Fished it in 2001 - not much will have changed. We did a specific fishing trip with Daryl Fortescue the skipper of Kingfisher III at the time. Towed two 17 ft punts with 100 Yammie 4 strokes out this gave us outside trolling options and lure casting from the punts as you can essentially get through the outside reef into the shoal area. The most exciting sight fishing you ll do just about anywhere in Australia - period. Apart from GT's theres Maori Wrasse (protected) Long nose Emperor, Blue Trevally, Coral Trout on the inside and perimeter of the shoal. Ouside the shoal Sails, Wahoo, Dogtooth Tuna, YFT, Sharks etc.

If you want GT's a punt is an absolute gimme to achieve success. A far higher percentage of GT's are caught around the bombies inside the shoals than trolling around the edge but its not impossible. Coz there are so many fish you need to target the species where they are most dominant. WE had a night session catching black Trevs and when all the others went to bed me mate and I started throwing meium sized poppers outside the arc of the deck lights on 6kg and were getting smashed by Big Eye Trevally for an 1hour and a half - so much fun!

Poppers - make some out of wooden file handles- paint them white with a red or blue head - nothing fancy - use them as backup - they catch fish ( not fisherman!) take some trolling lures including skirts, and buy some or catch some gardies for skip baits for sailies. Once youve assembled your lures etc - look at it again and think seriously about doubling it!

You are about to embark on the fishing experience of your life - NO SH_T!

Yeah ... take heaps of poppers, and as suggested, make some before you go for back up !!! September and October best months.

I was up there on a dive trip in July 2010 for 6 days, but managed to get a bit of fishing in. We spent most of the time at Clerke Reef then a couple of days at Mermaid Reef

As others have stated take plenty of lures as the reef is sharp and the fish go hard. I only managed to get in about a 1-2 hr sesson each day i was out there all catch and release. Mainly used poppers and RMG Scorpions inside the reef around bombies and reef edges. Managed to get heaps of Coral Trout, and Bluefin Trevally. Saw some big GT's chase my lures at one spot, but they didnt seem interested after that. Plenty of Red Bass and Black Trevally will hang around you boat lights at the mooring at night. All of this fishing was done within the Clerke Lagoon Recreation Zone.

A point to note was that on our Diving Trip they spent most the time within the sanctuary zones and often also moored in the sanctuary zones, so opportunities to fish were few and was at their discretion whether to take you out in a tender or not.

Would really love to do a dedicated fishing trip there with a bit of diving thown in, rather than the other way around.

Did manage to do some trolling around the outside of the reef one day, managed a fair few small 'Half' Dogtooth Tuna(bloody sharks) and many many more taken by the noahs before i could see what they were.

On the day we travelled from Clerke to Mermaid i had a Pusher out the back and managed to hook a Sailfish, but dropped it, and land a big bull Dolphin Fish.

So yeah little bit of info on my trip out there, but unfortunantly i didnt get to do as much as i would have liked, so cant help you too much. But then again i was being paid to be out there for work, so cant complain too much :P

Heres a tip try and be the first person to get onto Bedwell Island(if at Clerke Reef) when you get there and run around the whole island to see if there are any Nautilus Shells washed up. They are very pretty and a rare find usually, but they seem to be a common find there........ if you can be the frist onto the beach. When we went up we had no idea about it and the Skipper and Deckies rushed around the Island before any of us had any clue what they were doing. They managed to find about 6. Just watch out for the Birds nests and eggs, usually easily spotted by the pile of rocks.

I dont think you should be taking anything from the island, ... not sure you even land there legally. ..but if u do have a look...  leave the shells there for the next person to check out

I am fortunate to have been there twice with a friend he took 8 of us and towed a 8 metre hard top and a couple tinnies awesome place the fishing when we went was a bit quiet both times in oct the first time was just coming onto the neap tides it fired on the first day or two then shutdown but we still  managed heaps of fish on the popp ers we managed to get red bass heaps of trout maori wrasse long nose emperor maori emperor flowery cod heaps of different types of trevally i personally got smashed by a dogtooth after dragging my popper into deeper water off the reef i was using a cheap mitchell orca with 80lb braid with the drag locked up it just ended up tearing the whole front of the reel off and snapped the bail arm off completely stuffed the reel the snorkelling was a real highlite for me swimming from the lagoon on imperieuse reef the reef out into the open water is a memorable experience not that im any type of expert but if you want any info or want to ask any more questions i have pm you my number feel free to give me a ring . 

That reminds me of a situation that occurred on our trip. About midday on the second or third day we were having a bit of a bottom bash off the edge of the shoal.

it went from about 20 ft deep to 200+feet in about 20metres length. Anyway we were pretty much all on the Marlin board having a bit of a bravado comp, you know who can catch the first fish, the biggest fish, a nominated species etc- one liners taking the pi$$ out of anyone who screwed up. Well after a couple of blokes lost interest and went off for Lunch I was still there fishing with a bloke called Gary, he's at one end of the Marlin board me at the other.

I'm fishing away and Gary lets out a little cry, almost a yelp, I look up and there he is looking at his hand where his rod and reel had momentarliy been before. " Gaz, mate what happened?"  "My rod, my rod .... it just got pulled outta my hands before I could do anything" - Jeez did we laugh and with that scenario went to lunch before settling into an afternoon trolling session.

You can see why you need a couple of outfits to suit various fishing situations that the Rowley's throw up at you.

Yep, I can only reiterate what eberyone else has said. I also went out on Kingfisher III with Daryl and Travis. Best trip I ever had. You need poppers and lots of them as casting and trolling around the bommies takes a heavy toll on your gear. Highlight of our trip was a mother of a trout estimated at 11kgs plus. This along with just about every bottom ooglie you can imagine. plenty of Sails, Wahoo and Dogtooth. Do the channel dive and take an underwater camera, its like swimming in a aquarium.

Have a great trip.

cheers.

Hi guys, thanks so much for all your replies and useful info, it is much appreciated!

I'll put a post up when we get back.

Cheers,

Smez