To be honest, after the crazy windy end to my previous Kurwongbah session I wasn't relishing the idea of another session being nearly tipped out of the kayak... But I was so desperate to get out, I decided to ignore the predicted 35kmh winds and get to the lake super early in an effort to avoid the wind as much as possible.

So I got to the lake in the dark at 5:15am! The car was showing 28 degrees already and there was a very stiff breeze blowing down the lake. It also became apparent that I was going to have company on this session as 10 cars pulled into the carpark as I paddled up the main drag...

Plan wise, I figured I'd try and find calm water so I headed straight across the main basin to boat ramp bay, one because it was relatively sheltered and two because it was the main area I picked up fish in the previous week. But try as I might I couldn't get a bite. There weren't any fish showing on the sounder and despite paddling around and exploring all the areas that previously held fish there just wasn't anything around.

It was the same story at Toga Point and at Stag Bay.

Clearly a new plan was needed as the current one wasn't working! On a hunch, I headed down past the massive weedbed to the far end of chicken coup bay and gave the edges a go. Believe it or not, I got a bite on the first cast! Only a small bass but it was a start. Then another. 

The fish were around the edge again?!

The action dried up after 4 fish, a missed bite finally backing the fish off (which quite often happens, it's almost as if 'the one that got away' warns the rest of the shoal). But it was encouraging and spurred me on to investigate the edges around the top end but weirdly, not a thing showed itself. All the spots that had produced fish over winter were completely devoid of activity and with the wind hacking in circles I just couldn't stay in one spot to properly investigate anywhere.

A little frustrated I decided to drift on down into Fence Bay. I wasn't overly hopeful as I've not had a fish in this spot for months on end. So it was a real surprise when I got a bite! Not a big fish by any stretch but another one to chalk up. Even if there were some more fish around, the wind was maddening by this time and I'd all but given up and was starting my paddle back to the launching area.

But something made me stop in at boat ramp bay... It might've been the calm water, it might've been that 4 speedboat's had turned up and we're racing up and down the lake or it might've been a sixth sense...

But I scored an additional 4 bonus fish in the space of 10 minutes! All from the edges, all pretty small but all more than welcome.

The sun was high in the sky by now and as it was blistering hot and the action dried up as quickly as it began I decided to call it a day and head for home.

So another interesting session at Lake Kurwongbah. I'm not going to lie, the wind has been a constant pain over the last couple of months and today was no exception. But it was really encouraging to get some fish around the edges and who knows, maybe next week's session will be millpond calm and the takes will be fast and furious!

Did I mention that it'd been dry for weeks? Well pretty much immediately after booking the forecast changed from sunshine to showers. And then to rain. I couldn't quite believe it, literally after weeks of sunshine, from nowhere a rain front moved in - unreal.

But what the hell, sometimes you just gotta go! So despite a grey start to the day, I got the bike loaded up and all set to leave around 11ish. I kid you not, it started spitting the moment I walked out the front door... By the time I got through Ferny Hills it was really raining and I drove out of Samford Village in a full downpour...

Luckily the rain eased up as I headed into Dayboro and I stopped for a minute to dry out my gloves. There seemed to be a lot of people in the village for a Friday and it was then I noticed the big yellow signs around the place with 'Cast and Crew' and 'Extras Meeting Point' written on them... What was going on?! I quickly found out as the next thing I knew I was being politely asked to move on from where I'd parked as there were cameras pointing straight at me! Apparently they were filming for a TV show and I was 'in the shot' and for some unbeknown reason they didn't want a DRZ400 in the background... Madness.

So I headed up the hills to Mount Mee in fog and mist but slightly drier than when I started out. Things were going great, I was loving the twisties and this route winding up the hills is defo one of my favourite rides around Brisbane. But just before the Dahmongah Lookout the heavens opened yet again and this time it absolutely binned it down... I didn't mess around and drove the bike right under one of the shelters at the lookout and parked up for twenty minutes. I just couldn't be bothered with riding in the pelting rain and decided it'd be a better bet to stop, dry out a little and completely bake the gloves on the exhaust pipe!

As I rode down the hill into Woodford the sun came out and to be honest, you'd never know that it'd been chucking it down 10 minutes ago... I fueled up and wasted no time heading up the hills towards the Peachester cafe to stop for a much needed sausage roll. Dropping down the hills towards the coast and flying along through the twisties was fantastic fun and then it was a short ride into Landsborough, past the Ewen Maddock Dam (I will be returning there one day to hunt down some more of the elusive bass..) and then a short hop on the highway to my final destination.

I really was racing the rain clouds at this point as even though I was riding into brilliant sunshine over the coast a quick glance in my mirrors showed a boiling black sky behind me! So it was with a sense of relief that I finally pulled off the gravel road into River Road Ranch to be greeted by the friendly owner Greg and his young son. The spot looked amazing! He quickly explained that they'd had a load of cancellations due to the rain and I had the pick of the 3 riverside spots to choose from. A bag of firewood was organised and I headed down the track to check out the spots.

One area in particular had a great 'swim' with perfect access to the river so I wasted no time getting the tent off, getting everything out of the bags and then heading to into Coolum Beach for supplies. Woolworths provided a steak, potatoes and mushrooms for dinner and the bottle shop had a good selection of beers to choose from (I settled on a 4 pack of Balter XPA which I've grown quite partial to...) and no camping trip would be complete without a Bundy and ginger beer. The question of ice was solved by a quick trip to the Coolum Beach Hotel who very kindly filled up my little folding eski for me and after a quick look at the sea (to make sure it was still there) I headed back to the campsite with an hour or so to go before sunset. Perfect.

The river was looking amazing and as luck would have it, the tide appeared to have gone out and the water level had dropped revealing some great looking mud flats - perfect flathead territory! I wasted no time and rigged up a rod and got to fishing. Now I only carry a very limited fishing kit with me: a 6ft telescopic rod and reel combo (a $20 Ghotda 1.8M special from AliExpress!) and a small plastic tub with hooks, leader and weights. After my recent fishing trip with Peter from PTP Fishing I thought it'd be a wise idea to bring some soft plastics and the only ones I had at home were some Fox Rage Shads that I'd brought from me UK so 4 years ago! I used these during the 'Jim's Lure Challenge' to catch pike on the Bristol Avon so the question is, would Queensland flathead like them?!

It didn't take long to find out... 3 casts was all it took! Hopping the lure across the sand in small jumps and bang, a flathead was on it instantly and a decent one at that. I was slightly in a state of shock, I couldn't quite believe that the pike targeted lure had worked but also that it'd attracted such a good fish! I guesstimated it at 45cm and quickly got it back to fight another day although if my fish filleting skills were up to anything it defo would've been a perfect accompaniment to my steak on the grill!

As that fish had trashed my leader I headed back to camp (literally 5 paces away from the bankside!) and while I was sorting out the rod the owner arrived on his quad bike with a big bag of firewood, some kindling, firelighters and... an axe! Far out, I'm not gonna lie, I really enjoyed using that axe... And to be honest, I think it may have been a real struggle to get the fire blazing without it as everything was really damp.

The firepits at River Ranch Road deserve a special mention here as they are absolutely amazing. I'm not sure if the owner makes them or they're a commision of some kind but they're pretty unique. Mine was in the shape of a 'ute' and the bonnet, cab and tray all doubled as grill areas. I chose to only use the tray area but I'm sure if you got the whole thing ablaze it'd be a family size grill. Very cool.

While the fire was getting going I got casting around again and instantly got another flathead. Not as big, defo the smaller relation of the first one but I was really stoked to be getting amongst some fish so quickly.

By this time it was completely dark and as the fishing slowed down as the tide turned I concentrated on getting the fire really going and turned my thoughts to dinner. It did rain a couple of times meaning I had to retreat to the tent but despite the showers efforts to put the fire out I soon had a good bed of coals to cook over. Steak, mushrooms and a baked potatoes are pretty much my staple dinner for motocamping trips and tonight's meal defo didn't disappoint. There's something about carving a hunk of steak off the grill and wrapping it in turkish bread whist drinking a beer that is just unbelievable good!

In-between dinner and a movie (I watched 'Margin Call' held great promise but was kinda... dull!) I kept chucking the lure around and as luck would have it, the fishing continued to produce bites and I got another load of flathead before I turned in for the night. The secret I found was to give it about half an hour between fish! Generally I'd get another one on the 3rd or so cast after 'resting' the swim which all in all was a real result.

I eventually crashed out around 11ish and instantly fell asleep. It rained heavily overnight a couple of times and I woke up around 6am to find the sun up and the tide out but try as I might I couldn't buy a bite which was weird given the previous evenings success. Ater a quick ride into town to use the 'facilities' (there's no toilet at River Road Ranch) I returned to camp and stoked up the fire to cook breakfast. Luckily I'd had the foresight to save two of the 4 firelighters my host had given me and after using the axe to break down some of the left over logs of hardiusfuckarius left over from the previous nights fire I had a respectable blaze going.

Breakfast was simple: a couple of boiled eggs, sliced avocado and freshly made bread! I don't know if you've watched any of The Outdoor Boys videos on YouTube but they get up to all sorts of camping and wilderness adventures but none of their videos are complete without 'bread in a bag' and honey butter.

The process is simple - get yourself a medium ziplock bag and add the following dry ingredients:

• 1 cup strong bread flour
• 1/2 teaspoon yeast
• 1/4 teaspoon of bread improver
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar

Before you go to sleep, add water and give it a thorough mix in the bag, seal it up and put it somewhere warm and dry overnight (I put mine inside one of my pannier bags). In the morning, the yeast will have done it's thing and you'll have bread dough ready to bake on the fire! Just tear off a ball, shape it into a flatbread and place on the grill or coals. It takes around 7 minutes to bake, just keep turning it till you think it's cooked through. Seriously, fresh bread when camping is a bit special.

For the honey butter, I just melt a tablespoon of butter (or Nuttelex - the curse of being lactose intolerant!) and combine it with a tablespoon of honey. Once it's all mixed up, decant it to a container - I use these squeezy bottles that I picked up in a dollar shop, they're ideal for small amounts of liquid (I have one with washing up liquid, a second with olive oil and a third for honey butter, just the right amount for breakfast). For this trip, I added a sprinkling of dried rosemary and far out, it was a game changer. To melt it, I just place the bottle in some hot water (usually while I'm boiling my eggs) or just place it near to the fire. Too good.

Breakfast done, I did do a bit more fishing but as there just didn't seem to be anything around I called it around 11am, packed everything onto the bike and got back on the road. Nothing too fancy, I just decided to retrace my ride from the previous day heading along the highway, up to Peachester, down into Woodford and across the hills to Dayboro and then onto home.

The ride was pretty uneventful, the only blip being that the beautiful sunny day disappeared as I left Woodford. Having seen the rain clouds gathering, I Stopped to put my rain jacket on before heading up Mount Mee but it was all in vein as an absolutely biblical downpour started about a minute into my ascent! it was pretty hairy, the section of road is near vertical and there was defo no way I could stop. I just had to take it really slowly and inch my way up the hill!

As with the ride out, I had to stop again at Dahmongah Lookout to dry my gloves and wait for the rain to pass. One trick I remembered from my motorcycle training in the UK was to put a pair of latex gloves on underneath your riding gloves. Not only does it keep your hands dry, but it stops them getting quite so cold! Luckily for me I carry a couple of sets in my first aid kit so I broke them out before continuing on in the drizzle.

I finally got home around 3pm, exhausted, wet and stinking of woodsmoke - but very happy! I'd had a great trip and finally found a campsite with fishing - I'm already looking forward to heading back to River Road Ranch!

I've done a fair amount of land based saltwater fishing around Australia, mainly from the beach surfcasting and from piers. Along the way I've picked up most of the usual species but apart from the odd decent size bream, I've yet to hook into something of a good size. So my hope for today was to find some of the fabled 50+ cm flathead that Peter has been picking off in recent months. This was also only my second outing sea fishing on a boat as apart from a bit of handlining for Red Emperor on holiday at Brampton Island, I've never really had the opportunity before - fingers crossed my sea legs would be ok (luckily we weren't leaving the river for open water!) and we'd get amongst some fish.

It was a cold start! We arrived just as the sun was coming up and Peter wasted no time getting the boat in the water - it still impresses me that he can reverse park and get the boat off the trailer so quickly, I guess Aussies just have this skill in the blood?! It was a short scream down the river (that boat can move...) and I was really glad I brought so many layers - two long sleeve t-shirts (one of them thermal), a thick hoodie, a down jacket, snood, beanie, boardies and tracky-dacks. I felt slightly like a Michelin man but, with the exception of my nose, I was actually pretty toasty - who knew it could be so cold in the sunshine state?!

Peter had very kindly rigged me up with 3 rods for the day: a light soft plastic, a heavy soft plastic and a hard body with the idea being different spots would work better with the different set ups. As the sun clipped the top of the trees we pulled into our first spot, the corner of a channel of the main river and got to casting the lighter plastics around the edges. Amazingly, Peter got a hit on the first cast to open water! But sadly other than a couple of knocks, nothing showed itself along this section so it was time to move on.

You sure do get places quickly in a boat and in no time we were in the next spot, the opening of a larger back channel off the main river. The difference this time though was that we were in open water fishing to the bank and with the heavier plastics. Within a couple of casts it was very apparent that there were fish here and within minutes Peter was into the first fish of the day, a 50cm monster flathead who gave a good account of itself and was soon in the boat despite my amataur landing net skills. As is the case with Australian fishing, if it's a legal fish, it goes in the eski and unfortunately for this flathead, it was her unlucky day.

Something I wasn't expecting was the police turning up! We'd been facing the bank and I hadn't noticed their launch until it came along side and they hailed Peter for his name, licence and registration. A quick check of the credentials and life jackets and they were off. It seems the waterways in Australia are policed as well as the roads (which is no bad thing).

Then things got tough, not through lack of fish as there were definitely a lot around but more through lost tackle. I got my first chance at the action only to be bitten off. Then again. Then Peter got bitten off too. The suspicion was it was smaller tailor snapping at the lures and biting through the line! Not ideal. We stuck at it for a little while but we were racing through plastics and jig heads at a rapid rate of knots so it was time to move on.

So we headed down the back channel to fish the boat ramp and structure I'd seen in Peter's latest video.​ Sadly for me, despite casting to the exact spot my guide suggested I somehow managed to get snagged on the first cast! After creeping towards the boat ramp, we somehow got everything back but my biggest fear was my antics would have ruined the spot... But a couple of casts later Peter hooked into yet another decent flathead so all was not lost.

After a few more casts, I finally got in on the action hooking into the one and only bream of the trip. Not a big fish, but it was my first and put a big smile on my face.

We spent a good while creeping along the various jetties and structure before Peter mentioned that it might be worth a cast to open water and true to form, he was instantly into a fish, this time a tailor. I soon switched over, casting the heavier plastic out into the channel and using the 'hop, hop, wind' method​​​ and within a couple of casts I too was into a tailor - they were definitely around!

Then from nowhere I got my 'fish of the day'. I'd cast out and almost got the lure back to the boat when something absolutely smacked it and tore off. On light gear, this thing gave a hell of a good account of itself and it was a bit of a struggle to get it under control but after a bit of excitement a beautiful fish graced the landing net.

I had absolutely no idea what it was but luckily my guide was better informed and let me know it was a mulloway, and a decent on at that coming in at 63cm. Sadly for us (but luckily for the him/her!) this wasn't a legal fish the required size being +75cm so after some pics and a piece to video this one went back. I was stoked though, what a fish!

We continued down the back channel, hitting all the likely spots but the bream just weren't around which was really surprising. After an hour or so of exploring we upsticks again and headed down to the mouth of the channel to try the sand flats for flathead. The water here was really shallow, ranging from 3 to 5 feet which was ideal but try as we might, we couldn't buy a bite...

It wasn't until I cast right up into really shallow water towards the bank that we got our first hit. The lure had hit the water and I'd done my first 'hop' when a huge spray of water kicked up... Flathead on! This thing absolutely tore off, it was clear I was into something of a decent size and sure enough, a few runs and twists and turns later I had my first flathead in the boat.

This one came in at 56cm and I was blown away - what a monster! After a brief lesson in how to hold them (flathead have savage teeth and spikes that contain a anticoagulant meaning if you get spiked by one, you'll bleed for ages) we did some pics and a piece to camera. And again, it was this fishes lucky day as despite it being of legal size, I decided to slip it back. The catch and release angler lives on in me and I still like to see them swim away to fight another day.

After that commotion we were hopeful of some more fish but the action was still very slow. That is until Peter decided a lure change was in order. Switching to a hardbody and got a fish on the first cast to open water - unreal! This fish was clearly something serious and on light gear he had to take it very easy, but wind by wind he managed to get it back to the boat and a huge flathead slipping into the landing net. This thing went absolutely mental in the net and as they have a tendency to shake the hook once the line goes slack you need to get them into the boat pronto. As if to prove a point, this fish flapped around and managed to get itself down the side of one of the cabinets in the boat and we had a bit of a time getting it out. But we managed it in the end and after a few trophy shots with the lure (complete with straightened out hooks on one of the trebles) another flathead went into the eski with the others.

Time was marching on and we couldn't believe it when we checked our watches and discovered it was 2.30pm (we had it in our heads it was only around 12/1ish). As there were two more spots we wanted to try we upped sticks again and started to make our way back. The main river had gotten a lot more busy with boats in pretty much every likely looking spot but after a quick petrol top up (I'm not going to lie, when the engine spluttered and died I did get slightly concerned...) we hit the last areas to try our luck. But sadly there were no more fish and we decided to call it a day.

All in all it was a pretty stunning day on the water! The weather had been very kind and the crazy westerly winds we've been having recently stayed light which made casting a lot easier. I really enjoyed fishing from the boat and I'm indebted to Peter for taking me out - I felt like a propper Aussie fisherman!

And Peter had more than bagged up, managing to to get 5 decent flathead to take home for the table which was a bit of a result. Now that I've got my BBQ smoker set up at home, it's going to be very hard in future to put any flathead I catch back...

Fish of course! Despite feeling like absolute garbage when I woke up at 5am on Friday there was absolutely no question - I've been stuck at home for the best part of two weeks, I need some outside time, I need to go fishing.

Kurwongbah was the easy choice, I really needed a water way that didn't require a lot of brain power (I was experiencing the COVID fog...) and to be completely honest, everywhere is fishing so badly at the moment it seemed kinda pointless to put myself through a long drive somewhere new.

Despite BOM's prediction of 'light winds by mid morning' it was freezing cold and blowing a gale when I arrived at the late. Another bloody kick in the pants, I've literally been up every morning this week gazing at clear blue skies and completely still trees... But hey, what can you do?!

As with all the sessions over the last couple of months, it was incredibly tough going. The weed has receded a lot from it's absolutely crazy takeover but there's still a lot about which makes finding fishable water a challenge. I kept a keen eye on the sounder but it didn't reveal any fish until I got much further up the lake. Not surprisingly, the windy conditions weren't really ideal for worm fishing and the 5 bass I managed to scrape were all caught on the gangbanger g2 or the Rapala Rap-V Blade 'Halloween'. I only had one fish on the worms, an absolutely blistering take completely out of the blue along the bay near the dam wall.

I decided to call it a day around 2pm feeling pretty sorry for myself - 5 fish from around 6 hours of fishing is a pretty poor result! But it does give you an idea just how tough it is at the moment... And despite the wind it was glorious to be out on the water, it really lifted my spirits after the misery of the last month.

But I'm home now, still testing positive for COVID, still feeling like crap, still can't talk... Good golly, I hope this is over soon!

It might not seem like much but it's a significant change which might improve the fishing. Things have been crazy tough since the relentless rain pushed the water levels up to spilling point and that coupled with insanely quick weed growth has severely impacted the bass fishing.

The other bit of interesting news was an alert from SEQ Water about aquatic weed management. This is really welcome as after the weed explosion about a month ago it's been pretty much out of control making some really productive areas virtually unfishable. The treatment is taking place for 3 days between the 23rd and 25th of May 2024 which rules out fishing for this week.

So who knows, maybe things will improve on the fishing front? Looking back over my blog posts and videos I'm coming up on the first anniversary of fishing at Lake Kurwongbah and so much has changed in that time. I had some amazing sessions through June and July last year so fingers crossed I can bag some decent quality bass before the winter pattern well and truly kicks in. Watch this space!