Warren Prior, Author at Baha Adventures

03Jan 2020 by Warren Prior No Comments

Manly Dam – Take 2

Bass, Fly Fishing, Fresh Water, Kayak Fishing

On a lazy Friday morning, I decided to take advantage of the fact that granny was staying with us, and took her and the girls down to Manly Dam, to show her one of my local fishing holes. It was the first time I'd tried to load my Hobie Outback onto the roof of my ute by myself. And amazingly, it was easier than doing it with my sister, although it did take me fractionally longer, as I had to lift each side onto the roof on it's own. This amazing feat was achieved using the Rack and Roll roof rack bar, which I purchased from the Life Aquatic. When we got to the dam I setup a small picnic area for granny and the girls, and then got about…

28Dec 2019 by Warren Prior No Comments

Aussie Bass at Manly Dam (First Outing on my Hobie Outback)

Bass, Fly Fishing, Fresh Water, Kayak Fishing

After months of deliberation around which fishing platform would be best suited to my use cases, having considered multiple options from boats to float tubes and paddle kayaks, I bit the bullet and purchased a 2019 Hobie Outback. Surprisingly, even after I'd narrowed my choices down to the pedal kayaks, the decision was still far from obvious. What drive system did I want? Should it be fin based or a prop drive? Was size and ease of transport important? Or was stability more critical, being a fly fisherman? These are however questions better suited to a future post, once I've had a few more sessions on the kayak. With a shiny, new Hobie sitting in the garage, I absolutely had to get it onto the water as soon as possible.…

19Oct 2019 by Warren Prior No Comments

Excitement at Willoughby Creek Bay

Fly Fishing, Salt Water

I snuck out of the house late on Saturday afternoon, fly rod in hand, ready to explore some nearby waters. Despite having lived in Sydney for close on 2 years, I had only fished the harbour twice, and was eager to find some good fishing spots close to home. When I arrived at the Willoughby Creek Bay, it was just starting to rain. There was a strong westerly blowing, it was close to low tide, and the water was murkier than usual. But none of that was going to put me off. I stood on the bank for a while, trying to work out my game-plan, before climbing down the steep wall into the water. The bottom was covered in oysters and, despite wearing rubber booties, it was still sore…

15Sep 2019 by Warren Prior 2 Comments

Lake Oberon Trout

Fly Fishing, Fresh Water, Trip Report, Trout

My family and I recently headed out to Oberon in NSW, in the hope of finding some trout waters closer to home. While Lake Jindabyne and the Thredbo River were incredible venues, driving 7 hours to fish for trout is just too tall an ask for me to do frequently. So with that in mind, we left home after work on Friday, and started the 180km drive through the Blue Mountains, to Oberon. I was not initially impressed with our accomodation, the Jenolan Holiday Park, predominantly since it was located in the middle of town, under the clouds of steam billowing from the timber mill's stacks. That said, the cabins were comfortable, consisting of 2 bedrooms, a bathroom with a shower, and a small living area including an open plan…

28Jul 2019 by Warren Prior No Comments

Crooked in the Crooked River

Fly Fishing, Salt Water

A Deluxe Cabin at Discovery Parks, Gerroa The family and I recently headed down to Kiama, predominantly to show the kids the famous blowholes. We ended up staying at Discovery Parks, Gerroa, which is a lovely, lesser known park. It had been recently renovated, and the Deluxe Cabins were absolutely amazing. The park also boasts a great little playground, mini golf, and a swimming pool, so it's well worth a stay. In terms of fishing, I only managed to sneak out once with the fly rod. The Crooked River looked like a prime spot for flathead, so I headed out with a lot of confidence. There was a deep channel on the far side of the river, as well as 50 or so meters of "shallows", which were completely exposed…

24Apr 2019 by Warren Prior No Comments

Trevally at Dammerels Head

Fly Fishing, Salt Water

While camping at Emerald Beach, the lure of the many beautiful beaches surrounding us was far too great, and saw us heading north to explore Woolgoolga Beach. This proved to be a good decision as we drove onto the sand at the incredibly picturesque Flat Top Point. From there we headed south, looking for a good spot to setup camp for the afternoon. On route we passed multiple promising looking holes in the surf, all sure to hold fish, before coming to a stop at Dammerels Head. We selected the rocky point for both it's aesthetics as well as the promise of species other than dart, which we were beginning to tire of. Aerial photo of Dammerels Head While our kids chased (and amazingly caught) crabs, we kitted up our…

21Apr 2019 by Warren Prior No Comments

A Quick Flick at Darlington Beach

Fly Fishing, Salt Water

During a recent trip to Emerald Beach we decided to have some fun, and put the 4x4s to use, by doing a little sand driving on Darlington Beach. After spending a confusing 30 minutes trying to find the very well hidden road onto the beach, we drove out onto the sand and headed south. The sand was solid underfoot (tyre), thanks to the many days of rain, and made for easy driving. Having explored the small region zoned for beach driving, we found a secluded spot and settled in for the afternoon. The girls got straight to business, building sand castles and collecting shells and rocks, while Nick and I kitted up our fly fishing rods and headed down to the surf. An aerial shot of Darlington Beach The water…

20Apr 2019 by Warren Prior No Comments

Dominating Dart at Emerald Beach

Fly Fishing, Salt Water

A rainbow over Emerald Beach The family and I recently headed north (for 7 hours) to Emerald Beach, to spend a week camping with the Nortjes. The Baha Reunion had been long anticipated, but got off to a rocky start when the salt water flies I'd ordered online never arrived. This meant that the trip started with a quick visit to Coffs Harbour where we thankfully found the most incredible fishing shop, MOTackle and Outdoors, which was also home to perhaps the best camping shop I've ever seen. If you're even in Coffs Harbour it's definitely worth a visit. With my fly box replenished we headed back to Emerald Beach and kitted up for our first session. We opted to head south and to fish off the rocky point into…

30Mar 2019 by Warren Prior No Comments

A Windy Fingal Bay

Fly Fishing, Salt Water

Warren fly fishing the rocks at Fingal Bay During a recent trip to Fingal Bay (Port Stephens) I snuck away for a quick hour on the water. I chose to head to the rocky point at the southern end of the bay, as I believed this had the best possibility of holding good fish. The beach was devoid of wave action, which made me believe it was unlikely to hold any good fish (or at the very least, they would be widely spread out and difficult to find). In theory this proved to be a good choice as I had access to good structure, deep water, and multiple impressive gullies. Sadly, the 40 km/hr winds made fly fishing exceptionally difficult. In fact, at points the wind actually lifted my fly…

19Jan 2019 by Warren Prior No Comments

Shredding the Slopes of Heavenly

Skiing

During a recent trip to Silicon Valley a colleague and I decided to sneak away for the weekend, and headed for the ski slopes surrounding Lake Tahoe. The journey to Heavenly was, well, less than heavenly. It all began with an Uber ride to Sydney International Airport, followed by a flight to Los Angeles, another flight to San Francisco, and yet another flight to Reno. Three flights, a bus ride, and an Uber in, and we were adequately exhausted. As such we decided to skip the hour long wait for the bus, and instead paid the extra money and Ubered the remaining 45 minutes to Heavenly. We checked into our truely American motel, Bluelake Inn, before heading out to the local ski shop to hire our equipment in the hope…

Author: Warren Prior