Bugatti Reef Details
The above pictures pretty much sum up the Bugatti/Elusive Reef system. This system is a sportfishing paradise. It is one of the most wild, spectacular, rugged and fishy places we have ever visited anywhere, with so many big GTs, and a huge variety of other sportfish. This reef system
Five days of fishing on our first trip resulted in approximately 250 GTs released ranging in size from 15kgs - 55kgs. There were 50kg GTs swimming around under the mothership while we were anchored - all the time!!! And that's not to mention the crazy sportfishing action for spanish mackerel, tuna, red bass, coral trout and emperors.
Subsequent trips over the past 2 seasons have allowed us to explore a little more of this area, and it would be fair to say that most weeks at this reef are just as good as the first week we ever spent there, this reef is simply alive with fish.
Check out the Bugatti Reef 2009 Trip Report for full details. But don't take our word for it, you can also check out a report from one of the anglers on the trip, Brandon Khoo.
Where is it?? You'll notice the lack of a map on this page and that is because the area we are fishing on these trips is not named, and the entire reef system we are fishing is not even charted. The only way to get here is to jump on our seaplane at Hamilton Island and we'll take you there. The only people who will ever know where this reef system is are the ones who fish it with us. It's a massive area of reef stretching over a hundred miles, so we've split the northern end of the reef and called that end Bugatti Reef, and we've called the southern end of the section Elusive Reef, just as arbitrary names for reference purposes - well we had to call it something!
Trips to Bugatti Reef are part of our Coral Sea Lagoon Explorer package. All the details on travel, tackle, boats and everything else is contained in the lagoon explorer section of the website.
However, we do run trips to the very northern end of Bugatti(a little closer to Mackay) as part of our Drive Out special trips, and Coral Sea Short trips.
Some of the fishing options at Bugatti are as follows:-
Popper and stickbait fishing for GTs is simply as good as it gets. We have never heard of anywhere else in the world with fishing like this for numbers of quality GTs.
General sportfishing for longtail tuna, golden trevally, coral trout, sweetlip, spanish mackerel and many other tropical reef species is superb, you'll just have to find time to stop fishing for GTs to appreciate it!!
The soft plastic fishing, reef fishing, and light jigging for coral trout and red emperor is simply superb. Quality red emperor and coral trout are available within a short distance of most anchorages.
We are expecting to find some good dogtooth tuna fishing on our Ultimate Adventures trip to Bugatti Reef in September 2008, but this trip with the bigger sportfisher will open up a range of other bluewater options.
The Reef Structure
Apart from a huge number of adjectives we could use to describe this amazing place, it is an area of coral reef and sand cays stretching over 90 nautical miles in length and around 40 nautical miles wide.There is a huge amount of reef area to fish. We believe we were the first to ever cast lures for GTs at most of the reefs in this system, and it has continually produced quality fish in excellent numbers since our first visit. We also believe that the huge area of this reef that we have not yet fished is completely untouched by anyone ever casting lures there - very exciting stuff, which means that nearly every trip to this reef is a new adventure.
The reef structure forms a massive amount of "rivers" running through the reef system. These rivers and channels are very narrow and funnel the current through the reef passes. The whirlpools, eddies and currents experienced in these areas are spectacular, and 10-12kn current flows are common on the big tides. We believe the main reason that this section of reef remains uncharterd is due to the massive tidal flows, and the immense and intricate area of reef. Nobody else fishes here due to the massive currents, but as we know, the GTs and other reef species just love that!!
Dates for 2009 and 2010
There has been a huge demand for these trips, but there are a couple of last minute vacancies available for 2009. Please CLICK HERE to check out the details.
For 2010 dates please refer to the rates/dates page.
If you would like to make a booking for any of these dates, please contact us.
All material copyright Nomad Sportfishing Adventures 2007
