smallscale and largescale venues and stories

[SilverShadows]

This thread is for the ''off the radar'' SS and LS yellows venues, fishing stories, reports, tackle, flies etc. The only requirement is that these are usually rivers close to towns and cities that are not recognised flyfishing waters. And most of the time they are not bank breakers...

I regularly fish the hennops river at the caravanpark. Although the fishing is extremely tough and blank days are almost regular, it does get very rewarding when the tactics do bring results. Especially on dries.

Any other small river/stream stories are welcome. Regardless of province or city.

[SilverShadows]

there are two decent venues on the hennops river on the R511 to harties. Hennops pride and hennops picnic spots. Both with about 2-3km of fishable water. Allbeit a bit tough.
The river is unfortunately never clear enough for sight fishing due to the industrial zone at wierdapark. But it still holds allot of smallscale yellows. And no bass!!! Thank *** for that.

The usual suspects for SS yellows work. Trusty old bloodworm and flashback grhe. I have also taken a few good fish on small caddis larvae and tiny hotspot ptn in sizes 16 and smaller.
The best times undoubtedly the warmer months when the water levels drops after good rains. Or just before a storm pulls up.
Dries also work magic in the late afternoons. I havent seen a strong mayfly hatch yet, same with caddis. But they come off consistantly just about every day.
Malberry season does bring some exciting dry fly times and you get those tiny green and white silkworms hanging form branches which bring good results when the wind drops them into the water.

Tackle i generally use is a 7'6'' 2 weight rod with a 4wt floating line as to load the rod quicker for short sharp casts.leader setup i tend to keep as short (7-9ft) and supple as the fish allow due to allot of overhanging trees and branches. Tippet sections not more than 3 or 4 feet of 4X does fine. And an intermediate or sinking line to fish damsel and dragon imitations in the slow deep pools.

Anyone who would like more info or join me, feel free to contact me

[Garage]

I used to fish at these two spots about 10 years ago. I'm pleased that there are still fish there.

The Jukskei used to be the best venue by a country mile. That ended (for me at least) about 8 years ago. There had been a helluva lot of illegal dumping in the river and illness (especially cholera) became an issue. Not sure what it is like now. Probably too dangerous to fish. Even back then I had a few scary moments.

[SilverShadows]

very true.
I grew up on northern farm which has about 10km of jukskei. Unfortunately i only started fishing it in 2002. Clear water, shallow sandbars and excellent rockpools. Hooked and lost a massive carp, caught a barbel on dry(RAB of all things) and a couple of decent yellows. Had some great times on the river, but u have to wear a gasmask and head high waders.

I remember one specific sunday afternoon from about 16:00 my brother and i caught 16 yellows all in the 10-14inch sizes in about 1 hour before we had to move due to a couple of suspect guys lurking around the cars. Sadly though the river now holds very little fish and allot of dangers.

I am however interested in trotting up a tributary of the jukskei. I flows through jukskeipark in fourways when you drive on witkoppen. but the beter sections i could see are nearer to dainfern plots. Not the same river you cross when you drive on william nicol. As it doesnt flow through the informal settlements and rather through privtely owned land, im sure the pollution will be less and quite a bit safer. Wil let you know if i ever get around to try it.

It must have been an excellent river in years gone by, its truly a beaut when you look past the plastic bags and beercans. As they say, ''in the good old days''.

Wish there was some way of rwturning or at least improving it. We flyfishers tend to ignore whats on our doorstep and always think the best fishing is around the next bend... If only. . .

[C J]

Okay.....please dont take me wrong, but some of these venues are very fragile. To openly advertise them can have devistating effects. There are a few places that still carry good populations of SS and LS.....it's like that because people select there fishing buddies carefully. There is no doubt that giving advise on targeting SS and LS is a great idea, but be very carefull on giving away venues - expecialy those that are not controlled. There are viewers on the net just waiting for you to make that mistake so they can jump on it. Rather ask people to send you a PM so you get to know them a bit better before you expose your secret spots.
Thats how I found out about the mentioned venue, and I was also asked to keep it quite. Just remeber, not all the guys on the net takes conservasion as serious as we do.

[SilverShadows]

i do agree with you there cj.
And keeping clean, unpolluted, underfished venues quiet is a good thing.

But also consider that we have to raise awareness of THESE venues that are not as the abovementioned. The more regularly it gets fished, the more the landowners will take notice and maybe even start preserving and conserving their venues and eventually control the fishery.(a novel idea i know, but i tend to be optimistic) Most people that see me fish in these rivers, cant believe that there are fish in it. Even landowners. So im hoping they notice this and start catering for us fisher folk and hopefully that way we can start to improve the water quality and control pollution as it would negatively affect the local economy and in turn get the issues through to the relevant authorities. As things are now, nobody gives a hoot because it doesnt influence anyone.
Ive tried getting in contact with fosaf regarding these rivers but i didnt recieve any responses so i guess they only care for rivers where it matters to the the general flyfishing public.

please feel free to reply whether you agree or not.
Or maybe come up with a better solution.

[shadowcast]

Yes, my brother{silvershadows} and i sure had some fun on the jukskei, but another river i had success on was the apies river in pretoria. I actually caught my personal best yellow on the apies. This was in the mayville area right next to df malan drive. That was about 7 years ago, but i bet you the fish are still there.

[SilverShadows]

this thread however is for information on how to target these special yellows. If you want to keep your venue a secret, so be it. But do share your stories and tips with us. I.E. what flies were used at what depth at what time of day, leader setups etc.
I do feel however that the venues in the previous posts need some more discussions. If you have an opinion on that feel free.
Another river worth mentioning in that regard is the apies in pta. Excellent fishing in clear water, if you can find a safe spot that is.

[Scythe]

The Apies is dirty and dangerous ... wear your waders, boots, don't mouth your flies, watch your cuts and be sure to go with a few mates.

[C J]

[QUOTE=SilverShadows;164612](a novel idea i know, but i tend to be optimistic)
[QUOTE]


A bit optimistic.........! Lets take the Vaal.....most of the venues there dont give a rats bum about conservation. For them its business which = money. You cant be sure that the owner has the same ethics or respect for nature as you do. Its 50/50 situation. I've learnt over the years that money talks.

Most of the LS and SS water around GP is highly poluted and very dangerous.....more reason to keep our un-poluted/safe rivers.....un-poluted and safe

About SS and LS now......I've basically started a new (well, not that new) nymphing tech for these fish. I got the idea from NZ anglers. You basicaly take your average Vaal indi-rig and scale it down to a 4x/5x setup....in some cases, I'll even go down to 6x. For the indicator I'll use a small polystyrene ball. I found that a small #14 to #16 Tunksten brassie (red...my favourate) as dropper and a #16 to #18 may nymph pattern at point, works great. Just keep the rig setup as short as possible....you dont want to tangle 6X.
These fish are very skittish and I found that they nearly always hold close to a pool.....so they could duck into it as soon as there is trouble. Slowly drifting a team of flies from the faster water into the pool is a great tactic.
My rod choise is a 3wt 7'6......in some places space is a problem, and the shorter rod will allow you to manouver your line a bit better.