# SA - Coffin Bay



## fisher (Aug 30, 2005)

SA - Coffin Bay.

I've just returned from a week in Coffin Bay, which just has to be one of the best destinations in South Australia, kayak fishing or not. We found a shack right on the waters edge, which meant I only had to unload and load the kayak onto the car once throughout the whole week. It was ideal for an early morning paddle, a quick fish and then back in time for bacon and eggs.










For those who know Coffin Bay, the shack is located between the yacht club and the boat ramp, and was about 200-300 metres paddle to Goat Island.










The whole area of Coffin Bay looks 'fishy', but I found a deep drop off where the strong current flowed from the shallow weed and sand banks - I thought there might have been a few predators waiting for bait fish to get washed off the banks. I was right&#8230;..

I initially drifted through the deep water, paddled back up current, and then drift back, which resulted in several nice snook (70cm) with the occasional decent salmon trout. Unfortunately my camera played up the first couple of days (in hindsight I think I had it on the wrong settings ) so I didn't get any photos.

On subsequent days (after my daughter put the camera on the right setting) I anchored in the shallows and cast to the deep water which resulted in a hook up on each and every cast. The salmon trout were only in the 32-40cm range, but in the current they gave a good account for themselves - excellent fun and it gave me an opportunity to use up all my sp's which have never caught fish previously!










In between the s/trout and snook were the small trevally. Despite their size these things were really hard work in the current on 4lb line.



















I eventually found a couple of likely whiting spots and went and bought a $20 bag of cockles - which I reckon makes each cockle worth about 50-75 cents! Anyway, the bay is in plague with striped perch / trumpeter or what all South Aussies call 'shitties', and I ended up wasting most of the cockles on them.

The other things in plague proportion in Coffin Bay the moment is jelly fish, sea urchins and shags. The jellies were so thick you had to be careful with your anchor rope as the jellies tentacles were wrapped around the rope.










The shags were a pain the butt - they'd sit just out of paddle length and wait until you'd hook a fish and then chase it once it was near the kayak. It certainly made the salmon trout pull harder when there were 3 shags on its tail.










We spent a bit of time at Farm Beach, which is idealic. I didn't take the kayak but did a bit of fishing from the beach. There's plenty of tommy ruff and undersize whiting all along the beach, and I'm sure that a paddle a couple of hundred metres off shore would result in some decent whiting catches.










Farm Beach usually has the prevailing south-easterly winds blowing offshore, which makes for calm and clear waters. Perfect for taking the dog for a swim!










As a bit of a treat, my daughter and I planned a trip out to Neptune Island to do some diving with the sharks. The weather before and after our trip was ideal, but on the day we went out it was rough from sunrise to sunset, meaning the 3 hour steam out and back was rough as guts, We managed to avoid getting seasick, but others were sick from the minute we left the wharf to the minute we got back,

I'm now convinced that the chances of seeing a great white in my kayak are very slim. Here we were for 7 full hours anchored up and berleying with tuna blood and offal in a shark hot spot, only a hundred or so metres from the seal colony and we didn't see a shark all day. Apparently the previous trip there was one great white and a mako, and most of the trips through January had plenty of whites and many aggressive bronzies, but this trip had zip. It was an expensive day out and disappointing - but I've been on enough charters to realise that there is always an element of chance with these things. All we saw for the day was a heap of fish feeding on the berley, including several big kingfish. The service on the boat was great, and we do have another opportunity to head out again for reduced price if we want. I might wait and see whether winter offers better shark viewing opportunities.

On my last day kayak fishing I got my fix of salmon, snook and trevally and then started to hunt for some whiting. I found a school sitting behind a ledge out of the current and pulled a few undersize in amongst the shitties. There were bigger fish there but I couldn't get a bait to them










The shags were a pain again - at one stage I hooked a whiting which subsequently became the target of the shag. The line got tangled around a rock with the whiting still attached, and the shag made a lot of effort to get to the fish, which it eventually did. I tried to get a decent underwater shot but failed due to a delay between pushing the shutter button and the picture being taken.










Anyway, a week in Coffins is fantastic. It is absolutely ideal for kayak fishing (apart from a couple of drongo oyster farmers with twin 200hp motors who don't have any idea on what 4 knots means) which set the panic mode into operation as they raced from Kellidie Bay to the Goat Island area. They were upon me so fast I didn't have time to do anything - fortunately each time they went by I was not in the channel. I have serious doubts that they'd see any small craft that happened to be in their way. A call to Dept. Marine and Harbours is about to happen ;-)

If you get an opportunity, get to Coffins!


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## willowonfire (Sep 18, 2008)

Sounds like you had a great trip fisher...
Coffin Bay is such an awesome place to holiday. I have been there the last 3 years in July or early August to spin for the massive Salmon that hunt along Gunyah Beach. Those South Aus salmon pull like steam trains.
I took the yak last year but never made it on the water with it because I was too intent on hitting the beach everyday on foot, and the current sort of put me off... Last year on one of the days there were huge schools of salmon every 200 metres or so, and I am talkin 200 + fish in a school all over 5lbs with the occasional bruiser amongst them. Sometimes they would sit 30 metres from the shore. It has to be one of the most magnificent places to spend a week fishing. In the photo you can see just how big these schools are. Sometimes the seals are a problem though, whales and dolphins jumping behind the breakers, magnificent. I will be heading again this year for sure...
P.S. You can drive all along the beach there as you would know, just be mindful of the super soft sand that just seems to jump out from nowhere and bog the 4wd in a split second.... Lucky we took a shovel and also that my mate Tim a.k.a. Digger was with me because it is a hell of a long walk out of there...
Clark


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## fisher (Aug 30, 2005)

Hey willowonfire. I went to Gunyah one day just to see if the suby would make it - which it did, and pretty easily. I didn't drive along the beach though as previous experience told me it was super soft. I did get to Almonta a few times, but there was a lot of weed and not much in the way of gutters - I did get one salmon around 3 pound though. Looks like we might need to do a winter trip - which hopefully means the trumpeters won't be there either!


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## Ubolt (Dec 8, 2009)

Coffin Bay is a beautiful place been there a couple of times sightseeing and a half hearted fish
love to go back there with kayak, very expensive for accomodation as well is it not?
not sure how the car/kayak would hold up on roof racks for 7-800 kms


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## solatree (May 30, 2008)

Good report Fisher on a great place - just love Coffin Bay.  We have had many family holidays over there - the last about a year ago with the Kayaks. Would like to visit there in early December for the Snapper and Kingies in channel and around goat island. ;-)


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## Dodge (Oct 12, 2005)

Fisher that shack looks like the perfect spot to unwind for a week mate, great pics and yarn.


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## Buff (Dec 31, 2005)

Looks like a cracker of a trip and a fantastic location  
Might have to have a SA AKFF trip over there, maybe when the Kingies as over there next year ;-)


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## bajstarbrd (Nov 8, 2009)

Great read fisher and what a place to spend a week


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