(family: serranidae)

Coral Trout is a common term used to describe several distinctly different fish.

Coral Trout, Bar-cheeked Coral Trout, Passionfruit Trout, Tiger or Footballer Trout, and rarely Coronation Trout, inhabit the waters surrounding Cape York.

They are a beautiful fish, and all have their own unique distinguishing features. The thing all of these fish do have in-common, is their superb eating qualities attributed to their firm white flesh.

Trout are found around fringing reef, and coral outcrops or ‘bommies’, and provide an exciting fight which can quickly be terminated should the angler allow the fish to make it back to its home amongst sharp coral cover.

Trout can be caught line fishing with live and fresh baits, lure and fly-fishing. Casting poppers over fringing reef is one spectacular method of hooking Trout, though casting and trolling minnow type lures is also effective. It is not uncommon to hook-up on these inquisitive fish as a by-catch when trolling for mackerel or Trevally, and I have seen several times these tenacious fish slamming lures diving to 2 metres, in 12 metres of water. 

Bag Limits in Qld apply, a min size of 38cm and max 7 fish (incl. all trout species) per person.

Footballer Trout are an exception with a min. of 50cm and a max of 80cm.

NB: All coral reef fin fish species have a combined take and possession limit of 20.