General News
10 June, 2026
Reef waters rich with bounty
SPANISH and school mackeral in plague proportions as well as other species
Freshwater
THE colder weather has taken effect on the freshwater systems, with the sooty grunter and jungle perch tending to slow up this time of year.
I find to get the best results to fish the deep pools with soft plastics and vibes, then later in the day you will find the sootys will swim up onto the sand flats to warm up, this is a great time for sight fishing although they can be a bit timid, so small light weighted plastics is recommended.
I had great success over the weekend using a small squidgy on the sand flats and a small hard vibe slow rolling through the deeper pools.
Estuary
THE barramundi has been tough once again due to the cold, but if you can find an area with warmer water, even only a few degrees difference, you will find the barra will be a lot more active.
If you can find a drain or creek running with warmer water, you can have a very successful session.
Live prawn or prawn lures are best for barra this time of year, I’d recommend a sicario 4.5in prawn as there have been lots of great reports about these lures.
Over the full moon we heard of some great reports of big grunters being caught along the beach fronts with a handful of finger mark amongst them.
There have been a few isolated pockets of prawns getting around the beach fronts as well.
The crabbing has been great in the Hinchinbrook channel, also, with a few people bagging out on big muddies over a weekend.
There are still plenty of flatheads at the river mouths and sand bars, the top of the tide to the run out is the best time to target them.
Offshore
WE finally have had a break in the wind and have had a great week of amazing weather for the Reef, just mind the morning westerly winds.
Plenty of fish have been caught, heaps of coral trout in the shallows along with red throat emperors have been reported, mainly on pillies.
The nanny guys and red emperors have been in great numbers also. These fish have mainly been caught in the deeper waters 60-80m and mainly caught on whole squids.
The Spanish mackerel and school mackerel are in plague proportions, so I’d recommend having a pillie drifting out the back of the boat and trolling from spot to spot.
Tight lines, be safe and good luck.
– Ryan Sanger, Tackle World Tully
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