Bedford Weir

Sunset on the McKenzie

Bedford Weir Campground is 26 km from Blackwater on the McKenzie River. We had camped here before in September 2015 to fish in the “Saratoga Spectacular” fishing competition. Long term followers of my travel blog might remember that we were spectacularly unsuccessful in catching any Toga but Linda won $100 in the novelty red claw draw.

We had been keeping in contact with our caravaning friends Steve and Carol who were meandering north from Vic so we met up and headed out to the campground.

Tea break

Linda and I were determined to better our Saratoga record (zero last visit) but after flogging the water to foam for four hours a day for a week only catfish saw the landing net. Time for a change of plan – early in the week Linda had a smashing hit on a spinner bait which looked “toga-erish” so out came the smaller spinner baits and lots more Toga hits. Linda soon had two big 70cm Toga in the net but after 5 hook-ups I still had zero score. 

Catfish Kerry

On the morning of our pack-up day I set out to our favorite spot for a final foray to snatch a sneaky Toga and was finally successful with a 65cm fish netted and photographed 15 min before go home time. Bad news was that on the way back to the ramp my outboard failed and I may have cooked the motor. Last three kilometers was on my little electric motor with breath held wondering if the battery would hold out.

Roast dinner with friends

Enough about fishing – every afternoon/evening we enjoyed the company of our friends Steve, Carol and Roxy (the bull dog) sitting around the camp fire for drinks, cards, cook-ups, more drinks and lots of laughs.

Sad to leave Bedford Weir but we will always have great memories of laughter, food, card comps, wine and beer, camp fires and the occasional elusive Toga.

Made a short video link is HERE