NFCC Members

[Paul J]

Fishing balbarton for the first time on Sunday, 25th.
Any info regarding the fishing will be appreciated.
Will be going with the tube.

[ShaunF]

Was there for the first time a couple of months ago. Nice piece of water, enjoy it.

[Paul J]

thanks, will report back.
btw, nice pics in your album.

[Brand]

Hi Paul,

Fished Balbarton a few times, beautiful water. What's your email or phone number, will contact you tomorrow and chat about that water. Keep posting your reports ... just seen them for the first time today. I'm in PMB and always keen for a fish but unfortunately I am a bit booked up these next few weekends.

Chat soon,

Cheers

Graeme.

[Paul J]

sent you a pm

[DTN]

In the months of June and July, Barlbarton was fished 18 times, of which 6 were blank days, but the other 12 days produced 53 fish. Only a few went over 2 pounds, but our members all rave about the venue. Definitely a good float tubing water. We suggest you take an odometer reading at Howick so as not to miss the turn-off, since signs are currently down.

Tight lines!

[Paul J]

Thanks for the info. Really appreciate it.
Got the GPS loaded already, so shouldn't get lost.

[Paul J]

feedback on balbarton and bosses dam 25/08.

on sat evening had a beer too many (only one...) while watching the zimbabwe c team play rugby against argentina, and got to bed way past my bedtime. this led to me only getting to the water at about 10 on sunday. my arrival coincided with a bank of clouds and an icy wind. launched the tube at about 10.15. the water was devoid of any activity. after 3 fishless cold hours with only a very fat otter to keep me company (i decided to blame the lack of fish on him) i made the call to change my booking to bosses dam.
there was no way i was going to don the waders again, so decided to have a go from the side. lots of fish activity in the shallows. in the next hour picked up 3 stockies before i decided a babelaas and cold wind dont mix, and packed it up.
sorry, no pics this time (just too lazy) but i am sure you all know what a 13inch rainbow looks like

[Paul J]

feedback on 08/09/13 bracken waters.
a bit late but here goes.
about two weeks ago i picked up a xplorer pontoon xpt II for a song on gumtree (according to my wife, the way i save money, we will be bankrupt soon) and was dying to give it a try. so i booked one of the bigger waters for the day. fishing wise my timing couldnt have been worse, as i arrived at the dam the same time as a busting NW wind. it was perfect to put the pontoon through its paces. the wind really affects the bigger craft, but the fact that you have oars, instead of relying on your legs only, makes a big difference. it is also very easy to fish from, and the little bit of extra water clearance is a big plus. it takes a bit longer to set up, and is cumbersome to lug around, but is a beauty once on the water. (it weighs in at 20.5kgs)
the fishing was disappointing though, 3 hours on the water only yielded a small bass.
after my fishing drove around the area a bit and had a look at the other NFFC waters in the area. some really lovely stillwaters that i cant wait to try out.
still beats a day of work!

[DTN]

It is such a pity that we have Bass in Bracken Waters! It does however continue to produce big Trout in winter. But with the size of the water, and the need to stock it with bigger fish to counter the bass problem, the cost is huge, and the club will probably have to evaluate the merit of stocking Trout there. A tragedy indeed. The answer is to try to prevent the spread of bass in the first place. There are moves afoot by the NFFC to attempt that.

In the meantime our other stillwaters are fishing well, although the number of big fish has dropped off since the winter.
The stocking program for 2013 has already gotten underway, with the first batch of fish going into some of our Kamberg waters yesterday.