Fly Fishing & Solo Camping in the Mountains (CREEPY nighttime encounter!)

You guys hear that? I don't know what that sound is. Well g'day guys and welcome back to the beautiful Australian bush. So I've come over to the mountains this weekend on an overnight camp. We're going to be exploring this beautiful river and I've also got my fly fishing rod with me as well so hopefully there's a few trout hanging around. We are in the middle of spring, the bugs are starting to come out so it'd be nice to catch a trout off the surface and cook one up for dinner. But yeah I'm just getting all my gear ready now so we'll chuck the backpack on and yeah we'll start making our way down the river. Now one of the main issues is the section of river I want to fish. I have to walk downstream because the only access point is just over there so not ideal. It means it's going to be pretty easy to spook the fish so I'm gonna have to try and sort of I guess stay wide of the river. When I see a good little spot try and come around the back of them and hope I don't spook them. Well I haven't seen a single trout yet. I saw a few carp just before but no trout. I mean how beautiful is like this section just here. This tree is gorgeous. It's on its own little island. But where are all the fish? Well not much luck so far. I have not seen a single trout. Yeah I saw a bunch of carp before but not a trout to be seen. I caught a fish on this river about a year and a half ago but that was probably about five kms further down river and there was heaps of trout that trip so I don't know where they've gone. But yeah I've still got the dry fly on at the moment. I'm going to keep that on for a bit and just fingers crossed I eventually come across some trout. But worst case scenario I do have some woolly buggers so I could always chuck one of those on and yeah fish for the carp. I've actually never fished for carp on fly. I've actually heard they're meant to be really fun. So worst case scenario we can go for the carp but let's just keep our fingers crossed for a trout. All right well I've hooked myself. Oh there we go and that's why you should always debarb your hooks because if I left that barb on that would have been an absolute punish to get back out but they just slid back out. Well after seeing this I think I'm definitely going to be filtering or pulling more water. Looks like a dead kangaroo. The aquatic life would have been absolutely stoked to get feast on that carcass. I've just come up from the river. Got that water hole just down behind me. Just popped up in the bush just to have a look around and man it is so beautiful up here. It's like really nice open grassy bushland. It's gorgeous. Man this is a beautiful spot for camp. Got a nice big water hole and a really big gravel bank. Definitely not a bad option. But I think we're going to keep walking up the river another maybe like k or two and um yeah if there's nothing better we can always come back here. I can see about three goats around the corner. Let's see if we can sneak up on them. I'm about 40 meters away from them. Let's see if we can get a bit closer. bow range while I was hunting them. That's some really beautiful looking goats. Had some really nice colors on them. Very very cool. That was a really cool stalk. Got pretty close to them. I guess while we're on the topic of hunting. Some of you guys saw the video I did a couple months back that I was um yeah candy cane hunting. I actually went and did a beginner course at broadside hunting in the Hunter Valley and I actually went back about a month ago and did my advanced course. So I went through the process of like getting all my licenses like my hunting license, firearms license. Pretty stoked to say that I was successful in taking my first fallow deer. It was honestly like such an incredible experience. It was a perfect hunt. I could not ask for it to be any better for my first hunt. I got within about 40 or 45 meters of the deer. It was a perfect shot straight through the vitals. Literally dropped on the spot and I was um yeah out cold. So I could not ask for a better more ethical hunt and yeah it's just a really awesome course to get there with those guys and yeah do it for my first one. So it was a good feeling to finally get an animal on the ground. It's something I've been wanting to do for about the last 10 years. So I've been going through that process of like I used to be a vegetarian and then I got into got back to eating meat and I thought since I'm going to eat meat I need to be able to prove to myself that I can actually do it and I finally have done that. So I've got 15 kilos worth of venison in the freezer at home and it's a good feeling. There's so many deer on that property as well. So yeah it's a really cool yeah really cool experience and yeah stoked I finally ticked that box and there's just so much to learn yeah getting into that hunting world. So I'm really keen to sort of dive into it yeah over the coming years and I think it's just gonna be something I'm gonna do for pretty much the rest of my life. So it felt completely natural like when I took the shot like there was a lot of motions running through me but I was extremely calm which is kind of surprising for me. Like I do get the shake sometimes and I thought I was gonna be sort of shaking but I was extremely calm took the shot animal dropped and it just felt extremely natural for me like and I to be honest actually kind of like as I'm sort of walking down this river like fly fishing it kind of reminds me of fly fishing. So just like stalking like the fish and sort of trying to be nice and quiet and yeah I find there's a good parallel between between the two and like even if you're not hunting now that I kind of know the the process of how to sort of stalk an animal like just stalking up on those goats was pretty cool. I saw them like about 100 meters out and I had the sort of wind on my on my left side so they weren't getting winded up by me and yes I managed to sort of use the terrain and using the trees to sort of hide my shape and managed to get within about 40 meters of them so yeah it's a cool feeling now so I kind of get like the grasp of how to sort of sneak up on them animals. So even if I'm not hunting it it's cool just to kind of get nice and close to it so yeah obviously I know there's a lot of you guys that aren't really keen on the whole hunting thing which I definitely understand like I said I used to be that person a long time ago but like I said going through the process understanding sort of what's sort of involved in that sort of hunting world I've definitely changed my opinion and now that I've actually done it it feels extremely natural so yeah really keen to yeah dive into that world of the coming years. All right so it's about 1.30 so we're gonna have some lunch and today for lunch I just got one of these tuna and rice things. Usually when I'm out bush I generally have a pretty simple lunch like usually mostly I have like biltong or some nuts or like a little protein bar but I thought I'd give one of these things a go it's actually pretty tasty. Now I don't know where the fish are I haven't seen a single trout I'm really surprised because when I sort of did this about a year and a half ago I did a trip sort of like about two kilometers from where I am now that's sort of that's where I camped and I came in from a different direction and there's heaps of trout that trip I caught a trout did a little catch and cook and saw heaps swimming around and this trip I can't see a single one I don't know what the cause is see heaps of carp but yeah no trout so I don't know whether like the river does seem a little bit low so I don't know whether they still like maybe move a little bit further downstream or I have absolutely no idea I thought for sure I would have come across some trout by now a little bit frustrating to be honest I was really keen for a little trout catch and cook I think on the way back I might change up the fly to a woolly bugger and um yeah maybe I'll just give the carp fishing a go it's pretty cool to catch a carp on the fly so we'll give that a crack well we just laid down for a quick little rest after lunch and end up having a half hour siesta so it's about 2 30 now so what we're going to do is we're going to make our way back and probably camp at that really nice spot that I saw earlier on I've just changed over to a woolly bugger so on the way back if we see any carp we'll have a fish for them as well I can't believe how close they let me get to them you'd think since she's got a kid that they would have like scrammed the first moment I saw her and this river is full of carp have a look at them all so I've just hiked up onto this rocky outcrop just to get a good view of the river have a look what I found it's a memorial park give you guys a bit of a gaze so it reads in loving memory of Edward Ted Morrison born the 8th of the 3rd 1923 the 30th of the 10th 2020 he was almost 100 years old what 97 years old mate those are good innings so happiness is a simple joy of sitting with loved ones and watching the water for rises he loved this spot little fly fishing dude man that that is awesome rest in peace teddy and tell you what mate this is a bloody good spot I have to agree with you we've got a another park over here as well it's pretty hard to sort of make out what it says looks a fair bit older I think it reads William Browning Fletcher the 4th of the 2nd 1917 to the 5th of the 10th 1988 and it's got a little poem says home is the sailor home from the sea and the hunter home from the hill and that is awesome well rest in peace fellas you can definitely see where you guys like this spot it is an absolute cracker and that's awesome such a cool little find I love finding little memorials when you're out in the bush it's always cool to think that other people appreciate these little places just as much as you do now I don't know where I'm going to have my park when I eventually kick the bucket I've got that many favorite little spots that's definitely gonna be hard to choose well I think we found camp for the night it's a nice little spot next to the river we've got a pretty flat section up there where we can put the tent obviously it is camping on gravel so it's not exactly the most comfortable thing to camp on but um like we could duck up in the bush because there's like some nice grassy spots up there but just being down here it's so much prettier next to the river and also as always got to think of the thumbnail it's going to look much nicer down here but um yeah we're not meant to get any rain tonight so I'm not really worried about the river rising and also where we will be elevated there as well so I think we'll get the tent set up and then um we'll go for a bit of a fish and see if we can catch one of those carp a bit later as well all right so for my tent and my sleep gear I'm using the Durston X-Spin 1 we've got a Sea to Summit Ethylite XT insulator mat I've got the Neve gear Waratah quilt which is rated to zero degrees and two Sea to Summit Eros pillows all right already I can see some pretty big carp down there but they're amongst all the snags there's a big fallen log just there there's heaps of carp over there but I'm worried if I was to cast out there if I was to hook up they're just going to run underneath this log and it's going to bust me off so it's a little bit tricky to be honest not quite sure how to tackle this gosh these guys are huge that is an absolute monster hmm how do we do this all right so I've come over to the other side of the bank so hopefully we can get in their zone so the hang around here just before and there's so many carps swimming around me they're absolute monsters unfortunately they don't really want this fly they've only had a bow and arrow they actually made a carp bow fishing legal I think like the year before last I'm actually half keen to give it a go it'll be so easy to get with a bow and arrow and because you've got so many in this river actually be a good way to sort of yeah help reduce the population oh there's a carp right there come on mate come on he's just not interested the fly is literally on top of his head right now come on come on no that fly was literally like about five centimeters from his mouth he still didn't go so we might wrap it up might go back we're starting to lose the light be nice to get some firewood collected and um you get the fire going all right so we're gonna get the fire started with the ferro rod this one's by Survivor Supplies Australia I think it's called the Dragon Breath I've been using it for ages it's a really good little ferro rod if you guys want to check it out there's a link in the description below which will take you to my website that shows you all my gear now the trick with ferro rods is you see a lot of people actually sort of do this where they're pushing the striker down and then when they tend to get a little flame they tend to extinguish the flame because they sort of squash it out with the striker so the trick is you actually want to keep the striker nice and steady so if you place your hand on your foot keep that nice and steady and then if you pull the ferro rod towards you while keeping this steady that way you're not gonna yeah put out the flame so that's the trick to it now I've just got some nice dry grass here there we go I've just got some bracken fern some dead bracken fern all right we know what time it is beer o'clock tonight we got a stone of wood and young Henry's gin and tonic I feel like I haven't had gin and tonic out in the bush for a bloody long time so bought these cans they are bloody delicious but I'm gonna save that for once it gets dark yeah gonna start off with a stone of wood cheers guys I think this drink goes to our mates Teddy and William rest easy fellas it's a bloody good spot well it's exactly the comfiest ground to sit on I've got some pretty exciting news I want to chat to you guys about so yesterday on the drive out here I actually stopped in and saw the guys from Whipper and Whipper is the backpack brand I've been using for the last couple months and they're based in Katoomba in the Blue Mountains so Rob from Whipper gave me a call a couple months ago and he was keen enough to jump on board and be an ongoing sponsor of the channel which I'm super excited about because they're a great company to work with I stopped in yesterday to see them we're actually going to start developing my own backpack and we're hoping to release that early next year sometime like maybe around February March but yeah we stopped in yesterday to sort of I'd nut out a few of the design features and what kind of fabrics we want to use and the colours and things like that so we're going to start prototyping that pretty soon and yeah I'm just super excited like I've been wanting to make a backpack for a bloody long time and they're honestly like the perfect company to team up with because all their backpacks are handmade in Katoomba in the Blue Mountains which is absolutely awesome to see some Australian manufacturing there's not many people around who still make backpacks in Australia I'm pretty sure they're like the only one and yeah they're just a great company to work with like everyone I've met that company just absolute legends and they make a really good quality product so I think they're the perfect company to team up with as like an ongoing sponsor of the channel and yeah really keen to see what we can develop so super excited about that I've always been very sort of picky about who I take on as sponsors like I've been doing this channel for nearly gosh like six and a half or seven years or something like that and I've only ever taken on two sponsors in the past I've only ever had Off Grid and Sea to Summit sponsor a couple videos like earlier this year was it just to fund the Kimberley trip I did but apart from that I haven't taken on any sponsors so when Rob rang me up I was sort of like very sort of wasn't hesitant but I was very sort of like choosy about who I sort of take on and after chatting to him and seeing kind of the products that he makes and the fact that they're all locally made I knew that it was just a big tick and that there's the kind of company that I wanted to team up with so very excited about that so if you guys want to support my channel please check out Whipper because by you guys supporting them goes a long way in supporting me and like I said I think you guys would definitely like their gear and yeah really keen to see what we can develop so yeah stay tuned for that but I'm pretty keen to get some grub into us unfortunately didn't get a fish today so we're just gonna have to settle for some Off Grid meals but I think it's still gonna be pretty tasty so let's get that on the fire all right so for dinner we're gonna have these Off Grid provision meals and I've got the Wagyu Bolognese and a potato and salt bush now usually you're meant to sort of put this pouch in like a boiling water like a jet boil to heat it up but I'm actually just going to empty the contents into these pans and we'll just heat it up over the fire I've done it before and it's um yeah nice and easy way to do it already that smells so good looked into the bush I could see these little eyes and I saw them kind of like bouncing around and I thought it might have been some rabbits because I thought I saw some rabbit burrows early on but I just started to get a bit closer and they're like little puppies I don't think they're foxes I think they're like little dingo pups I'll try and see if I get close to them there's about like four or five of them I couldn't see mum so I don't know where mum is but man that's crazy I'll see if I can film them so they're just up there I don't know if you can see the eyes try and get closer it doesn't look like a fox it looks like a dog like a dingo I can't see where mum is very cute I should probably leave them in peace I don't want mum to come out and attack me that was rad that was really cool I didn't get the entire litter I could only sort of see that main one but when I went up there before without the camera I definitely saw about four or five I think they're hiding behind that tree there really cool like I'm almost certain they're they're a dingo they've got a little bit of sort of darkness to them but I have seen dingoes that are sort of all different kind of colors like do have sort of darker darker fur on them so yeah really cool had a little white tip on their tail so I don't know if that means anything when I was doing that hunting course back in October yeah the second day we went out for another hunt like a purebred dingo like it looked as dingo as anything it had like sort of like orangey fur or that kind of like straw color fur and it was probably only about 15 meters away from us 20 meters away from us and it was really inquisitive it just like kept sort of like walking through the grass and stopping and looking at us and Eamon the guy I was with he was sort of doing like little fox calls and deer calls just to get his attention and it would just like sort of perk its head up and just look around and yeah really cool like I honestly love dingoes hey like some I know some people don't like them especially like farmers and things but um man they're just such a such a cool animal we don't really have too many animals like that in Australia that's pretty much our apex predator and um yeah really cool it's just a shame that buddy he got so much 1080 poison like even where I parked my car today um at the end of the national park there was um yeah signs for 1080 poison so if one of those things eats one of those poison it is just such a horrible death so that's what the main reason I don't bring Branjo out I'm camping so which is quite a shame because I'd love to get my dog Addy more often but there's just that many bloody 1080 poisons around and the last thing you want is for your dog to pick one of those up so anyway it's pretty cool so yeah I'll catch you guys in the morning you guys hear that that just that just gave me the biggest chills oh man my hair on the back of my head just like stood up it's coming from over there I don't know what that sound is is that a dingo I've never heard a dog make a sound like that I think it stops if you guys know what that is please leave a comment this is gonna be interesting night I think I might be sleeping with my my knife pretty close to me see you guys in the morning oh they're so creepy well good morning man that was a good sleep honestly had probably one of the best sleeps I've had out in the bush in a very long time no uh visits from any dingoes last night or any any yaoi's or anything like that so yeah it was a good night woke up in the middle of the night to go hang a leak and the stars were just absolutely beaming it was beautiful it's one thing I hate about living sort of like in the suburbs of Sydney is you just don't get to see the stars like like you do out here it's a bloody shame but uh for a break here this morning we're gonna get some pancakes going we've got some pancakes with banana and some strawberries and I'm just gonna cook it up on a little twig stove I'm just gonna put some chopped up banana in it all right so camp's all packed up I've just poured a few liters of water onto that fire just to make sure it's well and chilly out now we're gonna start making our way back and um yeah still got the fly rod set up so hopefully we can come across a few fish and it'd just be from the fishing but it was still a great little overnight camp exploring one of my favorite rivers beautiful little campsite lots of wildlife but unfortunately the trout weren't cooperating I don't know where the body hell they've gone like I said when I've been here before there was plenty of trout and now I can't even see a single one and unfortunately there's a lot of carp around so if any of you guys who fish this river a lot know where the trout are feel free to shoot me a message and give me some of your intel because yeah I'm absolutely stumped but anyway I hope you guys enjoyed this video I want to give a massive shout out to all my patreon supporters and yeah I'll catch you guys in the next one. Hooray!