Montebello Islands 2015

[Aaron Gates]

Trip Summary

Trip Location: Montebello Islands
Trip Date (month and year): March 2015
Number of days: 7 Nights
Charter operator (if private, state private): Private
Number of anglers: 3
Rating of trip (poor, average, good, great, amazing): Amazing

1,400km by car, 140km by boat but it was definitely worth it. Looking forward to doing it again.

A few photos, not many fishy photos due to being too busy catching fish or our photographer leaving the camera at the camp. Will add some more photos if I get the ok from the other boys.

Took over ~750litres of fuel, plus all camping gear, genie, chest freezer etc and came back with ~150litres of fuel.

Gear used
Stella 14000 SWB on CV79/40 with Varivas PE7
Saltiga Expedition 5500 on a CV79/40 with JB Solid 100lb
Stella 18000SWB on a Temple Reef Custom 80-10 with Varivas PE8
Accurate Twin Spin on a Custom Calstar 700H

[Amr Kehila]

Fantastic! Thanks for showing us; nice boat!

[Lucas Nixon]

Hey Aaron,

Great set up mate and looks like an awesome trip.

Have wanted to get West for a while now but work keeps me on the East coast.

One day...

Cheers.

[Kevin Holt]

Will add some more photos if I get the ok from the other boys.

Go for it !

[Luke Wyrsta]

Looking forward to the rest of this report  Nice one guys!

[Aaron Gates]

Hopefully do it again next year but for a little bit longer, wasn't long enough!

Highlights for me was the quick stop at a GT spot on the way to the Montes and landing a small GT and a nice Coral Trout within a couple of casts. Then once we arrived to our camping spot and unloading the camping gear, I walked to the entrance of the bay to have a quick flick. First cast I was on after two cranks and landed a nice spangled emperor of around 55cm. Could even imagine the fishing was going to be this hot.

Went back to the entrance again everyday and did hundreds of casts for nothing. On the last day I thought I would try again as soon as I woke before the sun came up. Again first cast and two cranks later I was "on" but this was a different beast that I couldn't stop on my PE3 gear and ended quickly when the fish made it to the reef. I quickly re-rigged and probably did another 50+ casts for nothing. The last photo below is the entrance to the bay.

[Luke Wyrsta]

Great variety there and another great Australian report. Well done! 

[Chris Toops]

Fantastic report and thanks for sharing. Very envious indeed.

How did you find the saltiga expedition 5500? Did it's high speed ratio of 5.7 make pulling in fish more difficult?

[Aaron Gates]

I really liked the Saltiga Expedition 5500, landed GT's up to 20-25kg with ease.

Preferred it over the Stella 18000 SWB, felt smoother and much lighter.

[Chris Toops]

That's great to hear Aaron.

I have got one for jigging and popping but I haven't used it yet and was a bit worried that its high ratio of 5.7 might make pulling in GT's and Kings a little difficult....especially kings jigged up in 60 metres of water.

I've noticed some of the 2015 saltigas have ratio's of 4.6 hence my concern at my expedition being 5.7.

[Gordon George]

Epic, just had a mate do a wicked charter there a few months back. Cheers for the report.

[Nick Bowles]

Nice report Aaron, nothing beats a fishing road trip!!