From: 06/01/2015
To: 06/01/2015
Type of Water: Freshwater
Species: Rainbow trout
My wife and I went up to Highmoor for a walk last week-end. We strolled to the lookout over the Ncibidwane valley. When I am fishing at Highmoor, I see many couples doing this. I always wonder if one of them isn’t a fly-fisher, and isn’t envying me out on the water. Last week-end I was the fly-fisher looking on. On the way out I told my wife that I would show her a trout. I guided her slowly along the bank, half crouched. We stopped, and searched the water with our polaroids. We stood dead still. Soon enough I spotted a fish. Petro didn’t see it. I told her what to look out for, and a few minutes later she spotted one herself. “ My word, It’s HUGE!” she exclaimed. We spotted more, and pointed and discussed them. The two anglers out on tubes seemed oblivious. They splashed aro View more...My wife and I went up to Highmoor for a walk last week-end. We strolled to the lookout over the Ncibidwane valley. When I am fishing at Highmoor, I see many couples doing this. I always wonder if one of them isn’t a fly-fisher, and isn’t envying me out on the water. Last week-end I was the fly-fisher looking on. On the way out I told my wife that I would show her a trout. I guided her slowly along the bank, half crouched. We stopped, and searched the water with our polaroids. We stood dead still. Soon enough I spotted a fish. Petro didn’t see it. I told her what to look out for, and a few minutes later she spotted one herself. “ My word, It’s HUGE!” she exclaimed. We spotted more, and pointed and discussed them. The two anglers out on tubes seemed oblivious. They splashed around a fair bit. Their back-casts slapped the water. I didn’t see them catch any fish then, or when we returned and ate our sandwiches on the ridge above the dam.
Two weeks earlier I had also been at Highmoor fishing. The water was 9 degrees C, and as clear as it gets. That’s about 2 degrees warmer than I expected, but we have had enough frosty mornings since then that it might be down at 7 now. On that day it was the shore fishermen who had luck, and not the float tubers. It had been calm, and the surface was like a mirror in the morning when the fish were caught. If you want to make a splash without trying, that’s when you should do it. And if you want to sight fish and cast at them, they are along the banks. Just saying…..
During a week-end between my two days at Highmoor I fished a stillwater in the Dargle area on an annual gathering of the Natal Fly Fishers Club committee. It was a very pleasant affair, with good food and company, and some pleasant fishing thrown in too. That week-end we had more wind, and we did just fine in our tubes. I had the pleasure of watching Shaun Futter make a pig of himself the one day. Shaun is one of those people who, if he does anything, he does it properly. His stillwater flyfishing is no exception. You can learn from guys like this. Shaun fishes good tackle. He doesn’t hurry. His fly boxes are nothing short of magnificent: row upon row of skillfully tied nymphs. He moves into positon slowly and smoothly. He casts carefully, and he isn’t scared to fish tiny patterns on long leaders and floating lines under an indicator. He did this on a stillwater so large, that the rest of us tended to adjust fly size upwards for some obscure reason. I guess we think its cold, and its large, and those trout jaws look angry and dark, and so we tie on big meaty things, throw them on sinking lines and strip them back as fast as the artificial rabbit at a dog race. And there is Shaun: an extra slow figure of eight retrieve, and a pair of tiny nymphs. Bam, Bam, Bam.
You should take notes. I did.
And now that I have taken my notes, I am planning a foray to a club dam in the Kamberg that everyone complains about. It has brambles and weeds, and you can’t fish it from the edge. There are some rumours circulating about the place and what’s been happening there the last four weeks. The rumours are all true. I shall be mentally prepared. Stealthy. Careful, deliberate and slow. I might even use a #16 flashback nymph. I hope we have some wind to riffle the surface.
I hope these tips will help you enjoy your fishing, and that if you visit the midlands of KZN in winter you might catch some great trout. There are plenty to be had.
Until next time.
