ET in NQ

Thousands of keen anglers make the trek to North Queensland with their trailerboats each year.

Unfortunately, many who travel north from May to September struggle to find suitable fishing days away from the constant southeast trade winds, and return home with few fishing memories.

October, November and December are the prime months to fish the Far North in trailerboats. The southeast trade winds can be expected to ease in the time often referred to as the 'build up' period, which is just before the wet season when light breezes and windless days are more common. While it's important to always keep one eye on the weather forecast, many perfect days can be expected at this time of year.

My last trip to Cairns was in December, and 5kt winds were as hard as it blew for the two days I fished the inshore reefs and wrecks with local fishing guide Tim Wegner. Tim has been guiding for many years out of Cairns, and was highly recommended as the man to see when it came to sportsfishing the inshore waters.

For trailerboat enthusiasts there are many boat ramps and facilities in Cairns. We met at the new Yorkeys Knob Marina where the facilities are first class. Immediately, I was impressed with Tim's rig. His 19ft centre-console Southwind, with a 50hp, four-stroke Yamaha, sat neatly in the water.

Over the years, I have been in a few 'long boats', and their stable, soft ride in all manner of seas meant we would have the perfect platform to film our show. Loaded up, we headed northeast from the marina, up the coast and around Double Island before spotting a few boats sitting on an artificial reef a few miles offshore. As we approached, Tim pulled out his secret weapon and attached it to his downrigger. The wolf herring swam beautifully, with four sharp-ganged hooks and a stinger in the tail, the resident mackerel stood no chance. Before we were to fill the livebait tank with yellowtail, a couple of laps around the wreck with the wolf herring down 10m on the downrigger would be option number one to see if Mr Mackerel was home.

As we were doing the big wave to a boatload of anchored fishermen, the snap released on the downrigger and 8kg line suddenly ripped from the reel. We were simply too slow. By the time we realised we had a shot, the mackerel was gone.

We had only managed to do half-a-lap of the wreck, so in quick time another wolf herring was positioned behind the boat. The next shot saw us quicker to the rod. After a short struggle, a barracuda of around 10kg was released boatside. We sounded out schools of baitfish and filled the tank with a dozen livies before heading a further five miles north.

Like many keen fishermen, Tim had located a few small patches of reef while searching for new ground, and this patch, he said, was a "hot one". By that, he meant that once we were on the mark, our first drop would produce fish.

He couldn't guarantee what species, because he had caught many different types there, but we wouldn't be wasting our livebaits either, he said. Attaching some 85-gram Minder Jigs to our high-speed combos, Tim positioned his boat so that the current drifted it over the small patch of reef in 75ft of water. Tim's jig got hit on the drop, while mine was crunched on the retrieve. Line crackled from the Shimano as my fish worked me over deep. Tim's fish was fighting mid-water, and after some powerful runs, the shape of a 10kg mackerel appeared.

The clarity of the water was simply amazing, and the shape of a trevally circling beneath the boat had me working hard to break his pattern and keep him coming up. The trevally and mackerel were thick. You couldn't retrieve the jigs fast enough not to hook a fish. For two hours we boated over 30 fish from 8-15kg in what was a fantastic session on chrome lures.

As the current slowed, we decided to put down some livebaits and pilchards. We boated large mouth nannygai, coral trout, golden trevally, bludger trevally, barracuda, mackerel, and had four huge cobia follow up hooked fish. We released all the fish except a couple of mackerel and one nice coral trout.

There was no mad rush to race out the next morning, as we had caught enough fish for two shows the day before. Around 9am we gathered livebaits before heading back out to Tim's spot X.

The weather certainly confirmed that the months just prior to the wet season are a trailerboat owner's prime time to venture seaward along the Cairns coastline. There was not a breath of wind, and as we did our first drift, a dozen mackerel swam beneath the Southwind. It was simply a matter of casting a metal slug out as far as possible and crank it through the top layer of the water column at high speed to have mackerel snapping at the lure. The day was a replica of the previous one, but this time the film crew spent much of the time fishing as well.

I can't speak highly enough of the professional manner in which Tim runs his operation. Everything is catered for, including the magnificent lunch packs he arranges for the trip. The Cairns region offers plenty for the trailerboat fisherman an abundance of fish, and know-how, which is important if you decide to leave the boat behind and enjoy the company of a top fishing guide like Tim Wegner from Cairns Eco Sportfisher.

Tim can be contacted on (0409) 576 665. For more information about great fishing destinations, check out the Escape with E.T. website at