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Thread: catedral peak river is it fishless???

  1. #1
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    Default catedral peak river is it fishless???

    This past weekend I got to spend it at the awesome Cathedral peak hotel. The really cool thing was that I would get to fish in the river that burbles below it. Don’t ask me its name its sound like I’m swearing at you.Umlonjumbo(spelling!!!!)

    The interesting thing about fishing here is to ask the reception where you can go fish in the river. The decidedly blank stare is rather fascinating. The next words that come out their mouth are the following; “well we have a really nice dam”. I have fished here 5 times over the last few years and each time I have been given the same reply from both the hotel and the parks board staff. For some reason they just don’t have the foggiest idea that some people would rather stubble around trying to catch some wild little fish.

    So what’s so cool about this river? Simply this I don’t think there is a better pocket water river anywhere in this country. There is at least 10km of this. Have a look at the pics for proof. I have been lucky to fish all over the country and the closest I have seen is Elandspad. This river has no big pools to speak of, just pocket water heaven.

    So what’s the catch? For a river that looks this good, it seems barren or I don’t understand how a river like this works.

    Here are my observations and hopefully the river ***s can help out.

    Firstly the hotel has no-one with an inkling of just how special this river is. I chatted to the events manager and he says that most fisherman prefer the dams as they are easier. Needless to say the dam closest to the hotel is constantly stocked. The other one I went to see is teaming with tiny Bass. When I asked about stocking the river I was met with a blank stare as if I was mad.even their advertising speaks about the bike rides, the hiking trails, and the golf course, nothing much about the fishing.

    There is a hatchery connected to the river. At a rough count there must be 20 holding tanks, concrete cricket pitches teeming with fish. Some round sunken pits with rickety ladders into the centre.
    Having never seen a trout hatchery I was surprised by the amount of dead fish floating in the various ponds. The other thing were the more than a few dark unhealthy looking fish with bugged out eyes. I have no idea what acceptable mortality rates are. So these could be a normal daily occurrence.
    A rather disturbing sight was the 2 dead fish in the river, which I could see from the hatchery in the river below. Whether they had been thrown there by the staff to lazy to deal with the dead fish or something in the river is killing them I have no clue.
    I met the owner of the hatchery and asked him if they stock the river. His reply was the river had fish before the hatchery started in the 60”s and is self sustaining. He also added that he recently lost 15000 fingerlings to the river from storm. (i didn't ask about the dead fish)Personally, he is there to grow and sell fish not to keep some silly river fanatics happy.

    I turned over plenty rocks to see what bugs were about. I saw a few rather rusty/red mayfly flying around me. On the rocks were a good number of rock caddis sizes ranging from a size 16 and smaller. The clinging mayflies were sizes 14 to really too small. Personally I figure the insect population is reasonably good. Based on what I have seen in Cape Rivers and in the Vaal.

    I ended up fishing a stretch about 1km long close to the hotel starting at the golf course bridge and heading up stream. The hatchery water comes into the river at the top of my stretch. For my efforts I got a solitary fish in my 3 hours of fishing. I have fished this same river 3km further down stream 2 Christmas’s ago and then I got 17 fish. I tried Czech nymphing, using indicators, adding more split shot, less split shot. I tried different rigs, droppers, NZ style. Frankly I tried everything I know. I would like to think that I’m experienced enough to work out most fishing problems with a decent measure of success More perturbing was the total lack seeing fish. I’m not a graceful river walker. In the cape fish hear me miles away and I see them fleeing to safety. Here zip to be seen.

    There is a tributary that comes into the river around the same area the hatchery water comes in but it’s quite dirty as it comes through a sandstone gorge. Within 200m meters the river clears to a reasonably clear level. It does leave a lot of silt though.

    So what have I missed? In no particular order I have the following questions.

    Is the hatchery a factor? What if those dead fish I saw are indicators of something more serious. I make this connection based on several stories I have come across to do with salmon farms in Canada and the parasitic sea lice causing the native populations to collapse. Could it mean that the stretch below the hatchery is a problem but 3kms down stream it’s diluted sufficiently not be an issue like the dirty sandstone river?

    Is this river simply not able to sustain a constant population? There are not too many pools for fish to hide in. What happens to the 15000 fingerlings? How many of these fish would survive to a breeding maturity. Someone with a better understanding of rivers and fish might be able to help.

    The section I fished would be the most common section most people would fish as it’s close to the hotel and has easy access to and from the hotel. It’s not a long hike back to breakfast.
    Does the hotel need to make an effort to stock small amounts into this section making it a section that fish are found consistently? Or am I asking too much.

    Ultimately it’s a question of how do we determine the state and health of a river. What would be the key things we should be looking for out for.

  2. #2
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    Gary, I will try respond later, but for the moment, the locals are keeping it clean of fish.
    Mike McKeown

    You're either fishing or waiting...

  3. #3
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    opps no pictures

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by MaXiMuM View Post
    Gary, I will try respond later, but for the moment, the locals are keeping it clean of fish.
    by locals? there is nobody living on that stretch. it's part of the parks board heritage site. or is it a parks board decsion.

  5. #5
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    This is an area of the country that I know extremly well. As Mike said, the locals keep that section of the river free of any edible fish. When you are next in the area, take a hike/drive up to the Ndedima Rangers Station - there you will witness first hand what happens to most trout in the lower reaches of the river. Fishing with earthworms as bait, and occasionally makeshift netting, keeps the locals tummies full. Although it is a conservation area, there are numerous rural communities living within it.

    The good news is that if you follow that river upstream for a day or 4, you will encounter sections of previously unfished water that do hold wild trout. The bad news is that you will need a SCA-accredited guide to accompany you. This is where I can assist
    You are a perishable item. Live accordingly.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by GrahamS View Post
    This is an area of the country that I know extremly well. As Mike said, the locals keep that section of the river free of any edible fish. When you are next in the area, take a hike/drive up to the Ndedima Rangers Station - there you will witness first hand what happens to most trout in the lower reaches of the river. Fishing with earthworms as bait, and occasionally makeshift netting, keeps the locals tummies full. Although it is a conservation area, there are numerous rural communities living within it.

    The good news is that if you follow that river upstream for a day or 4, you will encounter sections of previously unfished water that do hold wild trout. The bad news is that you will need a SCA-accredited guide to accompany you. This is where I can assist
    i have to disagree with you about the locals on this stretch. there are no communities living with in the park. they do border the park. but they are 7-10 away, Apart from the hotel accommodation and parksboard campsites and Didma this is a pristine river. the bigger river(name) that flows through the local communites below the park does have fish. i stopped and checked it out and saw more fish there than in the stretch i fished.Go figure!!!

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by garyatstealth View Post
    i have to disagree with you about the locals on this stretch. there are no communities living with in the park. they do border the park. but they are 7-10 away, Apart from the hotel accommodation and parksboard campsites and Didma this is a pristine river. the bigger river(name) that flows through the local communites below the park does have fish. i stopped and checked it out and saw more fish there than in the stretch i fished.Go figure!!!
    Maybe it's time to admit, that you may just be a k@k fisherman or fish-spotter....

    Just kidding.

    Interesting though...that water looks absolutely fantastic. And VERY "fishy".

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by dizzy View Post
    Gary, they fish it clean at night time.
    Its the same at Waterval Boven, local are cleaning out the river and even the clubs dams.
    As he said, the locals are far away..whereas Boven the locals are a stone's throw away. Big difference. Especially as gary said there is another bigger river with fish in that flows through where the communities live.

    So yeah...go figure.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by garyatstealth View Post
    i have to disagree with you about the locals on this stretch. there are no communities living with in the park. they do border the park. but they are 7-10 away, Apart from the hotel accommodation and parksboard campsites and Didma this is a pristine river. the bigger river(name) that flows through the local communites below the park does have fish. i stopped and checked it out and saw more fish there than in the stretch i fished.Go figure!!!
    Sorry, you are correct. I am thinking of the Emhlwazeni River, and up towards the Rangers Station there are plenty of locals living along the banks - This is very much within the conservation area. When I last volunteered in the area, drinking river water below the Rangers station was not reccomended. The Emhlwazeni is a major tributary of the Mlambonja, although the junction is just outside of the conservation area.

    I would be very surprised if there were no fish in the Mlambonja. As with the Emhlwazeni, and another river I fish in the area, the fish are pretty scarce, but they are there. I hiked in the area for many years before I saw my first trout, and even longer before I caught one!
    You are a perishable item. Live accordingly.

  10. #10
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    I thought i would just add my experience on this river. I was fortunate to fish it over the December period last year and we managed to pick up plenty fish. We did however fish a lot lower down then you and there was a hell of a lot of bundu bashing involved.

    The section we fished was from were they are building some kind of campsite, the water there is amazing with some nice long runs and pools. I think that maybe its just that the fish move around a lot more then we expect and at this time of year when things are starting to heat up and there is more rain that they move out of the shallow water into the deeper secions.

    My 2c
    The closer one gets to realizing his destiny, the more that destiny becomes his true reason for being! Paulo Coelho

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