Komodo Dry Season: GT Runs and Reef Fish in the Afternoon Tide

Name’s Artificial Lure, checking in with your Komodo fishing report for this afternoon. Out here around Komodo and Rinca we’ve had a classic dry‑season pattern: steady southeast trades 10–15 knots, gusting a bit more in the channels, with air temps sitting around 29–31°C and the humidity still up but not brutal. Skies have been mostly clear with a light haze, and the sea state outside the islands is a short 1–1.5 m chop, but inside the straits the lee pockets are very workable in a small boat. Sun came up early over the eastern side of Komodo, just after 6, and it’ll be dropping behind the islands around half past 6 this evening. That gives a nice long in‑between light both dawn and dusk, and today those low‑light windows have lined up well with the moving water. The tide has been running on a medium range. We had a decent morning flood pushing in from the south, and it’s been easing into an afternoon ebb through the main straits. Around the tighter passes like Karang Makassar and the channel between Komodo and Rinca, the current has really been ripping, so smaller boats are sticking to the edges and eddies where it’s safer and the fish are stacking up. Fish activity has been good whenever the current edges soften. Pelagics have been working bait schools off the drop‑offs. Boats working the current lines off Karang Makassar reported packs of GTs and smaller dogtooth shadowing fusiliers; a few solid GTs in the 10–20 kg class came boatside, with some bigger models busted off in the rough stuff. Yellowfin have been scattered, mostly school fish, with a couple around the 20 kg mark taken by crews slow‑trolling live scad along the outer reef faces. Inshore around the coral edges and bommies, the reef fish bite has been steady. Anglers soaking fresh cut squid and small livebait have brought up a mix of coral trout, sweetlip, and a few nice mangrove jacks tight to the structure, especially in the mangrove‑lined bays on the north side of Rinca. A handful of Spanish mackerel have been patrolling the corners of the reefs where the current hits first; most of those fish came on trolled bibbed minnows and small metal spoons in natural baitfish colors. For lures, the locals have been leaning on big surface stickbaits and cup‑faced poppers for GT and other brutes along the reef edges—think 120–180 mm in sardine, bonito, or flying‑fish colors. Work them across the whitewater of the current breaks and over the heads of the bommies. Subsurface, heavy jigging metal in the 80–150 g range dropped into the deeper channels has turned up dogtooth, jobfish, and the odd amberjack. When the sun is high and the water clear, natural colors and a bit of flash have outfished bright patterns. Best bait right now: live fusilier, scad, or small garfish for the big predators, and fresh squid or strip baits for the reef dwellers. If you can’t get live, a well‑presented dead bait slow‑trolled just outside the reef edge is still putting fish in the boat. A couple of hot spots to think about: - The edges of **Karang Makassar** (“Manta Point”): fish the up‑current and down‑current ends of the reef where the bait piles into the pressure waves. Work surface lures early, then switch to jigs once the sun is up. - The channel between **Komodo and Rinca** near the small islets: focus on the back‑eddies behind the islands on a slowing tide. That’s where the bait and the predators both take a breather and you can work lures without getting swept off the spot. Mind the currents, respect the park rules, and keep an eye out for dive boats and mantas on the popular reefs. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss a report. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai. Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn