It may have taken me a few years to put up a GT report, but my time has finally come. Last week I headed out from Exmouth with Montebello Islands Safaris for a standard 6 day trip involving reef fishing, trolling for bills and mackerel and fishing the shallows from tinnies and the shore. After a successful trolling day (we went 4/4/3 on small black marlin, including one to me falling to a trolled stick bait on spin gear), I got dropped off onto a nice ledge to pop for a GT.
Whilst there are lots of great spots to cast from, finding a suitable spot to land a fish was a challenge because the islands consist predominately of weathered limestone, which is very hard and sharp, with a bit of sand only in some spots. Fortunately, I found one.
About 1.5 hours of casting saw me get one strike, which I managed to make stick. After a brief battle under high drag, I had a solid fish in front of me. Without anyone to assist, I had to wait for a wave to help lift him up onto the deck and into a small pool of water. After a few photos, I speared the fish back into the water where it instantly disappeared from view. I was very surprised to learn the rest of the charter group didn't hear my victory screams back a camp, only a couple of kilometres away
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I estimated the fish to be about 22 kg.
Rod: Yamaga Blanks Atlas 76/8
Reel: Stella 18000 SW
Lure: Nomad Cubera 125
