Camp Lake Fire - Camping and Fishing at Maroon Dam Queensland - St Margaret's Father & Daughter Fishing & Adventure Weekend

St Margaret's Father & Daughter Fishing & Adventure Weekend

The recent storms to hit the Scenic Rim have provided a fresh top up for Maroon Dam, taking the capacity back up to 100%. Along with the rain and storms comes an increase in atmospheric pressure and when the barometer is up, you know the bass will be actively feeding. We’ve had some large groups fishing in the Quintrex tinnies and they’ve caught plenty of Australian bass and some monster yellowbelly and eel tailed catfish. Live shrimp have accounted for most of the catch, but anglers keen to cast surface poppers have been rewarded. Campers staying at Camp Lake Fire have even picked up bass casting small surface poppers from the bank. The bass have been sitting on the edges of the lily pads and weed lines.

It’s certainly been a busy time at Camp Lake Fire. There have been plenty of families utilising the camping grounds and cabins, and we’ve been catering for the large groups as well in the form of three day camps and fishing weekends.

Sports Tuition recently hosted Fathers & Daughters from St Margaret’s Anglican Girls’ School on a fishing and adventure weekend at Camp Lake Fire. The weekend commenced Friday afternoon with the girls setting up their tents close to the cabins, which all the fathers bunked in to. It was a great way for fathers to meet other fathers in a social setting. And as the fathers were busy socialising, it was the girls’ job to cook a barbeque dinner for their dad over the open fire that night.

The group split into two and half started fishing on the Saturday morning and half started the adventure activities of abseiling and the milk crate climb. The groups swapped over after the lunch break. The target area for the fishing was the dead timber in the water, which provides some structure for the bass. The group tied up their boat to a tree, and using a paternoster rig, dropped a live shrimp down. A special mention for Priscilla, who was the youngest in the group, aged 7, who attended the weekend with her dad and older sister. Priscilla managed to land 15 bass unassisted, which is a great effort for a seven year old.

There have been some good schools of bass hanging around the timber regions of the dam for a couple of months now, and by using live shrimp as bait ensured the group caught and released hundreds of bass on the Saturday. The Sunday morning session wasn’t as productive for this group, which is a sign that the bass do move around. If the timber regions aren’t firing it’s worth trying the edges of the lily pads and weed lines. As the water is once again rising after the recent storms, the bass will also be foraging for food in the newly covered grass regions, so casting to the edges should also produce. Even though the St Margaret’s girls didn’t catch as many fish on the Sunday, the adventure format meant they had the opportunity to jump in the canoe and do a father and daughter paddle up the far upper reaches of the dam where Burnett Creek flows in. It’s a spectacular paddle and you’d think you were in a remote river system somewhere as you paddle through the tree lines. The group also participated in archery on the Sunday, so there were plenty of activities to keep them busy.

St Margaret’s is one of Brisbane’s leading all girls schools which holds a proud history of academic success, but through the support of school admin and parents you can clearly see St Margaret’s holds strong family values as well. I thoroughly enjoyed hosting this group and I do thank the leadership team of Mrs Angela Drysdale and Mrs Nicole Devlin at St Margaret’s for supporting the weekend and also Michael Russell who was the parent driving force behind weekend.