Myall River Camp

This is another place that I love and have been camping at for many years. 

Right on the edge of the river, this private campground has its own beach and boat ramp, well looked after pit toilets and caretakers who look after the park.

There is some good fishing to be had in the river, its clean and the fish are healthy and pretty. Dolphins run up the river most mornings and afternoons, there are goannas, possums and other critters to watch and its still close enough to an urban centre to be an easy weekend away.

 

There was four of us this trip, our set up was pretty simple. Two tents, a fireplace in the middle and a gazebo off to one side with the icebox and food underneath to protect it. I took an old tarp just in case it rained and when it did I pulled it over the fireplace to keep our wood dry. 

We also had a single burner gas canister stove, one of the best things to take on a camping trip. They are cheap and the canisters are too, and can cook in most conditions when an open fire isn't feasible.

I caught two stingrays while we were there, one was about 70cm across and the other was the little guy below. Though fun, they were too much hassle to clean and were released.

There was an abundance of smaller fish around, with many mullet, bream, whiting, tailor and a few flathead being caught. I caught a few poddy mullet and threw them out on my large line, this took the large ray but nothing else this trip.
This whiting below became dinner, as it was Kyle's first ever eating sized fish.

 

There's not much else like a campfire cooked fish. To prepare the fire, let it burn pretty hard for an hour or so, try to use larger pieces of wood as you want to create a good coal layer at the bottom. When you can see this, rake them to one spot and leave flat. They should stay hot but bring the fire back in around the fish to keep it cooking evenly. This was the whiting coated in lemon pepper, wrapped a few layers of foil and left in the coals for about 20 minutes. Once it was unwrapped the bones pulled away with the tail, leaving a perfectly cooked piece of fish ready to be eaten.

 

This is another place I recommend visiting if you have the time. I've never had any trouble up there and there are so many fishing opportunities in the surrounding area. Whether its open water, beach, estuary or pier there is fishing for everyone!