Fly Fishing

The options for fly fishing in Cairns and the far north vary from chasing jungle perch in a mountain stream to site casting on the flats on a tropical island. For the southern trout anglers chasing jungle perch and sooty grunter in a rainforest environment is a great way to escape the cold, wading upstream in the middle of winter in a pair of board shorts with a 5wt in hand.

Backcountry- Jungle perch and sooty grunter are the target species in the backcountry and generally fished for with dry flys and hoppers. A level of fitness is required for these trips. Generally will hike a couple of km in a day.  Snacks and drinks are carried by the guide in waterproof back packs and anglers can keep cool in the rainforest rock pools. We run guided backcountry fly fishing trips from Cairns , Port Douglas and Mission Beach and offer pick up and drop off for each trip.

River/Estuary- Fly fishing in the Cairns river and estuary systems can provide plenty of fun with barramundi and mangrove jack, although not always sight casting there are plenty of surface bites. There are localized sand flats in the river systems with trevally and queenfish and upstream toward the fresh water there are lagoons and run off drains that offer some great barramundi fly fishing. These guided fly fishing trips are operated from our purpose built 4.6 cairns custom craft and we run Charters offering pick up from Cairns, Port Douglas and Mission Beach. Tropical Sportfisher is the only operator in the Cairns region specailizing in Guided fly fishing.

Flats fishing- If the weather permits we'll be on the flats. The flats fishing in Cairns is world class with a range of species to site cast including permit, tusk fish and GT's. There are coastal flats with Golden trevally and Anak Permit as well as many tropical island flats with pelagics and tuskfish and other flats dwellers. Through out the year large schools of tuna , queenfish and trevally frequant the inshore islands and can provide a great saltwater fly fishing experience.

Remote Great Barrier Reef Fly fishing- We also of mulit-day mothership trips fly fishing on the Great Barrier Reef, We have 3 day trips from Cairns to some of the best permit fishing flats in the world and also offer Far North 7 day trips from lizard fly  fishing the Claremont isles and Cape York.  The Claremont isles and Far Northern GBR has some of the most untouched flats on the planet. Home to all the iconic species including Gt , Permit and Blue bastards. These multi day trips are operated from out friends at Aroona Luxury boat charters on there 70ft luxury mothership (Aroona) Fly fishing on the Great Barrier Reef is a must do for venturing fly anglers world wide, without a mothership these flats cannot be accessed and until now have not been put on the map. The fishing is world class , Napolean Wrasse and Bump head Parrot fish are encountered on the flats regulary as well as many other unuique species.

Tinaroo Fly fishing- Another option for Fly fishing in the Cairns region is targeting giant impoundment Barramundi in Tinaroo. Lake Tinaroo is the first ever stocked barramundi lake and has a reputaion for its giant Barramundi caught though out summer each year. There are some sight fishing options on lake tinaroo but generally fishing fly to schools of fish in shallow bays and timber. Catch a giant Tinaroo Barramundi on fly is a must do for keen fly fisherman, Our guided fly fishing trips on Lake Tinaroo are only scheduled around the warmer months and certain lunar cycles to maximaise the anglers chances of catching a giant.

Tropical Sportfisher specializes in all aspects of fly fishing in the tropical waterways and we are the only charter operation specializing in guided fly fishing in the Cairns region. Our guides are local born and bred and grew up fishing the local waters.  

The day trips

Full day Pick up from accomodation 630 am or half day Marlin marina 7am

Up to 1.5 hr travel to destenation.

Lunch, snacks, drinks, tea/coffee, water provided

Quality loop and sage outfits supplied, 5,6,8,10,12wts avaiable depending on target species/location.

Flys provided (welcome to bring your own)

Return/drop off to accomodation between 430-530pm for full day and 1130-12pm for half day

Multi day charters available

What to bring

Long sleeves shirt, hat, polarised sunglasses.

Wading boots

Camera