Over last month we have been able to get into some great fishing on a regular basis. Now we are back in the drier hotter summers again, it has allowed many days with perfect fishing conditions and light inshore winds.

The threadfin salmon have been the main curtain raiser during the barra closed season. And they have not disappointed! There have been many sessions of 10 or more fish with some nudging the 1.3m mark. The deepest of holes have been producing the best action around the change of tide when the water slows down. Jigging gimps and Berkley plastics have been the best practices. I expect we will see the threadfin continue sporadically throughout the wet season, which is a good thing as they are quite fun.

Numbers of fingermark seem to have tapered off in the channel but are fishing well on the outside of the island and Missionary Bay to the north. The channel has been producing some large specimens at night on live squid and herring in deep water. The deep holes south of the Bluff is a good place to start looking and the channel has many other deep pinnacles and holes if you do some research.

Most reef reports have been slow, which is expected at this time of year. The hot northerlies and sometimes very light winds will destroy the quality of fishing during the day. This is when you are best to fish the evenings when the fish are looking for a feed. Day fishing on the reef is much better during the cooler period. If you have to fish summer during the day then most results will come from the deepest waters.

We have had many visits on the beachfront in the last couple of months from Cardwells resident crocodiles; one measured 15ft. If you are visiting, be wary if you walk your dog too close to the edge as its not the place for them to be fetching sticks thrown in the water.

Cardwell is a fantastic fishing and scenic destination but if you want to swim you should use the public pool, go to our local freshwater streams or drive up to Mission Beach. It’s not just the crocs; the beach fills with box jellies after the prawns during the wet. They will sometimes render a cast net useless if you get a big one in it. Trying to throw a cast net that’s filled with tentacles would not be the wisest move you will ever make in your life!

Fishing in January will depend largely on what happens with our wet season. Will it stay fine and hot most of the time or will we see days of monsoonal rain? I guess we’ll soon find out. If it’s fine most of the time then we will definitely see some great fishing for salmon, grunter, fingermark and jacks. If it’s wet then there could be some species going quiet for a couple of weeks. Offshore will most likely be slow in the northerly and best in the southeast to northeasterly flow.

The most popular fishing pastime for January would have to be fishing for fingermark with live squid around the headlands at night. If you head out around 8-9pm you can usually avoid the inshore afternoon sea breezes.

If you would like to come up and have a fish in January or book for next year’s barra season contact us at --e-mail address hidden-- . Have a safe start to the new year