Elusive Reef and Bugatti Reef are part of the same reef system, and we have called the northern end of this reef Bugatti, and them more remote southern part has been named Elusive. Elusive reef is a sportfishing and GT fishing heaven. The southern, Elsuive Reef area is shown in the image at left, and above right. This even more remote southern end has not even been fished yet. Our trips in August/September 2009 will be the first time we(or anyone else for that matter) has fished this huge area of reef. It will take many years to fish this entire area, so for those interested in a truly unique adventure, get in quick.
This area of reef is one of the most wild, spectacular, rugged and fishy places we have ever visited anywhere, with so many GTs and with such a consistently good average size. Five days of fishing on our first trip at the northern end of this area 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. Check out the Elusive Reef 2009 Trip Report for some of the details on this first trip. 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 properley. 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.
Trips to Elusive 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. Some of the fishing options at Elusive 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.
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 100 nautical miles in length and around 40 nautical miles wide.There is a huge amount of reef area to fish, and in our first and only week there so far(fishing the Bugatti northern end), we fished about 1% of the entire reef system. We believe we were the first to ever cast lures for GTs at all the places we visited, and we believe that the remaining 99% of the reef is completely untouched by anyone ever casting lures there - very exciting stuff, and we can't wait to get out there again.
The reef structure has 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 just love that!!
There has been a huge demand for these trips, and the following dates only are available for 2009:-
25th-31st August - combo trip with Fredrick Reef
31st Aug-6th September as a lagoon explorer trip
For more info and 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.
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 All material copyright Nomad Sportfishing Adventures 2007
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