Jamie J
5/5
Just returned from an amazing 5-day trip to The Montebello Islands on Livewire, one of Pelican Charter’s two commercial charter boats.
Livewire is an awesome boat, set up for fishing but very clean and set up with all the extras you could want when living on board. The accommodation is great, sleeping 14 guests, and with plenty of space to prep gear, sit and eat/drink and socialise when not fishing.
The food onboard was excellent with a full cooked breakfast daily and a menu that provided a lot of variety throughout the day and into the evening. Unlike other charters, the emphasis wasn’t just on eating the fish that were caught but we were treated to steaks, curries, pasta and a mixed grill too.
The skippers Pete and Brandon are entertaining and very knowledgeable. We were also lucky to have a few good deckies onboard that helped with preparing the bait, netting and gaffing fish and dealing with the infrequent yet inevitable tangles.
The fishing was excellent – the skippers decided to split the trip out to the islands with drops on a few spots and we were all pretty happy to be pulling up Rankin Cod, Coral Trout, Red and Spangled Emperor and an assortment of other target species. We also had a few good Spanish Mackerel on the way out to these spots. We spent a few hours pulling in some heavy duty demersals before continuing to the islands for dinner. On the way the deckies filleted, vacuum packed and froze the fish in the on-board walk-in blast freezer.
For the next few days we trolled, jigged and bottom-bounced our way around the islands before it was decided that we had enough fish in the blast freezer to remain within the bag limits whilst giving all the guests a box of fish to take home. This left us with a day for exploring the Islands.
Livewire dropped us on the beach and off we went for some various fun activities – mud crabbing at low tide, squidding or having a cast for some GT’s, we also visited the site of the 1952 atomic bomb test site, which is worth the visit if you haven’t been before.
All in all, this was an amazing trip, on a full spec boat with a great crew that made you feel welcome and comfortable – they put us on some incredible fish and I’m sure we will all remember the excitement this created between not only the fishers but the crew too.
The final day came far too quickly, but the sting was taken out of the disappointment when we each collected out foam cool box packed with our filleted and vacuum-packed frozen fish.
I cannot recommend Pelican Charters highly enough – go and treat yourself to a fisherman’s trip of a lifetime – you won’t be disappointed!
