Monday, April 4, 2011

Saterday outing

Things at work is still going crazy, but at least it seems to that things will slow down shortly. In the middle of all the work I did get a chance to fish last weekend with my fishing buddy Roland. We got on the water at about 07h30 and for the first time in a long while I actually had a shiver from the early morning cold. The water temperature had also seemed to have droped to a much cooler 14C.

Things started of slow with no rises and nothing taking a nibble on our nymphs. Eventually Roland hooked a beautiful brown trout and we were starting to hope for better things. The water in the river was still very low and we were fishing the shallow sections quite fast trying to get to some deeper pools higher up. Unfortunately as we got there we saw some kids swimming in the pools and they were throwing rocks all over the place. Our moods dropped a bit and we quickly walked around them.

In the first pool after the swimming kids I finally landed a beautiful brown trout. It amazes me how big these browns got in the last year as they were recent accidental releases in the river. They certainly seemed to have adapted in the river, though it remains to be seen if they will survive. Brown trout were introduced to the river decades ago,but only the rainbows have adapted and managed to flourish in the river.


We were off the water by about 11h00 as it was starting to heat up and the water temperature was also rising. At the end of the session we only landed two browns, two rainbows and a small mouth bass.

It was a pleasure to be out on the rivers again with some good company though.

Rigging up in the shadows of the mountain

Roland fish the tail end of a pool

Trout candy

11 comments:

  1. Wow, great photos! I can't believe how beautiful that area is. I'd have never thunk it.

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  2. You have some beautiful country there. Glad to here your trip out was a success.

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  3. Brilliant!

    Another place to visit before I'm worm food. Are you in the Drachenberg Mountains? You'll have to post the recipe for the Trout Candy nymph. Excuse the American pun but it looks sweet.

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  4. Really nice post! It's nice to be reminded that no matter what country you are in, trout own the best real estate...great photos!

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  5. Great post as alway! The country is beautiful as are the fish and that bug looks like a keeper as well!

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  6. Amazing. The fish. The scenery. All of it. Thank you for posting it up....what kind of bug life do you have there?

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  7. Thanks for the comments guys.

    @Fly and Fin: I am in Cape Town which is about 1600km away from the Drakensberg, though I have fished some rivers and streams there in the past.

    Have a look at the link below for the fly. It is a little pattern that has worked magic for me in our streams, though I mostly fish a gold bead version.I call it "The amaze"

    http://theafricanflyangler.blogspot.com/2010/11/this-is-little-fly-that-i-originally.html

    @Sanders: Yes trout dont live in ugly places which is part of the allure in trout fishing for me.

    @Owl: We have pretty much the same bugs as any other trout stream in the world, mayflies, caddis flies, Damsels, dragon flies, etc,etc. We are very lucky to have some trout here that is always ready to take a dry fly though.

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  8. Beautiful looking fish and awesome scenery..those cliffs are amazing!

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  9. Stumbled on your blog and really love the layout, photos, and dialogue. Keep up the great work. Gorgeous fish and beautiful scenery. Thanks for sharing.

    Ben

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  10. Nice fish! Thanks for the post.

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  11. Well ain't that sumthin'. :) COOL. Thanks!

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