Pete Collins

I've been fishing Australia's coast for 15 years, but I started fishing long before that, land-based off the rocks at Mornington as a kid, then crewing on reef boats out of Cairns in my early twenties. I've run trips from the Whitsundays to Exmouth, from Port Phillip Bay to the Coral Sea. I've seen every kind of charter operation: the good, the bad, and the ones that should've had their survey certificate revoked years ago.

The 2014 Trip That Changed Everything

November 2014, Port Douglas. I booked a full-day reef charter for my brother-in-law's 40th birthday. Cost: $1,200. The website showed a pristine boat, a grinning deckhand, and coral trout the size of small dogs. The reality was a fibreglass tub with a 15-year-old two-stroke that coughed blue smoke at idle, rods with guides so corroded the line wouldn't run freely, and a captain who spent more time on his phone than watching the sounder. Six hours later we had two undersized coral trout and a shared sense that we'd been had.

I was already a licensed skipper at that point. I knew exactly what a good charter should look like, and I'd still gotten burned. That's when I realised: if I couldn't tell the difference between a real operation and a good website, how could anyone else? Reef and Rod started as a spreadsheet of operators I'd personally vetted. It grew into what you see now: a full set of destination guides built on the same principle. No operator gets on here unless I'd book them for my own family.

Favourite Destination

Exmouth, Western Australia. The Ningaloo is the most exciting bluewater fishery in Australia. You're fishing 20 minutes from the ramp in 100 metres of water with sailfish, GTs, and Spanish mackerel all on the same trip. The operators are mostly owner-skippers who've been working the same grounds for decades, there's no room for tourists running a half-hearted operation up there. It's remote, it's expensive to get to, and the town shuts down at 8pm. I love it.

Least Favourite

Noosa. Don't get me wrong, the fishing off Noosa can be great. It's the charter market that frustrates me. Too many operators running three half-day trips back-to-back in peak season, burning through the close-in reef spots and leaving the afternoon clients with slim pickings. There are good operators in Noosa, but you have to hunt for them. The lazy ones trade on the Sunshine Coast name and don't put in the work. My Noosa guide is probably the bluntest on the site for exactly that reason.

Three Things Most Charter Websites Won't Tell You

1. The photos on the website are almost never of the actual boat you're booking. I've seen the same stock image of a Riviera flybridge used across six different operator listings. When I vet an operator, I ask for a photo of the boat with today's newspaper in the shot. The ones who send it immediately are the ones worth booking.
2. A "full-day charter" might mean six hours of fishing or it might mean four hours of transit and two hours of fishing. The difference is whether the operator is running to their primary spots (45 minutes each way) or their secondary spots (90 minutes each way). Always ask: "How long is the run to the fishing grounds, and how many hours of actual fishing time does that leave?"
3. The deckhand matters almost as much as the skipper. A great deckie anticipates: they've got the next bait rigged before you've reeled in, they're watching your line for strikes while you're grabbing a drink, and they know exactly when to gaff and when to net. A bad deckie stands at the back of the boat checking their phone. I always ask about crew experience when I'm vetting, the answer tells you a lot.

How I Vet Operators

Every operator on Reef and Rod goes through a five-point check before they make the cut. First, I verify their commercial licence and survey certificate, these are public record and non-negotiable. If an operator can't produce current paperwork, the conversation ends there.

Second, I call them. Not email, not their booking form, I call and ask three specific questions: how long the run is to their primary fishing grounds, what species they're targeting right now (not what they could target in the right season), and what happens when the weather turns. The way someone answers those three questions tells you more than fifty TripAdvisor reviews. A good operator answers immediately with specifics. A bad one talks about the boat.

Third, I check their gear. Not just whether they have it, whether they maintain it. I look at rod guides for corrosion, at reel seats for wear, at line condition. I've been on charters where the gear was so neglected the drag washers had seized, not from being fished hard, but from being rinsed with freshwater exactly never. Fourth, I talk to local tackle shops. Charter captains can polish a website; they can't hide from the bloke who sells them bait every Tuesday. Finally, I fish with them when I can, which is most of the time. About 70% of the operators on this site are ones I've personally spent a day on the water with.

Operators who pass all five points get listed. Those who don't, and there are plenty, don't. I don't publish negative reviews partly because I'm not interested in running a complaint board, and partly because operators change. A bad operation in 2022 might be under new ownership by 2025. I just leave them off the site.

I don't accept free trips, fam tours, or operator hospitality. Every destination on this site is one I've either fished personally or vetted through multiple independent sources. If an operator isn't good enough for my brother-in-law's 40th, they're not good enough for Reef and Rod.