Bugatti Reef, 27 August to 2 September

Scott Maybury · September 10, 2010, 02:57:46 PM

Hey guys, just a short report. Conditions were very hard for myself and 8 fellow anglers for this trip. We haad one half day at about 10 knots and another full day at the end of the week at about the same, 20 knots another day and about 25knts for three days solid in a row. We saw heaps of fish but they were not very aggressive and I don't think I would be exaggerating if I said it was probably only 1 in 3 fish that actually hit the lure instead of following or swirling behind it lazily. Out of those of course you then have missed hook ups, pulled hooks etc. A lot of the guys were not hardcore GT anglers, only 3 of us spent the majority of the time fishing for GT, so that also kept numbers down a bit. I think we landed about 50 GT between the 9 of us for the week, about 36 split pretty evenly between myself, and Gabriel and Christian from France and Luxembourg respectively, and the rest split between the others.

In summary...it was probably the week that could have been. It is abundantly clear that the fishing potential of Bugatti Reef and similar spots visited by Nomad is out of control good. Like anywhere, the weather plays a significant part in how you can fish, and also whether the fish are on the chew. We hit it at a bad time.

That being said, I really, really enjoyed the week. The fishing, by normal standards, was still quite good and I could have landed a lot more fish by focusing on light tackle work. The biggst GT I got was only (only :rolleyes:) about 30kg. There were a number of fish of 25-28kg taken and one fish of approximately 40kg landed by Gabriel (although it is a wonder how, as he was fishing pussy drag and it took him about 20 minutes, he is 56 though). Its measurements were something like 127cm by 105cm, a really nice fish. All of the fish here fought very well for their size, I guess due to the ridiculous currents they live in. Average size was probably 18-20kg.

The light tackle fishing was good to awesome, varying from session to session. The ability to be throwing poppers for GT one second and small lures for mackerel, trout, emperor, trevally, longtails etc literally the next second, is pretty awesome.

I thought the fact we could fish as comfortably and effectively as we did said a lot for the fishability of the area. I have fished plenty of places where 25knt winds would have meant sitting around drinking and reading a book.

The knowledge and commitment of the guides and crew was superb. Nothing was too much hassle, including bending a prop to chase a fish over the shallows, albeit I think under some duress from Gabriel. The food and hospitality on board was absolutely top notch.

The scenery was at times breathtaking. We also saw, on several occasions, humpbacks fully breaching anad doing fin play on the surface. I saw a couple of manta rays jump. We saw sharks, turtles, sea snakes, dolphins smashing bait schools.

Yes, the fishing was 'disappointing' based on what it could have been, but after thinking about it for a few days, I prefer to look at what it was. A great week, in some remote and virtually untouched territory, hanging out with a professional crew and some damn nice blokes, relaxing and catching cool fish.

Will I be back? Damn straight. Either to Bugatti or Elusive almost certainly, to some other locations with Nomad, for sure. I have some unfinished business out there on the Coral Sea.

Random Photos

Double hook up