Abrolhos Islands fishing trip
Hey fellow fishos
Thought I'd put a post up on a recent fishing trip to the Abrolhos Islands I recently had with some good mates a couple of weeks ago.
Eight of us were fortunate to spend 6 nights aboard the charter vessel Blue Lightning Charters skippered by Chad Mills.
All of us were first time fishos to the Abrolhos and came away suitably impressed!!
Can honestly say Chad knows his stuff and his experience and knowledge extends far beyond his young age.
An example being that whilst we were over at the islands there happened to be a gamefishing tournament being run at the same time.
One boat had been trolling for 3 days solid without raising a fish. Our group decided on the 4th day to do some billfish trolling and in 4 hours of trolling we raised 4 marlin, hooked up to 2 and landed a nice dolphinfish (pics attached) with the 1st marlin strike within 14 mins of starting to troll....
....Pretty impressive stuff watching marlin getting their bodies airborne.
We had a mixture of jiggers and conventional baitfishers on board, with this being for me personally first time jigging!!
A big thanks also go to Ryan and Blake at Oceanside Tackle for helping kit myself out with my first jigging outfit.
Jigging Master Titanium Evolution 150 matched to Shimano Stradic 5000FJ spooled with YGK PE2 30lb braid (Top outfit guys....Bloody excellent actually!!)
I actually purchased a Daiwa Saltiga 4500 matched to a Saltiga 62S rod for the trip also which in itself is a great outfit but it never got anywhere near the use that the Jigging Master got!!!! Perfectly balanced and jigged 2 days solid without any issues whatsoever!!
Species caught;
Coral Trout
Baldies of course!!
Pink Snapper
Dhufish
Samson Fish
Spangled Emperor
Red Throat Emperor
Red Emperor
Charlie Courts
Dolphinfish
Shark Mackeral
The weather gods were good to us and we came home bagged out!!!!
Can thoroughly recommend the Abrolhos Islands with Chad and Blue Lightning as he knows his stuff and the boat and crew did a fantastic job keeping us well fed and on productive fishing grounds.
Notable highlights include;
Double header of coral trout on a pirate jig with the Jigging Master outfit (I'm bragging now....72cm and 69cm!!!)
2 nice dhuies caught on the same drop
1.2M + dolphinfish
81cm or 82cm (depending on who measured it) Spangled Emperor
Half decent Sambo!
All in all a great trip with some pics below guys...
Cheers....
Oceanside Tackle
Posts: 2803
Date Joined: 23/07/09
Abrolhos!
Thanks Luke,
Good to see your new gear being put to good use mate. That double header of coral trout on the Pirate is definitley one to remember.
Congrats on an all round good trip.
Cheers Blake
Oceanside Team - Specializing in Jigging for demersal, Super Deep Fishing and Cockburn Sound Pink Snapper.
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Sammut
Posts: 259
Date Joined: 07/01/10
Nice work!
Nice work!
grayzeee
Posts: 2283
Date Joined: 09/07/09
thats a pretty sweet trip
thats a pretty sweet trip mate. well done
If I spent half as long fishing , as I do reading this bloody forum , I'd be twice the fisherman I am.
Black Pearl
Posts: 59
Date Joined: 19/06/10
Looked like an awesome trip!
Got to get back over there again soon!
Couple of nice trout, hahaha greedy buggers! Top Stuff
Got to get out there!
sea-kem
Posts: 14853
Date Joined: 30/11/09
Solid stuff fellas. Always
Solid stuff fellas. Always dreamt of going there one day.
Love the West!
soupster51
Posts: 2723
Date Joined: 29/11/06
Fantastic
Great stuff. A trip of a life time with some quality fish caught. How much does a trip like that set you back? Please send me a PM if you don't want to put up on the forum.
The best reason for doing what's right today is tomorrow.
kane
Posts: 1752
Date Joined: 07/12/08
did a similar trip
with top gun charters, cost about $1500 for the week
Gooooone Fishin!
kane
Posts: 1752
Date Joined: 07/12/08
well done :)
some nice fish boated :)
Gooooone Fishin!
Wazza79
Posts: 315
Date Joined: 23/05/11
Nice Fish Luke!
Haha, yeah can see how you got bragging rights on that trip.
Les did say he ate some of your Coral Trout last night!!
Haha! Awesome report too!
Cheers
aalfred
Posts: 669
Date Joined: 13/06/09
Fishing from a leather couch
Fishing from a leather couch , thats cool!
Well done Guys!
quadfisher
Posts: 1146
Date Joined: 28/09/10
spotto a flathead
Nice lizard and coral trouts there mate, cant see it , look again
That charter boat looks sweet and comfy with the big couchs etc
That rod must have some backbone , to bring up those trouts!
cheers
quadfisher
Adam Gallash
Posts: 15610
Date Joined: 29/11/05
Trout
Trout photo is siiick, nice fellas!
Site Admin - Just ask if you need assistance
ian.young
Posts: 69
Date Joined: 18/05/07
Stradic 5000
Great pix fingermark...quick question, how much pe2 fitted on the Stradic 5000?
Cheers
Ian
r.gates
Posts: 573
Date Joined: 15/11/10
Great report
Ripper fish and it looks like you all had a great time....conditions look real nice, too.
I've heard great stories from people who've been over there so it's definitely on my bucket list.
regards
rusty...
If life is boring, you must be doing it wrong!
dkonig82
Posts: 2091
Date Joined: 06/07/10
Great work guys - solid
Great work guys - solid spango and love that trout double header.
When asked by a non-fisherman 'how many fishing rods do you really need?' the correct answer is either:
n+1 (where n is the number of fishing rods you currently own); or
n-1 (where n is the number of fishing rods which would cause your significant other to dump you.
Faulkner Family
Posts: 17861
Date Joined: 11/03/08
congrats guys. looks like you
congrats guys. looks like you had a bit of fun . gotta be stoked with the double trout.
some nice looking fish there.
RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together
C MAC
Posts: 58
Date Joined: 28/05/10
Sweet
Some awesome fish there. Very jealous, we missed out on our trip with BL and Chad this year! Not Happy!!
fingermark
Posts: 31
Date Joined: 03/02/12
Thanks guys...Really was a sensational trip
Thanks guys...Really was a sensational trip and thoroughly recommend Blue Lightning...Chad knows his stuff!!
Soupster51 --- Cost was $1862 pp. with 8 on board...We hired the boat for $14900. Otherwise booking individually $2000 pp or $16000 so decent saving if you can book the entire boat...
Cheers Wazza....How's Exmouth so far??
Quadfisher --- That Jigging Master is an absolutely awesome rod...Pulled in a half decent sambo as well. It's lightweight but as far as jigging goes you can jig all day as the reel seat is positioned so that the balancing is spot on!! At least with the Stradic on it was..
Ian Young --- I got 280 mtrs on the 5000 but in all honesty you will get 300 on it. My mate on the trip had the 5000 Sustain and got 300 mtrs on his and the spool sizes are identical..
Cheers fellas..