Komodo Afternoon Bite: GTs, Tuna, and Perfect Dry Season Conditions

Name’s Artificial Lure, checking in with your Komodo fishing report for this afternoon session. Around Komodo today the weather stayed classic dry‑season: mostly clear skies, light southeast trade winds 8–14 knots, and just a light chop on the channels. Air temps hovered high 20s to low 30s Celsius, with good visibility and only a little haze over the bigger islands. Perfect conditions for both inshore casting and offshore jigging. Sun popped up early over the eastern side of Komodo around 5:40 this morning and will drop behind the hills just after 5:40 this evening, giving a tight but bright fishing window. The morning incoming tide pushed hard through the straits, then eased off late morning into a mellow midday slack, before turning to an outgoing run this afternoon. Current has been strongest around the passes and headlands as usual. That tide pattern lit up the fish in the moving water. On the morning flood, boats working the current lines reported good action on **GTs (giant trevally)** in the 5–15 kg range, a few pushing 20. Most came on surface stickbaits and big poppers in sardine and flying‑fish colors, plus heavy minnows cranked fast just under the skin of the water. Around the reefs and bommies, the usual reef gang showed up: **yellowfin and dogtooth tuna**, **Spanish mackerel**, **rainbow runner**, and plenty of **coral trout**, **red bass**, and **emperor** for the table. Midday was slower in the slack, with more by‑catch of smaller trevallies, fusiliers, and mixed reef fish on bait, but the bite picked up again once the afternoon ebb started pushing. Jigging 60–120 g metal jigs along the drop‑offs produced steady hits from dogtooth and amberjack, with a couple of big ones lost to the reef. Live and dead bait—sardines, scads, and small squid—did damage on the deeper edges and around fishy pinnacles. If you’re heading out, here’s what’s been working best: - **Lures:** - Big cup‑faced poppers 120–180 mm in natural baitfish or white; work them loud early, then a bit more subtle when the sun gets high. - Long, slim stickbaits in blue‑silver and green‑back patterns for GTs and mackerel, fast sweeps with short pauses. - 40–120 g metal jigs in pink, blue, and glow for vertical work over 30–80 m. - Medium diving minnows for the reef edge and trolling between spots. - **Bait:** - Live sardine or scad slow‑trolled or drifted along current lines for GT, tuna, and mackerel. - Fresh cut fish strips or squid on the bottom for emperors, coral trout, and other reef species. Couple of hot spots to keep in mind: - **Gilimon / Gili Motang side:** Work the points and current breaks where the water wraps around the islands. When that tide stands up, GTs and mackerel love to ambush bait right on the edge of the white water. - **Karang Makassar and nearby drop‑offs:** Famous for mantas, but those rubble flats and nearby edges hold good numbers of trevally and reef fish. Fish the deeper sides with jigs and the shallows with topwater early and late. Fish are there; just respect the currents, watch the tides, and don’t play too light—Komodo has plenty of reef to cut you off if you give the fish an inch. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe for more local fishing reports and tips. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai. Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn