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Goshen Park Station - Herbert River

 
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Goshen Park Station/ Herbert River.

I had called around to Ross Patons workshop (Acme Cabinets, there’s a plug for you Ross!), to find him stressed out to the max! ”I’ve had this, lets go camping and chase some Sooty’s” was the first thing he said, second thing he said was “we are going to Goshen Park Station, get your stuff together” (he didn’t say stuff but this is a family paper so you get my drift!).

Well it sort of snowballed from there, Chris Jones was down as was Mark and Adrian Adams (there after known as the Kelly Brothers or Osama depending on who you were talking to!). So we had 2 vehicles, one towing a trailer holding the “leaky punt” and the other 2 canoes, both of which were barred to me due to my previous history with canoes! Now the thing that I wasn’t keen on was the date of departure, Friday 13^th!!

Anyway we left my place about 5am and drove up the Kirrama Range Rd arriving at Goshen Park station at about 7.30am(after the obligatory stop at Blencoe falls).

Now for those who are interested, Goshen Park was the site for the survivor series and for a cost of $50 per car you get to stay at the actual campsites, whoopee! The good thing about that is the sites are basically set up with fires, tables etc and right next to the Herbert River. After setting up the camp we went for a quick check of the river, it was awesome, big lagoons, humongous snags, rock bars every where, it wasn’t long before we had the canoes and punt in the biggest lagoon leaving one canoe to work the river near the camp site.

It took a bit of trouble to get the punt in due to the steep bank; Ross, Chris and I took the punt and the Kelly boys the canoe. Now this is where Friday 13^th comes in, Ross jumped in the punt and hooked up the motor, then it was my turn. Now, just as I put my feet in the punt Ross moves it away from the bank! Straight back over the side, up to my neck in freezing cold water I go, I couldn’t speak for laughing and nor could anybody else! I finally clambered into the punt after borrowing a top from Mark, I felt myself lucky no one had a camera ready.

We had originally thought we would fish with “Poppers” but we soon worked out you had to fish deep as that’s where most of the fish were. Chris was using a micro ”Mad Mullet” (this was to be the most successful lure for the trip). Ross a large ”Mad Mullet” (he’d left all his small lures behind, and I wasn’t about to lend him any after his trick with the boat!) and the Kelly Boys a multitude of different lures and myself a small “Manns 10+ and a “Micro Mullet that I borrowed out of Chris’s box. Ross and the Kelly Boys were using Barra outfits, and Chris and myself light freshwater tackle, now this gave us an advantage on flicking the small lures but was sadly lacking in the back-bone department when handling a “Sooty” over 40cm!

It wasn’t long before we all had boated some nice fish all over 30 cm but not the “big fella's” that were obviously there, I won’t bore you to much with numbers but for the two and a half days we fished we caught and released well over a hundred! All fun fish with probably fifteen over 40 cm (Adrian’s best was 45cm and Chris’s was a horse at just under 50cm!). It was about this time that the tape-worms started snapping so we headed back for some lunch.

After lunch, Chris and I headed of in the punt, Osama and Ade worked out of the canoe and Ross had already started to de-stress (he’d opened the Johnny Walker!) so he opted to cook tea. Roast lamb, sweet potatoes, baked potatoes, pumpkins and mushroom and garlic gravy, ”Go Ross”!

The Kelly boys decided to go further up stream paddling through some minor rapids, while we decide to work some shallow water. We wanted to fish a shallow arm we had spotted earlier and it wasn’t long before it paid dividends as we both boated fish to 38cm.As we motored to the mouth we could see some nice logs all bottled up on the bank, obviously bought down in the wet (when we had one that is!).

Chris has flicked his lure over the log and has had it monstered by a horse of a fish! He is having some trouble with this fish on light gear and it didn’t look like it was going to stop, so a bit of judicious driving from me and it was out in the open.

What a fish! A tad under 50cm and fat as, a real trophy fish. I was as keen as now, the next log was mine, a quick flick and just as it got to the log, smash another horse! But this time I was on my own as I couldn’t drive and fish and sadly the light “Penn Ultra-Graph” just didn’t have enough back-bone to stop it from reaching the snag.

Sadly for me that was the story for the trip, I guess somewhere you have to compromise, fish light and enjoy the fish under 40cm or just use heavier tackle and target the bigger fish (of which there were fewer off). For me, I’ll stay with the lighter gear and lose a few fish, most of the fish were over 30cm and they gave me plenty of pleasure.

We all met back at the camp for an excellent evening meal prepared by Ross complimented by some cold beer. As usual Ross had done his weatherman impersonation and forecasted no rain! As luck would have it, Ross had stretched a tarp and Chris had a tent, so bearing in mind it was still the 13^th, only half of us got wet when it rained (me because my long legs were poking out from under the tarp)! And to top it of for me, my borrowed camp bed collapsed! I was looking forward to the 14^th I can tell you. It would be remiss of me not to mention Ross’s snoring (he blamed it on the whisky) but he wasn’t on his own I can tell, they were taking it in turns with Chris hitting the high notes!

Saturday was much the same as the previous day, good fishing good company and magnificent scenery. It was my turn to cook so whilst not the culinary delight that Ross turned out there was heaps of it. BBQ sausages, chili beans and hot chips, with as much bread, butter and cold beer as you could handle.

We decided to have a quick fish Sunday morning before checking out the falls (a must see, magnificent!). Chris opted to cook breakfast and pack camp, so Ross and I fished the river out front of the camp in a canoe (with strict instructions for me not to stand up). It truly was a rewarding experience not so much for the fishing, but for the scenery, complimented by the mist. There’s a lot to be said for sneaking up on a snag in a canoe. We fished for a couple of hours with Ade getting his personnel best and me losing the battle with another horse, still you get that!

Now if you want to fish at Goshen Park Station you had better do it before 2006! My understanding is that the DPI in there wisdom are trying to shut it down for the use of tourists and fishermen and anybody else who wants to enjoy it. Ross and Maxine Blenner-Hurst are your hosts there and can be contacted on 07-40971428, prior booking is a must as campsites are limited and access is basically 4wd. It is an experience worth the effort but don’t go Friday 13^th!

Jim (Jimbo) Lee  -  www.un-reel-sportsfishing-adventures.com.au