Hunting/Fishing hut

[Vaquero]

Lookin good.

RP

[JEBar]

nice looking bridge .... how big do the browns get in your stream ..

[220]

nice looking bridge .... how big do the browns get in your stream ..

Largest I have caught was 19", same with the rainbows, over the past few years average size would be around the 12" mark.

[JEBar]

now that would be some fine trout fishing

[BrokenolMarine]

Color me green with envy. I need about three of those bridges to cross the creeks that run across our place. They are seasonal flows and don't contain fish, but the creek beds are deep and the Ranger will drive down and back up the banks thanks to ground clearance and four wheel drive. But, bridges would make the crossing a LOT safer. I'll try and get some pictures of the locations when I get some time and the rain lets up. WE are finally getting some rain after months of dry weather.

[220]

now that would be some fine trout fishing

It can be fantastic at times, had a quick fish at 5pm yesterday,, first cast a 8" rainbow, 3rd cast a 12" brown. Walked about 100y down stream flicking the lure as I went into anywhere that looked like it might hold a fish.
36 minutes later I was back in the car having landed 9 trout, lost a few more and as many hits that didnt hook up. Biggest was a brown around 15" a couple more browns and rainbows around 12" and the rest mainly rainbows about 10".
Longest cast would be about 15y the majority 10y or less. Thought I would hit double figures on this section of creek given the last spot I once caught 4 fish in 4 casts but it only produced 2 for about 20 casts.
When they are on the bite they are really on 4 fish in 4 casts from the same spot is the best I have ever done but a number of times I have caught 3 fish in 3 casts without moving spots. Other days you can work your ass off all day and be lucky to catch one or two.
This little section is fast flowing and well shaded, with the majority of it less than 18" deep, given my success I thought I would try another spot about 500y down stream. The second spot is much deeper over 6' in places not as fast flowing about 50y long and was in bright light, it only produced 1 fish in 15min. It has in the past produced plenty of fish, I put the difference yesterday down to the light and fish being spooked a bit by me or my shadow.

[BrokenolMarine]

We fly fish a lot, or did. When we were moving from VA we looked hard for a property with running water across the property where we could wade and fish. We saw four or five really nice ones, but something always interfered with making an offer. The one we liked the best was one that could only be accessed by a private bridge when had seriously degraded and the home on the property had serious issues with the HVAC system. I would have made an offer taking those issues into consideration but in conversation with the realtor they said the "Kids" wouldn't consider a lower offer, as the sale would be split four ways. The bridge repair alone would have been very costly.

I have missed the fly fishing and hope to get back to it soon.

[BrokenolMarine]

As promised, I located some pics of the creek crossings I had taken to send to an engineer friend of mind. The South Orchard crossing is now eroded to a point where we can no long drive the UTV across as the shoulders are cut vertical and the channel in the bottom is very narrow. We have a plan to cut that creek bed wider, back from the road, about 100 yards to reduce the power of the flow. We will also add corner reinforcement to the fence. The fence was in place and poorly designed around the creek on our arrival.

Our other option, with more serious consideration for the south crossing, is move farther away from the road, after widening the channel,and install a large bore culvert, 6' perhaps. Then fill around with rip rap and gravel, then pack with clay and soil until the crossing is level or even proud above either side of the crossing. Then pack the upstream side with rip rap to protect the culvert..

This is the South Orchard Crossing....

01 south orchard 1.JPG (975.37 KiB) Viewed 695 times

This is the same South Orchard Crossing during ONE of the Two floods we have had here. The flood waters actually got high enough that they reached the middle of the orchard on the far side of the creek, and crossed over the road. The pressure of the water flow over the last three years has damaged the culvert under that roadway and turned it 20 degrees clockwise.

fence damage.jpg (1.38 MiB) Viewed 695 times

This is the West Orchard Crossing.... the UTV is sitting at the top of the high side, it's about 8' over the bottom of the creek bed.

03 west orchard 1.JPG (814.33 KiB) Viewed 695 times

Here is a view of the approach to the West Orchard crossing from the North pasture, into the Orchard.

04 west orchard 2.JPG (904.97 KiB) Viewed 695 times

Here you are standing in the dry creek bed, looking west down the creek bed, you cannot see either side of the tops of the bank. The creek banks at this point are about two feet over your head.

05 west orchard 3.JPG (807.92 KiB) Viewed 695 times

I'd like to eventually put a bridge over both of these locations, but failing that and the crossings eventually becoming unusable, we'd have to go out the gates, onto the road, and into the far gate. THAT is a pain every time you need to check on the Orchard Section. With seasonal flow in the creeks, we have to ford the creek to reach the old barn, and the north pasture. Luckily that is a shallow flow even with the rest of the area full.

[220]

Haven updated this for a while, island is 95% cleared we ended up having to drop about 20 trees on or near the island that were a chance of coming down where we plan the hut. Lots of chainsaw milling cutting slabs and sawing them into timber for the hut.
Son has been home since just before Christmas and has been giving me a hand, we got the footings pourer a few weeks back, piers welded in last week and today made a start on the bearers and joist. Got a good 6 hours in before he had a phone call saying leave is cancelled and he needs to be home tomorrow and on a boat Thursday. 2500km home so flying is the only option, nearest airport that we could get a flight out of to work in the time frame is 200km away and time frame has now moved up and he is on a boat tomorrow so flight is now a 07:20 departure. Will need to leave here by 04:00 in the morning. Nothing serious just disaster relief work after much of Northern Aus go hit with a cyclone and many places are still cut off by road.
Nice we actually made some real progress today before son heads off, got the bearers in and squared up, ended up with a few reject joist so we were short 2 in the end. I will need to cut a couple more but got all the joist down for the cabin that let us lay down the few planks we had cut for flooring.

One of the logs we have been slabbing, photo is a little deceptive, log is 24" wide, the mill will take a 42" bar and the saw actually has a 30" bar fitted.


Some of the sawn timber before we started using it today


Todays progress






You can get a bit of an idea of what we plan, hut will be 12x10, front veranda 10x10, 8" step down to the veranda, we are going with 45 degree pitch on the roof and planning a loft over the veranda. The step down should give us a little more head room in the loft.

[Hatchdog]

What an awesome project. Takes the expression “do it yourself” to a new level.