Swordies at Lake Hume PART ONE and PART TWO 2024

[mrsswordfisherman]

It has been sometime since we have taken a fishing trip or any trip really. We have had some health stuff to get sorted and our family arrived back home from UK. Loving being grandparents.

This report is not really a fishing report. In fact despite trying there were about 6 fish caught all week! I will leave it here though for the moment. 

It contains info for others who may be looking at a setup with a caravan, car and rooftop tinny. 

We spend one week at Lake Hume in the Discovery Park Victoria followed by 2 weeks at the Mulwala Ski Park VIC/NSW for the last 3 years. Both have great facilities as you will see in the pics below. 

Swordie spent a while organising the appropriate rods, reels and tackle to take. The lures are many and varied. We targeted Redfin at LH and Murray Cod at LM. We tried plastics, hard bodies, vibes etc but no fish there. We attributed this to the water level going down so fast. 

DAY ONE The drive from Sydney to an overnight stopover at Gundagai broke up the drive. Free fast park wifi 5g and our auto satellite enabled us to watch TV and stream. It also has a weighbridge so we can check we are safe. 
Top pic is the drive through site with an ensuite and bottom is the rig on the weighbridge. All weights perfect and in order. Well done with weight distribution swordie!

 

DAY TWO to DAY EIGHT We arrived after a leisurely couple of hours drive at Lake Hume. The first thing that hit us was the low water level. 
The pic below shows current state (top 2) and bottom 2 in past years. You will see the back of our van! Normally we just push the tinny into the lake and tie it to the tree at the back of the ensuite.

We also usually carry a Bulldog collapsible trailer on the back of the van. It takes a bit of time putting it together and getting boat onto it to launch at a boat ramp. We happened to see a device called a Tinny Hitch and bought it. We did not take the collapsible trailer. 

It worked perfectly and there is another post in The Bar showing the loading, unloading and launching of the tinny using it with the set of wheels we have. It is only good for a few 100 mtres at max. 

During the week we tried very hard to catch Redfin. We had about 10 sessions mostly Stewy alone. Weather was very hot with 2 days at 37 - 39 degrees C. The caravan park has a fabulous resort style pool and we took time to rest and keep cool swimming. 

I even asked on a facebook local fishing page for some help. I posted up my Deckee trip map and most said it had been very poor fishing. The guru of the area said he had no reddies this summer. A few other blokes added some helpful comments. Then another plays the "secret spot game" and mentions lures that he has some connection with!! 

I know why our community is THE best, we actually help each other. No raider spirit on fb. 

Stewy managed to catch about 6 Redfin and we had just one fish dinner. 

The rain came one day and Swordie went out of course ........ nothing again!!!

 

 

We decided to call it quits and take the boat out of the water a day earlier. That was when we encountered some serious problems. A post is to follow on the event that occurred.  

[Little_Flatty]

Great stuff Donna. Been waiting for this report.

Shame the fishing was poor, but bet you were glad to get out all the same after a busy six months or so!

[bessell1955]

You pair have had a great time, well done.

[Yowie]

Have stayed at that Gundagai van park a few times.

Received the van just in time to travel, was all O.K. with the service?

A bugger about the lack of fish, redfin are usually common enough to pull up a few.

Edited February 13 by Yowie

[Restyle]

Awesome time away from the city, fish or no fish. Love the setup, in-fact your making me quite jealous. Leaves us on a cliff hanger for part 2. Looking forward to it 

[mrsswordfisherman]

19 minutes ago, Restyle said:

Awesome time away from the city, fish or no fish. Love the setup, in-fact your making me quite jealous. Leaves us on a cliff hanger for part 2. Looking forward to it 

It’s worth waiting for!

We are now in another small crisis at Lake Mulwala. The weather in Yarrawonga is not great. Melbourne is copping all sorts of damage from storm and fires.

We had a big wind come through the caravan park. 
We are in a good sheltered spot though. 
Stewy had to go help people who lost their awnings (we have a ladder). Everyone pulls together when needed. 
4 out of 6 caravans rolled over down near the river nearby. 
Then it switched to a southerly that cooled it down from 38 degrees to 25 yay but it brought big rain. 
It’s all an adventure in our wonderful country 👏😉🐟🎣
 

[big Neil]

There's a lot of positives in your report Donna. The excellent outcome of the diligent work Stewy put in to setting up the outfit so that you could get out there and live the dream. I trust you will have many, many future trips and lots of great times down the track. The lovely places you are getting to visit and relax in comfort, no doubt some lovely people who you are meeting too.

Alas, the one thing missing is the decent fishing. Your searches through local forums, seeking a bit of camaraderie/local info have been unsuccessful.

Look forward to your posts as you continue your travels.

bn

[noelm]

Do you find it a big deal to get everything (including motor/s) in and out of the boat when you need to “topper” it? Then storing everything you need to go boating/fishing? I have done a bit of car topping (sometimes it’s the only possible option) tried various boats, including folding and inflatable, and (like always) everything is a compromise. Automatic loaders have certainly taken a lot of the hard work out of it, probably my best setup was a tinny, modified to be completely flat on the top, so there was nothing to “catch” when upside down, but that was a manual loader and required rolling upside down, to put on or off the roof.

[Blackfish]

Great lot of photos to go with the trip. Looking forward to the next instalment.

[mrsswordfisherman]

4 hours ago, noelm said:

Do you find it a big deal to get everything (including motor/s) in and out of the boat when you need to “topper” it? Then storing everything you need to go boating/fishing? I have done a bit of car topping (sometimes it’s the only possible option) tried various boats, including folding and inflatable, and (like always) everything is a compromise. Automatic loaders have certainly taken a lot of the hard work out of it, probably my best setup was a tinny, modified to be completely flat on the top, so there was nothing to “catch” when upside down, but that was a manual loader and required rolling upside down, to put on or off the roof.

It has taken a few years to get to this point. Stewy is happy with our setup now. 
We store in the car and in hatches in the van. 

[noelm]

I guess if you’re staying somewhere for a few days or more, getting everything ready is OK, but, for a “quick” fish, maybe simply oars might be sufficient to just get around? It’s impossible to have everything, we all want a 50’ caravan with a 20’ boat, and a tinny, and a kayak, and a motor bike and a tent………you just have to sift out what you NEED and what you can handle together.

[mrsswordfisherman]

1 hour ago, noelm said:

I guess if you’re staying somewhere for a few days or more, getting everything ready is OK, but, for a “quick” fish, maybe simply oars might be sufficient to just get around? It’s impossible to have everything, we all want a 50’ caravan with a 20’ boat, and a tinny, and a kayak, and a motor bike and a tent………you just have to sift out what you NEED and what you can handle together.

Sure. We only take the boat off if we are around for several days. Planning trips is essential. We were on our way up to King Ash Bay and over to NT Cahill's Crossing etc. We got to QLD Lake Somerset and then boom Covid19 hit. We had just enough time to pack up and get back over the border to NSW. Hoping to recommence that plan again. It is the cost of the diesel that is the killer in expenses although we had a remap and some other stuff done to the Disco and it is using less fuel now. 

We have a fabulous caravan and a great vehicle. The new tinny is doing a great job so far and it is very comfy on the water. We did a lap with no tinny so we are very aware of how it all works now. 

[Billmack]

4 hours ago, noelm said:

I guess if you’re staying somewhere for a few days or more, getting everything ready is OK, but, for a “quick” fish, maybe simply oars might be sufficient to just get around? It’s impossible to have everything, we all want a 50’ caravan with a 20’ boat, and a tinny, and a kayak, and a motor bike and a tent………you just have to sift out what you NEED and what you can handle together.

I can get my Tinnie off and set up w folding trailer in a hour, and same to pack it up, if I wish, don’t normally do it for “ a quick fish” I can do that off the bank or a jetty.

[Billmack]

On 2/11/2024 at 10:23 AM, mrsswordfisherman said:

It has been sometime since we have taken a fishing trip or any trip really. We have had some health stuff to get sorted and our family arrived back home from UK. Loving being grandparents.

This report is not really a fishing report. In fact despite trying there were about 6 fish caught all week! I will leave it here though for the moment. 

It contains info for others who may be looking at a setup with a caravan, car and rooftop tinny. 

We spend one week at Lake Hume in the Discovery Park Victoria followed by 2 weeks at the Mulwala Ski Park VIC/NSW for the last 3 years. Both have great facilities as you will see in the pics below. 

Swordie spent a while organising the appropriate rods, reels and tackle to take. The lures are many and varied. We targeted Redfin at LH and Murray Cod at LM. We tried plastics, hard bodies, vibes etc but no fish there. We attributed this to the water level going down so fast. 

DAY ONE The drive from Sydney to an overnight stopover at Gundagai broke up the drive. Free fast park wifi 5g and our auto satellite enabled us to watch TV and stream. It also has a weighbridge so we can check we are safe. 
Top pic is the drive through site with an ensuite and bottom is the rig on the weighbridge. All weights perfect and in order. Well done with weight distribution swordie!

 

DAY TWO to DAY EIGHT We arrived after a leisurely couple of hours drive at Lake Hume. The first thing that hit us was the low water level. 
The pic below shows current state (top 2) and bottom 2 in past years. You will see the back of our van! Normally we just push the tinny into the lake and tie it to the tree at the back of the ensuite.

We also usually carry a Bulldog collapsible trailer on the back of the van. It takes a bit of time putting it together and getting boat onto it to launch at a boat ramp. We happened to see a device called a Tinny Hitch and bought it. We did not take the collapsible trailer. 

It worked perfectly and there is another post in The Bar showing the loading, unloading and launching of the tinny using it with the set of wheels we have. It is only good for a few 100 mtres at max. 

During the week we tried very hard to catch Redfin. We had about 10 sessions mostly Stewy alone. Weather was very hot with 2 days at 37 - 39 degrees C. The caravan park has a fabulous resort style pool and we took time to rest and keep cool swimming. 

I even asked on a facebook local fishing page for some help. I posted up my Deckee trip map and most said it had been very poor fishing. The guru of the area said he had no reddies this summer. A few other blokes added some helpful comments. Then another plays the "secret spot game" and mentions lures that he has some connection with!! 

I know why our community is THE best, we actually help each other. No raider spirit on fb. 

Stewy managed to catch about 6 Redfin and we had just one fish dinner. 

The rain came one day and Swordie went out of course ........ nothing again!!!

 

 

We decided to call it quits and take the boat out of the water a day earlier. That was when we encountered some serious problems. A post is to follow on the event that occurred.  

Sorry Swordies, but I’m thinking the guy helped you heaps w his lure reveal and depth of fishing info. 

[Billmack]

2 hours ago, mrsswordfisherman said:

Sure. We only take the boat off if we are around for several days. Planning trips is essential. We were on our way up to King Ash Bay and over to NT Cahill's Crossing etc. We got to QLD Lake Somerset and then boom Covid19 hit. We had just enough time to pack up and get back over the border to NSW. Hoping to recommence that plan again. It is the cost of the diesel that is the killer in expenses although we had a remap and some other stuff done to the Disco and it is using less fuel now. 

We have a fabulous caravan and a great vehicle. The new tinny is doing a great job so far and it is very comfy on the water. We did a lap with no tinny so we are very aware of how it all works now. 

If you get to King Ash Bay, be prepared to spend time travelling to the more productive areas, although not essential, it’s a joy to do it. Great spot. 

[noelm]

I am not knocking anyone’s plan/equipment, I have done lots of camping, car topping, caravanning and so on, it was simply a question about how you find packing all the gear and unpacking, nothing more, nothing less.

[mrsswordfisherman]

1 hour ago, Billmack said:

Sorry Swordies, but I’m thinking the guy helped you heaps w his lure reveal and depth of fishing info. 

I guess you needed to see the whole thread in context to be making any assumptions @Billmack

[mrsswordfisherman]

1 hour ago, Billmack said:

I can get my Tinnie off and set up w folding trailer in a hour, and same to pack it up, if I wish, don’t normally do it for “ a quick fish” I can do that off the bank or a jetty.

That’s about average really. It’s quick once you do it a few times. 

[kantong]

what a great report, and well done on the redfin. How did you prepare the redfin for eating?

[mrsswordfisherman]

I just realised that I never did PART 2 of this trip 

I will just add into this report seeing as it is so late! Below is the post I made in our family/close friends FB group. 

LAKE HUME

VIC

2nd Feb to 8th Feb 2024

**Car recovery story for records **

We had a great swim at the pool on Wed and decided that we would pack the boat up.

The fishing has been very poor.

Late afternoon Stewy backs the car down to retrieve the boat. The edge of the lake turned into quicksand.

To cut a long story short we have to say thanks to the 4wd boys who came to assist with snatch straps, shovels and recovery tracks. At least we know our winch works perfectly to pull us out of anything.

A snatch strap around a big tree to give length attached to our car winch enabled Stewy to pull the vehicle out. He used the winch control from inside the car to pull the vehicle out pretty easily. Two other vehicles could not do the job and one snapped a snatch strap which we replaced of course.

Plenty of yahoos from everyone.

We had to do a sand recovery in WA on our lap. We never expected to need this equipment on this trip.

Everyone learned during this. Onlookers ever said it was great to see how it all worked. One guy had all the gear but had never used it.

NRMA hmmmm no help. RACV quote to bring in trucks huge dollars.

Stewy hosed as much mud down and took the car to a car wash first thing the next morning.

Boat went up onto the boat loader as usual. Drove around town no issues. We towed the van to Lake Mulwala and no issues.

A bloody magnificent vehicle the Land Rover Discovery.
Vengabus Ventures never disappoints. 

 

P.S. On our return we had our specialist Land Rover mechanics check it all out with no problems found. 

 

Before and after 

 

The 4wd guys chatting about how to retrieve 

 

This man would not let Stewy do any work as he was an "old guy" - swordie shocked
His son was very helpful as well and enjoyed being involved.

 

 

EWWWWWW look at that mud after

 

 

This is the snatch that snapped - boy they make a noise like a gunshot
Good try but the heavier one one needed. 

 

 

Comparison pics from previous years and 2024 below - this is why why decided to use the Tinny Hitch. 
We will now take the foldup trailer next time. 

Right at the edge of the caravan site 2023

 

2023 

2024

2024

[big Neil]

A great, heart-felt report Donna filled with the anticipation of fishing life whilst travelling, and the reality of what can happen when conditions vary from expectations. It's at times like these where you see the best and the worst of humankind...generally more of the best, fortunately..A lovely chronicle of your trip captured in your part 2 addition. As always some positives get over ridden by the lack of fish. Speaking from experience this is quite the norm here in the Riverina. The last really good fishing year was 2015. That doesn't detract from the other years being okay, just means there are no guarantees when it comes to fishing.

Great pictures to "paint the picture" of your trip for us all to read. Thanks for the update and better luck next time Donna and Stewy.

bn

[mrsswordfisherman]

1 hour ago, big Neil said:

A great, heart-felt report Donna filled with the anticipation of fishing life whilst travelling, and the reality of what can happen when conditions vary from expectations. It's at times like these where you see the best and the worst of humankind...generally more of the best, fortunately..A lovely chronicle of your trip captured in your part 2 addition. As always some positives get over ridden by the lack of fish. Speaking from experience this is quite the norm here in the Riverina. The last really good fishing year was 2015. That doesn't detract from the other years being okay, just means there are no guarantees when it comes to fishing.

Great pictures to "paint the picture" of your trip for us all to read. Thanks for the update and better luck next time Donna and Stewy.

bn

Thanks Neil. The next part is at Lake Mulwala where we did catch lots of fish!!

We certainly did not expect that event. The blokes just jumped in to help us and we were very grateful. They told us to contact the local 4WD group as they would definitely be there to assist. We do not envisage that happening there again!! 

 

[BaitDropper]

Great report Donna, I enjoyed the read..

[noelm]

While getting bogged is a big pain, in a few years it will be “remember that time we got bogged at….” Stuff like that are memories and a great laugh! Drama is just that, drama, but lots of rain, getting bogged, breaking down, all that kind of thing create life long experiences.

[Hill373737]

Nothing worse than that sinking feeling when you know you're about to get stuck, I've been there a few times - good to see plenty of hands to help and you got it out OK and have a great story to add to your travels!!