Anyone fished the low levels at Vanderkloof?

[Blikoor]

Hi Guys,

I'm off to Vanderkloof on Friday. The dam levels are really low at the moment (58% according to DWAF). Anyone fished these low levels before? How about hidden obstacles in the water?

Your help will be much appreciated!

[Blikoor]

So dam was down 12m as measured at the wall. We navigated up about 30km and started getting into dirty water. Fishing seemed better in the cleaner water, so we stayed in the cleaner water for the rest of the trip. Plenty of largemouths seen the first day, but only landed one on a bass popper. Lot's of follows, but no takers. Changing flies constantly. Smallmouths were very sporting, sight fished for them with a foam cricket and caught lots. Second day we didn't see largemouths roaming about, but caught two small ones on nymphs. Was my first trip there and will definitely go again! PS - the wind gets up there and the water gets rough! Lost my favourite 4 wt on the bumpy ride in "Grootwater" going back. Boat with high free board or wet decks is a must.

[Circus]

Nice info Blikoor. I've been wondering how the dam is handling the low water. It was down about 3m when I fished there in November.
My view is that there is very little underwater vegetation on most of the dam anyway, so lower water should have a minimal impact on the fishing. The exception is when the dam is at >98%, then the overhanging trees provide some nice structure.

Very sorry to hear about the lost rod. Grootwater can get messy! For future, you might want to try holding the rods down with bungee cords. Or maybe even install a retractable one like the pics below.
rod holder strap 1.jpg
rod holder strap2.jpg

I have, however, found 2 spots upstream from grootwater where the smallies get very thick, pm me if you want details.

[Pershond]

I was wondering the same thing. We've caught quite a few fish on the weedbeds across from town, but I guess all of these would be out of the water? Most of the shore normally has a bit of weed that hold fish, but these should also be out of the water. So fishing rocks and trees I guess.

I bit unrelated, but have you guys had good fishing in/past the Grootwater? We normally stick pretty close to town. Mostly targeting largies.

[Blikoor]

Yes Circus, I've already devised a tie down system first thing when I got back!

Pershond, we did most of our fishing past Grootwater. There were no grass beds that we could find and I wouldn't think there would be any with the receding water. Best fishing was on shallower/lower gradient shores with rocks and a bit of wave action on the shore. We found one spot were the smallies were cruising in 10cm of water. Took quite a few on dries there. Trees didn't give up one fish on this trip. The largies were in some of the bays also in on the shallower gradients, but with some deep water close by.

[Korrie]

Any opinions on how the dam will fish in the winter months? SM or LM?
Think the water levels will take a serious pounding this winter with hydro electricity generation

[Circus]

Vanderkloof is now sitting at 69% full, vs mid 50's a few months ago. See the pics from Google Earth below of the area across from town in April 2016 (low) vs Sept 2013.
VDK dam wall area dry.jpg
VDK dam wall area full.jpg

[Circus]

Just a warning to all forum members that Vanderkloof is effectively unfishable at the moment. I was there last week and visibility is less than 10cm at the wall and about 5cm 40km upstream from the wall.
My best guess is that it will remain this way at least until February, but who knows.

[Korrie]

I think it is wind action churning up the fine sediment on the areas that have not been exposed to any wave action for years.
I am not sure when was the last time the dam was this low.

When Theewaters was very low, we had the same problem with low viz, some blamed it on the carp, but I am sure my wind and wave action was much closer to the real reason.