Elands River Smallscale Yellowfish

[Fontuin]

Yesterday afternoon I went down for a quick fish at about 16:30. An hour later I had this 1.5kg Smallscale Yellowfish in the net. 1.5kg on a #18 Biot Baetis Fly.

First for the season, hopefully the first of many.

[Ko7Ad]

Nice fish!

Sent from my GT-I9500 using Tapatalk

[GavinD]

Well done!

[Jacques O Dell]

Fontuin, please share with me your tactics for these illusive species. I have caught several of them in different rivers but the tactics do differ slightly from river to river. The past weekend I fished the Marico river and as usual blanked... To me Marico yellows are the hardest of them all. Would like to get more tips from people. I will visit your place soon!

[Fontuin]

The problem with the Small/Largescales is that tactics seem differ drastically from river to river and even beat to beat.

I will not pretend to be an expert but I have found that on the Elands where I fish, smaller flies result in more hookups than larger ones, I try fish #16 or #18 but smaller may be better.

They take flies extremely gently and often a strike indicator is of no use.

I have caught very few fish in rapids or drifting. Most of the fish that I catch are from deep pools on a slow retrieve (just keep contact with the fly) with some double twitches in between. I have until now, been fishing a streamer behind a small nymph and have caught 90% of the fish on a nymph. I used to believe that the streamer attracts the fish and it then eats the nymph, I'm not so convinced on this theory though so next time I fish I will fish two small nymhps instead, perhaps the streamers are spooking the fish, especially at this time of year when the water is clear?

They seem to like the tails of pools where the water slowly starts to move, more than the heads.

I have also had some success in glides where the bottom is not visible.

I have also found that the fish are very easily spooked, they don't necessarily leave the area but do get lockjaw, which is frustrating, I try stay out of the water and approach potential fishing spots with caution.

I have a friend who used to have a lot of success on a sparsely tied Wooly Worm fished on a sinking line in a deep pool using a figure eight retrieve, I think that this tactic works in dirty water.

I know that these fish are often targeted in winter, but I have found that I only start catching fish when the water is above 18 degC and they only get really active above 19.5 deg and after the first thunderhsowers, normally from the middle of October.

If you know of any tactics please let me know and it would be great if you pay me a visit. I am still struggling to catch fish consistently.

I have heard that the Marico Yellows are also very tough.