Snottygobble Sojurn

Might have to rename the blue boat - Trout Reaper

Since reading a story in a fishing magazine over a year ago about catching black bream and rainbow trout on the same lure in the same spot on the Donnelly River https://parks.dpaw.wa.gov.au/site/donnelly-boat-landing   in southern WA, my mate John and I had planned a couple of days swaging and fishing to test the story.

Plan was to head off after the school holidays and before the winter rains – so the date was set for mid February.

We camped at Snottygobble (yep weird name – apparently a type of tree with a cold?) camp ground which is about 5km from the boat ramp. There are eleven designated camp areas, most are small areas suitable for tents with tables and fireplaces and there is a basic camp kitchen area and two long drop dunnies. A bonus is the fact that Carey Brook runs just behind the campground and has two easy access tracks to the clean running water – great for a wash after a hard days fishing.

The Donnelly River at this location runs about 10km from the boat ramp the ocean. At this time the entrance was not open and the backed up water level was high and the water almost fresh. It’s a pretty pristine river - narrow at the ramp, opening up to a wider area near the ocean. There are some substantial “shacks” down near the river mouth with some of them having lots of glass, lawns, water, SAT TV, and solar wind generators.

29cm - bugger!

We fished pretty hard for the two morning and afternoon sessions (almost - my mate had a sleep-in on the last morning) that we were camped for a result of around a dozen bream AND three trout on the same lures and location – yep the story in the fishing mag was true – one of the few spots in Australia where bream and trout are located together.

I hooked a decent 50cm trout and after it jumped twice realised this was no black bream.

Snottygobble camp is an easy 170km drive from home so I will definitely be heading there again to chase the elusive 50cm black bream, one of those jumping trout and try and locate a live and growing Snottygobble.

Short video is HERE

Heading Home

70cm of saltwater barramundi

We spent four great weeks up in North Qld enjoying the hospitality and companionship of old friends, family, mates, the dogs and fishing till I had had enough (never! ). Definitely the best Barra fishing I have ever enjoyed with over 35 Barra landed and a personal best Barra of 70Cm.

Sadly all things must come to an end and it was now time to head west for home. I knew that Linda would be chaffing at the bit to get home – so it was “the pedal to the metal” and travelling at the fastest rate we had ever travelled we were soon at Haslam in SA (west side of Eyre Peninsula).

2,836Km in eight days travelling- it took us six months to get to North QLD !

We decided to do travel to home via Broken Hill as we had never been that way before.

The movie at this link is my biggest effort yet using still camera shots, a few drone shots and a lot of dash-cam footage (something I had not thought of using before despite it recording every minute the car was moving).

They don't mince words out in the bush

Outback QLD and NSW is a bloody mess with most paddocks grazed down to dust , almost no stock to be seen (sold or moved) – hopefully the drought will break soon as its getting pretty desperate out there.  I have seen a lot of road kill on our travels but nothing like what is lying on the side of the road between Charleville and Bourke – thousands and thousands of roos (red and grey), hundreds of emus and a smattering of the smarter goats and pigs.

OH&S gone crazy - a dump point is now a confined space?

We never saw anything that looked like grass till we reached Peterborough in SA.

The movie at this link is my biggest effort yet using still camera shots, a few drone shots and a lot of dash-cam footage (something I had not thought of using before despite it recording every minute the car was moving).

Link to my longer than usual video is HERE

Across the Nullarbor in two days’ time – after watching the Eagles win!!

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

Glebe Weir

The Glebe Weird Mob

We visited Glebe Weir (near Taroom in central Queensland) during our first trip around Australia in 2012. The lure of water-side camping with Saratoga, Yellow Belly, abundant bird life, flushing toilets, and powered sites all for $7/night per van drew us back again this trip.

Unfortunately despite hours out on the water casting spinner baits, walking the dog, jiggling small hard body divers, and even resorting to smelly bait - not a bump or bite was felt.  Luckily the eagles, whistling kites, pelicans, cormorants, ospreys, azure kingfishers, herons, ducks, swallows and cheeky fly catchers kept us amused whilst flogging the water to a foam during our fruitless fishing expeditions. Our red-claw efforts fared no better than our fishing – “you should have been here last month “was the frequent quote from the locals! Not sure why the fishing was so poor but perhaps the full moon and muddy water had something to do with it?

Our solar system neighbours -  Moon and Mars

Talking about moons – while we were camped here the longest total eclipse this century occurred. Apparently the next one is 105 years from now in the Northern hemisphere – did a bit a  mental math and came to the conclusion that I might miss that one - so set the alarm clock for 4:30 AM and donned my coat and beanie to photograph the red  moon.  Despite researching “how to photograph” the moon my resultant photos were a little disappointing with all the photos being a little blurry.  I did the calcs and realised that at my slow 10 second shutter speed the moon moved about 2.5 mins during the shot – enough to perhaps blur the shot (that’s my excuse!).  But was well worth getting out of bed - as the  night sky in the middle of the bush miles from any light pollution is a pretty special on any night and to watch the total eclipse red moon disappear into sunrise was better than listening to Molly (and Linda) snoring.

Packing up the tinny

Since we were here last time the local Banana Shire (good name for a Queensland town 😊😊)  has added a water filtration system for drinking water at the camp – so now a perfect (if the fish came back) bush camp site. Understandably very busy this time of year – but all grey nomads here - so friendly, happy campers.

If you’re thinking of coming this way - a week at Glebe Weir is a great way to spend some time – you might even catch one of those elusive fish 😊.

Made a short video link is HERE (watch out for the drone attacking Galahs).

Inskip Point

The Britton bunch

Whilst visiting family in Brisbane we all decided to head out to Inskip Point for a week of camping, fishing, relaxing and catching up. I can’t recall a time when all four Britton siblings were together for any extended time since we were children so this was going to be a special time for us all.

View across our little bay from our campsite

Inskip Point is situated just outside of Rainbow Beach and is where thousands of 4WD’s catch the ferry across to Fraser Island.  There are several designated camping areas within the Inskip Point Recreational Reserve but after studying Google Earth and Wiki Camps we decided that we would try and secure a spot on the calm inside of the point where it would be safe for my sister's grandson and easy to launch and retrieve our little tinny.

Granddad time!

As is was the start of school holidays on the Friday Linda and I headed off early Thursday as the advance party to try and secure a spot on the calm side for us and the rest of the gang who were to follow on the Friday (apparently some people still work?).  As luck would have it (and a bit of good planning) we got two great spots within meters of the water – but lucky we got there Thursday morning as there were plenty of “lookers” as we were setting  up.

What mud flats?

Beautiful quiet place every night except for one where two middle age “ferals” set up behind us and decided to that is was OK for him to verbally abuse his missus (and anyone else that complained ab out the  noise) till 2:00AM using the loudest and crudest language imaginable. When they started up again just after 7:00AM and the “lady” giving her beau a shovel beating for breakfast we decided enough was enough and rang the cops. A few hours later they were given marching orders and packed up and left – peace and quiet returned!!

It's in the genes! My sister Donna and friend

Fishing was a little quiet with only a few flatties and whiting succumbing to our lures but they were good size and good tucker.

At the Carlo Sand Blow

It was great to spend a week with the Brisbane bunch - fishing, cook-ups, a spit roast, campfires, walks and several coldies being the order of the day.

As usual I made a short video while we were there - it can be found HERE

Pindari Dam

Camp site at Pindari

As were driving away from Pindari Dam after a 12 night stay, Linda and I agreed that this camp is one of our all time favourite spots in Australia!

When we arrived there was  a deep sense of “Déjà vu” as we drove into camp and parked our van at the same spot (even using the same hole to level our van)  that we had parked at almost two and a half years ago we visited this area.

Sunday breakfast

Why do we rate this camp so highly?

• Million dollar views from our van over the dam
• A picnic table provided for each site
• Clean toilets 25 meters from our van
• Hot Showers a 1km drive away
• Over 100km² of dam and river to explore and fish for Murray Cod and Yellow Belly.
• Boat ramp 500 meters away from camp
• More firewood than you can poke a chainsaw at.
• Rubbish bins everywhere
• Wild life galore

*** All of this is provided free ***

Master Angler!

Noting all the pluses above its worth mentioning that the camp is not for everybody.

• There are only 4-5 sites suitable for a caravan (all will test your reversing skills)
• There is no drinking water available
• There are no good walking tracks (too hilly and rocky)
• Nearest shopping and fuel 55Km away at Inverell
• No phone or Internet at the camp (some signal at the shower block 1 km away)
• You need a boat to fully enjoy the spot
• It’s mainly a fishing camp so if fishing isn’t your thing its probably not worth staying long.

We caught up with some guys from the Byron Bay Freshwater Fishing Club who we met at the same spot last time we were here – great bunch of keen fisho’s and beer drinkers.

Pindari Dam – BCF-ing good!

That's my seat!

Short video starring "Molly the Mutt" is HERE

Chaffey Dam

Chaffey at sunset

Readers of my blogs from previous trips may recall that we have stayed at Chaffey Dam 45kms outside of Tamworth several times. A great peaceful spot on the dam with toilets, hot showers, dump point and usually fish. 

Unfortunately despite our best efforts the fish didn’t want to come out and play this visit (a first for Chaffey Dam for us). Even got up an hour before dawn one day to get the early bite but an hour of freezing still didn’t produce any fish!

Our camp at the top

The whole area is very dry at the moment with not much green to be seen anywhere so hopefully they will get some good rain (after we leave!!). The weather when we stayed was near perfect with no wind and minimums of 0C and maximums around 21C.  Great for a fire at night and donning shorts during the day.

Morning chat with Peter the caretaker

We normally camp near the dam so we can leave the tinny in the water but the lower flats had been underwater a year or so ago and dry and dusty so we decided to glamp it and camp close to the toilet and shower area (in hindsight a good decision noting the poor fishing results).

No log too big for a Stihl!

A few notes for travellers:-

• Prices have now gone up to $5/person per night (used to be $5/vehicle)
• The hot showers are $1/shower by donation
• There is no drinking water at Chaffey Dam but lots of shower water from taps supplying dam water. There is beaut drinking water available at Nundle from a tap at the public toilet block just on the outskirts of town.
• Say hello to Peter the cleaner/caretaker - he's been looking after this place for 7 years - 7 days a week and doing a great job!

The girls chilling out

It’s been a while since we have stopped anywhere longer than a week so the break at Chaffey was just what we needed to catch up with reading and Linda even let me win one game of Yahtzee!!

Made a short video – link is HERE