Beaufort Inlet - Miller Point

We only travelled 50km today, to a place called Miller’s Point, a camping area on the Beaufort Inlet, where the Pallinup river enters the sea. The estuary is noticeably low after a long hot summer. The bar has not broken through for 8 years or so and the water in the estuary is murky and a bit green, certainly not inviting as a swimming possibility. I have seen calls for the bar to be opened to help restore the estuary.
We found a lovely camp spot with views to two parts of the inlet. I headed down to fish with little confidence, given the appearance of the water. However, I was very pleasantly surprised to catch three nice bream, two just size and one quite big one. I was shadowed by a large pelican the whole time I fished. He knew the difference between me reeling in to re-bait and reeling in a fish. When I had a fish on, he would get in front of me, trying to snatch the fish of the line as it came in. I had to have a little pile of rocks to ward him off. Later, I found that picking up a thong was enough. Obviously, it had experienced the old thong treatment before. When I released the small bream, I had to throw them far enough away so that the pelican wouldn’t get them. Let him catch his own.Read more