Damon Olsen
Sportfishing Guide And Tackle Industry Heavyweight
As founder of Nomad Sportfishing, Damon’s record as a sportfishing guide is legendary. Over 20 years he fished pretty much every individual reef from Fraser Island to Torres Strait and beyond – including many that have since become green zones. More recently his company Nomad Design has disrupted the Australian tackle industry and pushed the bar on lure design and manufacture to new limits.
Damon’s Top Sportfishing Destination #1: Shoalwater
- Located on Central Queensland’s Capricorn Coast and accessible via large trailerboat either via Yeppoon or Stanage Bay, Shoalwater has diverse fisheries from barramundi to GT, black jewfish and fingermark to name just a couple.
- This area can be closed down to anglers at times due to military training and setting foot ashore is prohibited due to the potential for unexploded ordinance!
- Shoalwater is unique in Australia with rocky islands, 10m tides and massive current flow. There is lots of sheltered water in any conditions at Shoalwater, but getting there and getting home is a long, exposed run.
- April-May is the perfect time to fish this area, unless the wet season has been unusually wet, which tends to dirty the water. In that event September or October are a better option. These times give anglers the opportunity to target both barramundi in coastal inlets and GT on rocky shorelines.
- For GT it’s often preferable to have current, but with 10m tides the current can be too strong even for GTs. There is always somewhere to fish, but you’ll need to look away from the usual pressure points and find back eddies where the fish can hang out of the current.
Damon’s Top Sportfishing Destination #2: Kenn Reefs
- The Kenn Reef system is 350 nautical miles east of Mackay and is on this list because it is so different from the Great Barrier Reef. Extreme water clarity, incredibly bright colours and incredible pelagic fishing are the drawcard.
- Dogtooth tuna on topwater, wahoo on stickbaits, mega GT’s and yellowfin tuna on poppers are on offer around the reef edges, whilst XOS coral trout and reefies are available in the lagoon. The shallow reef lagoon fishing is not as prolific as the Great Barrier Reef, but when you hook a fish it’s going to be a monster.
- November to December is the time to visit as you’re outside of the season where strong south easterly winds are a problem, but early enough in the wet season that cyclones are less likely.
Damon’s Top Sportfishing Destination #3: T-Line Reef
- Just north of Swains Reefs, around 100 nautical miles east of Mackay, T-Line is a system of numerous small reefs that are unlike any coral reef systems anywhere else in the world.
- It’s a long way out, but once you’re there the area is very sheltered, and the reef dries out in many places at low tide. Be careful of anchorages though, sometimes an anchorage can be calm on one tide but have massive currents and whirlpools when the tide turns.
- The system is comprised of countless small reefs with very narrow channels and almost all of them containing blue holes! Massive currents are another feature of the area, creating lots of life and lots of fish.
- For Damon, massive GT’s were the standout of this area and would move into the blue holes. 40-50kg GT’s hunt in the shallows in sheltered blue holes and can be sight cast from the shore with poppers, with fish often taking lures right at your feet.
- Due to the currents and the drying of the reef at low tide the shallow reef flats probably don’t fish as well as reef flats in other parts of the Great Barrier Reef.
Damon’s Top Sportfishing Destination #4: Lockhardt River
- The area half way between Lockhardt River and Cape York has lots of green zones, but there is an area where there’s a gap in the green zones and where the most of the reef systems don’t even have names. This area offers spectacular, remote fishing.
- The attraction of this area is that it’s not unlike Kenn Reefs with wahoo, Spanish mackerel, dogtooth and yellowfin tuna in the deep channels. However, the area also has the added option of fishing the shallows for an incredible range of species, such as Maori wrasse, coral trout and so on, with a bycatch of red bass, napoleon wrasse and more.
- This is a November-December destination to avoid the super-hot weather and warm water that drives the fish deeper – not to mention the cyclone season.
Damon’s Top Sportfishing Destination #5: Diamond Islet
- 250-280 nautical miles east of Cairns, this area has vegetated islands and it’s nice to be able to go ashore and have a break.
- The attraction to this area is really big dogtooth tuna, one of the toughest species to catch. On 200lb braid and 80 wide game reels you can expect to regularly get smoked by big doggies!
- Aside from the big dogtooth tuna, there is some amazing shallow reef fishing with poppers, stickbaits, jigs and so on.
Damon’s Top Sportfishing Destination #6: Eurimbula Creek
- Eurimbula Creek is a small system just north of 1770 that requires picking the right tides and four-wheel driving in. It’s far enough south that 50-60cm mangrove jacks are reasonably common.
- A very small boat with shallow draught is the key and the fact that crabbing is banned means there are few boats roaring around spooking the fish.
- Sight casting small hard bodies tight into mangrove banks will put you onto some quality jacks.
Recent Bream Episodes
Episode 611: Five Groote Eylandt Fishing Adventures With Bomber Farrell
Bomber Farrell returns to the ALF podcast, this time to explain his top five Groote Eylandt fishing experiences!
Episode 606: Land-based Lure Fishing Mackay With Luke Galea
In Episode 606 Luke Galea explains why shore-based fishing can be so effective across Northern Australia and why you don’t necessarily need a boat to enjoy some pretty exceptional fishing.
Episode 579: Weipa Sailfish With Ben “Notso” Bright
Ben "Notso" Bright Weipa Sportfishing Guide Ben has been in the sport and gamefishing industry forever, starting his career as a full-time gameboat deckie on the east coast and having spent more than a decade now guiding clients on a massive number of species out of...
Episode 547: Fishing Around Exmouth In Spring With Steve Riley
Every time I interview Steve Riley about fishing the Exmouth area I get blown away by the opportunities on offer, but I think this interview could be my favourite so far. Steve spills the beans on five land-based fishing spots that are available to visiting anglers during spring. In the course of the conversation we cover everything from bream and whiting to tuna, reef species and pelagics including monster GT from the beach. What a destination!
Episode 545: Best Hervey Bay Fishing Spots In Spring With Scotto Mitchell
Spring is a great time to fish the Hervey Bay area land-based or from a small boat or kayak. In today’s ALF episode local personality Scotto Mitchell helpsput us onto some awesome fish with simple tackle and techniques.
Discover the Best Fishing Spots in Southeast Queensland this Spring
For the boating angler, Southeast Queensland during spring is all about big snapper, quality jewfish, threadfin salmon, flathead and plenty more! Nabeel Issa is a multiple time ALF podcast guest and always has plenty of great info to share. Today he walks us through why spring is his favourite time to fish in SEQ and gives us the rundown on how, when and where.
Episode 529: Mackay Slow Pitch Jigging With Mick Hassett
My Slow Pitch Jigging technique is something I’ve been working on lately – I’m on a steep curve. Not Mick Hassett though, he’s a machine with the SPJ and in today’s interview he shares a ton of pro tips.
Episode 507: The Top Five Winter Fishing Spots In Gippsland With Brett Geddes
Brett Geddes Gippsland Fishing Personality Brett has been fishing for flathead, bream, estuary perch and bass in the Gippsland Lakes area for over two decades and has amassed over 6000 dusky flathead captures since he started keeping a diary in the early 2000’s....
Hotspots: Five Best Winter Fishing Spots Around Hinchinbrook
This conversation with Jimmy Falkenberg was ALF EPISODE 591, but it's only one of hundreds of lure fishing episodes in our library. Jimmy Falkenberg Far North Queensland Fishing Identity Jimmy is a Townsville based angler and social media personality who reckons...
Episode 611: Five Groote Eylandt Fishing Adventures With Bomber Farrell
Bomber Farrell returns to the ALF podcast, this time to explain his top five Groote Eylandt fishing experiences!
Episode 606: Land-based Lure Fishing Mackay With Luke Galea
In Episode 606 Luke Galea explains why shore-based fishing can be so effective across Northern Australia and why you don’t necessarily need a boat to enjoy some pretty exceptional fishing.
Episode 579: Weipa Sailfish With Ben “Notso” Bright
Ben "Notso" Bright Weipa Sportfishing Guide Ben has been in the sport and gamefishing industry forever, starting his career as a full-time gameboat deckie on the east coast and having spent more than a decade now guiding clients on a massive number of species out of...
Nomad Design Tackle
Damons 20 plus years of reef charter experience and his engineering background, along with the need for lures to suit his specific needs inevitably led to him becoming involved with lure design and manufacture. Nomad Design Tackle now offers an amazing array of top quality lures for a wide range of fishing scenarios and are rapidly evolving into an international tackle giant.
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