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Its been a while since ive used any of the camping gear so this weekend i decided a trip to the basin with my wife and Steve, my apprentice at work..or sometimes referred to as my bitch would be a good idea. Ive been doing a bit of research lately of what the basin has to offer in the way of waterside camping, and found what looked like a great spot, close to some great fishing.
We were all loaded up and left home at around 9am on Saturday morning and after a quick stop in Ulladulla for some essential items (JD cans and ice) we were on our way, it took a few u-turns and swear words to find the right track but eventually we found it, a tight rutted out track weaving through the bush. About 1klm in, we came to a stop with a massive puddle blocking the road, i was in my wifes AWD Toyota, and Steve had my 2wd Hilux so after checking the water depth and softness of the substrate i decided it was worth a shot so i went through first and well.....it was softer than i thought and i nearly sunk and bogged the wifes car, the front wheels managed to creep up onto dry land and pulled us out thankfully.
We thought it wouldnt be a good idea to try the hilux through it so Steve had to back track a little and take an alternative route to make it back to where we waited for him. With that out of the way, we were on the move again slowly making our way closer to the water until we again got held up by a large puddle, there was no way around this one so i went through then we filled the hole up as much as we could with whatever we could find and Steve was told to hit the puddle with speed to get through. Hit it with speed is exactly what he did, maybe a little too much but he got through so its all good.
The next obsticle was a stretch of about 200m of thick slippery clay track, with deepish ruts on both sides, and as soon as i hit it in the AWD it turned sideways but keeping the power on slightly it held itself in the ruts and as i looked back, Steve was just as sideways as i was, so we managed to hold them both on a 45deg. angle to the road sliding for the whole length of the sloppy area, i was having too much fun just driving in but i was also getting very keen to wet a line. I could see the water through the tree's so i knew we were close, but as we rounded what i thought might be the last bend, we were blocked by a massive puddle that we were not going to get even close to getting through, and the bush was far too dense to bypass it :(
I saw a small track to the right no far before the big puddle so we figured we may as well see where that would take us, it would be a shame to go through what we had already done to get that close only to turn back without finding a camp so we had nothing to lose. A short trip down the small but easy track, we popped out into a perfect, flat clearing right on the edge of a very fishy looking creek, it really is a stunning piece of land so we all agreed this is where we would camp the night.
We setup camp as quick as we could and rigged some fishing gear and launched into the dead calm, quiet and fishy looking creek and cast shallow hardbodies and soft plastics to the edges and snags. Results were almost instant, but the fish were small, mainly bream but some tiny flathead were hitting the lures as well, it was hard to concentrate on the fishing though, it was just too funny watching Steve trying to get his lure back out of every 2nd tree he cast towards. I soon had my attention back to the fishing when a big EP hit my soft plastic right as it hit the surface with a typical EP style surface strike that scared the crap out of me, with a tight drag i did my very best to keep the fish away from the snag he came out of but he really wanted to get home and won the fight when he wrapped the line around a submerged branch.
The small fish kept on coming after that, and so did Steve's wild casts, some higher in tree's than ive ever seen before, but somehow he never lost a lure. I tied on a Camion SR and cast right up into the corner of a large fallen tree and the bank, and retrieved the lure along side the timber and saw a flash of silver race out and belt the lure, with the drag set even tighter than before i was confident but became concerned when the fish started to tow the yak towards the snag and before i knew it i was right in there with the fish in plain sight just under a branch and i was able to confirm it as a large black bream, i figured all i could do was try to pull him out but he had already made his escape plan and snapped me off on the timber as soon as i put the pressure on him.
2 good fish lost, i was frustrated but keen to keep trying so i went back to camp for a quick feed and launched again in the last hour of light for the afternoon, this was obviously the time for the flatties to be on the bite, every few casts i landed flatties of various sizes but they were not what i wanted. Light faded and casting got difficult so i called it a day and pedaled back to camp dissapointed but eager to get back to it first thing in the morning, so i re-tied leaders and lures while having a few cans and got ready for an early night. Morning arrived and the conditions were brilliant so hopes were high for some more action on the big bream and EP's
After an hour without a touch, those hopes soon faded and after another hour with still no luck i decide the best option would be to head out into the basin and fish deep water.
We pedaled/paddled out of the creek and out of the bay into the main basin to a particular spot i usually find good bream at, and the conditions out there were just as good as in the creek, i have never see the basin so flat before. First cast with an Ecogear blade was hit by a decent flattie which Steve wanted to keep for dinner tonight, so it went into the esky. Then a few casts later my blade was hit on the drop by a solid bream in about 7m of water, after a few screaming runs to hooks popped out and another good fish earned its freedom :(
I was starting to wonder what was going on, then a few more casts later i was hit on the drop again but actually managed to land this fish that measured in at around 30cm to the fork.
I soon landed another average basin bream that again hit the lure on the drop, i had not even had a touch during a retrieve, but the only hits i was getting were all on the drop, so i suggested to Steve he should try a lighter blade as he was getting no action either. He tied on the smallest blade he had, and like mine, he was hit on the drop and landed his first fish on a blade, which was a nice bream at about 35cm to the fork, then shortly after lost another one that hit the blade on the drop and judging by the fight we called it for a better bream than his previous, we fished the area for about 2hrs in total and didnt get 1 touch retrieving a blade, all hits and landed fish were all on the drop, just as the lure hit bottom.
Satisfied with our session we headed back to pack the gear up and prepare for the trip home, and after packing up Steve decided to have a cast from the bank with a Tiemco sinking stick minnow and pulled a nice 33cm bream from the end of a snag at the campsite. It was a good fish to end a fun trip, but unfortunately for us it was time to go and attempt to get back through the mud and ruts that nearly caught us out on the way in, and it was just as much fun as before :D
Im sure that creek will have some good sessions to offer so im looking forward to heading back there asap for another go at them.
