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.