Pennefather River 16th May
We were heading for Cullen Point and on the way we were due to pass the turn off for Pennefather River which reportedly had good camping and great fishing. Bit of a huddle and we all agreed it would be rude not to check it out. So we drove the 30 k and it was a very good investment after some swamp water crossings we hit the dunes then what unveiled itself was a bit of Australia that had inland reef fishing , lagoon fishing ,deep estuarine river fishing and permanent camp tents. Heaven .
We started fishing at 1pm (including Kate ) and finished at after dark at around 8 pm. Now we only caught one fish ( Ross landed a little Queen fish) . Which doesn’t sound too exciting but it was. I had three huge fish on momentarily then off along with four other near misses. I was using my beach caster rod with a big heavy popper as i was able to reach the deep river and hence the bigger fish but i couldnt land one. Adams rod snapped ( probably a manufacturing flaw) and I lost a rod too . I had one rod with prawns on all day and nothing was touching it . Just before sunset when all the big fish were running and hitting the lures something silently took all the line on the reel that pulled the rod out of its holder and into the water . Kate saw it as it unfolded but it happened so quickly that it was gone. Earlier in the day Ross had emptied the livies bucket into the river . A mangrove jack of eating size came right to the edge to get stuck into the dead fish, Ross just missed it with the landing net . So tally for the day . 1 broken rod ,1 lost rod , a dozen missed bites a little queenie and Kate now is an expert in the art of handline fishing .
At sunset on the last day I went fishing off the headland on my own . A bull shark came up to the surface and ripped my tackle off the line with ease .
At Pennefather there were raised platforms with heavy canvas tents dotted along the dunes. The dilapidated rangers lodge had solar power for the bore hole and kitchen / accommodation. It had clearly had quite a bit spent on it in the past but it had been pretty much trashed. We spoke to a woman who had been camping at this spot every year for over 20 years. She reckoned that originally it had been a drying out rehab centre for the indigenous community providing the remoteness for such a facility. Then it had been turned into a turtle rehab centre as this stretch of coast is renowned for turtles nesting. She reckoned that both initiatives had run out of steam and had been allowed to deteriorate. Sad really on both counts. There was however a solar satellite community phone which had free land line calls to australia – surreal !
We tried our hand at mud crab hunting which involves chasing them in the mud flats of a receding tide whilst being crocwise of course. Nets are the choice of kings i had to do with a McGiver metal rod on a stick but it came up with a starter for tea . Not much left of the crab body after the chase but the claws were excellent .
On our drive out of Pennefather river we took the opportunity to have a freshwater wash . Adam kindly conducted a Milat style croc watch !
