# QLD: 1st - 3rd June 2012 / Sundown National Park



## rino88 (Sep 10, 2011)

Hi all 

Well it has been a BIG weekend, full of long drives through some beautiful country and fishing is some pristine waters. We set off on Friday 1st June to Sundown National Park, my key objectives were to catch a Murray Cod as I have never caught one before...also a Yellowbelly if I could.

Once arriving at the campsite, Broadwater, we set up camp. The camp site is really well maintained, with easy car access, toilets, even showers.










The weather was fairly average, windy one second then pouring the next...Saturday delivered a nice clear day though. So I made my way down to the water, excited like a little school girl I quickly put on a 65mm Squidgy Pro Fish in Pody colour and lobbed it out into the water...second cast...third cast...BANG! A fight on the end of the line, large swirls of water and the drag was coming off the reel. Then...it's a Yellowbelly!



















What an awesome catch, never caught one of these beauties so I was over the moon 

Had a bit more of a flick and hooked into another fish, saw a flash of gold but got off before I managed to get a good look at it. Had a bit of an explore upstream through some of the waterholes but didn't have much luck (will post scenery photo's below).

I went back to camp and managed to construct my own Shrimp trap out of a water container and some rope, threw in a bit of chicken and she's good to go.










Checked the trap after having a bite to eat and I already had 2 shrimp.










So I quickly ran back to camp and put on a hook and sinker...put the live shrimp on...then...BANG! Wow, this was a bigger fish...was pulling like a horse! Then a 52cm Murray Cod! :lol: I'd caught my target species.




























My day was made, I was so happy 

The next day I headed down in the morning to check the shrimp trap again after leaving it in over night, I had a few more shrimp so I tried again but with no luck...I have a feeling the heavy downpour we got all night might have put the fish off the chew. I could see large Yellowbelly cruising up and down the waters edge but they were interested in my lures or shrimp. Still, I was stoked to catch two fish I'd never caught before.

All in all an awesome trip, I will definitely be doing another trip down there again soon.

Also, all the fish were released after photo's...so they can be caught another time ;-)


----------



## rino88 (Sep 10, 2011)

As promised...some more photo's -


----------



## scater (Nov 24, 2007)

Looks like a beautiful spot, and an iconic target species ticked off the list! Well done mate.


----------



## bookworm (Feb 4, 2011)

sounds like a pretty cool trip!


----------



## mangajack (Jul 23, 2007)

Good to see a decent amount of water in the creek again. I normally fish about 20km upstream from there where access to the creek is extremely limited. Some amazing fishing up that far.


----------



## rino88 (Sep 10, 2011)

mangajack said:


> Good to see a decent amount of water in the creek again. I normally fish about 20km upstream from there where access to the creek is extremely limited. Some amazing fishing up that far.


I bet there would be some quality fish up in those parts. I crossed over a wide section of river along the Texas-Stanthorpe Road on the way out that looked very promising, there was even a bloke in his tinnie fishing. Would be keen to give that a go next time I'm down that way.


----------



## kayakone (Dec 7, 2010)

*RIPPER Ryan! *

That's the mark of a true fisherman (I'm thinkin'). Target a secies, then catch 'em.

Great result. Enormous satisfaction. Doesn't get any better.

trev


----------



## rino88 (Sep 10, 2011)

kayakone said:


> *RIPPER Ryan! *
> 
> That's the mark of a true fisherman (I'm thinkin'). Target a secies, then catch 'em.
> 
> ...


Thanks Trev! I'm so happy I managed to catch a Murray Cod, totally over the moon. Going to be walking on sunshine for quite some time :lol:


----------



## Kahuna (Aug 9, 2010)

Nice, very nice Ryan. The wife and I have often thought about going down to Sundowner but haven't got there yet.

The yella was a good colour!

Beautiful looking spot. Was putting the yak in an option?


----------



## rino88 (Sep 10, 2011)

Kahuna said:


> Nice, very nice Ryan. The wife and I have often thought about going down to Sundowner but haven't got there yet.
> 
> The yella was a good colour!
> 
> Beautiful looking spot. Was putting the yak in an option?


It's a great spot, the fact we had the whole camp site and water hole to ourselves for the weekend just made it awesome. I'd be hitting it up out of season though, bet it would be packed during the school holidays etc.

I had reports from my friend, that lives at Stanthorpe, that there were -3 degree temperatures so I didn't pack the kayak. Got down there and it was overcast the whole weekend and it was a pleasant 20 degrees so it would have be ok to be in the water. Although the waterhole isn't that big, probably only about 200 metres long. There are more waterholes upstream but it's a 1km hike so if I was going to take the kayak I'd pack the inflatable Sevylor and hike it in :twisted:

Next time we head down there it'll be for a few more days as it would have been awesome to do a day hike upstream and explore some more. There's a few other creeks and wider parts of water around the area too that I want to explore too.

Such and awesome place, can't wait for my next visit!


----------

