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

WOW..you guys always tease us like this . bl..dy amazing pics and great write up.

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both forums??

WHAT A REPORT !!!! Thanks for putting the time into this mate, haven't read one of these for ages ! Well done

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As always Brad best pic on the forum

Top report, make me want to head back to the west coast for another look.

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Good to see those spinning reels get a work out
Some great fish there
Well done

Shaun

That is just awesome mate...seriously amazing GT's and photography is exceptional too..I reckon i'd give my left nad for a trip like that!!!

ummm, yeah, nice masks...

Thats an amazing report brad. Awesome photos. thanks for sharing them.

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I love reading your posts Brad, the pictures are always mindblowing. Those GTs look huge, they must seriously stretch your arms

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yeah thanks guys it sure was a lot of fun, glad that some of you liked the photos and thanks for the positive feedback, much appreciated!

bushy, the "buffs" are really good for sun protection for those of us that cant grow a full beard mate

buffs, masks, whatever! it's kind of like a dynamic duo thing! good pics anyway ya bastard!!!!

Can't add much but to say bl**dy ripper write up and photies

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for those of us that cant grow a full beard mate

You work underground PB?

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haha nah fishfanatic, i just have patchy facial hair mate.