Nomad Sportfishing Adventures


Nomad Sportfishing operates pioneering and unique sportfishing, gamefishing and flyfishing mothership fishing charters along the eastern Queensland Coast of Australia. Our aim is to provide you with the best bluewater fishing adventure holidays available in Australia, through the use of the latest technology in boats, tackle, techniques and equipment, combined with stunning locations, outstanding service and great value for money. The locations we visit and services we offer are unique within Australia. Due to our boats and equipment, we are the only company able to offer access to most of the areas we visit.

We cater for sportfishing, gamefishing, giant black marlin fishing, flyfishing, popper fishing, GT fishing, deep water jigging and everything in between. We provide fishing expeditions to the outer Coral Sea reefs, the Great Barrier Reef, Lizard Island and the Capricorn Islands. We are the only company to offer floatplane access to the submerged offshore atolls of the Coral Sea, some 300 miles from the coast. We have an 80ft mothership and 6 sportfishing boats from 18-36ft from which we conduct our expeditions. Our pioneering Coral Sea expeditions are truly unique trips, to one of the most isolated, remote and pristine ocean areas in the world.

Please select which style of fishing you are interested in and you'll be presented with all of the trip options for that type of fishing.
We offer a range of Sportfishing trips to suit every bluewater angling style, taste and budget. Please click the trip options on the left menu bar at left for further details. The options include some of the following:-

Trolling, casting and jigging the remote outer Coral Sea reefs for huge dogtooth tuna, wahoo, yellowfin tuna, sailfish, GTs, red bass and so much more. The Coral Sea Ultimate Adventure and Lagoon Explorer packages offer a 6 day fishing adventure into the Coral Sea.
Fish the outer Great Barrier Reef for GTs, spanish mackerel and coral trout. This option can be done in our Lagoon explorer package or Lizard Island package.

We have a sportfishing trip to cater for every bluewater fishing style and budget. And whichever trip you choose you can be sure you'll get the same professional service, knowledge and attention to detail. By choosing a trip option on the left you can find out the full details of that trip.
If you are interested in simply the best heavy tackle marlin fishing available, then these are the trips for you. Our marlin fishing packages to Lizard Island and the Coral Sea, offer access to the best heavy tackle marlin fishing in the world at the best time of year (October - December).

It is statistically proven that the area we are fishing in the Coral Sea and wide of Cairns and Lizard Island is the best place in the world for a chance at a grander marlin. This is simply a statistical fact and not marketing hype. The International Game Fishing Association (IGFA) keeps records of fish over 1,000 pounds captured following association ‘fair chase’ rules. The 2003 IGFA Record book states that over 70% of the grander marlin ever caught in the world were black marlin caught off the Great Barrier Reef between Cairns, Lizard Island and out into the Coral Sea.

So, if you want the best locations in the world for grander marlin fishing, you need to give us a call.
We aim to offer the best GT fishing available anywhere. If you are interested in catching Giant Trevally in Australia, we can take you to the best destinations, at the right time of year and give you a chance of landing some of the biggest GTs anywhere in the world. Our trips to the outer Coral Sea, Bugatti Reefs, the Capricorn Islands and Elusive Reef offer some of the best GT lurecasting anywhere in the world. Our best GT on a popper so far is 68kgs and our best dogtooth tuna on a popper is over 50kgs.

By visiting so many different and untouched locations you can be sure that when you arrive at any of our GT fishing locations, the fish may never have seen a lure before, or they won't have seen one for at least a year. In nearly all of the locations that we go GT fishing we are the only ones fishing there, such is the remote nature of these locations.

We believe that our record over the past 8 years shows that the locations and techniques we are using make our trips one of the best in the world to give anglers a real chance at a fish of a lifetime. But the GT fishing is not the only attraction of these destinations. The variety of sportfishing action at all these locations is impressive, to say the least. Other species available on poppers and stickbaits include big dogtooth tuna, red bass, coral trout, green jobfish, purple cod, large groupers, maori wrasse, yellowfin tuna, wahoo, sailfish and many more.
Bligh Reef
Click Here to check out video footage from Bligh Reef 2009

Named after the famous captain who visited this area on his way to Tahiti. This is one of the most remote places on earth. The general sportfishing here is simply amazing, and this reef provides the opportunity to combine inshore sportfishing for mackerel, barramundi, mangrove jacks and golden snapper, with all of the fabulous bluewater options such as GT casting, deepwater jigging, marlin trolling and general bluewater sportfishing. The GT fishing, jigging, flyfishing and general sportfishing on our Bligh Reef trips is conducted from our 80ft Mothership and range of 18-25ft centre consoles. We cater for a maximum of 12 anglers fishing between 4 vessels at any one time, and these trips are run as part of our Coral Sea Lagoon Explorer schedules, and we are also running a special trip to this reef in 2009 as part of our Coral Sea Short Trips schedule.

The Bligh reef complex stretches 50nm from north to south, and a huge deep drop off runs along the outer edge of the reef. These reefs are located on Central Cape york Peninsula, around 250nm from the tip of the Cape, and around 200nm north of the Jewell Reef area. This area also provides access to the LLoyd bay area, with numerous tropical rivers, offshore islands and headlands to fish. These reefs are in the middle of nowhere!

Even though this reef complex is only 85 kilometres offshore, there is simply nothing else here. To access Bligh reef, you'll board a plane in Cairns and fly to Lockhart River(population of 100 people). You'll be met at Lockhart River and driven through the remote Cape York wilderness for a 1 hour trip to Portland Roads(population 20 people), where we'll be waiting to pick you up from the beach and travel the short distance out to Bligh Reef to start fishing.

The fishing for GTs, spanish mackerel, coral trout, dogtooth tuna and red bass will be superb in these areas. Big GTs, up to 50kgs, and lots of them can be expected while popper fishing, and spanish mackerel around 25kgs will be a common catch. Deep jigging the outer edge of the northern barrier reef should also produce lots of doggies between 30-70kgs. That's not to mention the incredible action for giant black marlin. If sportfishing is your interest, then it would be hard to find a more diverse area in which to fish, and this remote reef complex has it all.

The Bligh Reef Ultimate Adventure trips are based on a 5 day/6 night package, and depending on the schedule, you will get 5 full days fishing, and 2 part days as well, making a total of 6 days fishing.

Dates for 2010 Bligh Reef Lagoon Explorer
Jewell Reef
Jewell and Bligh Reefs have the best variety of species and fishing styles of any location we visit. Jewell has giant black marlin fishing, sensational GT fishing, jigging, flyfishing and general sportfishing on offer. Pretty much every Coral Sea pelagic and reef species is available at this location. Jewell Reef trips are conducted from our 80ft Mothership and 51ft sportfisher, as well as our range of 18-25ft centre consoles. We cater for a maximum of 12 anglers fishing between 3 vessels at any one time, and these trips are run as part of our Coral Sea Ultimate Adventures schedule. We also have a select few dates available at Jewell Reef as part of our Coral Sea Short trips

The fishing for GTs spanish mackerel, coral trout, dogtooth tuna and red bass is superb in these areas. Big GTs, up to 50kgs, and lots of them can be expected while popper fishing, and spanish mackerel around 25kgs are a common catch. Deep jigging the outer edge of the northern barrier reef also produces lots of doggies between 30-70kgs. That's not to mention the incredible action for giant black marlin, and the fact that we caught 280 GT's in a week during our 2007 visit.

You'll be picked up from Lizard Island on the first day of your trip, and then immediately start fishing your way up to Jewell Reef, spending the first night anchored around 30nm north of Lizard Island, and then fishing further north from there. The last day of the trip will see you fishing your way back down to Lizard Island in time to catch a lunch time flight out of the island and back to Cairns.

Due to the use of our mothership, we can access the reefs to the north of Lizard Island, such as Jewell Reef, where other smaller boats just can't access due to lack of fuel and facilities. The facts are that this area is in a completely pristine condition, and from what we saw in 2008, the fish there have never seen lures before, the fishing is simply sensational, just check out the 2008 trip report for more details.

The Jewell Reef Ultimate Adventure trips are based on a 5 day/6 night package, and depending on the schedule, you will get 5 full days fishing, and 2 part days as well, making a total of 6 days fishing.
Our Crew
The crew of people who make up Nomad Sportfishing are the greatest asset we have. Beyond great boats and great locations we have an enthusiastic, knowledgable, skilled and professional group of people who make our trips work. Our crew have been carefully selected over a long period, and many of our crew have been with us from the start.

The people you will meet at Nomad Sportfishing are amongst the best in their fields at what they do. From our chef and hostess through to our fishing guides, office managers and engineers, this great team of people enables us to provide you with the fantastic service that we are famous for.

If you would like to find out more about any of our crew, just click on the menu at right to check out their profile. You can also email most of our crew through their pages.

80ft Catamaran Mothership - Odyssey
Our new Mothership is an 80ft catamaran completed in Cairns in August 2005. The vessel has been purpose built for our charter work by the master craftsmen at Cairns Custom Craft. These guys can help you with any boatbuilding project, big or small. It features the following:-

Sleeping accommodation for 26 people, in a combination of private cabins, bunk rooms and crew cabins
Unlimited freshwater supply from 2 desalinators
Ice maker with 200kg/day capacity
Full satellite communications including email/fax and phone. These facilities are available for use on a pay per minute basis.
Outside eating area on the aft top deck.
Underwater lights built into the hull to attract fish around the boat at night.
full stereo/DVD entertainment system with plasma screen TV.
Commercial quality galley for our chef to prepare your evening meals.
Fully licensed bar with beer on tap.
Onboard tackle shop.
Rod storage on the aft top deck.
3 bathroom/shower cubicles.
Full Furuno navigation and fishfinding systems
Your time in with Nomad sportfishing will be spent in unprecedented comfort while you
explore the virtually untouched coral Atolls and lagoons of the Coral Sea and Queensland coast.










Nomad Sportfishing Adventures


PO Box 250 Wavell Heights Queensland 4012
✆ 07 3256 9433
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Specialist: Game Fishing