When Vultures Flee

The diversity of South Africa as fly fishing location is astounding. As the proverb goes “too many fishing waters, too little time”. Now and then the opportunity present itself to fish one of those bucket list venues. With news of a new South African rainbow trout record being set, we eagerly grabbed the opportunity to visit Mount Arthur situated in the Underberg, Kwazulu Natal. The fishing to be had, my favourite, large still waters fished from float tubes or pontoon boats.

 

It was mid-winter and apparently a prime time to visit this venue - when there is fishing to be done who is scared of a little cold.

 

The first two days we fished the three dams at the venue and had mixed success. Nothing spectacular were caught in terms of size, biggest rainbow touching 4lbs.

 

While fishing a dam called Pots it suddenly became overcast and heavy mist started rolling in. While on the water we noticed vultures flying in the mist away from the mountains. We should have listened to this hidden warning. That evening it started raining and the next morning we were snowed in. This resulted in our stay being extended by a couple of days, with the snow not having any effect on the activity of the trout.

 

 

 

The stuff memories are made of!

 

 

 

A Big Fish Day

Once in a while we catch a bigger than average fish and I must admit it adds to the excitement of fly fishing. I experienced such a day a couple of weeks ago on the Vaal River. It was early season, with every species of fish in the Vaal River spawning expect my quarry, smallmouth yellow fish. Not to disturb the fish fraternity in their mating rituals in the rapids, I fished a glide of half a meter deep.

I fished green rock worm patterns (Caddis Larvae) followed by a black fly pattern or black hot head nymphs, New Zealand style under an indicator.

It soon became clear that the fish liked my presentation and shortly after I started fishing I hooked into what felt like a Bulldog. This tug of war ended in me landing a 3 kg mudfish.

Second cast after landing the Mudfish I hooked into another extremely strong fish. It ran down stream, causing me to follow in a comedy of movement, navigating my way over slippery rocks and what not in the river. I managed to turn the fish and saw its large orange lips with the green rock worm solidly stuck in the upper lip. Cyprinus Carpio paid me a visit. It took a while to land the fish. It was a fat short common carp.

 

Rest of the morning saw me hooking and releasing a dozen or so smaller mudfish and even a couple of small yellow fish.

Midday I returned to the same glide I started fishing that morning and I was immediately into another big fish, yes another common carp. The only difference was that this fish was twice the size of the earlier fish. I eventually managed to land the fish and it weighed 6 kg.

Just to place the cherry on the cake, half an hour later I hooked into a large moggel weighing 2,7 kg.

Three personal bests set in one day – What a day!!

Dullstroom Winter Trout

Nothing beats fishing for fin perfect fish in gin clear waters. During June this year, on a very cold day (normal winter’s day in Dullstroom) we fished trout waters in the Highlands of Mpumalanga. Early morning the fishing was at most dawdling and we managed to entice a couple of fish (two to be precise) to devour our small black mayfly nymphs. These size 18 flies were fished static in combination with an olive buzzer under an indicator, allowing it to drift in the ever present wind.

 Midmorning the trout became more active and a blob and blood worm combination also fished static under an indicator did the trick. These fish were in perfect condition and gave an extremely good account of themselves.

Never Say Never

Most things in life are unpredictable – even taxes, paying is a certainty, but the amount never. We plan and manage risks to the best of our abilities but there is always some variables not correctly assessed or managed. Fishing alike! We normally set out with a specific goal in mind - specific species of fish, technique, flies and paraphernalia all lined up. And then, the inevitable consequence of a totally different outcome, well in most instances.

This should not be regarded as a negative aspect and adds to the excitement of fly fishing. The point, boundless was my disbelief while fishing for smallmouth yellowfish in the Vaal River, and hooking into a largemouth yellowfish.

 I was fishing a 5 weight outfit, Czech nymphing a glide 0, 5 m deep. The fly of the moment was a # 14 hot head brassie on the point.  


Similar was my surprise when I, a couple of years ago, for the first time hooked into a moggel on the Vaal River. This algae feeding fish really gets aggravated when it by accident eats your fly. It behaves similar to a skipjack when realising its mistake – tail walking, shaking its head.

Welcome to my blog on flies, fish and other fishy things.