Winter Muddies

During the winter in Gauteng, South Africa, the Vaal river temperature drops to between 6°C and 11°C. During this period the smallmouth yellowfish and most other fish species resident in the river, moves into deeper glides and pools. By deeper I mean between 2 and 3 meter deep. We target these fish with #18 mayfly nymphs and blood worm (midge larvae) imitations, fished slowly under an indicator. Long leaders and 6X tippet setup (longer than 18 foot) are used to get these flies into the feeding zone which is normally close to the bottom. Although we predominantly fish for smallmouth yellowfish in this fashion we sometimes catch monster mudfish weighing more than 3 kg.