Painted Sweetlips are a good-looking reef fish with bold markings and thick lips, and they pull surprisingly hard once hooked. They are not the most common target for Aussie anglers, but they are well worth a crack around tropical structure.
In Australian waters, you mainly find them across the tropical north, especially around reefy ground off Queensland, the Top End and parts of WA. They like coral reefs, rocky ledges, bommies and broken bottom, usually in fairly shallow to mid-depth water where there is good cover.
They feed on crustaceans, small fish, worms and other bottom-dwelling tucker picked off the reef. Most of the time they work close to the bottom, nosing around structure and grabbing an easy meal when the current is doing its thing.
Tide changes usually fire them up best, especially when there is enough run to move food without making it too hard for them to hold on the reef. Low light around dawn, dusk and even at night can help, as they are often more confident leaving cover to feed then. Light to moderate wind is usually better because it lets you hold position and fish the structure properly, while too much breeze makes it harder to stay on the bite zone. Smaller to moderate swell is ideal too, especially on inshore reefs, because heavy swell can dirty the water and make reef fishing awkward.
A 15 to 30 lb reef outfit is a solid starting point, with a simple paternoster or running sinker rig and enough lead to stay near the bottom. Fresh prawns, squid, pilchard strips and small fish baits all work, and soft plastics or small jigs hopped tight to structure can also get eaten. Fish hard on the bottom, but be ready to turn them quickly before they brick you in the reef.
Young painted sweetlips look completely different to adults and have a strange, floppy swimming style that makes them look more like drifting seaweed than a fish.