Bemm River annual trip

Another trip to the fabulous Bemm River and this time the kayaks were left at home as we had a few newish fishermen joining us. My sons Ben and Will decided to come camping so we needed the boat (However all are now in agreement that “we ‘re gonna need a bigger boat”) after the fun that was had.

As it was the Labour Day weekend we expected it to be busy, however nothing like what greeted us when we arrived at the ramp at about 1pm Saturday afternoon – Pandemonium! Trailers taking up all spaces, plus both sides of the road to the ramp and some even on the main road near the pub. Apparently two boat clubs had annual tournaments there.  As Dad was towing the van he had taken the scenic route through Lakes Entrance (We powered through Bruthen) so we arrived earlier than him. The boys and I saw Mark at the general store, purchased some prawns and hit the fishing platform. It was a bad start when Ben’s hat blew off on the way out and sunk just when a nice gentleman’s Labrador had almost swum out to it but it improved with many bites. We got a few small bream and lost what felt like a good flathead.

We made our way back to the caravan park to agree on the species for the family fishing competition and decided on bream, EPs, flathead, trevally and tailor. Once again we would take the best fish of each species and add them together for a total length.

As it was still blowing a gale Saturday afternoon we hit the fishing platform again. Not much to report except for a small bream and I pulled up a massive conger eel which bit me off when I got it to the platform.

Sunday morning was a bit blowy but with a 6am wakeup call (And the kids in bed being babysat!) we hit Sydenham Inlet. Motoring towards the entrance you could have been forgiven for thinking this was the Carrum outer artificial reef during snapper season, as the approximately 100m square weedbeds just out from the entrance had 15-20 boats fishing it, some within 10m of each other! It turns out Mark at the general store had live prawns and they were fishing them under floats for perch. We decided to sit out from the river and drift over the drop off. As there was still a fair breeze blowing we deployed the drogue and started casting. Dad had on a 3” fry in banana prawn and I had a strike pro cyber vibe. Within the first 10 minutes Dad had managed a nice flathead of 42cm, a bream of 30cm and another smaller bream so I made a switch to the fry. This meant his early competition total was already 72cm and I was yet to trouble the scorers!

After about 15 minutes I finally managed a hit and pulled aboard a 30cm bream. We both followed that with a few flathead, Dad increasing his best to 44cm and I pulled out a 45cm flathead. At about 9am we headed in so I could pick up the boys from the caravan park (And cook up some bacon and egg sangas) and Dad kept fishing, landing a 31cm bream. After many deliberations, this fish was allowed in the competition and this gave Dad a current total length of 75cm (44cm flathead and 31cm bream) and I was also on 75cm (30cm bream, 45cm flathead). Below is my 30cm bream.

I had picked up some live prawns on the way so we went to the entrance where we anchored and whilst Dad and I flicked plastics around the boys got to put out some bait. It was absolute pandemonium on the live prawns with the boys each landing multiple flathead and bream and having a ball. Ben got a good chance to practice his lift and wind!

We kept a few flathead for the table and all of the bream were released for the day. Back at the ramp I think the most enjoyment came from feeding the pelicans! One great thing to see is fisheries at the ramp checking everyone’s catch, and I had a chat to the fisheries officer and he said that they had already caught a few people with undersize bream on board.

We had a relaxing afternoon and the boys were tired so went to bed about 7, and Dad and I hit the water again. It was quite windy but we persisted for a bit in Sydenham Inlet where Dad managed a 48cm flathead, bringing his total to 79cm. We then decided the wind was a bit strong and headed into the entrance, where it got dark without another hit. As it was dark I tied on a vibe and actually managed a fish – A 31cm yellowfin bream. According to Dad, the self-appointed rules master “a bream is a bream” so it didn’t get added to the total length as we include black bream and yellow fin bream together.

The next morning was Monday and we had until midday, and once again got up early and left with just Dad and I on the boat. I nailed an early 34cm bream taking me to 78cm, still one shy of Dad. We both caught numerous flathead and Dad soon after landed a 33cm bream, taking his total to 81cm. I managed a 46cm flathead soon after but this only got me to 79cm. We both at various stages were bitten off by tailor which it would seem were going to be the competition winning fish!

We moved to the entrance where we drifted from one side to the other a few times and got an enormous amount of fish. Most casts we had hits and landed heaps of flathead and numerous bream every drift. About halfway through the second drift I hooked up and had an extended fight, and at the end surfaced a lovely 34cm trevally. This took me to 114cm (34cm bream, 46cm flathead and 34cm trevally) against Dad on 81cm (33cm bream, 48cm flathead). We decided to head in and get the boys.

When we got the boys we once again got some live prawns and headed back to the entrance. Almost immediately they were on, and below is Ben netting a 32cm bream that Will had on, and the subsequent fish.

Soon after Ben’s rod went off and he managed a 45cm flathead whilst Will got a 22cm bream, and both proudly posed with these fish.

We called it quits at midday to pack and head on the long drive back to Melbourne, and the final results are as follows:

A great trip was had with 3 generations all getting into some fantastic quality fish.  The only disappointment was that we didn’t find the EPs this time, but that’s why we will be back soon!