Tag Archives: 4wding

Channel Point adventure

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Decided to head down to Channel Point to go blue water fishing for the weekend, have a camp and two days of fishing. Got amazingly lucky with the wind, I did not realise how much the boat ramp is affected by the slightest breeze.

Got down there on Saturday afternoon and launched in around 12 knots which was difficult but not too much worries. After the difficult launch I realised I had left the sounder in the car so we got to go back in. I was glad I had a poly anyway. Tried to fish the low for some Jewies on the shelf but got smashed by sharks and catfish. Plus a goldie, which was borderline, but we were in 6 metres so decided to let him go. Mud got the best of the sharks. Headed to one of the nearby islands where Alice got smoked off a lure, but we were unable to get them to bite and we were fast running out of light.

Camped the night, it is a pretty cool place, toilets and some cold showers. Had a really clear night for the stars, I think it dropped to around 9 degrees, really enjoyed it getting down that low.

Woke up the next morning. While we were getting ready Alice decided to go for a wander down at the magroves, came back holding a sizeable buck. She’s getting pretty good at chasing and catching them, little did we know that would be the best thing of the day…

We just got nothing! Hit some structure, hit some reefs marked on the map, never got a single bite. Hit the reef at about 2 metres casting some lures, got nothing. Didn’t even see a fish, even a small fish. Went back and saw some birds working a section, cast some lures but they were 20cm Blue Salmon. The wind was totally dead on Sunday, it was such a shame that there weren’t any fish in the ocean!

Got:
Me: Lots of sharks and catfish, 1 goldie, estimated 30cm
Alice: Lots of sharks, blue salmon, 1 nice mud crab
Mud: The biggest shark, catfish

Story of the trip:
Getting so luck with the wind

Boat problems:
Motor was acting pretty funny at the end, though it was pretty low in fuel. Anyway I won’t be fishing for a while 🙁 so I am going to get it serviced.

Snap

Shady Camp Crowded

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The spring-high looked pretty good for Shady Camp. Mud and I decided to head down to the same spot that we did so well on. Wow, oh wow, four weeks can make a difference. Last time there were one other two boat there, this time at 8am there were seven.

No doubt everyone has been through this before, you live in Darwin, travel 2.5 hours to a remote location, and it is bow to stern crowded.

Unsurprisingly, the fishing wasn’t as good as last time.

Frustratingly, it was especially bad for me.

Looking around at the other boats, most got a fish or two, but it seems I can declare that section overfished. But who knows, things vary from day to day, maybe soon it will be going off again.

Mud hooked a very large barra, around 80-90cm at the start of the day. He fought it for a bit, unfortunately it broke through the leader. I suggested the drag wasn’t loose enough (see previous Shady story) but I guess these things happen, I think he is going to start rocking 80lb mono.

When the tide turned and started dropping they came on a bit more. Alice got the first fish (had to pass it to Mud for a second to get it from under a snag, see video) but she was pretty happy getting the first fish of the day. Mud soon hooked a fish and handed the rod over to Alice, she didn’t have too much trouble getting it in, a nice 67cm barra.

At this point there was a certain debate about what to do with the fish, I didn’t realise my boat was a democracy, and it was let go.

Another fish was hooked which wrapped itself under a snag, my guess from the jump was around 55-60cm.

Other than that I was standing there casting for 6 hours straight with nothing to show for it!

Ah well, always next time.
Got:
Me: Nothing, two hits, but zero hook ups
Alice – Mud’s daughter: 1 58cm barra, 1 67cm barra
Mud: Nothing, though hooked the 67

Story of the trip:
The way that that tiny stretch that we found last time had turned into nav-point-alpha for most of Darwin.

Boat problems:
Went great! Pretty happy these days

Snap

Butterfly Gorge – 22/09/13

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We decided to take our good friends Tom & Ails down to Butterfly Gorge. It is a series of rock pools in a narrow gorge with very steep and beautiful escarpment.

The 4WD trip was nice, I do love getting out on the tracks, but I have to admit I like the softer tracks more. We got there and there was barely anyone there, and that was the same for most of the day, which always makes for a good trip.

Claire and I had been there before, but it is still one of the best places to go for a swim. We entertained ourselves with a makeshift water slide down a rock, Tom being the most awkward, and Claire being the one who managed to put a large bruise on herself. Of course.

I would highly recommend everyone sees Butterfly Gorge at least once.


Me at the entrance. Gotta love crocs-n-sox


Claire and me in one of the pools

Camping in South Eastern Kakadu

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An amazing trip. One of those trips where everything goes according to plan, the weather was nice, the locations were great, more than a few laughs.

First Claire and I went down to Garnamarr and set up camp. We didn’t burn any wood on the first night as it was pretty warm. The stars were just amazing. We had both been working pretty hard and hadn’t been out in a while, it felt like we were on holidays.

The next morning we headed to Twin Falls. The river crossing was great fun. It is paved, so not as scary as it looks. When you get there, you then take a boat. The indigenous guide/captain was really interesting, he told us a few stories, what the land means and so forth. I found it interesting that all indigenous cultures across Australia believe that a serpent created the earth. Anyway – when we got there, wow! It was paradise on earth. Beach, vegetation, escarpment, rock pools, still a trickle of a waterfall…


Just a real shame that it is now closed for swimming. So we headed to Jim Jim Falls.

Jim Jim wasn’t flowing at this time of year. The walk was interesting… the distance is quite short, but it takes forever, as you need to jump from large rock to large rock to get there. The water was colder than I expected, and the water right at the base of the fall (pictured) was freezing!! Who would have thought?

There were a lot of people there, it is clearly a popular place for guides. It was great, but it still amazes me that Maguk gets so little attention in comparison. After a swim, a packed lunch, and an even longer trip back, (tried to take a shortcut, that was my first mistake) we headed back to camp.

The stars were even brighter than the night before, if I had any skill as a photographer I would have tried to take a photo. We lit a fire for cooking and also to keep the midgees away. Nothing better than having a few beers around a campfire. We stayed up late before packing up and heading home.

 


On the trail


The River Crossing