Doornkop Fish and Wildlife Reserve

[Pipe]

It is near Carolina and Machada dorp. Does anybody have some tips for me on this venue? There is two rivers the Komati river and the Swartwater Spruit. In the river there is Smallscale yellows and in the dams trout. Have any body fished here or in the area? What flies, techniques etc. will work?

[Herman Jooste]

It was at this venue that I first started fly fishing nearly 3 years ago:o
For the dams I would use a 4# rod, and dries and nymphs.
For the rivers the same rod or perhaps even a #6, with predominantly #16 - 20 nymphs.
There is quite a lot of info on the forum re. SS and LS fishing, as well as Horst's article in one of the mags a month or so ago.
Just hope that they have stocked the ponds ( dams ).

Have a blast and don't forget the report back and pics.:D

[Clouser]

Hi Pipe,i fished there in August,i posted a catch report too,i was there for one day only because we were just passing through as we were on our way to Mozambique so i didnt give the rivers time,only fished the stillwaters,the fishing was incredible,lots of fish,i fished for about 3 hours and got quite a bit of fish,the flies wic i used were Dawsons olives(figure of eight retrieve) and teeny nymphs,goodluck

[Pipe]

It was at this venue that I first started fly fishing nearly 3 years ago:o
For the dams I would use a 4# rod, and dries and nymphs.
For the rivers the same rod or perhaps even a #6, with predominantly #16 - 20 nymphs.
There is quite a lot of info on the forum re. SS and LS fishing, as well as Horst's article in one of the mags a month or so ago.
Just hope that they have stocked the ponds ( dams ).

Have a blast and don't forget the report back and pics.:D

Thank you for the reply! Can you maybe tell me the specific flies you used? And maybe what species do you get there?

[poppernel]

It was at this venue that I first started fly fishing nearly 3 years ago:o
For the dams I would use a 4# rod, and dries and nymphs.
For the rivers the same rod or perhaps even a #6, with predominantly #16 - 20 nymphs.
There is quite a lot of info on the forum re. SS and LS fishing, as well as Horst's article in one of the mags a month or so ago.
Just hope that they have stocked the ponds ( dams ).

Have a blast and don't forget the report back and pics.:D


Thank you for the reply! Can you maybe tell me the specific flies you used? And maybe what species do you get there?

Think Herman meant sm and lm.

Dave

[Babyson]

Think Herman meant sm and lm.

Dave

Dave I stand corrected but I think that it is indeed small and large scale in that area.

Rob

[jock0]

Dave I stand corrected but I think that it is indeed small and large scale in that area.

Rob

Definitely ss and ls.

There are plenty of posts about that area on here so try the search function and see if it helps.

[emerger]

Hi Pipe.
I did fish this sectin of the Komati three weeks ago, and found the fishing
challenging.
I did catch a number of small fish, both in the glides and runs on small weighted size 18 mayfly nymphs, but the water was somewhat discoloured.
The only sections not fished were the deeper pools due to a lack of time.
The manager at the resort did tell me that both rivers have a healthy number of fish in, but I am not so sure of the Komati , due to the level fluctuations
Regards Rob

[Pipe]

Hi Pipe.
I did fish this sectin of the Komati three weeks ago, and found the fishing
challenging.
I did catch a number of small fish, both in the glides and runs on small weighted size 18 mayfly nymphs, but the water was somewhat discoloured.
The only sections not fished were the deeper pools due to a lack of time.
The manager at the resort did tell me that both rivers have a healthy number of fish in, but I am not so sure of the Komati , due to the level fluctuations
Regards Rob

Thanks for the reply! Did you fish a single fly? What tippet did you use? Hopefully the water colour will improve by December! Is there any other flies ot techniques you would recommend?

[chris williams]

Pipe,

I returned your PM with a reply a moment ago

[poppernel]

Dave I stand corrected but I think that it is indeed small and large scale in that area.

Rob

Right you are, forgot about ss + ls.:o:)

Dave

[jock0]

Thanks for the reply! Did you fish a single fly? What tippet did you use? Hopefully the water colour will improve by December! Is there any other flies ot techniques you would recommend?

No offence, but you're gonna come pipe if you dont learn to use the search function as you'll miss out on a wealth of old info. Here's my post to a similar question - it wasnt even 5 threads below this one in the "yellows" section when you asked.

I fish the komati in that area about two or three times a year and its packed full of SS yellows! I was using the exact same tactics I do when nymphing on the vaal but obviously scaling down the tackle and flies to match the conditions and fish size and had a really great time with most fish being between 500g and 1kg. The fish in that section are definitely not as finicky as SS and LS yellows in other places - Its one of the few places I've managed to catch two yellows at once and my dad has actually gotten them on walkers nymphs

Off the top of my head I'd say 3-4wt 8'6", 6ft straight length of 8lb or 3x as a leader to a split ring or dropper loop or small swivel. From the end of the leader attach a length of approx 15cm of 4x for your top dropper and another length about 45cm of 4x for your control fly. Use a small nymph such as a grhe, ptn, brassie as your top dropper and a much heavier copper john or prince nymph as your control fly. You get huge prince nymphs/Stoneflies (perlidae) in that section of the river so dont be afraid to fish large flies. In some sections my control flies were tied on #6 circle hooks with a 3.5mm tungsten bead...

My avatar is actually a pic of my favourite run in that section of the river!

[chris williams]

Yeah Pipe, as Jocko says, apart from some of the stuff I've PM'd you and Jocko/others have mentioned, get to know the 'Search' operation here. There is a vast wealth of past info that doesn't really need repeating

Cheers, good luck, remember to let me know when you're up there as per your PM, I should be lurking around as well!

[Mad_Max]

Lucky me! I am going there from 19-23 Oct for some R&R with one thing in mind, FISHING!

I was their last time in the middle of winter, so yellows were hiding. There is a nice stretch of rapids, but where will be the best place to start. If any one can assist it would be appreciated.

Will take my float tube this time for their trophy trout dam, so if all else fails I will go for some trout.

[jock0]

Lucky me! I am going there from 19-23 Oct for some R&R with one thing in mind, FISHING!

I was their last time in the middle of winter, so yellows were hiding. There is a nice stretch of rapids, but where will be the best place to start. If any one can assist it would be appreciated.

Will take my float tube this time for their trophy trout dam, so if all else fails I will go for some trout.

Fish the same spots in the river you would for SM's on the vaal - current seams, bubble lines, tailouts etc. In other words all three rapids you've highlighted :) The fish in the rapids will be around 500-750grams, maxing out at roughly 1kg

Your float tube will also be very useful in the deeper pools as the banks are usual very steep and overgrown in these sections. These pools are where the lunkers lurk so keep your eyes open for any schools of fish near the surface.

[Mad_Max]

Thanks, I understand.

Lets hope I get something to write about. From what I remember last time the river section was VERY CLEAR.