Lake Bonney 24hr Fishing Trip
Someone mentioned lake Bonney for fishing, so i had to go check it out. A 24h session was organised and the 2 hour drive from our home, north of Adelaide, organised for a 10am start, with a few stops along the way to investigate future fishing opportunities.
It was breezy when we arrived around 1pm and we set up on the far bank from Barmera around 200 meters down from the toilets.
i had three companions with me, one of which was eager to catch their first carp, along with my daughter who wanted to sleep in her hammock in the trees. Camp was established behind the track in the trees and rods positioned on the grass by the waters edge.
The bait was mixed and squeezed around the lead and cast out around 50m into 2m of water on the hard sandy bottom.
we didn't have long to wait with the first fish landed within the hour and several more to follow before the breeze turned into a hooley, making the fishing very difficult with the waves.
However the largest fish of the session was landed in these difficult conditions.
The sun set, the moon rose and the rods reeled in.
The morning was beautiful and fresh and the water was calm with a slight ripple. My guest now wanted to try carp fishing for the first time so a rod was prepared and she cast out with excellent form landing in the right place first time. Within the hour her first fish was landed with great delight.
Lots more small fish where caught before turtles and the pelicans moved in, so we called it a day and packed up camp for our return trip home.
An enjoyable trip was had by all. A great destination for campers with a chance of catching a few small fish while enjoying a cold one while sitting with your feet in the water. One night didn't appear to be long enough for our stay. With the fishing trip being so far from home ($50 in fuel) 3 or 4 nights would have been more relaxing.
Also a water of this size would require a lot of bait/burley to move the big fish within casting range. Large fish where showing at 140 to 200m out in the lake.
Another Lake Bonney Fan :D
Used to go here when I was a kid and loved it, have not been back though but have visited other spots on the murray.
I like using really light line so you have to play with the fish, which makes it more fun. I do the same thing when I go bream fishing
Most places on the Murray are now inaccessible due to shacks and fencing etc. Those that you can get to for camping and fishing are now signposted that you have to book in advance and pay $15 per night. There are only 4 or 5 places that i know of that are still free.
OH damn I have not been to the river in about 7 years, There were some good spots around nildottie and walker flat. I hope they are still accessible. Great spots down there with the cliffs on the other side
Only place that i found accessible near or at Nildottie, is at Greenways Landing. There are several camping spots by the landing strip. Still free - i was down there 3 weeks ago. We tried walker flat but couldn't get access to the water for fishing. Please let me know if you find access when you next travel and i will investigate... Thanks.
Yeah the cliffs along that area make it hard to access, usually I travel on the eastern side of the river looking for spots.
I'm gonna go this weekend or next weekend, if the spot I like to go is still accessible I will mark it on google maps and take some photos of how to get there from the ferry at walker flaat
Great run down. Is it deep, do you know?
Could you possibly wade out that far?
I'm really getting keen now :)
I’ve got waders Matt, so far I only know how to not-drown in them, so would be good to catch some fish with them too:)
i don't know how you catch fish with waders, i prefer a rod and line... :) Seriously though, if you want to wade out, your best option would be the adjacent shore before you reach the bridge. mix half a loaf of bread with some water in a bucket and mash it all up sloppy as possible throw in the water where you are out in the water. Lots of action from lots of small fish.
Thanks @realtreebivvy! Will give it a crack. You should try catching them with waders too-simply mush a loaf of bread into the toes of the wader boots, walk in deep til waders fill with water and await the exilirating feeling;)
Just kidding-don’t try this at home kids!
With waders on you could get around 20m from the bank before the increasing depth would be too much for your "chesties". Depth was stable at around 2m. With my carp gear i can chuck a lead 140m and found very little variation and no features in our swim. If you want deeper water, you could try near the bridge/entry with Loch Luna. if you camp down the adjacent bank before you reach the toilets, you might be able to wade out 30 - 40m. Similar fishing to Tolderol and Point Sturt.
We’d never even think of Fishing for carp up here in Queensland. Barra, Red Bream and too many other great fish up here. They use the carp to make liquid fertiliser for the garden.
Due to poor environmental management of waterways, the fresh water quality is exceedingly poor here in SA. Not helped by other states taking excessive water and polluting the Murray Darling system. As a result native fish are extremely rare and the best chance of catching a fish, any fish is to go for carp. Other states have fish stocking programs, but due to poor quality water, they refuse to re-stock our waterways. And SA Government just continue talking crap with no intention of improving water quality. They recently poisoned all our local waterways with Rotenone to improve water quality killing 16000 carp and this is celebrated by the local council and Mayor. So far they have killed 26000 carp at a cost of $$220000. The Government and council spouted lies on how this poison only kills carp, but a quick google search will show it is an insecticide and this would have wiped out most aquatic life in the eco system. There is now no fresh water fishing within an hours drive of where i live. Any other civilised country would have these people arrested and charged with environmental terrorism. If the "Australian Government" proceed with their plan to introduce a virus to kill the carp, with a large quantity of those carp sinking to the bottom to rot, most of our waterways will be nothing more than a putrid sewer with no fish and no fishing for decades to come. The carp grow very large and fight very hard, great sport if you have the gear to handle them and easy to put a feed on the table.
Well I’ll have to broaden my fishing horizons next time I’m in South Aussie.
Wonder why they don’t do something like Charlie Carp fertiliser down there with so much fish to turn into a useful and valuable resource.