5 epic days fishing WA's Montebello Islands - Pt 2

[Ben Derecki]

One thing you won't find on the Monties is greenery. The islands must take an absolute flogging from mother nature - the shrubs are low, most rocks exposed to any sort of swell are pockmarked and so sharp that to fall on them would be messy. Where the tidal currents rip through as the water pours out from between the islands, exposed rocks and outcrops are worn away. But all that raw nature still takes your breath away, it's awesome.

We didn't spend much time on the islands, we had a look at some of the remains from the nuclear testing but other than that the remaining time was to flick lures around while we waited for tea to be cooked and the boat prepared for tucker time.

How's the tide.

How's the serenity

The best way to enjoy the serenity is always to immerse yourself in it, so we made the most of it most nights after a few refreshing drinks it was time for a swim :laugh: :side:

Other than the main species shown in Part 1 we did get onto a lot of other fish:

The two highlight fish of the trip were:

This thumping cod that took me an age to bring up. Unfortunately the second pic doesn't give a true indication of how big it was. It was a thumper, in my realm of cod catching anyway. We estimated it at being around 30-35kg. After we took a couple of quick shots he went back in and we swum him for quite a while. We attached about six 24oz sinkers onto the largest release weight and sent him back down. He didn't come back up, that we saw anyway, so hopefully it pulled through okay.

But the last fish of the trip was definately the best. It was Wednesday evening, we were on our way home and it was just going dark, and one of the TLDs started screaming. Unfortunately (for me) it was Jared's turn on the rods so he picked it up, let the fish run a bit, and then sank the hooks. Fifteen minutes later he brought up this beaut little black, his first billfish and the only one for the trip to make it back to the boat. It was an awesome way to finish the trip.

Karma caught up with him for taking my fish (I was the next on the rods - but after we got that one we pulled them up and that was it for the trip) and as soon as the sun went down and he lost the horizon he began telling the dolphins about what he'd eaten for tea. Hurl time. (Revenge is sweet when you're the one putting up the report! )

And so that brought the end to an epic five days in the Monties with Blue Juice Charters

We thought it couldn't get any better but of course it did - we found the Planet Burger Bar for tea the following night, man those burgers cranked! (See below)

Great trip all round and we're all hoping we can give it another go again soon!

[dan25]

Great report mate, awesome close up shots!

[Ben Derecki]

Thanks mate, it's hard to capture the true beauty of the place in a photograph but hopefully it gives some idea of it.

[Schmuck]

Awesome trip again mate, something like that is always going to be on my to-do list.

That burger looks pretty wild aswell, how does it rate compared to fergburger/burger urge/grilld?

[Angus]

Epic again man!

[free2rome2]

Great report, ben... Great pictures as well! You hv given a real account of the trip.. It made feel as if I was there... Blue juice, eh? Must be good. How many of you went? Hope we can fish in Jan for the samsons... Cheers!

[ozlad]

Awesome dude, i'm currently working on Barrow Island on the Gorgon project. Because of our ministerial conditions we aren't aloud to fish, but some of the guys that fished here before all the rules have some epic photos of Spanish, trout, huge tuskies and spangled emperor (all land based). Harsh landscape, but alot of wildslife both marine and terrestrial.

[ryanyoung]

Awesome work Ben, has got me keen to get away from the fresh.....Almost

[Ben Derecki]

Thanks boys. Get up there one day, you'll love it.

Ozlad, yeah pretty harsh up there. Didn't realise you couldn't fish off Barrow, what a bummer. Bet the fishing would have been mad when you could.