Craig Worthington shares his tips and tricks for 'bombie bashing'...

'Bombie bashing’ is the not-too-subtle art of sliding up to a big ‘rock’ of coral in the tropics and throwing in a softbait or fly. It’s great fun. There probably isn’t any other fishing you can do in the tropics (or just about anywhere, for that matter) when you can just about guarantee a hook-up moments after your artificial offering touches down. Once the hook-up happens, you have to lock down everything and haul the fish out without giving any line at all. With the coral so close (and so sharp) there is no room for relaxation.

It may sound a little unsporting, but you don’t want any fish making it back to the coral. Not even a small fish. If they do, a quick bust-off is all you’ll get for your trouble. You need to resort to white-knuckle street brawling in order to get the fish away from all those sharp coral edges. It can be torrid and exciting fishing. Leaders of 60lb fluorocarbon, at the least, are highly recommended.

Around the smaller coral bombies along the shore, you’ll catch everything from small groupers and tropical snappers to goatfish and triggerfish… not to mention a whole host of other species you probably won’t be able to identify. For a species hunter, it is an enthralling and fascinating game.

You can get some very colourful fish while coral bashing. This one is called a ‘coronation trout’.

Most of the fish around these smaller inshore bombies will not be large. This is to your advantage. Anything approaching 30cm in length can be difficult to stop. It can be embarrassing being ‘done in the dirt’ by a little fish, but that is the reality of bombie bashing. Those heavy fluorocarbon leaders are recommended even for the little fish.

On the bigger/deeper bombies where the fish can be larger, I step back and start casting a couple of metres further out from the coral edge. This gives me just enough time for brain cells to engage and arm muscles to respond. Even then, the slightest drop of a rod tip can be enough for some fish to make it back to the coral. Full lock-up and a backwards step or two are always required, and you should start fishing with this quick response front of mind. A hard and fast lock-up will stop most fish, and you can generally pull them to safety once the initial explosion of the strike is over.

For these reasons, a little bit of sand around the bombie helps a lot. The bright white coral sand even enables you to see fish venturing out from their coral holes. This may help with your response times if you’re lucky. Somehow, I never seem to figure out what is going on until that line snaps tight.

I recently found a spot like this when I was fortunate enough to visit and fish a coral-studded coastline in the Seychelles. I caught six different species in this location in the time it took to make barely a dozen casts. There was a spangled emperor, a yellow throat emperor, a spot-sided emperor, a toothy lutjanid (tropical snapper), several wire-netting cod (groupers), and a pretty little female napoleon wrasse. None of these fish were longer than 30cm, but they all pulled like hell (except perhaps the wire-netting cods). I was fishing with a 9wt fly rod and worked hard to keep all of the fish out of the coral.

A yellow lip emperor taken bombie bashing in Aitutaki a few years back. These are solid across the back and are all muscle. Below: Large bluefin trevally are one of the big prizes when bombie bashing. Expect a hard and fast-moving fight.

Then the big fish moved in. I hooked up on something solid that gave no ground at all. I took a wrap on the fly line, pointed my rod directly at the fish, and held tight, all in the hope of preventing the inevitable bust-off. Unexpectedly, the fish came running straight at me. I struggled to stay tight on it before it disappeared under a big lump of coral directly beneath my feet. Soon I found myself disconnected from the fish but connected instead to a large piece of immovable reef.

A quick re-rig had me smashed up again on the very next cast. This fish didn’t even give me time to think. It ripped line through my fingers and smashed me up expertly in a big bunch of bombies that lay further out. I realised then that I was a little undergunned. A 12wt fly rod with a 100lb leader would have been more appropriate in this situation.

Bombie bashing out of a boat is generally easier. The fish are bigger, but they can be easier to pull away from the coral. This is because you are pulling the fish upwards, not sideways, and there is more water between you and the reef.

Fish will venture a good distance from the coral if there are several metres of water overhead. Sometimes they’ll even come right to the surface to nail poppers that are splashing on top – especially at dawn and dusk. This gives you the greatest chance of all. Once hooked up on the surface, they have much less chance of getting back down to the coral labyrinth below.

Emperors and tropical snapper explode with power, even when small. They will do everything they can to get back to the coral.

In this game, no matter what sort of fishing gear you choose to use, the ‘white-knuckle reel clamp’ becomes a very important part of your response. Either that or tighten your drag with pliers, and don’t give any line. I’ve watched some of the locals in the tropics fish the bombies with very stout handlines and gloves. They take a firm hand-wrap of the line and hang on. It’s entirely appropriate. The ensuing battles become something of a slugfest between the angler, a very taut line, and the fish.

Even then, when using these seriously heavy handlines, the anglers don’t always win. But these local fishermen will actually dive down and physically pull the fish from the hole (or spear it) rather than lose it. It is very entertaining to watch.

So, if you’re on a tropical trip this winter or spring, it is well worthwhile casting a softbait or fly at any of those big, steep-sided bombies you see dotted around the place. Be warned, though, you have to be ready to rumble! 

June 2023 - Craig Worthington
New Zealand Fishing News Magazine.
Copyright: NZ Fishing Media Ltd.
Re-publishing elsewhere is prohibited