News in from Jan Korrubel, The Kingfisher in PMB. “The New Year is upon us, and there are lots of new fish waiting to find themselves attached to the end of your line! The “Fish-o-Meter” has picked up somewhat post-Xmas … perhaps it was a case of the anglers settling down for the holidays, or it was the new tackle that was getting to see the light to day…
Being a tad up and down still, the weather has kept up its mischief, alternately blowing hot and dry then cold and wet, but rainfall figures are down to single figures for the most part, with only a few double figure reports from those area’s up closer to the ‘Berg. Even though, the water table is up from the earlier rains, and rivers are still shunting. The lower stretches especially that meander through worked lands, and even in the upper reaches, while not exactly blown out, it makes for some “interesting” fishing, especially if one needs to cross to the opposite bank. Top tip: wade slowly, keep your feet (very) close to the floor, i.e. shuffle, being careful not to lift your foot too high otherwise it will get swept away and you will take an untimely swim.
With the rivers in their current state, there have in fact been NO returns from the Natal Fly Fisher’s Club anglers in the last week. Your truly however, found himself with two guests on the upper Bushman’s River. Having had no confirmed reports on the status of the river, spent the day before tying up some morsels to present to the brown spotted jewels that inhabit that piece of water – a 50:50 batch of dry flies and tungsten bombs fell off the vice that day. One the way in the river looked a tad high, but not THAT bad, so hopes of a dry fly session was high, but that was soon laid to rest within a couple of casts and only a short stretch … the water was just too fast to entice a fish up off the bottom. Switching to dry dropper yielded almost instant success, and my guests were on the board. Further success was had by disposing of the dry and switching to a double-tungsten rig to make sure that the flies reached the feeding zone in the fast flow … end count for the day coming in at 20 fish landed, five dropped and a good couple more “on-off’s”. The fish were primarily in the 6-8 inch / 15-20cm bracket, with few that came in at 9-10 inches / 23-25cm. Water temperature was a cool 14deg, which meant the fish were feeding actively. All in all, a great day in fact for two anglers fishing this piece of water for the very first time.
With the rivers on the high side, the NFFC Stillwater anglers have been out in force by comparison, with a number of returns listed between Xmas and across New Years. Some discoloration was noted for one of the smaller waters, otherwise the Stillwater’s were noted to be brimming and clean. Water temperatures were also down to a more comfortable 16 degrees. For the most part, fish reported were in the 15-17 inch / 38-43 cm range, with just a few in the 13-15 inch / 33-38 cm class and a couple more in the 17-19 inch / 43-48cm and 21-23 inch / 53-58cm bracket. No flies mentioned in the returns of course – but other word from the water is that large dragonfly patterns along with the ubiquitous woolly bugger are the current “go to” patterns.
The bass socials have been quiet, so sadly no word from either Albert Falls or Midmar Dams. A report was received from a fly angler fishing a private Mooi River water landed twenty-five fish between 6 – 18 inches / 15-45cm and lost “plenty more”.
With the prevalence of misty cool weather in The Midlands, a number of weather-watching anglers headed north in search of better weather and the “yellow gold” that inhabits Sterkfontein Dam. No confirmed reports, but no sign of any complaining anglers back this side, so one must assume that they have had some success with the “mining” efforts…
Again … Happy New Year to all listeners and Tight Lines in the year ahead.” Thanks Jan.
Please remember to leave the areas that you fish in a better condition than when you got there. Take a few moments to pick up some litter and take it to the nearest bin. Tight lines and screaming reels.
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