Montebello Trip Report
Just Spent 6 Days out at the Montebello Islands, Got some great info on tides and camping grounds from some members from this page so many thanks!
We launched from Fortescue 2 hours before a high tide and had a hollywood run across making the trip over in 2.5 hours including a stop at a mono Pod on the way for a quick jig picking up a few goldens, Queenies, and small GT.
the first 4 days the weather was amazing hardly blowing most days allowing us get out wide and chase a few rankin and there's certinaly no shortage of those bagging out every day no worries, we also good luck on the trout easily getting our bag everyday adn leaving them biting most days.
Inshore the Spangos were thick in the right areas as well as the squid.
Plenty of GT's in the Smaller range and a few upto 15kg landed, A few smokings by larger models on light gear over the week as they just didnt seemed fired up when throwing the heavy set ups but thats fishing huh. Got a 20Kg (weighed) Mac on top water which is a New PB for me so pretty stoked with that one .
Also bucket loads of crayfish were had every night for dinner with some trout to top it off.
Friday night a front hit about midnight and tore our camp a new one and we spent 4 hours up fighting our gazebo from flying away and keeing the fridges and power leads dry from the sideways rain, the boats were being watched but in the end they were anchored fine so all good
The run home was 15knts from the north west and not really a problem, we cruised and 14-16 knots making the trip just around 3 hours. All in all we caught some great fish had some even better times with mates and left the joint cleaner than we found it. The fortescue river was pretty high on our way out but the bottom is really hard so didnt hesitate and just crossed it no with no dramas.
Absloutly will be making this trip a yearly thing from now on and wish we had been doing it longer, although its a mission and we had no marks or fishing spots we quickly found ground out wide and inshore very easily.
3 boats went over with 2 blokes on each.
My boat is a bar crusher 615 C with a suzuki 140hp and we took 540ltrs of fuel and came home with 100ltrs as we fished 6 up on a mates boat for the last day as the wind was up and we just went spearing inshore.
Cheers
Faulkner Family
Posts: 17862
Date Joined: 11/03/08
some nice fish to go with
some nice fish to go with the great conditions. well done
RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together
merdel12
Posts: 306
Date Joined: 19/07/12
Awesome write up, would love
Awesome write up, would love to do it one day. what did you use to carry the extra fuel?
Robpado
Posts: 82
Date Joined: 18/01/18
Took 2 x 60 ltr drums and
Took 2 x 60 ltr drums and the rest in plastic gerry cans. Next trip ill probally take more and stay longer than 6 days.
sunshine
Posts: 2554
Date Joined: 03/03/09
A special place isn’t it
Cannot wait to get back, we found great deep water fishing just off Tremiolle (can never spell the place) ....thanks for the report
Simo_
Posts: 1843
Date Joined: 13/11/06
Looks like an awesome trip,
Looks like an awesome trip, would love to do it one day.
Bring on April
Dale
Posts: 7930
Date Joined: 13/09/05
Very nice, never got out to there. Doubt I ever will I guess.
"Just because you are a Character, Doesn't mean you have Character."
Mr Wolf
meglodon
Posts: 5981
Date Joined: 17/06/10
Great write up and pictures
Thanks for the write up and pics a great post.
Dirty Mexican
Posts: 3
Date Joined: 23/11/14
Nice article
Great write up.Were headin up next month.Did the mission there last year from Onslow but are goin to launch at Fortescue this time.
Just had a couple of questions if you dont mind.
1) What was the tide height when you launched and when you crossed the river on the way in.I've been told that you have to cross the river on less than 1.5 and launch on above 1.5?
2) What bay did you camp in and how was it?
Cheers
The Mexican
...
Robpado
Posts: 82
Date Joined: 18/01/18
Hi mate, We crossed the
Hi mate,
We crossed the river on the way on on dead low which was like .3 and launched the next morning mid tide going high pretty sure it was around 1.2 building and we crossed out through the mouth on that tide and it was no less than 2.5 metres of water under us.
The actuall ramp is fine and you could launch on a pretty low tide as it drops away real quick just is steep in the last part but no worries at all.......
Coming back we were around 2.5 hours before high tide of 3.5m. We spent probally 1.5 hours packing up then hit the road. The river crossing looked pretty horrible but its relly hard bottom so we just crossed it without any dramas at all.
Its a personel thing i guess most guys dont like a bit of salt water half way up the doors on their 4x4 but i wanted to get on the road and didnt buy it to sit in the supermarket carpark........ sprinkler under the car for a few hours once home sorts it out anyways.
So saying that i guess you can cross the river when you want or if you have time you can wait for the lower tide.
We stayed on the south western side of Bluebell Island, it gave us really good access to the offshore fishing and inshore also. Theres a gap in the reef you can run if your keen but watch the tide as you can come unstuck pretty easily.
We anchored out a little and swam to get boats each morning and it was sweet.
PM me any other questions mate happy to help out fellow fishos, Theres a couple of guys on this page that gave me some great info in regards to tides and areas to camp so happy to pass it on as the good info is hard to find unless youve been there.
Cheers
Rob
Sea goat
Posts: 939
Date Joined: 26/03/17
just wow.....definitely on my
just wow.....
definitely on my bucket list now!
Myk Braders
Posts: 34
Date Joined: 17/01/19
BC615
Awesome write up bud and great pics too. I had 2 trips planned this year but had to can both as the weather blew up shockingly. Can I ask what kind of economy your BC615 gets? Like klms per ltr?
Living in Barradise!
Robpado
Posts: 82
Date Joined: 18/01/18
On any long range trip we do
On any long range trip we do in the Crusher we allow 1.5l to the NM this has always proven to be a good number for us as it generally runs at or under 1l to the mile obviously thats all seas and weight depending. i just like to have the safety factor of extra fuel...... each boat will be different though and it all depends on your load too. We run out very heavy on most onger trips we do too like rought load would be 550lts of fuel 60l water, 75lt waeco 2 x swags, esky chockers full of block ice and the rest fishig gear and the like.. Drop me a pm if ya need any more info mate
bod
Posts: 2318
Date Joined: 03/05/06
great read
an awesome post. Thanks for sharing.