Popping the montebello Islands 2011

[PilbaraBrad]

This trip was about 8 months ago or there abouts, i would usually head over to the Montebello Islands a few times throughout the year, had a ball every time the place is so diverse.

Well it is that time of year again, time to go and Pop the Montebello islands. It is a pretty special place located some 100km off the Pilbara coast in West Ozz’s north west for those that live in a cave. Anyway the only thing different about this trip for me was the partner. Long time travel buddy Tim had to stay behind, his replacement is another long time barra colleague of mine Webby. To say we were excited would be a massive understatement. We set off on Thursday night into some pretty average night time weather. The wind had come up for the first time in a week and it was straight into our faces, which meant things were going to be very wet. I had all ready driven 350 km and this was not the ideal way to spend another 4 hours in the middle of the night. We kept telling ourselves that it was going to be worth it. We finally made it to our anchorage at the bottom end of the montes group by around 2am, some GPS malfunction through the transit made things tough for a while but hey we made it.

We dragged our swags up on to the beach and grabbed a couple of hours sleep before the sun crept up. We spent the best part of the morning setting up camp and sorting out our gear. The tides were quite big for the next couple of days so our usual inshore casting for jacks and trout was going to be limited, oh well GT’s love big tides so either way we were happy.

Our awesome Camp

My GT Rig

Foot prints in the sand

By the time we had fueld up and moved out to the popping grounds it was around 1030. the tide was slow but it didn’t slow the action down very much. To cut it short we landed 16 GT’s to around 30kg’s and dropped around 10. It was pretty special. There was only ever one person casting at any one time while the other drove the boat. We wraped things up by 3pm and moved into the lagoon to spear some dinner for the nights feast.

First of the trip on a Sebile Splasher

ASWB Sinking stickbait

small cod on the pe3 gear and a Sebile Splasher

Webby’s nice G Bus

Small Double on the nomad Bobora

A horse West Oz GT on the Sebile Splasher

The Nomad Bobora worked really well when the tide slowed down in the afternoon

another on the Bob

I got this one right next to the boat while webby was pulling the hooks out of his, a school of about 5 GT’s all this size swap straight past the boat. I cast the cubera about three meters to land it on this fishes head, it took the popper straight away. It was a lot of fun

Well after day one we needed a pretty good feed to charge us up for the next day. We jumped in tot spear a couple of fish for the evening meal. We got a few trout and some jacks to see us through the next couple of days. This is an example of a typical meal while we are away. Fresh coral trout and home made chips, washed down with a corona. In bed by 7pm.

preparing for the feast

yum!

fishing for dinner in around the islands

An awesome bay we had a look at

another

Anyway we spent day two exploring to the north of the group and mostly diving and trekking so no popping photos. On our last day we speared some fish to bring home and then finished off the afternoon with another popping session. When we arrived I cold see about ten GT’s mooching around on the edge of the bommie. I cast my popper into the middle of them and hooked up straight away, it was an awesome session. We landed another nine and dropped about 5 in two hours. Again there was only ever one person casting at any time. Here are some more photos.

The nomad bobora strikes again

ASWB sinking stick bait

the cono cono 190

A nice Pilbara GT

Webbys favourite pink stickbait

Orion Bigfoot

Well that’s enough photos for now. All in all it was a pretty special trip. The trip home was terrible, we had to endure very rough seas for roughly 45 miles. To say I am exhausted would be an understatement. Was it worth it, you bet your ass it was!

Hope you like the report

Equipment used

Ripplefisher GT78PF Stella 18000

Ripplefisher GT78XH Stella 18000

Yamaga Blue Sniper 75/4 Twinpower HG6000SW

Successful lures

Sebile Splasher SS 190

Sebile Splasher 152

Sebile Stick Shad 155 SK

Nomad Bobora 150

Nomad Cuber 125

Orion cono cono 190

Orion Bigfoot 140

ASWB Sinking stickbaits

[fishingnut]

Simply awesome !!

[mottly crew]

i now wat ya mean exelant fishing around that magnificant area use to work the boats there when i was a young bloke hope ya stayed away from the radiation zone's wouldnt want ta to grow gill's :woohoo:

well done mate awsome pic's

[Keen-as-fisho]

Simply awesome !!

YEP :woohoo:

No, I'm not jealous

[ONTHECHEW]

Well done, awesome report, awesome fish, awesome location. Have wanted to go there for a while now, these pictures just make we want to go more.

Andrew

[Angus]

Yes.

Enough said

Angus

[tugger]

Got to be one of the best reports i've seen on here

wow

[plugga]

that is so sick, one of the best reports(:

great stuff

Jordan

[JarrydA]

Great report!

[PilbaraBrad]

Thanks guys it is a special place that for sure, photos dont do it justice

[Shane69]

Well done man

You are my new inspiriation.

That looks like crazy fishing.

Beautiful boat too mate. Thats next boat i want to get. A walkabout.

You sponsored by sebile??

Shane

[Eug]

loving the reports. boat looks similar to the formosa we get over here. agree with shane a walk around cuddy looks to be the best compromise.

[Guest]

This is one of the best reports i have read in a long time, well done

Loved the pictures

Cheers

Darren

[PilbaraBrad]

loving the reports. boat looks similar to the formosa we get over here. agree with shane a walk around cuddy looks to be the best compromise.

yeah she was a great old rig that one, it was sad to see her go a couple of weeks ago i must admit i did almost shed a tear. she was verry different to a formosa, in that it was a dennis walsh hull only 8 degrees deadrise on the transom which mean i could trim up and make way in less than 20cm of water, obviously compromised comfortable ride in short chop but thems the breaks. also had around 400l of fuel under the deck, i had her custom made for extended trips. 5mm plat all over as well and 2.45m beam which made her a very big 5.2m boat. i think in the two motors i had i cranked up around 1250 hours in three and a half years which isnt bad going. i will probably get something similar again one day but for now it is the hornet ,the sandy straits and some of those lakes around here perhaps...

[Do$tylz]

phwoar.. i can only dream of a fishing trip like that.

Awesome report and fantastic photos.

[Bagless]

Wow amazing report, thank you very much for putting the time in to share it with us. Looks like an incredible location, must take a huge amount of time, money and more importantly effort to get there. Looks like it's more than worth it though.

Think you might have won report of the month, or even report of the year if there is such a thing .

[JarrydA]

What kind of camera do you use? They are great shots

[crazywalrus]

simply awesome action there. You would have some terribly sore arms after that. I find the Popping so much work. I suppose if I was getting rewarded with some fish it would all be different

[Surfingant]

Think you might have won report of the month, or even report of the year if there is such a thing .

For which one? They're all brilliant

[Bagless]

Think you might have won report of the month, or even report of the year if there is such a thing .

For which one? They're all brilliant

Good call, didn't realise PilbaraBrad has uploaded so many reports in the last 24hrs. Probably enough there to fill a magazine .

[PilbaraBrad]

Wow amazing report, thank you very much for putting the time in to share it with us. Looks like an incredible location, must take a huge amount of time, money and more importantly effort to get there. Looks like it's more than worth it though.

Think you might have won report of the month, or even report of the year if there is such a thing .

you would be surprised mate between two guyswhen we lived local the only cost is food and fuel, which wasnt really that much compared to a charter. split 400L of fuel and a few tins of baked beans and thats how much it cost. bit different if you live on the east coast i suppose but there are plenty of "as amazing" locations to the avid explorer over here mate, just need a sense of adventure

[PilbaraBrad]

What kind of camera do you use? They are great shots

most of the time i shoot with a combination of bodys mate. i have a two, an EOS 50D and an Eos 5D. combinations of lenses used but in all honesty i save a lot of the really good photos as i do occasionally dabble in a bit of writing.

[Bagless]

Wow amazing report, thank you very much for putting the time in to share it with us. Looks like an incredible location, must take a huge amount of time, money and more importantly effort to get there. Looks like it's more than worth it though.

Think you might have won report of the month, or even report of the year if there is such a thing .

you would be surprised mate between two guyswhen we lived local the only cost is food and fuel, which wasnt really that much compared to a charter. split 400L of fuel and a few tins of baked beans and thats how much it cost. bit different if you live on the east coast i suppose but there are plenty of "as amazing" locations to the avid explorer over here mate, just need a sense of adventure

Just add to that a few Stella's, some GT rods / lures, a decent boat and a car capable of towing it, a couple of nice SLR's with lenses, spear fishing kit and I reckon that could add up well North of $100,000, especially if you bought new , got plenty of sense of adventure, but need to do some serious saving to do it properly, not to mention convince the wife . One day.. one day..

[max pwr]

Yep, best report I've read. EVER :woohoo: Amazing photos and how good do your fish and chips look :cheer: thankyou thankyou thankyou ! Top looking boat too mate, I'm gonna make the mrs read this report tonight in the hope it will inspire her as much as you did me.