# SA - Coffin Bay trip report (5 - 15 Dec)



## KhoisanX (Aug 27, 2009)

With two full days of washing, cleaning, sorting and packing away of all the kayaking kit, camping kit, fishing kit, removing the beach from the inside of my Pajero etc...ahhh, and mowing the lawn too this morning, I can now reflect on a few days in this paradise.

The missus and yours truly + 2 kids + baby brother and fiance camped in Coffin Bay Caravan Park from the 5 - 15 December. After a 06h00 departure from Adelaide and just over 700km of driving we arrived at 14h00 and set camp. As far as I'm aware the ferry service between Wallaroo and Lucky Bay is still not in service, despite predictions that it would be online by early December. Not sure I'd have taken the ferry though; a case of "what value time"? You might save a couple of hours and be a little more relaxed but the added expense is significantly greater than the fuel cost to go around the top of the gulf.

Night one under canvas and we awoke in the wee hours to the unmistakable sound of rain pelting down!! This pretty much set the tone for the next seven days and time was spent exploring the area in the vehicle on the really windy and wet days. Fortunately for everyone's sanity it was mostly scattered showers throughout so invariably would only last for a while and then pass by. We could then do whatever for an hour or so until we had to dodge the next squall - I got pretty good in the end at predicting how long it would be before we got wet again....."guys, incoming - 12mins"....and we'd all scoot for the vehicle, tent, closest scrub thicket etc.
This was fun for a while, but it tends to wear off a bit when you're trying to get the kids dinner done and the gale force winds keep snuffing the gas cooker out or the meal is 5mins from done and the rain hits 

You could spend 4 weeks here and not see it all. The word "pristine" became rather well used during our ten day adventure. One of the big advantages is the nearby coastline has so many options you can always find a spot to hide away from the wind. A couple of days in we had some better weather and headed into the National Park - lots of secluded beaches to on the western side of the peninsula to hide from the Westerly winds.









Young brother and I had some great fun trolling small minnow lures and soft plastics across the flats and weed beds with good sized Tommy Ruffs and Salmon up to 3/4kg in abundance, a few small flathead too although no keepers. Large rays were to be found sunning themselves in the shallows so chasing them about was fun too - thought the Hobie Oasis was fast! Younger brother has had few angling experiences to date, and managed to allow a diving Tern to grab his little Yozuri minnow whilst trolling......solid hookup and 4lb braid peeling off the little shimano as the terrified Tern headed for the hills!......bugger......once we'd put the brakes on him and he was back in the drink I retrieved him gently and slowly unwound the leader from his body and extricated the trebles - one had pinned his cheek and the other the web between his toes; not too serious fortunately and he flew away relatively unscathed. My hands were also spared a jolly good pecking which I'm grateful for, might not have been the same deal with a big Herring Gull on the other end. It's the lot of the family man on holiday to also share the kayak, so a bit of sailing and touring with the missus and kids on board was all part of the days fun.
We spent two days here on this beach - good for avoiding the strong winds and activity for all.

Other things of interest:
Day trip to Elliston - weather was wild, but I'd love to fish the bay area, looks great. Oh yeah, don't forget to wear your shirt and shoes when you eat at the local hotel....by official decree 
We checked out Locks Well and Sheringa beaches on the way back - looks great for land based angling, weather permitting!
Gallipolli and Frenchmans Bluff areas - beautiful.
Port Lincoln - 2 trips; one to test the local pub cuisine whilst the heavens opened for most of the day and the other to resupply on camping gas. Took in the National Park with a trip to Fishery Bay....stunning.
Minniribbie Farm - on Snapper Hill Rd in Kellidie Bay; this is the kind of place you might just drive past on a day when the weather's nice. On bad weather days you tend to "investigate" more. If you fancy a 70's Abba LP or an antique Coca-Cola yoyo then this is the place for you - quaint in a word. We did the coffee and cake thing and I picked up a rolled loin and some chops of rare breed Berkshire black pig on the way out, the very same fellows responsible for the black curtain of flies you encounter on the way up the driveway.....made for a great Weber that night!

Monday the 13th was the best weather day forecast for our entire trip, so we planned to make the most of it and do the 7 mile beach day trip - definitely one of the highlights. This beach is actually on the "road" to Point Sir Isaac on the Northern end of the Peninsula. It's a good 90mins of true 4x4 track to get there, some rocky areas, some sandy areas, one or two more challenging bits but not beyond the average drivers ability. Tyres have to be let down - I went down to 18psi and was ok all day. Once you get to the beach it has a few soft sections where you could get stuck relatively easily if you don't pay attention. We saw one other vehicle all day!


























I'd been promising a squid feast for the past week and yet to deliver, so set about the weed and reef with my favourite jig once we got out on the kayak....NADA. A lot of small sweep about but not much else. Back to the beach after a couple of hours for others to use the boat, and I started wading down the beach casting a small minnow to the weed beds 20m off the beach. This proved to be a great little spinning session on 4lb tackle with 3 Silver Trevally around the 1/2kg mark coming relatively quickly, then a few Salmon and Tommies too. The fishing highlight of the day was having a small school of Kingies crashing my little minnow ten metres from my feet. First time I've experienced these fish in the shallows, about 3kg in size or so I'd say. A few hits and misses as they fought for the lure and then I was on and the fish was peeling string from the little 1500 shimano. No snags about so I could cool it and take my time.








After 15mins or so of having my spool half emptied and then line won back again I got a good look at the fish, now only 8m or so off my feet, still being followed by four or five others! Then the fishing gods decided to deal a cruel blow - I think one of the other fish grabbed the lure, hooked up on the other treble, and in an instant both were gone.......&^%$###@! No Hiramasa tonight!!!! 









Last day was spent at Almonta beach trying for a few Salmon land based - we dodged rain squalls and flies for a couple of hours and then packed it in; Northerly wind had got up to 60km/h ahead of the (next) front. Back to Coffin bay by 14h30 and little brother and I decided to run the ledge area in the yak, this being our last day. With the strong Northerly blowing we had a couple hundred metres of rough and wet open water to cover before we'd be in the lee of the ledge and be able to troll in relative comfort. We launched at 16h00 from the town ramp with a 17h30 high tide. The next one and a half hours was spent trolling up to Seal Corner, not much to begin with other than the odd few Salmon - we'd be going along and then both rods would go away as a school engaged.
Halfway down to Seal Corner little brothers rod on the 4lb tackle doubled up and the reel peeled line....nothing on my stick? Ok, easy now, this is a better fish....5mins later a nice Snook came alongside. In the next hour we hooked 7 good Snook, landing 5. We released many more Salmon and two Silver Trevally. I had a 4kg Kingy come right up next to the kayak to have a look....not interested in the lures though. Seal Corner was pretty wild and woolly so we turned tail and headed for home - no doubt the womenfolk would be worried by now  Fresh Snook for dins.








So there ends my tale. I've been quite surprised by how few local Adelaide folk I know have paid Coffin Bay a visit. It's not too far to drive, there are accommodation options of varying kinds to suit all tastes, and many things to see and do even if you're not inclined to fishing or the beach thing. In ten days we only had a taste, and it's been enough to ensure our return. I still have unfinished fishing business due to the crap weather over this time and this is still burning in me. Great to have an excuse to go back. I encourage you to also make a trip.

Cheers

Hank


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## clarkey (Jan 13, 2009)

Those beaches look awesome,too bad about the weather,those kingies would of been fun.
Clarkey


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## solatree (May 30, 2008)

Nice one Hank - well done hooking the kingy - bummer on the hooks ! Coffin Bay is one of my favourite spots, but as you experienced, can be windy !


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## skorgard (Oct 6, 2007)

Great report, great trip despite the showers, I am jealous of the kingy encounter - amazing to get them off the shore , bad luck about the hooks.

You will have to go back!


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## sandyfreckle (Feb 17, 2009)

Great report. What a comprehensive write-up! The bottom end of the Eyre is a fantastic spot.

Those trebles are well and truly done with! Getting a little Kingie on light gear would've be great fun.

Thanks for the the report.

Cheers.


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## Milky (Feb 7, 2010)

Hi Hank nice report - looks like you had fun despite the weather - we are heading that way 3 Jan and hope the weather treats us a bit better. Never been to that part of the world so looking for all the info I can find. The guys on the forum have been helpful
See ya on the water

Adrian


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## KhoisanX (Aug 27, 2009)

I'm already envious!
What kind of fishing do you do Adrian? Do you have a 4x4?
With the strong winds during the time we were there I did not get the chance to explore much of what is such a huge expanse of water.

Things on my "to do" list and recommendations:
Rabbit Island area and the Yangie Bay inlet on tide changes.
The channel that feeds past Coffin Bay township into Kellidie Bay; I saw at least one boat at anchor there fishing every day - it looks very good, but you'd need an anchor setup to stay put.
The Ledge is another famous fishing area - easily accessible from the town side. The day I fished this area the wind gust readings at Coles Point were up to 72km/h so we punched straight into the chop from the town ramp to get into the lee of the Ledge and staying no more than 50m off the rocks along the way to hide from the wind. The main channel is about 100m of so off the rocks. We got the Snook mostly really close in. You could do all this without having a 4x4.

If you have a 4x4 I'd suggest you check out:
Farm Beach - produced regular KG Whiting bags for a tinnie crew who were also staying in the campsite (when they could get out). There's a wooden ramp setup on the beach to provide traction when launching trailer boats. These guys told me the sand patches just out to the right of this were providing fish shot for shot. Farm Beach would be great in light conditions and excellent as a base to also launch and explore the Port Douglas entrance and Point Longnose areas which form the entry point into "Coffin Bay" (the system is actually made up of Port Douglas, Mount Dutton Bay, Yangie Bay and Kellidie Bay).
The Brothers is a set of islands about halfway between Eely Point and the Horse Peninsula. From the area in my first pic this would be a 300m stretch in the kayak to get there; one of the locals recommended it to me for Salmon right now.
Avoid Bay is a little gem tucked away near Point Avoid to the SW of Coffin Bay. There's sealed road all the way, including a steep concrete ramp to the beach. I'd head here to fish in an instant if the winds were ranging from NE through SE (ie offshore), quite protected.

There are a few posts with Coffin Bay info here as you point out. Hope you can add to this on your return.

Tight lines.


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## KhoisanX (Aug 27, 2009)

.....just spotted the "Woza Weekend"..... We've been here 8yrs now - hope I see you out on the water sometime.


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## brenton (Sep 1, 2009)

I really enjoyed that mate ,good one.
cheers brenton


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