WC Streams report back

[dlampert]

I fished on the Smalblaar yesterday with Gerrit Redpath from Bloem. Gerrit was fishing a 3wt cane rod that Stephen Dugmore built for him and I was fishing Ed Herbst’s 11ft 2wt CTS which Mario Geldenhuys built for him. We had a strong upstream wind for the entire day and it was extremely hot in the valley. While I wasn’t particularly impressed with the CTS two weeks ago while fishing it into a headwind, with a nice tailwind it was a lot better. I matched it with a 2wt Gary LaFontaine line which I have had lying around for a couple of years – a good match for the rod. The 11 footer has its pros and cons; on the pro side it gives amazing reach and line control and allows you to fish a very long leader while on the con side it makes bundu bashing and fish landing a bit more challenging.

The fishing itself was tough. We saw a single rise the entire day and with the hatchery at the lodge still functioning, the downstream water is substantially dirtier which makes spotting fish a lot harder. The strong wind was keeping hatches to a minimum and we only had a smattering of mayflies and midges coming off during the day. I caught a 12� rainbow early on which fought like a brown or small bass. Once I landed it I saw that it looked like an old fish on its way out which would account for its lack of fight. I hooked a good fish slightly higher up in the run on a nymph but after a couple of seconds it came off – I suspect with the softer rod I wasn’t setting the hook as well as I normally would. I rested the water for a couple of minutes and then cast again to the same spot as I didn’t see the fish bolt away. A couple of dead drifts later I still had no luck so on the next cast I induced drag and skated the CDC&Elk past the spot - this time the fish came up and ate it. The fish gave a helluva good fight and put a decent bend in the CTS. Once landed I guessed it around 16 inches but on measuring it we found it to be 17.5 inches, 18 if you squeezed its tail together ;-) Speaking of tails, it was a decent wild fish and not one of the numerous stockies.

A bit higher up the beat I rose another good fish to the CDC&Elk but missed the take. The fish continued to feed so I gave it a rest, changed flies and had another go. Several dries later it was still ignoring me so I tried several other flies including emergers, unweighted nymphs, heavier nymphs and some wets. I offered the fish to Gerrit to see if he could convince it to eat something – several fly changes later and he was also scratching his head. We swopped and I tried a single nymph with a tiny black yarn indicator - it came up and confidently ate the yarn indicator as if it had been waiting for it all day. I managed to resist the urge to strike when it ate the yarn so it continued to feed as if nothing had happened. I changed to a black Hi-vis CDC midge which was the closest thing I had to match the yarn indicator but of course it totally ignored that. I decided a change of tactics was needed so I crept around in front of the fish and then tried feeding it a variety of dries and nymphs from above. It still continued to feed and ignored all offerings. Time to offer it a hamburger and chips – I tied on a fritz and fed it downstream and then stripped it back – this got a reaction and the fish chased it but didn’t commit. I changed fritz colours a couple of times and got some interest and one take which I missed. Gerrit had another crack with a small micro nymph and I think after a couple of hours of us harassing it the fish had finally had enough and bolted.

I had deliberately left my camera in the car as Gerrit was keen to do some photography and had brought along his SLR. We used his camera and got a couple of nice pics in less than ideal conditions. Here are a couple that I have quickly edited. The rest of the day was tough but relatively uneventful; we caught several trout and abused the bass.

Gerrit fishing a nice run
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Putting a bend in Ed's CTS
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Why do decent fish always look so small ;-)
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The release
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The reach of the CTS is amazing
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Dragon Fly was a nice addition
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[chriss]

Nice report Darryl, thanx for sharing

[poppernel]

Brilliant pics and surroundings. Nice!!

[dizzy]

Nice report and some great pics there....

[Herman Jooste]

Great report D or should I say "Click". The pics as always are awesome.

[nkula_nkula]

Great report and a really nice fish too! Pity about the trout farm affecting the water quality....

[muddler]

Another great report & wonderful images, Darryl. Interesting to read your comments on Ed's 2#.

[JadeDsantos]

Great report Darryl! Looking forward to seeing some South Island pics!

[deewy]

Pic 5 is awesome and the dragon in pic 9 makes it special.

[DJR]

Underwater picture of trout about to be released absolutely super. Also love the Dragon that co-operated so well - I just KNOW it was planned that way.