# SA - Robe trip report (15-23 March)



## KhoisanX (Aug 27, 2009)

Departure from Adelaide Monday morning 15th, parents in law, wife and kids, trailer, yak and fully loaded Pajero we arrived in Robe by mid arvo. Quick unpack and with a late arvo low tide father in law and I went spinning off the rocks at the N end of Hoopers Beach, just in front of the beach cottage we'd hired for the week. 4 smallish salmon on soft plastics later we called it quits for the day.

Day 2 - Long Beach
No yak fishing today, we chucked soft plastics from the beach looking for whiting and caught a few small salmon and I dropped a good flathead a few yards off my feet trying to coax it up the beach on my 4lb tackle.

Day 3 - Nora Creina
About 22km south of Robe, this is the drive for you if you want to dislodge your fillings by using a vehicle! I suspect father in law tucked his dentures into his top pocket a few km's out of Robe. I stopped to drop tyre pressures and make for a more comfortable ride. This area looks to have so much fishing potential - we had 6 squid after an hour, then two small flatties and an undersize whiting.
















Day 4
Some 4WD action and beach driving in the morning, got the Pajer well and truly stuck down to the chassis in soft sand near Evans Cave south of Robe.....lots of digging and tyres down to 15psi to recover. It pays to read the beach reports before you go (or heed the soft sand warning signs all over the place!) These reports are updated weekly by the local ranger and you can find them in the tourist info centre in Robe.....Evans Cave was one of three beaches to avoid between Robe and Beachport. By then mother in law had lost her appetite for 4WD adventure so we headed back for lunch. Back to Long beach in the arvo for a beach fish and some kayaking fun - also managed to arrange a ducking for mother in law when we overturned the yak negotiating the shorebreak coming in :lol: 
Very quiet on the fishing front!

Day 5
Fished Robe marina on the yak (Lake Butler), got a nice Silver Trevally on SP's and father in law a few good Tommies - no bream! We headed out the marina for some trolling along the breakwater and north past town to Long Beach along the inshore reefs....not even a bump in around 8km's of trolling!

Day 6
Fun day with some beach driving in the morning at low tide up to the top of Long Beach near Boatswains Point, then yakking in the marina with the kids early arvo......getting some fishing in is tough; everyone wants their turn on the yak  
Headed for the Robe town jetty late arvo for some spinning - raised two small barracouta and that was it.

Day 7
More family yakking in the sea in the morning in the calm conditions, and a spinning session from the marina breakwater in the late arvo. One nice salmon on the 4lb and father in law bagged a few tommies. Walking back to the car near the floating moorings in the marina I casually glanced over to one of the moorings and noticed a 40cm plus bream knawing away at the barnacles.....blimey! I stalked up and watched for a few minutes - the pontoon was loaded with huge bream patrolling up and down. My "go to" lure here is the Squidgy Wriggler 100mm in bloodworm on a super light #1 hook jighead...I persevered for another hour and finally had two good fish, real corkers on the 4lb tackle.
I also spotted 4 school mulloway hanging further back under the pontoons - very shy!









Day 8
Down to Beachport for the day, and timed our yak fishing launch perfectly with a passing rain squall which thankfully was short lived. A couple of hours trolling around the 750m long jetty and one nice salmon was all to show for.








Late arvo I headed on foot with light gear to explore Fox's lake, which is the last in a chain of three and drains into the sea at about 20-30cm deep on the full tide. I went upstream looking for snags and bream, but unfortunately the whole place is only about knee deep with very few snags at all; I got a few small Tommies and saw lots of small mullet. More water would make this area worth looking into, but apparently only in winter is this the case (bigger tides and/or more rain...not too sure?). I saw a bass style boat fishing on the top lake (Battye) the day we left, but other than than nobody around.

Day 9
Last day we again went to Nora Creina, this time via the sealed road to Beachport and a short 4km unsealed section.
Fished for squid without any luck, then with SP's around the reefs...nada, except for a small barracouta each!
Back into the beach and some family yakking followed, and around late morning several schools of large Tommies (15-20cm) invaded the shallows and I took 9 for the table on a small shrimp lure. Heads off, guts out, tossed in seasoned flour and whole into a wok filled with oil - great eating.

Overall impressions:
Weather wise we were very lucky - we had over a week of flat calm seas and no wind, very unusual for Robe by local accounts! This may also explain why we had a relatively poor return on the fishing for the time spent. Didn't see too many other anglers, or much in the way of fish off local tinnies, jetties etc.....a quiet week generally on the fishing front. A few enquiries and I got an ear full about local long liners and netting destroying the local fishing.....don't know for sure what impact that may have?

There's lots of fishy coastline to explore here for sure and you could easily spend two weeks and not see it all. Almost none of which would be easily accessible to kayak fishos if the wind blew up.

This is a great place for a family holiday, with lots to do and see. That said, I would not return again if it were just to fish, I reckon there are better options for that in SA.

Prior to the trip I'd had only one outing on the yak on West Lakes, so fishing off it was all new. What a great boat, really quick in the water and easy to cover 10-12km in a couple of hours. Confidence is building  See you out there.

Cheers

Hank


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## Big D (Apr 28, 2007)

Hank, thanks for taking the time to write up the report. It certainly is a beautiful part of SA, but my experiences with fishing has been similar (although not from yak). I think the deeper, reefier parts like the back of Beachport and further out on the deeper reefs at Nora Crena would fish better, but never had the opportunity yet. Having said that, one cant complain about the quality Mulloway that come from the area each year! And winter time is more the go for the bigger salmon.

Having said all that, to have an opportunity to get out so many times on the yak on the SE is pretty well miraculous! And the good weather would have only added to the holiday experience.

I agree, Yorke Peninsula or Eyre Peninsula or Far West Coast are certainly fishier over all.

Thanks again

Big D


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## bajstarbrd (Nov 8, 2009)

Thanks for sharing your trip. I always say a bad day fishing beats a good day at work!

Cheers,
Brenton


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## mrwalker (Feb 23, 2009)

Its always hard to juggle fishing and family on holidays but it sounds like you did well, and deserved a few more fish for your efforts. Well done on those nice bream! cheers, Dave.


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## flea (Jan 24, 2008)

Great read Hank.
Sounded like a excellent trip, pitty the fish didn't come to play a bit more, at least you got a couple of feeds but thats fishing.
Cheers
Kym.


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## solatree (May 30, 2008)

Thanks Hank - I fondly remember some "challenging" times driving through those sand tracks in Little Dip NP - and Nora Creina - what a Gem. There is some pretty specky coast done that way. Thanks for the great report.


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## paddlepop (May 12, 2007)

great report - thanks for sharing

pete


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## bezerklyboy (Feb 16, 2009)

great report , looks like a beautiful spot


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## NoelMc (Feb 6, 2010)

Thanks for a well written report of your tour.
Wondered about the SE. Concerns re big waves have put me off in the past.
Nice pic of Nora Carena.
Cheers, noel..


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## KhoisanX (Aug 27, 2009)

NoelMc - it's been mentioned in the past in the forum; this section of coastline has few places to hide away if the wind/sea blow up. I consider the weather I experienced as rather unusual both for this area and time of year based on speaking with locals.
Water temps were also quite cold - when I got back to Adelaide it was about 2-3 deg warmer.

DiggerRob - if you believe what you read this area should fish really well under the right conditions. I had a week and a bit of flat calm, crystal clear, cold water......fish were scarce!


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