Disturbing

[Zoran]

Well done Gerrit , I am glad poor fish survived thanks to you .
This problem is not only in SA , but most probably all around the Globe , except on the very well secured private waters.
Water privatisation is the only medicine .
I've been there , I saw that in my country on hundreds of waters.
In Slovenia and Bosnia almost all Rivers become private venues, and that's why it is now one of the most attractive ff destination in Europe.
The biggest diamond amongst all rivers in Balkan is mighty River Drina .
Shortly , imagine Mongolian or Siberian River full with Taimen , huge Browns and fantastic Graylings .
Drina "Taimen" is Hutcho Danubius , the top European continent fish predator , which can grow more than 30 kg .

Unfortunately, Drina is natural border between Serbia and Bosnia , and public water .
Meaning, not private, not secure .
Poachers, in the last 20 years almost completely destroyed Hutcho Danubius population , and no body can do anything .
We (Fly Fishing and Lure Fishing associations ) tried to stop them, some of us shoot at them , we fight them with bare hands , we called Police , we've been raised this issue to the parliament of both countries- no success .
Bloody poachers always won.
Bosnian and Slovenian example is telling me that Only water privatisation can solve this problem .

Imagine to have 20 kg Hutcho on the fly ,in the crystal clear, icy cold water of mighty Drina ...just 1 hour flight from London and Paris , few hours drive from Belgrade .

Now, one must travel 72 hours to get to some remore Mongolian, Siberian destination , and to suffer from mosquito's and black flies big time.....

[GavinD]

Wow... that long??

Yes Andre... unfortunately. Did not believe it myself till my friend who does bass fishing showed me the photos. It spanned the entire Leeuspruit were it flows into the Vaal river. Except for the damage to the fish and river system is the amount of damage it can do to a boat. Can you imagine a guy doing full speeds with a 150 or even 200hp motor and hitting one of those nets in the river. The issue is not so much the net itself, but they weigh it down with rocks and bricks to keep the floats hidden underwater. Those rocks are like bullets being propelled into the propeller and the boat hull when you snag them... making quite a bit of damage should you be so unlucky...

[Andre]

Oh.. it "spanned" the river... therefore the entire Width... not length.

Yes Andre... unfortunately. Did not believe it myself till my friend who does bass fishing showed me the photos. It spanned the entire Leeuspruit were it flows into the Vaal river. Except for the damage to the fish and river system is the amount of damage it can do to a boat. Can you imagine a guy doing full speeds with a 150 or even 200hp motor and hitting one of those nets in the river. The issue is not so much the net itself, but they weigh it down with rocks and bricks to keep the floats hidden underwater. Those rocks are like bullets being propelled into the propeller and the boat hull when you snag them... making quite a bit of damage should you be so unlucky...

[Gerrit Viljoen]

Oh.. it "spanned" the river... therefore the entire Width... not length.

You serious? Not only a fishing expert a grammar one too!

[Andre]

No...I was seriously clarifying... length and breadth are two distinctly different things.. nothing to do with grammar
QUOTE=The Beast Tamer;259509]You serious? Not only a fishing expert a grammar one too! [/QUOTE]

[Gerrit Viljoen]

I'm not on your level so pardon me that flew past me like a ferrari.

[GavinD]

Oh.. it "spanned" the river... therefore the entire Width... not length.

Thanks Andre... for the width...

[Andre s]

Yes this is truly disturbing and very sad, as if there is not enough pressure on the fish already from all the pollution.

Last year I pulled one of their round nets out of the river with a 4kg carp stuck in the net, they have plenty of these round nets in the river just below Parys. As bad as these nets are, I thought to myself at least they are not using gill nets that stretch across the river.
net 2.jpg

Even more disturbing, I have heard stories of gill nets on the Vaal and the Orange. Anyone here with 1st hand knowledge?

Well last week I found a 10 meter gill net that I removed from the river also just below Parys.
Nothing stands a chance with these things, once I loaded it on my boat, it took me about 20min to take it off, it had managed to hook on everything , these nets are f horrible!
Gill net 1.jpggill net 3.JPGgill net2.JPG

What should we do about this? Is there anyone that we can report this to that will actually do something about it?

Is there anything we can do about this? Just removing the ones you do find is probably like farting against thunder, is there anyone out there that can take this further?

Any suggestions , guidance , solutions are more than welcome.

[dollar]

thanks for helping in cleaning these nets out of the water Andre s, but i urge you be very carefull because these guys are armed and ready to pull the trigger. recent times (from the bassing community) have had very close calls with lead flying towards them. the best way to tackle this problem is to have the sap involved in a cleaning operation

[Andre s]

thanks for helping in cleaning these nets out of the water Andre s, but i urge you be very carefull because these guys are armed and ready to pull the trigger. recent times (from the bassing community) have had very close calls with lead flying towards them. the best way to tackle this problem is to have the sap involved in a cleaning operation

Hi Rui, thanks for the heads up, and yes I understand the dangers involved. There was just no way in hell that I was going to leave that net in the water. Unfortunately this is a reality in the life we live here in SA. Fly fishing, especially now over this season is one of my "escapes" and probably the best therapy one can get. It really does wonders for me just getting out there spending the day on the river, for me catching a fish is just a bonus, I just love being out there in nature away from the JHB hustle. I mostly fish alone and it is really sad that I have been forced to take my own protection with me, even though it’s just for a peace of mind. It should never get to this though. Finding that net ruined my whole day, it was a mission taking it out, my boat was full of mud I was full of mud it stank , it wasted a lot of time taking it out the water , it really just pi**ed me off. Something needs to be done, and yes it should be done through the right channels and some authority needs to get involved and do the dirty work so there is no need to put ourselves in unnecessary danger.... Does the sap actually get involved and do the clean up? who are the correct authorities?

Do you mind sending me your details via PM so that we can discuss the incident that happened with your friend? I really want to take this further. I have made contact with FOSAF with a detailed report of this incident, they have sent it on to whoever? it is that is supposed to control these things, so I am now waiting for a response from them.

So if anyone else also has information about any of this lets put it all together so that when we eventually do find the right people that are going try do something about it we have enough information available and documented.

Who knows with all the isolated incidents put together it becomes a big story and then maybe Carte Blanches investigators will have more joy than us in exposing it and helping to find a solution.
We can just try do something about it, the more awareness the better, and again if anyone has any guidance on who we/i should be contacting please let me know. As I will try all avenues that I can think of.