Harry's Hut - 4/11

It was meant to be an overnight camping trip up the river but mother nature conspired against us on that one. Storms had rolled in on Friday night and the rain hung around for the weekend. We hit the road just before 5am on Saturday and got to Harry's about 7am. It was our first time there so had a bit of a look around at the camp ground. Its a great spot with all the sites separated and easy access to the river. My mate decided he needed to use the facilities and came back reporting that they were in desperate need of some Glen20.

The weather was still a bit drizzly so we decided to have bit of a paddle around before deciding whether or not to stick with the camping idea. We had booked to use Camp 2 which was around 5km up river. The idea was to have a bit of a tour and see what the skies were like later in the morning. We launched the yaks with only our fishing gear on board and commenced the paddle upstream. We commented several times on how peaceful it was….aahhh the serenity.

After unsuccessfully testing out a few of the snags with some SP’s we got up to Camp 1 and disembarked for a look. The sites are basically a landing area with some cleared ground surrounded by a log barrier. They are large enough for a couple of tents and maybe a small tarp. Its pretty much a single site though.

Back in the yaks again we decided to press on to Camp 2 and have a look at least. Trolling lures along the way seemed like a good idea but the submerged trees proved a bit of a problems if you got too close to the sides. Needless to say that one of the still has possession of my nice new Tungsten Vibe lipless crankbait. Anyway we finally got to Camp 2 and did our reconnaissance. It was slightly larger than Camp 1 and although still a single site could comfortably accommodate 3 tents. By this time it was getting on to late morning and the sky was looking much better with the odd patch of blue being seen. After paddling 5km we cursed ourselves for not bringing our gear even though we didn’t originally intend going that far. The other issue we faced was that the effort had given us a fairly decent appetite. Unfortunately we had left all our food back at Harry’s and were not in the mood for chasing native cuisine. So the trek back began and decided to do it without stops to get a good idea of time. A steady 50 mins paddle found us back at the car and access to much needed food. We were also feeling the pinch physically from doing more than 10km in the yaks. Not to self: more conditioning needed.

After our food and rest we discussed out options and came down to 1. Call it quits and head home, 2. Camp there at Harry’s Hut and do a bit of fishing locally or 3. Take a punt that the weather was going to hold off, go back up river and set up camp. Our concern with option 3 was that we would be completely knackered by the time we got there and would not be in the mood for getting back in for any fishing. It was upstream and into the wind after all. Needless to say after a brief debate we did what any self respecting yak fisherman would do and took options 3. So it was back to the 4wd and get the gear out to load up the boats. Well, almost exactly as we strapped down the last bag….whooska, down comes the rain. Started as a steady shower and rapidly progressed into a monsoonal torrent. At this point the dummy got officially spat and after sitting rain looking depressed for several minutes we commence repacking the car for the trip back to Brisbane.

After all the effort we never really got a chance at any serious fishing so its impossible to make any judgment on the location in that regard. We will however say that it is one of the best paddles in SE Qld and is highly recommend for anybody who can get there. Such a fantastic spot the fishing almost becomes secondary. Having said all that we have re-booked Camp 2 for the weekend of 18-19 November and hopefully nailing some wild bass. Here’s hoping mother nature is on our side this time.