Chris' 1st fish!

Took a short drive today to Carmila Beach between Mackay and Rockhampton. There was a nice campsite directly on the beach so decided it was time Chris put into action his fishing skills. Only problem was the fact the tide was out and it was about 500m to the water.

Chris and his catch

At the end of the beach was a River mouth were the sea runs in so decided to give it a go there. With his cheap rod and reel and only Squidgee lures we setup and gave it our best. Still in Croc territory we were sure to watch the water and got a bit freaked when seeing something surfacing then diving,

Where we were fishing

after a few times we realised they were huge turtles coming up for air. Anyway, back to the fishing, we setup on the slippy bank and after about 15 mins Chris was in with a big fight he landed what can only be called a monster Flathead

(we found out the name after). It was a monumentous fight and trying to find somewhere to land it was a job in itself.

Cleaning the fish

I even managed to slide over and get myself covered in mud whilst helping. Anyway, we got it in, killed it and carried on fishing for an hour or so, before deciding that we had enough fish for a few meals. We took it back to the campsite, Chris hacked it up best he could and we froze down some and left some out for dinner. Chris then cooked a yummy fish stew and we enjoyed our first free meal!! More please!!

Carmila, Australia