where to begin, i suppose at the start.

The weather forcast was looking good and Glenn and i were itching to get back to the montes, even if it was only for two days. This time we planned on squeezing everything we could into our time. We had our jig gear, popping gear, dive gear, light gear and whet ever else we needed to get us through the 2 nights two days we planned to spend at the place.
Glenn dropped around my house around 830pm, we connected the boat and we were on our way. There was no wind what so ever for the trip over. Using the flame on the gas pods to guide us in Archong's direction we were there in no time. conveniently the moon began to rise at the same time we were ready to navigate into Archong's protected bay for a good nights sleep.

nice morning

Waking up in the morning was, well bloody exciting - we were at the Montes! Ok quick check of the chart to move up the coast to another island we have not been to before, we planned to dump all of the jerries and other stuff we didnt need before settling into some fishing.

Some fuel

make shift fuel depot

First stop was on a little cut out in some rocks, I was pretty hot and decided to jump in for a quick look. There were a lot of trout and bluebone around as well as a few good sized crays. I pinged one trout around the 67cm size before we left in search of some deeper new ground.

ugly man and a nice trout

We made it out wide and found a few lumps covered in fish however they were not really playing the game. A few small cod found their way to the boat and Glenn managed a nice little chinaman on jig, even with the plastic hook guard still attached to his assist hook.

chinaminza on jig

Anyway things were a little quiet so we decided to go on a mission out to Tryal rock in search of some GT's. It is a long way out to sea for my little 5.2m center cab but she was up to the test. While at Tryal rocks i managed a nice GT and so did Glenn. In the hour we were there we got 2 good GT's mine on a new WEEZEL popper and glens on an S-pop. We both also had hookups on HUGE spanyids, and i got BRICKED!!!!! by something huge and managed to loose my new popper, ahh well good fun

Weezel

Nice montes Gbus!

Glenn loaded up

Glenn's G montes G train

Anyway after getting belted on our way out and back from Tryal we decided to see the afternoon out with some trolling for trout. We saw a heap of whales about during the transit. They were putting ona real show was pretty cool. Anyway we got to a fishy looking area and set the lures, it didnt take long to get a couple of small fish to the boat.

another

and another

and another

Ok we had enough of the trout and decided to burn back to camp. On the way we decided to have one last stop and some of the many many rock formations around the area for a look. Glenn threw out a stickbait and had a massive trout stalk it back to the boat but there was no hookup. This was enough to entice me to jump in with the mask and snokle again to have a look around. This particlar spot was pretty cool. I finally found some of those 6-8kg mangrove jacks that people talk about. There were also massive chinaman that would have gone 15kg's easy. I didnt take a shot at the jacks because i didnt really want to swim back to the boat that was quite a way away on dusk with a strugling fish, ahh all good just good to see those jacks in the flesh, dont worry i marked the spot and i will be back.

if you know where this is youll find em

Sun setting on the first day

Anyway with the sun setting on the first day and an empty stomach we burned back to camp to make some tea. After which we decided to have a night fish in and around the island we were stayin on. Im glad we did. We must have landed more than 30 spangos in that session between Glenn and I. It was awesome on the light gear, we literally left them biting so that we could get some sleep, awesome!!!

A couple of the more than 30 spangos Glenn and I got between us in a hot night session

We awoke to a pretty windy morning and decided to head out the west side of the islands in search of some new ground. I had a dive around some more nice rocky formations while Glenn flicked stickbaits around. I managed a nice jack and Glenn caught all sorts of crap on his lures, was good fun. After that we moved out to some reef which looked promising. After a quick troll run, in which glen piced up a very nice trout we settled down for some drift baiting. We got bricked by some unstopables, very frustrating not to get a few of them up. We did manage a few good trout and about a thousand red throat emperor.

very nice trout taken on an 8m diving scorp trolled dead slow

getting bricked!

small danga!

Anway after i got bricked a few times again it was enough to lure me into the water with my gun. The place was teeming with trout, unfortunately there were a few sizy sharks around as well, meaning i had to be sure with my shot. Anyway, i did ping a nice trout straight up and had about an 8ft whaler come out of the depths trying to get it, i have never got back to the boat so quick and with the help of Glenn pulling me in managed to get out unscaved and with a nice trout. I waited a few minutes then jumped back in. This time i just swam around pretty close to the boat around te bommie. There were tout and bluebone everywhere, was reluctant to spear anything because obviously that fired up the sharks. A BIG i think it was a lemon shark was getting very interested in me, circling and getting closer and closer. It was very relaxed and not aggresive, Glenn was watchin it from the boat come right up to me. It soon swam off and all of the other sharks seemed to have gone as well. Right, one last shot before we go, a nice trout came into my line and i brained him. A perfect shot, up to the boat and out i got, almost home time

a nice last trout 70cm

Anyway we went back to camp and loaded up all the gear, while we were stripping down our fishing gear Glenn threw out the last big of bait in about three meters of water. It didnt take long and he was on, huh a nice spango on the pe3 gear, a nice last fish of the trip

Loaded up for the last time

Last fish of the trip

The run home started off a bit bumpy but we managed 30 knots most of the way, we had plenty of fuel left so we were concentrating more on speed rather than fuel eccenomy for the transit.

What a great trip, i am learning more and more about this place every time i go

Cant wait til the next time......