June 2010 Middle Vaal Report

In proving foresight may be vain:

The best laid schemes of mice and men

Go often askew,

And leave us nothing but grief and pain,

For promised joy!

I had it all planned for the 16th, perfect day in mid week to catch the fish & weather off guard. They are forever watching the weekends conspiring to defeat us in our pursuit. A post on the Blog mustered up some fellow fly fishers with the urge to prospect for winter gold. The weekend before the weather was balmy and we riled the English fans staying at the farm lodge, even our winter weather was better than anything the UK summer could offer.

Well by Tuesday the predicted cold front struck, fierce biting cold, ripping through flesh and bone – why do the SA Weather guys get it right when we go fishing but wrong when we can’t?!? And so I was reminded of the lines from the Robert Burns poem written in 1785. I’m sure he missed out on a Salmon fishing trip due to dodgy weather when he wrote this poem.

The flow rate at the Goose Bay Canyon site has been relatively constant for more than a month now, which bodes well for clarity. Keep an eye on the weather report and if you’re not watching the soccer, get down to the Vaal for some dry fly action. I cannot vouch for the reports personally, but rumours of good largemouth catches are doing the rounds.

The upside of the cancelled fishing trip was that we headed out to Pilanesberg for the day, one of my favourite Game Reserves. We were very lucky to witness a Caracal catching a Natal Francolin and I got a few photo’s to prove it.

The sequence is here - http://picasaweb.google.com/carl.yellowfever/CaracalHunt?feat=directlink

This weekend (26th June 2010) will be our last weekend of hosting visitors at the lodge. The USA vs Ghana match is going to be massive! Hopefully I will then be able to put together another trip for the Vaal.

Cheers

Carl and Keith

ELGRO Y-O-F TRIP

I'm busy organising a winter trip to Elgro lodge. No guiding just a bit of help, fishing together and photo's. Send me an email if you are interested

carl.yellowfeveratgmail.com (due to spammers just replace the at with @)

Regards

Carl

May 2010 Middle Vaal Report

Kimberley sunset

BOATS

I received a question on fishing the Vaal in mid winter and thought I would share some of my views for this month’s report.

“Also, do you have to have waders or a boat?”

• Boats are great in the sense that they compensate for dodgy casting abilities and the natural movement of feeding fish. When the fish are feeding in a spot, the water level is an inch away from the top of the waders and your cast is dropping 1 meter short it’s not fun. Sometimes fish move around the pool, could be due to sensing the angler or to follow the food. I see this on stillwaters as well as the Vaal and being mobile gives you more options.
  
• At the moment the water temperature is bearable, later in winter the temps get down to the low teens and your legs and feet go numb even with neoprene waders. Standing in cold water for prolonged periods can expose you to hyperthermia especially if you take a dip J.
  
  
• Fishing pressure is low in winter but a boat can get you to the secluded spots, sometimes just a short paddle away from other fisherman.
  
• There are very few spots along the middle Vaal (especially in the Dome) with clear banks, most of it is tree lined which makes casting difficult. The upper Vaal flows through highveld with clear grass banks, but this area takes longer to clear. A boat will get you away from these obstructions.
  
• Fishing exclusively for smallies is an option on foot. They get onto the surface to feed in the hatches so it’s visible and you can spot them from afar.
  
• I would not consider targeting largemouth without a boat. You need to move around to locate them and also be very flexible in reaching the spots they hold out in. A typical pool they hold in can be 1km by 500m.
  
  
• Winter fishing for smallmouth is mostly visual. A boat can provide the required elevation in a flat pool to spot fish. Sometimes the smallies hold just below the surface – where they are very visible – but a dimple rise to mayflies can be easily missed on a large pool.
• I like getting the sun at the right angle to assist in spotting fish, again mobility makes this possible. Canoes are not stable enough to use as a platform, I use them to get to a rock or island from which I do have a vantage point within casting distance.
  

The river flow seems to settle, still high for the winter reserve flow but if it remains constant, clarity will improve to good fishable conditions. Let’s hope it does so quickly I need a fix of good dry fly fishing!

April 2010 Middle Vaal Report

My prediction is for foul weather and flood like conditions to continue for the Vaal. Seems the last few months every time I predicted conditions to change for the better, the reverse happened! We are now yet again seeing reasonable flow levels around Goose Bay Canyon (Schoemansdrift data unavailable). I say reasonable as I’ve heard of people fishing 60 cumecs. To me that is still too high and I’m waiting for the clarity to improve.

The signs of autumn are all round and with it come changes in tactics and approach. The good news is until the spring-summer transition we don’t have to get up as early as we used to. Fish will start to move out of the rapids into the deeper glides and heads of the pools. They will hold here, foraging in the shallower water as day time temperatures increase coinciding with movement of insects. Keep an eye out for activity and target those areas first, with various set-ups. My first choice would be:

· a dry and dropper set-up floated in those glides or flat water
· a team of soft hackle/emerger, nymph and beaded nymph floated across and down stream.
Enjoy this special time on the Vaal and lets hope things clear up before the dead of winter.

Dullstroom - Millstream

Fly fishing for trout is not my first choice fly fishing, apart from some great venues in the North Eastern Cape, when time permits my preferential target is yellowfish. But I learned the ropes fishing for trout in the Eastern Transvaal, now Mpumalanga and I have the utmost respect for the pioneers who brought trout to this country and with it laid the ground for a fly fishing culture. I will always cherish an opportunity to pursue them in that area.

Autumn should be one of the better times to fish for trout before they get otherwise occupied. That is if the weather plays along, we had 4 days of constant change – never a good thing. But I take the cards I’m dealt even if it sees me hiding underneath an upturned boat to escape the deluge of rain. The weekend started well with sunny skies on Saturday, but the fish had a premonition of the impending changes in weather and developed selective lock jaw.

I say selective as the odd fish still came out but I couldn’t attribute my success to one specific fly or technique. On previous visits to Millstream, I would find a fly that worked and when ever experimenting with other flies got boring I would switch and BANG into a fish! On this occasion I was like an out of form batsmen whenever I got into the 30’s I would lose my wicket. I tried most of the flies in my box (no Walkers Killer, although they always work) and got the most takes on GRHE, Black Woolly Bugger and Zak nymph.

Sometimes it’s not the fly, but rather the technique. To me the most important aspect is retrieve rate and how one applies variations to achieve success. I would go slower rather than faster, for this reason I use floating or intermediate lines, preventing snags on the bottom. Most of the dams can be effectively covered with these lines. Yes there are times during the dog days of a hot summer that a sinker will dredge them out of the deep. There is obviously a case in terms of quantity of fish caught for the faithful strip a big fat fly as fast as possible – it’s ugly.

Although I’m not a dry fly purist it is an aspect of fly fishing that has a very special place and stand separate from other approaches due to the visual experience. So to say I was miffed when the fish never really got onto the surface is an understatement. Due to the high rainfall I’m missing out one the autumn dry fly action on the Vaal and now this. The clearing skies brought on the prospect hatching termites and there was a brief period when they took to the air (small #16 body). A #14/16 F-fly produced one fish. These termites land with their wings similar to a caddis, I think the f-fly tied with slightly longer wings and a foam body would be a good imitation. Other patterns like foam and deer hair hoppers failed to produced, I think they just work better on warm windy days, when trout expect them to be active and blown onto the water. I would never go there without them, in fact anywhere in South Africa for that matter.

At least the intermittent fishing gave me opportunity to focus on photography, the two hobbies share the same optimal time of day – early light and afternoon light.

On the last afternoon the rest of the family took up the rods which gave me an opportunity to capture them in action. My dad just gave up on the fish when the kids arrived. I was fishing a realistic brown nymph, another throw of the dice which proved unsuccessful. I gave my rod to my wife but swapped the nymph for something with Bling – an olive tri-phonics. Now picture this – the jetties were loaded mostly guys, all was quite, no screaming reels or woops, then the only lady gets a hook-up. And it’s a big one! Biggest fish in our party for the weekend. I promptly removed the rod from her grasp and proceeded to hook 2 more fish for each of the kids, they landed them with a lot of fanfare!

Apart from the great fishing and the good selection of quality water at Millstream the fact that it is such a great family venue makes this an excellent option now that the Vaal is above 300 cumecs again!! Damn I will never make any predictions again – see my previous report.

March 2010 Middle Vaal Report

What does this beautiful lady have to do with fishing? Took the photo after sunset, it’s just amazing what can be painted with digital cameras these days.

I have to apologise for the hiatus in reporting but with sub optimal fishing conditions on the Vaal I have just not focussed enough on fishing. I think I may have lost my mojo so I’m off to Dullstroom to get my mojo right. Not my ideal type of fly fishing, rather it is a return to my roots and spend time with my ageing father. I started off fly fishing with my dad in the Machadodorp area about 30 years ago and now it’s the turn of 3 generations to share the pursuit. It also gives my wife the opportunity to practice her casting and out fish me!

Seems the flows are settling on the Vaal, so in the next few weeks we may be in for some typical autumn dry fly action. It is one of my favourite times on the river, before the extreme cold of winter sets in and the fish fattening up on the last of the summer insects.

Catch and Release

Twice in the past week this piece of research was discussed on two different radio stations. The species does not relate to the yellowfish of this report, but I think we can learn a lot from this. In the Vaal the largemouth is one of only 2 apex predators.

Catch and release fishing in the Okavango under the spotlight by Prof Nico Smit

Have you ever wondered why you do not see as many tigerfish in our river systems today as you did in the past and where they have gone?

Have you ever wondered what the possible reasons are for the slow disappearance of tigerfish from our rivers and if we will ever see their numbers restored? Is ‘catch and release’ angling placing undue stress on the tigerfish pollution?

The Centre of Aquatic Research (CAR) of the Department of Zoology at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) has researched the decline in numbers of the tigerfish (Hydrocynus vittatus), which to many anglers is the epitome of Africa’s freshwater game fish species.

“As one of the most important predatory fishes in Africa, tigerfish are found in areas throughout the continent. However, in recent years its numbers have declined in many rivers due to water abstraction, pollution, obstructions such as dams and weirs and fishing pressure,” says Prof Nico Smit, head of the UJ’s CAR. “This has been recognised specifically in South Africa. The tigerfish is now included on the protected species list, together with such marine icons such as the great white shark and the coelacanth, which was once thought to be extinct.”

You can read the rest of the article here.

http://www.uj.ac.za/EN/Newsroom/News/Pages/CatchandreleasefishingintheOkavangounderthespotlight.aspx

Cheers
Carl & Keith

February 2010 Middle Vaal Report

Vaaldam overflow thanks to Henia for sharing her work.

So what do I tell you about fishing conditions on our favourite section of the river? Not a lot – there is no fishing as the river is in absolute turmoil! Unless you are innovative like these guys.

I’m not making any predictions or forecasts on when you can go out again but we will be extremely lucky to get the river back in fishable condition by April. I’m sure there are some who will not be able to hold out until then, my suggestions would rank:
1. Sterkfontein dam.
2. Vaal tributaries, they clear up quicker and the flow rate is lower. Google Earth can assist you, but access is one of the biggest issues. Keep your own safety in mind.
3. Vaal margins. I’m seeing reports of people fishing in the “new” parts of the river. A very challenging prospect which require you to find the new holding spots and deep holes! Keep in mind that the fish feed differently in these zones as the rocks will be void of any aquatic insects.
4. Start another hobby.

I’m not too keen on 2 & 3 – it is a personal bias don’t discard it. I just prefer clean water or at least a chance to fish to sighted fish close to the surface. The Vaal despite it’s name does offer enough of it to make a worthwhile option.

My other hobby photography is coming in very handy at the moment, it helps me burn the excess cash I’m not spending on fishing equipment and I get to do something over the weekends. Photography forms a great symbiotic relationship with fly fishing – we fish in some of the most scenic places on this planet and what better way to capture it all.

I also enjoy birding when out fishing and now it keeps me busy when the fishing is slow – or non existent. A few years back I decided to progress from just knowing it is a kingfisher to identify it as a half-collard kingfisher. It adds more to the whole purpose of getting out and being in nature.

White-faced duck

Carl & Keith
http://yellowsonfly.blogspot.com/