# TAS: Carlton River 30/8/08



## Cheeky (Jul 8, 2008)

Finally got on the water for the first time after picking up my Cobra Explorer a few weeks back (my first yak)  . My partner has borrowed the in-laws yak to use over the next month or so to see if she wants to buy one - fingers crossed she does ;-) . After seeing the weather report (late showers) my partner and I were planning on heading out early to get a good session in before the rain arrived. As it turned out we had a couple too many beers Friday night and didn't wake until 9:30ish. After p!ssing around for an hour or so we were finally on the road.

Stopped at Banjo's for some take away breakfast and it turned out to be possibly the worst meat pie I've ever had :x :x . This can't be a good sign! Not sure if they remembered to put this one in the oven :roll: :roll: . Oh well, so much for breakfast.

I was planning on hunting some trout but didn't get around to getting my licence before hand. Oh well - off to Carlton River to hopefully get a feed of Salmon and Flatchaps. I've had plenty of success there before so figured it would be a good spot to test the yak. Arrived around 11:30 only to find it was low tide (note to self - check tides before leaving next time you #$&%wit   :lol: :lol: ). Also the current was ripping through which made for interesting paddling. Oh well, we are getting the yaks in the water anyway.

After paddling against the current for 5-10mins I thought I would get the camera out to take a happy snap or two. Took a couple of shots, put the camera away then found myself pretty much back where we launched! :lol: :lol: Eventually I caught back up to my partner and continued on again fighting the current. After another 15-20mins or so minutes we came to a very shallow part of the river that was covered in Oyster shells. We considered walking the yaks over them but my partner was getting sick of fighting the current and wanted to turn around.

No worries - after a couple more photo's we turned around a started paddling back. Then I hear that magical sound - zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz (no, not me sleeping) - FISH ON. In all the excitement thinking I was about to christen the yak with its first fish, I turned to grab the rod only for the crate to fall over - then the inevitable happened, the yak rolled :evil: :evil: . Luckily I was only in approx 1m of water at the time so I managed to stand up ok. I must remember not to get too excited next time and to keep my centre of balance. Oh well, at least my partner got a good laugh - and I didn't hear the end of it all weekend.

After finding everything that fell out I grabbed the rod that had the "fish on" only to find out it was a snag. So I overturned the Cobra for a bloody snag! Can this day get any worse? After a few &*$% words we started heading back. It only took about 10mins to get back to the car which was frustrating. So much for a "good session" on the water.

So, my maiden voyage turned out to be a fizzer. We fought the current for about 45mins, caught 1 snag, went for a dip and only took 10mins to get back. All up we were on the water for approx 1hr.....

Just to top things off I noticed that I had lost my snap-lock rod holder. Oh well, I found it to be more painful than useful. It seemed to get in the way all the time. I guess Ill have to make some modifications over then next few months.

Here's a few photos.

Cheers,
Cheeky


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## Baldy (Oct 1, 2007)

:lol: :lol: :lol: Your a classic Cheeky :lol: Mate you called it early, with the talk of a dunking!! know yourself all too well it seems :twisted: :lol:

I know that spot very well and the tide looks pretty low, it rips through there pretty quick when its like that and the worst bit is theres not much shallows to get out of the current when its low. At least it was alot better than taking a dip in the fresh stuff up norfick or the huon!

At least with the entertainment your missus will be looking forward to the next trip :twisted: :lol:

Hopefully we catch up for a fish soon[Cremorne?] I promise I wont laugh.....much 8) 8)

Cheers
Baldy


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## paddlepop (May 12, 2007)

i was in your glorious state for 7 weeks earlier this year and only saw 1/2 of it - where is carlton rv

pete


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## Cheeky (Jul 8, 2008)

Did you get out on the water while you were down here paddlepop?



> where is carlton rv


Hope this helps image helps.

Cheers,
Cheeky


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## Cheeky (Jul 8, 2008)

> Mate you called it early, with the talk of a dunking!! know yourself all too well it seems


I think I must have talked myself into it.



> At least with the entertainment your missus will be looking forward to the next trip


Nah, I could tell that she wasn't enjoying herself so I thought I would go for a dip................. :shock: :shock: :shock: :roll: :roll: :roll: :lol: :lol: :lol: Thats what I'm going to tell myself anyway ;-) ;-)

Cheers,
Cheeky


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## paddlepop (May 12, 2007)

that's one little bit of the coast we bypassed on the way to pt arthur because it looked a bit barren and there were howling NW onshores - which meant marion bay was howling offshores

weather plays a huge part when you're travelling to a timetable. would have loved to have done pedder, gordon, st clair, arthur rv, st helens but it was cold wet and windy when we went through

didn't fish a lot as we were on the move trying to see as much as possible but did have a memorable morning at jetty beach on bruny (30+ medium flathead on sp's after a bloke at he camp site said i'd never catch anything on them!)

and 2 days at cockle creek in beautiful weather and over 100 flatties and some couda - never thought i'd be sick of catching flathead, but i was

also did the tamar rv and a lake or two but all so crappy compared to cockle crk

hoping to come back for much longer next time - for a little place there's lots to see and do

by the way, i saved some of your images from the post but wasn't able to open them because of the file type - can you repost them as jpegs please

pete


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## Deepsouth (Feb 17, 2008)

Nice work cheeky, at least the dunking is over and done with, now thats outta the way its fish time! :twisted: 
I think sat overall was a no goer, duane and I scored nothing in the arvo and in the morning all my mates caught were rocks... :shock: 
Good on yah anyways for getting out, and look forward to seeing you and the missus ;-) sat


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## Blaen (Jul 4, 2006)

Loved the report Cheeky, it was good to have a laugh even though it was at your expense. I can't delive you rolled the Explorer :lol: :lol:     :shock: :shock: ;-)

Hopefully we can turn your luck around on Saturday.


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## AndyC (Feb 29, 2008)

Hi Cheeky,

Great report. Really enjoyed it. It sounds as though the conditions were challenging, to say the least!

Hope you can make it to Cremorne. I know you would enjoy the company of the fellas. They are a great bunch. It'd be great if you can convince your partner to go along too. After your first outing, I reckon the Cremorne outing would be more enjoyable for both of you.

Cheers,

AndyC


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## Ozzybass (Jun 29, 2007)

Those short, little SOT's are a health hazard as they can go over easily.


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## Zed (Sep 18, 2006)

Cobra Explorer was my first also. It's very portable, but has a strange balance characteristics. There's a couple degrees of side to seide to get used to. My only open water roll <knock, knock> was in my Explorer. They can be surfed well, too, plus they are really rugged. They are even able in up to class III+ in freshwater rapids --did you get the knee straps? It's a lot of fun!

After time it seemed it was a little inefficient for my type of paddling, though.


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## Cheeky (Jul 8, 2008)

> by the way, i saved some of your images from the post but wasn't able to open them because of the file type - can you repost them as jpegs please


paddlepop - the images were jpegs that I posted. PM me with your email address and Ill shoot them across ;-) ;-)



> Nice work cheeky, at least the dunking is over and done with, now thats outta the way its fish time!


Deepsouth - I don't think that will be the last :lol: :lol:

Blaen & AndyC - Cheers for the comments. Hopefully will catch you this weekend.



> Those short, little SOT's are a health hazard as they can go over easily.


Ozzybass - so it seems. Hopefully Ill get the hang of it soon enough ;-)



> did you get the knee straps? It's a lot of fun!


Zed - Haven't yet. I've got a few things I would like to do down the track though.

Cheers,
Cheeky


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## Cheeky (Jul 8, 2008)

> Thank heavens for waterproof cameras.


Its not even a waterproof camera. I was just lucky to have it in the hatch at the time. :shock: :shock: ;-) ;-)

My phone on the other hand was in my pocket :shock: :shock:. Don't ask why as you'll only get an answer of "stupidity" :lol: :lol:. Oh well, It seems to be working again after a little drying out time ;-)

Cheers,
Cheeky


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## bomberjames (Dec 5, 2007)

Mate.
The first time I took my partner out she caught the most fish,the biggest fish and the most variety of fish.
I"ve never heard the end of it.
Been with her for 2 yrs and getting married in Oct.
Cheers


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