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Saumarez Reef - Kanimbla Charter
SEPTEMBER 1998

Finally in Sept 98 I again found myself aboard 'Kanimbla', steaming east from Gladstone. The destination this time was the relatively close (only 170 miles) Saumarez Reef. Calm seas ensured a good nights sleep during the 18 hour trip.

The fishing lived up to expectations with a large variety of fish hooked. Bottom fishing produced large numbers of the delicious Japanese Sea Bream as well as coral trout, jobfish and various cods. Trolling action was virtually non-stop jobfish, barracuda, dogtooth and dolphin fish, although some nice wahoo and a couple of marlin hookups added variety.

One of my workmates, Matthew, had not done a lot of fishing previously but was real keen to catch a big fish. He was 'over the moon' shortly after we arrived at Saumarez when he brought in a nice 10kg barracuda. This was only a taste of things to come. He caught many large fish over the next few days but they seemed insignificant after the massive 80kg dogtooth he took on the last day, the biggest fish for the trip.Once again it was a great week of fishing, I got to try a few new things and temporarily calmed my longing for the Coral Sea.

Pictured above. Matthew's dogtooth - 22kg wahoo - 9kg jobfish and dogtooth (click to enlarge )