Montie's trip Nov 22' - Montebello Island Safari's
Gday guys, just got back from a week's fishing the Montie's with 13 mates from over east with Montebello Island Safari's.
Could have not asked for better weather bar the last day, too good infact and unfortunately the targeted fish I had in mind on stick baits were very hard to tempt with little to no swell.
Had an absolute ball catching up with friends again, the usual great banter, beers and some well earned fish on our part.
I had finished this post by setting out a day by day break down of what we got upto and what we fished for, explaining how the days unfolded but after typing it all out I realised the post was, well, kinda pretty negative towards Montebello Island Safari's itself as a whole being the facilities, equipment and boats, predominately not alot of positivity towards the skipper and as a consequence of poor leadership and direction, the deckie's as well.
Each day was pretty challenging on alot of fronts and not because of us as a group but we made it work and had an absolute ball.
The reason I say this is that it was us as a group, the paying customer that made the trip memorable for the good times we had and the fish we caught, could it have been better, your damn right it could have been, a whole lot better for a whole lot of reasons and being a pretty positive type of person I just deleted the whole post.
Maybe it was because we were the 2nd last charter for the year and everyone from M.I.S had just had enough and were ready to pack up and take a break, I'm not sure to tell you the truth.
A couple of photo's I had on my phone and still waiting for quite a few more.
Faulkner Family
Posts: 17863
Date Joined: 11/03/08
Sounds like the trip could
Sounds like the trip could have been done with a whole new crew. Not good .
At least you guys made the most of it all and had a great time with mates and a few fish and dare I say a few too many beverages along the way.
Some great pics there those golden trev go hard
RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together
NORUN NOFUN
Posts: 1018
Date Joined: 15/08/11
Cheers Russ, the goldens were
Cheers Russ, the goldens were an absolute ball as they were on the flats in groups of 10 or so in a metre of water and hungry lol
big john
Posts: 8726
Date Joined: 20/07/06
Nice work
How did the lure hold up? All good by the looks of things.
Always nice doing your own thing on your own vessel (if you can). That way you're in control of pretty much everything, even the stuff ups!
WA based manufacturer and supplier of premium leadhead jigs, fligs, bucktail jigs, 'bulletproof' soft plastic jig heads and XOS bullet jig heads.
Jigs available online in my web store!
NORUN NOFUN
Posts: 1018
Date Joined: 15/08/11
Hey John, lures held up
Hey John, lures held up really well on the macks, some very decent teeth marks and damage so I'm going to swap over to the Norglass epoxy that I have been wanting to try out for a new clear coat.
The BKK hooks were super sticky too which really helped with the coral trout smacking lures at higher speeds.
Markie
Posts: 2140
Date Joined: 06/08/10
Mate I could go on and on
Mate I could go on and on about that disgraceful charter operation. Never again and ours was probably worse since we were the very first trip on there new boat(old junk) 2 yrs ago. From things like running out of water, to freezers not working to getting drenched in your sleep, to no tender supplied etc etc
BlueKiaser
Posts: 422
Date Joined: 22/04/15
Monties charters
I've done 3 trips to the Montebellos with Apache and they have treated us very well (plus a couple of trips to Dirk Hartog).
We try to arrange it so Matt (owner/operator) is skippering for us.
But it is always good hearing a diverse range of feedback about other options.
Scotty, did the sharks manage to decorate their jaws with any of your quality lures?
You would have had extra incentive to get your catch to the boat in record time.
davewillo
Posts: 2258
Date Joined: 08/09/16
Sounds like you made the
Sounds like you made the most of an unpleasant situation Scotty. Good to see your lures hanging out of some bloody good fish mouths!
PGFC member and lure tragic
Shark1
Posts: 1084
Date Joined: 21/05/12
bloody sad to hear - i drove
bloody sad to hear - i drove Kaylin for a while
punters had bloody good trips- but thats 12 plus years ago
we had an almost 90% return rate
Alan James
Posts: 2206
Date Joined: 30/06/09
Nice work
The lures look great and thanks for the heads up about M.I.S.
If you ever consider making some large deeeeep divers let me know. During my recent trip to Vanuatu we donated a few to the fish and reef gods. These things pull harder than anything else I've ever used including Rapalas, Yo-Zuri hydro magnums and 40+ X-Raps. 10kg of drag minimum required to tow them. Body length 200mm. Replacing them is proving to be a problem.
sea-kem
Posts: 14857
Date Joined: 30/11/09
Great write up and pics
Great write up and pics Scotty, good to see the lures doing their job you'd have to be pretty stoked with that.
Love the West!
NORUN NOFUN
Posts: 1018
Date Joined: 15/08/11
Hey Bluekiaser, no trouble
Hey Bluekiaser, no trouble with the sharks, a bit of selective casting at the right time helped though as the other guys were getting hammered on occasions.
The first day bottom bouncing was an eye opener as the sharks were onto the boat pretty quickly, we came across a school of XOS spangled emporer in the 80cm and above class that was alot of fun but quickly realised once a couple of fillets were removed that they were full of roe, to my surprise the skipper was happy to keep hitting them knowing they were big breeders, the skipper set up on the next run through them but no one dropped and we all said "mate, they are big breeders, the sharks are here, let's get the *uck outta here" , this was a real bonding moment between everyone and set the tone to the skipper that we are not a bunch of freezer fillers.
Swompa
Posts: 3786
Date Joined: 14/10/12
Love you and your mates
Love you and your mates attitude. Shame the charter operator is just in it for the cash.
NORUN NOFUN
Posts: 1018
Date Joined: 15/08/11
Hey Markie, you have a pretty
Hey Markie, you have a pretty understanding of what I could have said mate.
Markie
Posts: 2140
Date Joined: 06/08/10
Friends
Like you guys us lads made the trip work out and still had a ball. One deckie was really good and that was his first and last trip with them haha.
NORUN NOFUN
Posts: 1018
Date Joined: 15/08/11
Hey Shark, yah it is a shame
Hey Shark, yah it is a shame as its a great concept with the houseboat, cheers for the heads up on the muddie's, we didnt hit the closest creek but one that was a little north and had a ball as we got blown off the water for that afternoon and it coincided with a low tide.
Hey Alan, I have considered making deep divers but unfortunately time is something I don't have and it takes months and months to develop new lures and I still need to try and fill orders for existing lures that I make. Handcrafted timber lures are in high demand these days and I spend most of my time filling orders. I have a good mate in Darwin who makes some killer deep diving lures, again pretty hard to get as he is in high demand but drop him a message and tell him Scotty from Perth put you onto him and he may will let you know what he has or can make if you tell him what you are chasing, super nice guy and makes a very strong lure and very affordable. Stix lures, Darwin.
Cheers Andy, yah i was pretty stoked to put a few lures together out of my discard box in record time and then catch fish as well, very satisfying, I think I may have become a hoarder and will now never throw anything away as it may come in handy one day lol.
davewillo
Posts: 2258
Date Joined: 08/09/16
Scotty I still have Laser
Scotty I still have Laser Pros in their packets from a trip before my son was born and it's his 21st next year! The plastic went brown and then has basically disintegrated so I know all about hoarding mate! I suspect that most on here would be much the same.
PGFC member and lure tragic
NORUN NOFUN
Posts: 1018
Date Joined: 15/08/11
Haha Dave, time to crack them
Haha Dave, time to crack them out mate and wet a line with the young fella. I like to collect old aussie made timber lures and bought 2 x old map draws to accommodate them all with plenty of room left over for new old lures lol
NORUN NOFUN
Posts: 1018
Date Joined: 15/08/11
Cheers Swompa
Cheers Swompa