Blyde river

[Jacques O Dell]

Fished the Blyde river at the beginning of the month. What a great and humbling experience to fish all alone in those canyons!
River was nice and clear at first but after the heavy rains it flooded and was mostly unfishable. Saw plenty of fish on my first try. Nothing that would pull me into the backing though.
A view of the canyon.
http://www.flytalk.co.za/forum/picture.php?albumid=298&pictureid=2713
Got this little largescale in the lower section (below the dam).
http://www.flytalk.co.za/forum/picture.php?albumid=298&pictureid=2710
Also caught alot of these little buggers. They look like tasty bites for tigerfish... No jokes these are quite rae and listed as vulnerable. Called barred minnows I think.
http://www.flytalk.co.za/forum/picture.php?albumid=298&pictureid=2709
The upper section was good for river rafting, but I gave it a shot anyway.
http://www.flytalk.co.za/forum/picture.php?albumid=298&pictureid=2711
Got this (and a few other) little smallscales. Good old faithful bloodworm...
http://www.flytalk.co.za/forum/picture.php?albumid=298&pictureid=2712

[Conrad Botes]

Well done. I've been there before (not yet addicted to FF then) and must admit that it's a beautiful place.
Have been wondering obout it's fly fishing potential quite a bit.

[dlampert]

Does the Blyde not contain trout as well? I remember seeing fish rising in it as a teenager and IIRC they were trout?

[Gerrit Viljoen]

Looks like a Southern Barred Minnow. The orange tail fin you see indicates a breeding male.

[Troep]

Guys,

There's quite a lot of rainbows in the upper reaches as well as the odd brownie.

There's millions of small rainbows as well as millions of largescale yellows.

I fish the upper reaches of the Blyde quite often, especially after fishing the smalblaar with korrie. Its really beautiful up there, and very few people fish there.

Ill post some pics of the area soon.

Cheers

[dlampert]

Guys,

There's quite a lot of rainbows in the upper reaches as well as the odd brownie.

There's millions of small rainbows as well as millions of largescale yellows.

I fish the upper reaches of the Blyde quite often, especially after fishing the smalblaar with korrie. Its really beautiful up there, and very few people fish there.

Ill post some pics of the area soon.

Cheers

Thanks Troep, I remember standing on the bridge at Bourkes Luck watching the trout rise - must have been 30 odd years ago. Keen to see some pics of the upper reaches.

[Troep]

I sometimes wish I was allowed to fish below that bridge with my floattube - there's some monster yellows down there!! And I think theres some huge trout as well...

It rained 60mm last night in the Blyde catchment so fishing this weekend on the Blyde is out for anyone that was wondering about it for the long weekend!!

The river is in flood...:(

[gazzarowan]

hey guys...where is the blyde river? it looks beautiful!!!

[Troep]

mpumalanga bourke's luck area

[Troep]

As promised some pics of the upper reaches of the Blyde.

The river is very full, and fishing is quite difficult!! But they are taking flies quite regularly, although the yellowfish, are struggling to take flies in fast flowing water with small mouths like that, I can see they try to take it, but their reaction time together with the small mouth is just not cutting it at this time.

Ill try some microflies next weekend, but it was to much of a shlep in that water...

Take a look at the bigger one Ive got, the markings look like if he was strangled in a net... hope the locals arent using nets in that water.

Here are the pics...

[firephish]

looks like you've had some rain up there ... nice stream, thanks for sharing.

[gazzarowan]

mpumalanga bourke's luck area

thanks troep

how would one get to the river from johannesburg?
is it accessible for fishing?
if you wouldnt mind sharing some info i would appreciate it:D

thanks so much.

and what fish are in the river?haha

[Troep]

Hi, very easy to get there. near Graskop in Mpumalanga.

Id recommend a suv or bakkie - gravel farm roads.

There's Brownies, Rainbows, smallscales, largescales and some of those small minnows on the previous page. The lower you go the warmer the water and the less trout. But the yellows get bigger as the stream gets deeper and wider.

Ciao

[Troep]

Guys,

The latest trip to the river...

Ive found some awesome untouched spots with really good sized fish...

Cant wait for the next trip!! Just waiting for the water to stabilise again, flows are quite high at this stage, but the water is crystal clear.

Cheers

[shadowcast]

Troep, is access to those spots open or in a resort area, or on farms where you need permission?

[Troep]

Mostly on farms, long walks to get there.

But its worth it!!

[shadowcast]

Ok, thank you

[Scythe]

Lovely photos Troep. Hope you have a ball.

[Troep]

Thanks, but I have to admit that I miss the Vaal...

This smallstream stuff is more adventure than fishing at the moment...

Really nice places Ive discovered lately!!

Ill keep you guys posted on my discoveries...

Cheers

[Jacques O Dell]

I'm heading of to destination X at the end of the month. Will post pics.

[Troep]

Cool!! the water will be great by that time!!

Let me know if I can carry your stuff for the day!!:D

Destination X for another destination X...

Enjoy and take a lot of pics...

[shadowcast]

Troep, are one allowed to fish the blyde on swadini?

[Troep]

Im not sure, but I think you can.

I think they give you daily fishing permits, and I have seen some signs that allowed fishing.

[shadowcast]

Thanx for the info. Keep well

[Jacques O Dell]

Do you mean at Swadini resort? No you can not. But if no you (or a hippo) cathes you then you can... The dam is definately off limits.

[Jacques O Dell]

Terrible weekend! Went to my secret spot this weekend and got nothing. Not even a sniff! Didn't even see a yellow! Ai man. I think the bad weather and cold water sent them running for the deep pools. This time round the water was crystal clear and visibility was around 4m I'd guess. Think the fish are in the 10m deep pools. Impossible to get a floating line down there... I even think a fast sinking line would not cut it with the fast flowing water. I'll be back in October! Rest well my yellows...

[Troep]

That bad,

You should have been here last weekend, awesome weather!! Fishing was good..

Fishing in the lowveld was relatively slow in the lowveld yesterday...

Better luck next time!!

Cheers