From: 12/01/2014
To: 12/31/2014
Type of Water: Freshwater
Species: Brown trout
The Natal Fly Fisher's club posts its quarterly fishing returns summary, 30 days after the end of each quarter. That summary was posted to their website today (within the member area, accessible only to paid up members who log in with a password).
It makes for some interesting reading. In 3 months there were 117 fishing days enjoyed, and an average of 2.26 fish caught per rod day.
In actual fact there were 180 days fished, but the club standardises the days to a 5 hr fishing day, to weed out the "harry casuals" who pop into a venue and throw a fly for an hour.
What is striking is how low the fishing pressure is. Some of their most prime waters, with results that bring the average up considerably, are fished no more than one day per month! The club is open for membership. Their websit View more...The Natal Fly Fisher's club posts its quarterly fishing returns summary, 30 days after the end of each quarter. That summary was posted to their website today (within the member area, accessible only to paid up members who log in with a password).
It makes for some interesting reading. In 3 months there were 117 fishing days enjoyed, and an average of 2.26 fish caught per rod day.
In actual fact there were 180 days fished, but the club standardises the days to a 5 hr fishing day, to weed out the "harry casuals" who pop into a venue and throw a fly for an hour.
What is striking is how low the fishing pressure is. Some of their most prime waters, with results that bring the average up considerably, are fished no more than one day per month! The club is open for membership. Their website address for details is www.nffc.co.za.
End of punt.
As far as conditions go, the stillwaters have had a good filling with all the usual summer rain. Having said that, as recently as a week ago, I drove through the Kamberg valley and saw many dams that were not yet full. That is a symptom of the particularly dry winter we had, the slow start to the spring rains, and the considerable irrigation that takes place from some of those dams. I think it safe to say that all dams not irrigated from are now full. After the drumming of rain on my roof all of last night, the rest might just be full by now too.
In the first week of December, considerable and widespread rains dirtied many rivers, and those that were not dirtied were in spate and barely fishable. I know the Umgeni and the Mooi lower down were dirty early in the month. Peter Brigg wrote of this in his excellent blog (Call of the stream), wherein he describes a 3 day jaunt to the upper Bushmans in which they barely got to fish. Sadly for Peter, conditions improved considerably the following day. I have had two outings to berg rivers in December, and both have been great, with the water running strongly, but absolutely crystal clean. Both days have been a delight. The scenery up there is simply magnificent, with the Drakensberg mountains towering above you, beautiful dappled streambeds, and warm weather. It just doesn't get better!
We had most of our success on heavily beaded Zaks, Troglodytes and similar nymphs, but the strike indicator did get eaten a few times, and I lost a fish or two on a halo-hackle dry. I was sorting through my fly boxes yesterday, and resolved to fish only dry on my next foray this coming Saturday.
Three weeks back I fished a small stream with my friend Rhett Quin. Rhett is a classy fisherman, having guided professionally for 3 years. Him and I were reminded just how fussy fish are about drag. The stream in question was the Nodawana (South of here...See Wolf Avni's reports for the Southern Berg in KZN), which is full of tiny fish. But no matter their size, there were able to teach us a lesson or two about the importance of short casts with plenty of slack thrown into them. It really is quite astounding how a group of Parr will throw themselves with abandon at a well presented fly, but will completely ignore one with the slightest of drag. Those lessons were valuable to me on the Mooi a little later in the month, where of course the quarry are wily Browns, some of which go a bit bigger.
Mile Pyle wrote to me yesterday to tell me of his exploits on a private stillwater in the Dargle. He and his cousin got some magnificent fish. He tells me that a sparsly tied #14 Zak in the shallows did much of the damage, and that the takes were "ferocious". Four fish from club dams in the Kamberg caught over the long week-end mid month, measured 20 inches or more. The number of fish caught per rod day has however dropped in December. I think this is normal, given that water temperatures of 20 to 22 degrees C are being reported.
For my money, the streams are where it is at for this time of year. For one thing they are cooler (I measured 17 degrees in the berg last week), and they are well oxygenated. Fish returned in 20 degree stillwater have a slim chance of survival, but the river fish are much better off. So my encouragement to you is to put on your walking boots and go try some of our rivers. In particular the upper reaches in the berg. The Mooi, The Bushmans, The Ncibidwana, Lotheni, Umkomazi, are all stunningly beautiful, and can be accessed by the public in the Ezimvelo reserve areas. You will come back with tired legs, but stories to tell, I can assure you.
Tight lines.
