Rhodes update

[Circus]

I fished the Kraai river last week Wednesday and despite the gale-force winds, I managed to get some decent yellowfish. The flows were just right for me and visibility was about 4 feet. There was a nice cross-section of sizes ranging from 0.5kg to 2.5kg. Fishing was far from easy and I never managed to pull more than one fish from any pool. It looks like the yellows are moving up nicely in ones and twos.

I found no trout, but that doesn't mean there aren't a few around. I suspect that they are higher up the river system.

[smallstreams.co.za]

I fished the Kraai river last week Wednesday and despite the gale-force winds, I managed to get some decent yellowfish. The flows were just right for me and visibility was about 4 feet. There was a nice cross-section of sizes ranging from 0.5kg to 2.5kg. Fishing was far from easy and I never managed to pull more than one fish from any pool. It looks like the yellows are moving up nicely in ones and twos.

I found no trout, but that doesn't mean there aren't a few around. I suspect that they are higher up the river system.

Wind started up again over the weekend - howling today. Hoping it blows itself out soon. The winds have a terrible effect on the water levels - hoping it drops soon!!!

[maxwink]

We fished the Kraai last monday, saw lots of yellows but struggled to land any fish, I hooked one but was probably fishing a bit light and my leader popped. Glad to hear that somebody had better luck a few days later.

[A River Runs Through It]

Very few small to medium size rainbows in Sterkspruit and Boksspruit at present...drought took it's toll.
Fished a lovely stretch on the middle Bok last month...flowing very strongly but very clear. Found no small trout...saw only a couple of rises which turned out to be yellows which took my Adams readily.

The good news is that there are the odd monsters left if you know the secret places to find them...they haunt very deep undercuts, usually where there are log jambs and swirling eddies. Fishing with no 3 or 4's and floaters you will never entice them let alone get your fly down to them...and even if by sheer chance if you manage to the chances of landing them are zero. You need a 5 to 6 weight fast sinker or lead core line and a Walkers Killer or Mrs Simpson and even then they usually take you to the cleaners. When I say big, I'm talking about 5-7 pounders...they are there but only a few know and are kept secret. Amazingly there are those that survived.

I experienced this when I tried the strong arm tactics which some of you younger un's might frown on. It also went against my love of delicate fishing but it's the only way and it's a lot better than getting skunked.

Having said that...these trophies MUST be returned and kept secret...this is the code in Barkly.

Basie said that fishing will be good in a few years to come and good stock will be in the rivers...it's amazing I saw the rivers in December 2015...long stretches of dry beds with the odd algae filled pools...some fish that manage to survive because the water seeps up underground and keeps fairly cool.

[A River Runs Through It]

Andre will tell you about the Umzinkulu around Underberg, a couple of years ago.
It was so low, you could not buy a fish over 15cm. after the first rains, the fish appaered from "NOWHERE" and the rivers where back to normal.

My family has a stretch of upper Umzimkulu from the Umzimouti (Umzimude) confluence downwards...the most beautiful stretch of water imagineable but over the last few years I've fished blanks which is hard to fathom...I knew these waters when I was a kid and there were far too many trout in them...my uncle told us not to return any...after 30 mins minutes you had your quota...no c.a.r. in those days...range between 8" to 15" with an ocasional 2 pounder in deeper undercut banks. Nowadays the river is flowing quite beautifully after the drought but very few fish caught...tried to probe info from UHTFC but it seems zero is happening...all fish are to be returned...like Rhodes...hit with devastating drought but Natal trout don't recover like Eastern Cape...needs a phantom stocker but such things are not politically correct...I suspect it's being done in some stretches but stocking rivers is an offence...anyway very few will do this and besides the quality of fish from hatcheries are not likely to take off in rivers...an inherant deficiency...in the old days the late Bob Crass used to use ova...a imported or mixed resilient strain that created stronger fish...interesting as I fished the upper Pholela the other day in the nature resort...river looking magnificent but no signs of trout.