FINAL CHARTER 2024 – TROUT AND DOGTOOTH

Great conditions to round out the year with nomad – FNSF. Glass outs and winds less than 15knots made for some epic boating n glamour sunrises. Fishing from lizard island to port Douglas can sometimes be a more challenging charter, as the ribbons has now been a major focus point for fisherman in the last 20 years, multiple charters exploring the region.

With guests eager and keen for their end of year holiday, rods serviced and ready for our final charter, we took off and fished the ‘paddocks’ between lizard island and ribbon reef 10.

First afternoon was full of delight , fishing in 25/30m of water, using vibes and nomads legendary squidtrex 130, multiple perfect eating size strawberry trout were landed. 

After a short tow overnight we woke to ribbons further south – in search of the famous dogtooth tuna. Fishing for these can be very tricky with usually more fish lost than landed, as they are ferocious in fight, with some sharpy cutty teeth and usually sharks following them when in distress. We had not the luck but managed to land a few Spanish mackerel to feed the fellas however some others snipped, always a fine line between do we use wire trace or not? When the Mackies are thick 

The weather was that good we could go and sit on spots we barely get to fish, looking for signs of life on the deep sounder, and picking drift lines over some dangly looking coral. The sounder showing not much in terms of fish but the coral and bottom looked prime , we decided to drop some vibes and a-bit of bait Down. 

Coral trout after coral trout were on the chew, tide coming to a halt, red emperors had a chew too but unfortunately sharks had a feeding frenzy on the bigger models so only landing 54cm models having to release them. Before killing too many we decided to move on from the reef. Esky full of trout, the fellas were smiling ear to ear and ready for a break from the blistering sunny conditions.

Nelson and his father from Sydney were keen adventurers and the son was up against it, again morning session having a crack at some dogtooth, only to find barracudas , stinky things. 

We ventured over to some deeper water and some isolated rocks id been eyeing off. 

Nelson banged two big trout and I have not seen a kid happier, Dino trout around the 90cm mark for a fisherman’s first bluespot trout will be a cherished memory forever. Rub it in to em Nelson!

The final hurrah for season 24’ we had only two species on our mind. Dogtooth and GTs.

Both species can be found in numbers down this way, but means for lots of casting and trolling.

We jetted to the outside of the ribbons in search of Bombys and bait. We found it, and lost two big dogtooth due to line breaking, which was a bummer but had a hot hour session landing 3 Spanish mackerel , losing gear on 2 big models tuna,  birds , chats and stories flowing while trolling around. The other boat however !!!!! The guys landed 5 dogtooth tuna, 3 yellowfin, and a dolly! Hot bite yeewww

Our final fish for the trip was a stonker Gt caught with a madsad. Throwing stick baits and poppers along a reef edge in which bait was hissing about and being held in a particular spot by tide and wind. A nice passionfruit trout also bringing a smile.

Until next year 

Staffy