I spent the weekend camping out down at Logue Brook Dam relaxing with the missus and some friends and thought I would put up a report.  We chose Logue Brook because you can camp there, right on the dam for $7 a night pp or go to the caravan park for $10 if you want showers, you can also take your dog, but they cant swim in the dam and it is accessable with a 2wd vehicle.  The dam is located on Logue Brook Dam Road off the South West Highway just before Harvey so travel time is only an hour and 20 mins out of Perth. 

We headed down on Friday morning arriving at around 10am, there are several camping spots around the dam and we chose one on the far end of the dam with a relatively flat site and a fire ring.  Our camp overlooked a stream feeding into the dam and had several 4wd tracks over it which would lead to our main form of entertainment for the weekend. We would sit and watch people in 4wd's pull up to a mud pit and without even prodding a stick in to check depth plunge right in and get stuck.

The dam levels are quite low at the moment, so waterskiing on the lake is banned, but you are allowed boats.  We fished the first sunset with lures at the dam wall with only one small rainbow caught, but it dislodged the hook in the shallows. 

The next day was Grand Final day and we listened to the game on the radio, after it finished apparently everyone who had drank 38 beers thought it was time to go 4wding with the mud pit getting a good work out, one 4wd even got stuck 3 times! After this there were rednecks everywhere with circle work on the dam wall and revving cars through the tracks.

On sunday we went for a drive into Collie to go to the Good Shed Markets and had lunch from the bakery.  We then drove back to Wokalup to the HaVe Cheese Factory for cheeses, venison salami and pate, we then went for a drive to the Harvey River Bridge Estate Winery and the Big Orange.  We did some wine tastings but also Apple, Grape and Pear Cider, also White and Red Sangria.  Cartons of 24 ciders for $15 and 6 x 1lt tetra packs of sangria for $24.  Our Designated Driver then took us for a quick look at Harvey Dam before returning to the campsite.

When we got back we got everyone and their fishing gear together while I sorted out the my kayak stuff before heading to the waters edge.  Cam, Jane and Collette stayed on the bank fishing while I took the kayak out for a bash.  I have a 5.4mt Mission Eco bezig sea kayak which is not set up for fishing so I went out for a paddle while trolling some lures with the rod awkwardly held  between my back and the kayak seat.  I tried SX40's, Spinners, Minnows, soft plastics etc, but couldnt get a bite.  There were some other yakkers there, one bloke on a blue hobie pedal yak who said he had caught some small trout, lost a bigger one but that they would start rising soon as it got closer to sun down.

This is where it started to go pear shaped, I kept trolling and changing lures and as the sun went down you could see trout rising all over the place in the middle of the dam, so I headed out there and trolling, or even casting past the swirls and retrieving was not getting me a bite.  The trout were everywhere by now and it was starting to get dark so I started heading back to where our friends were, trolling again.  At one point the lure motion felt like it changed, could this be it, had I got a trout bite? So I put down the paddle and attach it to the leash and grab my rod from behind me, as I turn back, my paddle leash had somehow disconnected and my paddle was making a break for it.  I panicked and lunged for the paddle and that was all she wrote I was in the drink!  I quickly grabbed the paddle and my fishing rod and swam to the side of the kayak holy shit its cold.  I properly attach paddle to kayak and stow the rod and make an attempt to self recover back onto the yak but the yak is so full of water every time I try to get back up it seems to sink lower and my pfd kept catching.

I was getting tired and a bit freaked out, my friends had heard me go in and were calling out to me so I responded, and made the decision to swim and tow the kayak to shore.  I was probably 100-125mts from the shore and slowly swam the swamped kayak back in.  It took forever and it certainly gave me a new found respect for hypothermia. I was concentrating on keeping my breathing deep and steady and my side stroke smooth, by the time I made it to shore I was definately losing dexterity. It was well dark and I was definately cold, my friends helped me out of the water and got the yak out and emptied out the water. Fortunately I had not lost any gear and I made it back to shore - Humble pie tells me I was pretty lucky this weekend, really lucky that I did not get loaded at the winery.  We loaded everything back up and went back to our campsite where I proceeded to warm up by our large fire.

On Monday we got up had breakfast, packed up and left to be back in Perth for lunch.

I would highly recommend Logue Brook dam as a place close to Perth that you can go for a really cheap camping weekend with fresh water fishing - Just next time I think I will leave my sea kayak at home and bring the dinghy instead! Its a great spot, really close to Harvey and Collie so you have the options of Logue Brook, Harvey and Wellington Dams and all the river systems that feed them to fish from and all the good food and drink the south west has to offer. Hopefully I will be back soon to catch my first dam trout!

No Pics as I was surprisingly lazy with the camera this weekend.