techniques are working. The reaper rig, rigged up on a garfish is doing some serious damage trolling, drifting pillies on gang hooks is working well also, but the Arma 40g Nugget metal lure is the standout. Word has gotten out about this lure and we are struggling to keep them on the shelves.
Simply cast it out and wind as fast as possible and the mackerel can’t seem to resist.
Those who went bottom bashing on the Reef seemed to have a tougher day, possibly due to the big tides we had over the weather break, although some large coral trout were caught in the shallows.
Those persistent enough, who found calmer currents, caught some nice big nannygai and red emperors.
Make sure you gear up for this mackerel season, as its shaping up to be a good one.
– Ryan Sanger, Tackle World Tully
Read More: Cassowary Coast