Cooktown Fishing
The town itself is on a river mouth - an excellent environment for fishing.
So obviously there is a lot of estuarine fish, but the reef being not too far, you even get an occasional reef fish from the shore.
For years we have been catching barramundi, mangrove jack, grunter, queenfish, different kinds of sharks, garfish, jewfish, (only to name a few later ones that I even remember) and even spangled emperor.
There are a good few different places, I'll start in the town centre then and go further out.
The most popular place for Cooktown fishing is of course the wharf. But there are other places in the central town where you can get to the river front - closer to the Powder Magazine, and also at the boat ramp and Queen's steps.
You can
also
try from the beaches and rocky headlands in Finch
Bay,
there is also a creek mouth great for fishing.
If you
want
to drive out of
the town, on the northern side is the tiny township of Marton -
turn in and follow the signs to the boat
ramp.
South of the town are Quarantine
Bay,
and Walker Bay
- another great place for fishing in Cooktown.
In Walker Bay there is the beach, and also the mouth of Annan
River.
Further
south, the highway crosses the Annan
River where there is a boat ramp, and also the old
wooden bridge that has always been a popular place
for fishing.
But even
better of course if
you have a big enough
boat, or if not, join a tour, and go out to the Great
Barrier Reef - there is some great fishing! (just read about one very big
marlin caught east of
Cooktown!).
As you may know there are fishing
rules
- closed seasons, size limits and take and
possession
limits are all in the full detail in the Destination
Guide.
One
Very Big Marlin in
Cooktown
On 30.
October 2014 one very big marlin was caught near Cooktown.It was one of those evenings I was on my execrcise walk, when I was going to the wharf, and walking past the boat ramp, saw a crowd of the size you seldom see in Cooktown.
Curious I went closer, until I realised what was happening.
Just as I approached, a huge fish started rising, being lifted from the Cairns-based fishing boat 'Top Shot' by a crane.
It was one very big marlin, and what a scene it was to walk into!
There was a crowd, but it would have been a lot bigger if more people knew.
It was a Florida mob that was travelling the world taking fishing tours to make world records, while also donating for conservation.
As the humongous black marlin was lifted from the vessel, she was taken to the boat ramp of Cooktown.
And everyone was taking photos or just watching, amazed.
Once she was on the ground, she was studied closer,
... and she was measured: this huge female black marlin was 4m 29cm long and weighed 504.5 kilos.
It is not the world record black marlin as rumoured on the ramp, but it could yield the catcher a world record in the category of her 50lb fishing line (which takes the International Game Fishing Association a little while to decide).
And the catcher of this big marlin was Stephanie Choate - a Miami based angler who grew up fishing and has been on the news with some amazing catches around the world before.
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