Lostock Dam Caravan Park

So I've talked about this place a lot but it is genuinely one of my favourite places in the world. Please get out there and support a great place run by great people. Dave and Janet make sure the place is well looked after and obviously take pride in what they do.

 

Check them out on facebook, they have regular music "shindigs", a full cafe stocked with anything you could need in an emergency, full amenities and some of the greatest people I have met. https://www.facebook.com/TheLostockDamCaravanPark

 We got up there in October 2013, and although the wind picked up, it was a great trip and plenty of good fishing was had.

 I set out for an early morning fish, hit the river as the sun rose and it was an absolutely great morning. Below is the view I had as the sun rose. Above is the biggest bass I caught that morning. I picked out a nice deep hole being fed by the running river and I had a good view of the stretch above it. Three large bass came down the river with the current and as I saw them I threw a cricket in front of them and almost immediately hooked this one. It was a great fish, healthy and strong and it was worth the early morning.

The caravan park is a great place, far enough away to miss most of the city folk and in the one morning I saw two echidnas, a platypus, a mob of kangaroos and many other native creatures, such as the kookaburra below.

 There was just two of us on this trip so we kept the set up simple.
One icebox, one tent, one fireplace, two puppies and a good weekend.

 I pegged the tarp out to protect against most of the wind and sun, and having the icebox behind it kept it cool. Everything else was easily put away at night and by using the existing table I didn't need to open my usual gazebo.
 Our two puppies were set up on a runner, tied to the table and looped around a nearby tree. By pulling this tight they could each have one side and could not cross over, it seemed to work well.

So if you want a good weekend away, get to Lostock Dam Caravan Park, I've been going there for years and will be there again soon :)

Lostock Dam trip 9/4/12

 I spent Monday to Friday of last week at Lostock Dam. I've spent a lot of time up there over the years and its one of my favourite camping/fishing spots.
Top Photo - Where my Dad and I spent every morning fishing and watching the sunrise. 5 30/6am rise, 2 beers each, rods, tackle and bait. This little hole is up the top reach of the Paterson River, Just below a stretch of rapids where a deeper hole has been dug out by the wash. We turned out a few good bass, including the one below I named Breakfast.
Second Photo - The view of the dam wall and surroundings from our campsite. A big storm came through the day before we got there and cleared out everyone, it was bad enough for people to leave tent pegs, chairs, a saucepan and several broken tents behind. Peace and Quiet ensued.
Third Photo - Breakfast. If you look closely you can see he has a huge chunk out of the back of his head and half his top lip removed, I can only assume when he was younger as it has healed well and he was delicious. Fried up after our morning fish with a bit of Bush Spice, OMG.

Fourth Photo - Our campsite. One large 4 man dome tent under a 3m square tarp held up by 5 poles down each side. Pretty compact camp, 1 hour set up with a focus on space efficiency. Big fire with firewood we scrounged from around the park, a single burned gas cartridge stove, two chairs and an icebox made up the bulk of the set up.

Fifth photo - Large catfish I caught on the first day. One of many, including one that was laying eggs and many different colours and sizes were on display. As frequent as eels and bit all day, but more readily early morning and late afternoon.

Last photo - An echidna we found sheltered down in the caravan park underneath a patio. I watched him for 20 minutes and in that time he stretched out, moved over to the tree and layed back down and fell back asleep. I want one as a pet!!!

So it was a highly productive trip, 5 days to clear the mind and get away from work and get back in touch with nature. Every night, we sat there with a fire at our feet and stars above our heads, discussing anything and everything and meeting a few new people.
We caught a fair haul of bass, more than a hundred small ones and by my count about 15 over 25cm long. There were a couple of good sized ones, with Breakfast being about 33cm and I lost one a lot larger under the dam wall and didn't I rage! We could have kept many more than we did but honestly we didn't need to and I've been raised to support the ecosystem where I can. We only ate one bass over the 5 days but it was in every way worth it.
It is a very healthy system that high up in the river, we checked every little bass that we pulled up and not one had a previous hook hole and there were only a few with any visible damage. To this point my dad and I both have a couple of small bass taken from the river and are now living happily in our fish tanks. I will post pictures and more soon.
The only thing that we noticed were a couple of small bass and a few large catfish had really pink and raw spines on their pectoral fins. Not sure if it was just natural or something was causing it but I will look into it and see what I can find out.

So if you are considering a trip to the Hunter Valley I would recommend Lostock Dam and the caravan park, Dave and Janet obviously take pride in the park and do everything they can to provide every necessity and home comfort they can.

Lostock dam photos 26/3/12

Lostock Dam Wall - Andrew Parr

Just posting the pictures of what we caught at Lostock Dam in the last post.
Top photo is where we were fishing, looking at the base of the dam wall. Second photo is Nick's mullet caught on a lure, a simple shiny metal one.
Third is my first two little bass.
Last is Nick and his catfish. We were considering taking it to clean and eat but decided to give it a go another time.

Mon 26/3/12 - Fishing

Ok so Monday the 26th, I got a chance to fish one of my favourite childhood spots. We went camping several times a year, and every second I got, I spent it fishing. My mates Nick, Chris and I spent the day fishing Lostock Dam, The beginning point of the Paterson River. I'll be writing plenty more about both of these places later.
Between the 3 of us we caught a large catfish about 60/70cm(Nick), an eel over a metre long (Nick), several bass about 20/25cm long, 3 mullet and many more small bass and eels.
We caught more earlier in the day, and while the sun was covered. Once the sun came out I only pulled a couple of smaller bass from the deep holes.
Nick and Chris both caught a mullet on metal spinners and another on a worm.

Friendly tip - Don't throw your only water bottle down a hill, it will break and spill.

As it had been raining, the dam wall was spilling over. This caused the river to run high and murky, but from above the dam outlet pump we could make out several large carp feeding in the weed beds. I think they were carp as in polarised sunglasses I could make out diamond shaped scales, too big for bass.
When running high the rapids in the river were harder to make out, but with a ready food source of the dam wall overspill and the rising water reaching over the shore there was a lot of activity. That means better fishing higher up the river and closer to the banks.
My next post will be something about fishing no doubt. I want to write down how I go about getting ready and finding a spot so maybe that will do.