Sunshine Monties adventure
Well I had better give a report on how we went at the Monties, leaving on Monday night from Dampier we sought to set sail however huuiee the wind god had other ideas, be-bloody- calmed we were so we motored out of the Harbour at around 5 knots heading for Enderby Island hoping to pick up the breeze as we got clear of the archipelago.
Well we did get a breezer, for all of about five minutes when we again became becalmed so what was expected to be an 8 or 9 hour sail turned out to be a 15-16 hour plod under the drone of a diesel engine.
Arriving much later than we expected we elected not to fish on Tuesday and instead visited Ground Zero on Tremille Island as we had anchored in one of its bays.
Wednesday dawned clear and calm and the three of us piled into the 12 foot dinghy to fish the northern end of the island. Calm it may have been but as we neared the northern end the water rapidly shallowed and the current increased until we were battling though a raging rip. Clearing it we headed out past an islet that, from a distance, looked just like a cruiser.
We stopped first and drifted in 60 feet of water near a brilliant drop off but apart from losing a rubber jig to a large something Pete and Andy went bite-less so it was suggested we head deeper to at least maximise our chances of catching a red emp. Only heading out another 50 yards we were in 120 foot of water so down the baits went again.
Lez, you would not be surprised to learn that I was using the $9 special, light sinker and mulie for bait. Was that a touch? Ummm, with the rod bent double clearly so and after a spirited fight a lightly coloured 70cm coral trout slipped into the net.
Next drop, same result (well almost,) having commented that now all I wanted was a red after an even better fight the net slips under a classically coloured red.
And so it went on but with all of us hooking fish that were simply unstoppable. We landed more CTs, absolute horse NW snapper to specimen size and other ooglies. Andy hooked a small Mackie and thought he had lost it when it bolted to the surface leaving slack line all over the place however what it was actually doing was seeking to escape the jaws of a totally lit up blue marlin which then proceeded to circle to boat to make sure we all got a good look – all only a km or so from shore.
Fishing on Thursday was equally electric but with more and even larger spanglies – boy do they go, final drop of the day resulted in my fighting what I thought was the best fish of the trip, wrong, just a double header of huge spanglies.
Returning to the yacht through rough water we had the trepidation of watching Andy lifting the fuel tank as it neared empty...........would we make it as the current would leave us stranded if we ran out, Pete grabbed the hull just as the tank contained a measly two tablespoons.
We decided in view of the strong wind to pull anchor and head home (no outboard fuel anyway) and we sailed overnight in strong and very favourable winds back to Dampier hitting over 11 knots and having to take two reefs into the mainsail as the gunnel was in the water.
I filleted the fish on that crazy angle watching the plumes of bioluminescence in our wake, the photo of the boat and the sparklies evidences the speed we were travelling.
In all – great great trip, amazing fishing, dugongs, marlin, bay full of gardies – just too quick, you could easily spend a month and not scratch the surface – cant wait to get back but started a job yesterday .........oh well hurry up Pete and buy your Cat .
Thanks
Gordon aka Sunshine
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Colin Hay
Posts: 10407
Date Joined: 23/10/07
Sounds like a great trip Sunshine
Glad to hear you got onto some nice fish.
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crasny1
Posts: 7003
Date Joined: 16/10/08
Nice light trout
Isnt it classic the variation in C Trout colours. Love to get a footballer.
Neels
"I would like to die on Mars. Just not on impact!!" _ Elon Musk
sunshine
Posts: 2612
Date Joined: 03/03/09
Again thanks Col
For lodging my post and photos, yes what an amazing place....... I never thought I would experience fishing which was clearly akin to perhaps what it was like a 100 years ago.
I generally am NOT a supporter of marine parks but the intelligence shown in segmenting the Bello's so that some is truly park, some is reserved for pearl leases, some is limited solely to amateur fishermen (NOT charter boats which are expressly excluded) and the balance for everyone appears to work brilliantly.
I do not think I will ever forget the larger fish which we literally had no chance of stopping even on 65lb gear - all the heavy gear did was ensure the tinny moved quickly (read towed by) but little impression was made on the fish.
We caught sharks sure but they were not taking hooked fish unlike Dampier where the only CT's I have ever landed have been either small or just the proverbial head with the rest feeding the ever present hoard of sharks.
Oddly not a single spaniard sighted and surface activity (apart from whales and dugongs) was virtually absent all the time we were there ...........on the way out we saw plenty but all appeared to be tuna not macks, it has been suggested that research has shown spaniards are effectively coastal dwellers so perhaps the Monties are too far offshore........would have loved to have caught a wahoo but all the floating baits we put out were snaffled, on or close to the surface by BIG spanglies much like I have experienced in Exmouth years ago. Cannot wait to get the opportunity to get back, a retired mate is shortly to buy a large 42 cat to live on and sail around WA and he has already said he is going back for much longer - hurry up mate !
Thanks for submitting my post and the photos,
bod
Posts: 2319
Date Joined: 03/05/06
great story
thought this was a great story. 8 hours turning into 15 - bummer, running out of fuel just as the dinghy reached the yacht , raging rips, plenty of fish - sounds like something from a Boys' Own Adventure book!
Faulkner Family
Posts: 18036
Date Joined: 11/03/08
sounds like a great place to
sounds like a great place to be, and a coupla nice fish to go. well done
RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together
Bodie
Posts: 3758
Date Joined: 05/11/07
sounds like an awesome
sounds like an awesome trip!!
My cousin just towed his boat up to Karratha (6.3m razorline) and a trip to the Monties is def on the cards!!
sunshine
Posts: 2612
Date Joined: 03/03/09
26 years
My mate up there has lived and worked there for 26 years and this was his very first trip out there.........in the past until the new generation of fuel efficient outboards it was beyond the reach of many pleasure boat owners including him. I would love to tow my 6.8 up there but ONLY when I have fitted a new etec or 4 stroke - the current 200 Jonno is far too fuel hungry and we would simply need to take too much in drums.
Still if my mate buys the 42 foot cat he is chasing we can load a tinny or RIB on the rear davits and sail there again ............fingers crossed
jay_burgess
Posts: 4648
Date Joined: 18/08/05
would love to sail over
would love to sail over there with a tender that would be awesome fun, chuck some lures out the back and get a saily or two on the way there. good stuff.
sunshine
Posts: 2612
Date Joined: 03/03/09
Oddly
As we motored over in super calm seas at around 4-4.5 knots we chucked a couple of lures out the back just to see what might be around - result - not a single touch however I would have loved to have dropped a grassy or similar out but as I was travelling light half my gear remained in Perth
Next time I hope - what I really liked on the way back was the silence apart from the ocean zooming by and the shooosh of the towed dinghy - must say though if towing a tender double rig it with strong rope.........our first attempt snapped on the way out of Dampier as we passed a line boat heading the opposite way -- had it happened later when we were a little sleepier we might well have not noticed it was suddenly adrift and finding it in the dark would be impossible
jay_burgess
Posts: 4648
Date Joined: 18/08/05
Yep our tow rope snapped in
Yep our tow rope snapped in rough seas on the way to the Rowleys... not fun, but not much you can do even with the strongest rope.
Most guys put strobe lights on the tenders in case of this situation.