# SA 2-5 Apr Clayton Bay



## labrat (Jul 25, 2008)

Spent the last 3 nights at Clayton Bay caravan park, fishing each morning and doing the tourist thing in the afternoons. The post Easter lull was extreme - almost a ghost town feel, which suits us fine.

As far as fishing goes it's mostly carp as you would expect but I'm sure there would be a few callop and redfin around for those who know what they are doing.

There is a boat club at Clayton with a lot of sailing boats kept there. This is not surprising when you look at the body of water out from the bay - plenty of room to sail and there are often good winds as there is not a lot of high ground around. I reckon this would be a great place for the kayak sailors to spend some time.

Ready to go Wed am









20 minutes later









Friday tended to be the opposite being fairly flat at first but even flatter later.

8-30am Fri 









10am Fri









Was hoping to score a redfin or 2 and spent some time dragging a hardbody around as well as bait fishing while anchored but no, it was all carp. The larger ones can be fun and having seen a 10.5 kg specimen caught some years ago at Point Sturt I was hoping to get something decent that would tow me around the bay. That didn't happen but at least I latched onto a few in what I guess was the 1 - 3 kg range with some short but fiesty runs.

Carp on









Carp up









A number of caravans had started to gather near the jetty before I came in this morning, presumably staying overnight for tomorrow's fishing competition. We didn't even know there was one on until seeing the poster on the jetty but wouldn't have stayed for it anyway - too many other things to do back home.

A pleasant few days in a very nice spot - highly recommended.


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## suehobieadventure (Feb 17, 2009)

Love the look of your yak it truly is a beautiful piece of craftmanship. We camped at Cadell for Easter and the oldest member of our group (84) selected his land based spot and gave it up for no one all weekend. He ended up with 8 keeper Callop the biggest 47cm.


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## labrat (Jul 25, 2008)

suehobieadventure said:


> the oldest member of our group (84) selected his land based spot and gave it up for no one all weekend.


Doesn't pay to mess with the old folks does it? 

Did you find out what bait he was using? I must admit I was only using bread dough as I have caught redfin on that before but I doubt it's going to catch reddies over carp if the carp are about. I must stop being lazy and do some bait research.


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## suehobieadventure (Feb 17, 2009)

When we arrived we put the shrimp pots in and they were full of shrimp in no time which ususally means no fish. However all were caught on shrimp.


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## eagle4031 (Jan 29, 2010)

I thought Clayton bay was the place you went to for fishing when your not really having a fish

Love the kayak- beautiful


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## labrat (Jul 25, 2008)

eagle4031 said:


> I thought Clayton bay was the place you went to for fishing when your not really having a fish


Well, it waa only carp so that would fit :lol:

Thanks Sue - will take a shrimp pot next time.


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## Rockster (Sep 7, 2007)

Nice report Labrat, sounds like a great relaxing time. Good to see some water in those parts again.


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## labrat (Jul 25, 2008)

Rockster said:


> Good to see some water in those parts again.


Sure is. If you have a look at some of the location photos on Google Earth they show dry land out past the end of the jetty. It was like that at Meningie as well. Not only bad for the native wildlife but also knocked the local economies around too. They seem to have bounced back though.


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## toeknee1969 (Jul 8, 2012)

That my friend is the best looking kayak I have every seen...it is literally a piece of artwork.


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## Dodge (Oct 12, 2005)

Mate the first picture shows a perfect location for your timber boat, absolutely beautiful, and the carp certainly loaded up that rod.


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