Our trip consisted of 3 vehicles and 7 people, Grant R & his mate Barry, Steve D, his son Andrew & his nephew Liam, Jim and me. We all camped/stayed at the Coffin Bay Caravan Park on the Saturday night before hand, ready for an 8.00am departure to “The Pool” campsite the next day.
Within 20 minutes of Andrew and Liam arriving into the Caravan Park they had caught 2 Salmon Trout…setting high standards for the other fisher folk on the trip.
Next morning, we headed out of the Caravan Park and travelled just a short distance to the National Park, where we aired down for the 3-hour drive to our campsite. To say the least…it is a magical drive, some parts it is a close and gnarly track, some parts are open and rocky; it has sand traps, the ladder, 7 Mile Beach crossing, big rocky potholes with other holes in them – then filled with water, challenging in places, but always spectacular and beautiful. On the beach drive we spotted some rocks that looked like a whale. As we got to it, we realised it was a whale; Jim paced it out at 15m long.
After setting up camp the boys all took to the beach to check out the fishing. Each day was punctuated by many fishing stories…the one that got away…you’re fishing in my spot, and many other fishing tales. There were great laughs and much regaling of each days fishing while sitting around the campfire every evening.
All fishermen caught fish…some more than others…no one left disappointed. I feel it would have been a close tie for “the most fish caught” between Grant R and Andrew D.
The weather gave us a little bit of everything, we had sunshine, wind, light drizzle, heavy drizzle, rain, high wind, rainbows and even sea mists. It was cold but it never rained in the evenings, so we were able to enjoy a campfire each night, then once we were all tucked up in our warm beds, down came the rain!
Our day of departure came and there had been much talk of the beach drive, it was a dodge tide so we were unsure of the effect on the height of the water. Fortunately the sand was hard from the rain and we were able to get out by using the high track above the water line…3 vehicles went in and 3 vehicles came out…no boggings and no recoveries. It was a truly special trip, great company, great fishing, fantastic scenery, excellent 4-wheel driving and I got to read a couple of books sitting on the beach while the boys fished!!! Bliss!!!!!
Thank you, Grant, for organising this trip. You are a wonderful host, awesome fisherman and great friend…. Looking forward to doing it again.
Michele C
