Fishermans Paradise to Sheringa – You dont get smarter as you get older , you just run out of dumb things to do

Fishermans Paradise to Sheringa Beach to 25th 29th Jan

Leaving Ceduna we struggled to find this free campsite. There were a few rocky lay-bys that had been used by some campers with great views but no access to the beach but we were persistent in our search. We found a tantalising spot right on the ocean with a 1 metre drop to the sand and water. Huge sand dunes in the back ground at one end of an amazing long sandy beach with big surf you can see how this place got its name We only had to get the car and van over a relatively small dune to access the big flat area where we could camp. Long story short we ended up straddling the dune with car on one slope and caravan on the other ! We had 30 minutes of digging and using the recovery trax before we were free. Needless to say we were a bit bemused when we later found out there was another track that by passed the very same dune . ( It did mean leaving was a piece of cake).

Despite its name the fishing here was hard work and not productive. The beach had very soft sand for driving and despite having tyre pressures right down to 15psi the car was having to work really hard at the eastern end of the beach.

There were big patches of submerged seaweed that arbitrarily moved along the beach and i lost 4 sets of tackle to this invisible foe ! Sum total for three afternoons of fishing was one 15cm juvenile salmon. Im sure in other weather conditions it fishes well.

We happened on to this baby dolphin washed up on the beach .

The dunes at the back of the area where we camped were fun too. With sunset trips being taken each evening.

We had a trip further east along the coast road to Point Labatt Sea-lion colony. We loved it . We ere probably 100metres above the colony of around 30 Australian fur seals and New Zealand fur seals. They were mainly lazing around but a few adolescents were chasing each other in the sea and rock pools and you could track their antics under the crystal clear water from our perch.

The weather changed from southern winds and 25 degrees to Easterlies and 38 degrees with days of 40 to follow.

Streaky Bay was the closest town and we had a few beers on the deck at the Hotel and a walk along the historic jetty .

Next on the journey was Sheringa a well know surf destination that has some great 10 bucks a night camping on either the long sandy beach or in one of the coves to the western end. We found a great little spot with our own cove . Perched on a slab to rock we had views out to the rolling ocean and a deep sandy beach to loll around on. The weather got itself into gear and we had two days in the high 30s and low 40s with overnight temperatures of 30 . We had the generator set up so that we use the air con in the van but ended up not using it as the breeze was coming just at the right angle to keep us cool. It was great to sit up late in this balmy heat as we worked our way through our box set of Vikings on the outside tv !
Now to the fishing .
On the afternoon of day 1 i caught lots (@25) of Salmon around the 20cm mark using metallic lures. I caught one Salmon of around 3kgs on the surf rod with bait.

I was up early on day 2 in the wonderfully warm morning weather and fished the sunrise on our short but picturesque cove with my 8 foot rod and metal slice lures.
I was soon onto a good salmon which was clearing the water and somersaulting as it put up a very spirited fight.
I then got hooked onto another almost straight away around the same size. At this point i notice something different about the rock formation at the end of the cover where i was fishing .

It was much bigger and darker that it had been the previous afternoon. Was it the dreaded seaweed coming to spoil my fun ? I could then make out that there were two distinct shapes – the rock and then this new much darker shape . I then realised i was watching one of my fishing bucket lists. A shoal of Australian Salmon. The share was around 80 meters long and around 20 metres wide . Goodness knows how many fish were in the shoal. I then caught more decent sized salmon in the next 45 minutes than i have in the rest of my fishing days . Probably over 30 fish between 3kg and 5 kg. Each putting up a great fight and all being successfully released. I then watched as a small pod of 3 Dolphins came and mercilessly smashed this shoal time and time again sometimes hitting salmon out of the ocean with their tails .
The shoal was pretty much dispersed and disappeared from view .

I started seeing fish everywhere – even clouds

I kept my eye on the cove for the rest of the day as we energetically did not much at all ! The shoal came back and this time Kate was up and about so we walked down together. Kate practiced her casting and also had some great experience hauling in a high quality sports fish. We then had a break as we watched the shoal split by what looked to be a decent size Bronze Whaler shark .
All up We probably caught around 40 between us. The generator was fired up and the big thick fillets were vacuum sealed and frozen leaving the best ones for lunch .

We had great fun watching our nearest neighbours out surfing the morning waves and also a family of surf dudes and dudesses with little blonde haired surf babies running around having a bbq on a platform high above the main surf beach. Very all Australian stuff !
Unfortunately the weather broke and it was early to bed with cold winds from the south and it actually rained overnight – how very dare you !

Is this a through road ?

I loved this gaffa tape engineered U bend at the long drop !

Salubrious fishing shack !

Hopefully these links take you to videos of our fishing exploits !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHKfCYlyFPE