Catching HUGE GT fishing topwater on a barra lure!

For catching huge GT on scaleblazers, all I do is change out the trebles for singles and hang on!

GT will also take poppers and other surface lures.

And are know to be foracious fighters. I sure got a workout!

We also snorkel ALOT and on this trip we found some of the best coral on the GBR!

It’s like the amazingly diverse and colourful coverage in our favourite animated movie Finding Nemo.

Most prevalent were the fast growing and beautiful table corals.

In fact we are pleased to say, that overall coverage on our latest northern safari has been pretty good.

Despite the doom and gloom that the barrier reef is dying.

We have found the best coral on the GBR we have seen in years.

This stunning little reef sits between Cape Bedford and Lizard Island.

We won’t give the exact co-ordinates as we really want to keep it as pristine as possible.

But much of the coral throughout the Cairns to Lizard island area of the reef is currently bouncing back!.

Of course there are many areas which are still completely dead and dying.

But this is a natural in an area as vast as the reef, subjected to some harsh years of coral bleaching, cyclones and crown of thorns starfish.

Overall however we have noticed an improvement and this location has some of the best coral on the GBR!

It does to pay to note however, that this reef (and the other pretty ones we have seen) are almost entirely dominated by Acropora species.

These plate and branching corals are what’s referred to as “pioneering species.”

They are the first to grow back after a disturbance.

So while these bommies have some of the best coral on the GBR… 

Many of the 50 year old corals have died and been replaced by a few species of 2-5 year old corals.

This is the difficulty with using coral cover as the metric to determine the best coral on the GBR.

It doesn’t take into account the diversity that has been lost over the last few decades.

And although the branching and table corals (Acropora) grow the fastest. They are also the ones that crown of thorns like to eat most! Plus they get smashed the worst by cyclones.

But right now, if you’d like to see us catching huge GT and visiting some beautiful coral…

And how our dogs poop on the boat (yes it is a very common question), take a look at the video below.