The Wylye Monster

I know this blog is about yellows but if you feel like seeing what I am getting up to on the chalkstreams of Southern England have a read about the 28" brown I got last week
what a day!
Keith

September 2011 Middle Vaal Report

After a seemingly endless winter, spring has finally arrived and that is all I’m saying for now. There will be a few cold fronts, mostly coinciding with our planned weekend fishing trips until the regular summer rainfall sets in and ….! No I’ll be positive, but if I go by the two preceding years you better be booking time off with the wife, boss or lovers the window may be small to enjoy good fishing. I’ve had one of the most memorable days of fishing on the 24th of September in 2001, 2 weeks before my son was born.
While writing this report I got this question via email “The problem is I have not fished the Vaal nearly enough, I was hoping you could give me some pointers on fly selection and were to find early season fish.” I can admit to not fishing the Vaal often enough, especially this winter. Conditions have just been very tough and travelling 300km when the odds are against you is for the young and foolhardy.

Although the smallies never stop feeding in winter, they do go into a feeding festival in anticipation of the first spawning run. The larval stages of the big Vaal caddis are almost at their biggest, think size 8-10 hook, these will be one of the prime targets of the yellows. Prospect the waters you are about to fish in search of these, especially in the deeper channels the fish will not be in the very shallow riffles yet. Expect to fish water up to your waist in depth and remember to make the required technical adjustments to your approach. Your flies will have to get down to the feeding zone. Correct casting – slack, parachute, upstream mend, tuck cast anything to get slack in the line. And good mending technique to keep your flies at the right depth for as long as possible.
To hedge your bets add a good mayfly imitation to the point, black or GRHE. My preferred method would be a NZ style rig, but you can use whatever you are comfortable with. If the algae becomes too much of a hassle I would switch to dry & dropper approach. Vary the depth of the dropper and work the clearings in between the vegetation. Accurate casting will be the game breaker.

Watch the weather reports for frontal systems, my view is never fish the 1-2 days before the system hits. But you could prove me wrong.

July 2011 Middle Vaal Report

The few fishing reports I’m seeing on fishing along the middle Vaal, or should I say lack thereof does not make for great reading. Blanking is the common thread and an absolute lack of any surface activity is another. I visited friends at their house next to the Vaal near Bothaville. It is a great spot for largies, big deep pool, a tributary and some large rocky outcrops. Unfortunately I lost inspiration due to the very low visibility. It seems from the Barrage downstream the visibility is around 40cm, good for summer but nothing compared to winters past.

Well with all the doom and gloom I still believe the fish are there and we can catch them. The Vaal experienced severe flooding during the first few months of 2011. I think it will require a “normal” rainfall season to settle things in the river. Some good news is the sun has reached its apex in the northern hemisphere the subtle changes of the season is happening and it may just bring on something on the river. When you do venture out it is vitally important to first find the fish before wasting time flogging a dead beat. I’ve found on multiple trips down the Vaal even in winter the fish do move around the pools. Fishing last Saturday’s productive throat of the pool produced nothing, until I float downstream. Finding a flat rocky section with very little flow in the bend of the river, it seems the water might be a tad warmer here. Standing on the Arc I could just make out the subsurface shapes of fish, moving and feeding. A few minutes later the first yellow was in the net.
When the fish are not on the surface experiment with a team of nymphs fished progressively deeper. Or use longer droppers with your dries, if you battle to cast the set-up just reduce the leader.

I’m off to try the Palala river this weekend, hope I can find a fish or two willing to take a well presented fly.

June 2011 Middle Vaal Report

I had a look at the 2010 report for June, looking for inspiration. That was the time of the World Cup and we had a massive cold front hitting around mid month. Pretty much the same happened last week but we had a few millimetres of rain. Enough to upset the flows! Added to this there was a mishap at the Barrage, opening of the gates letting out 200 cumecs.

Winter is the time of dry fly and visible fishing on the Vaal. The above sequence of events has put paid to it for a few more weeks. I’m not saying you will not catch on a well presented rig – best a dry and dropper – but when one ventures out in this cold it has to be worth it. The same applies to the largemouth, visibility just make your chances of success so much better.



My suggestion would be to hold out for a few more weeks until you see the DWAF chart flat lining at about 20 cumecs. Tie up some flies, clean the tackle and score some points around the house.

Lucky hunter.

March Middle Vaal Report

The Vaal is back to safe wadeable and easy fishable flow rates. I’m glad the fish and fisherman got some respite from the severe floods before winter sets in.
Autumn is a great time on the Vaal, the fish will be feeding well to bulk up for winter. Please note they do not hibernate but continue feeding throughout the
cold months – finding them and presenting the right fly is the key to success. With the constant flows clarity should improve during the next few weeks.


The fish will continue feeding in the rapids depending on the water temperatures and time of day. Be prepared to move around if you don’t find them there or see consistent feeding in other areas. You should also make allowance for the time of day. We are all eager to get to the water as early as possible, but I think you’ll have a more enjoyable day if you give your wife breakfast in bed and then head out. The extra brownie points will give you more time on the water in the late afternoon and early evening. This is a special time, the fish get more relaxed as the sun dips below the horizon with the threat of predators diminishing.

They become aggressive feeders moving into the shallow rapids, glides and tail-outs eager to take a well presented dry or hedge your bets with a dropper added.
My suggestion would be to limit casting and rather wait for the right moment, the fish will move closer to you, offering an easier opportunity.

Good luck and enjoy
Carl & Keith

December 2010 Middle Vaal Report

Another year has flown by at a rapid pace. As a kid I wished away the days between fishing trips, now I never do as the days are too precious, but still the years rush by like the Vaal in flood – classic I know.I was lucky enough to spend some time on the hallowed waters of Sterkfontein. Although the fishing was extremely tough I was rewarded with some great photo opportunities.

The dam has been fishing like a temperamental lady, with a certain amount of tender loving attention something was forthcoming. But the great dry fly action of years gone by has disappeared.

Time has not permitted another foray to the Vaal before our annual seaside holiday, so I will have to let her rest until sometime in 2011. I’ll be crossing over the Vaal a few times this holiday – always casting an eye over to spot a fisherman or the ripples of a rise. If you do get to fish the river this December Herman’s report is as comprehensive a guide as you will find anywhere.
The Actual Vaal Report by Herman Botes
My experience on the Vaal so far this season has been an on-off affair. The unusual weather patterns seems to play a bit of havoc with my fishing outings , or I’m just picking bad days to step onto the water.
Very disappointing for me was the lack of surface activity at dusk (the time of day I look forward to all afternoon) - the fish do move into the thin water at dusk though. When you see fish activity in the thin water at dusk a dry-and dropper approach can be a lot of fun and you do not hang up as you would if you persisted with a standard nymph rig. Also try this same set up smack bang in the middle of the afternoon if the fishing is slow and concentrate on the smoother glides & runs just below some broken water.
Nov / Dec is mostly a caddis affair with the fish concentrating on grubbing on the rocks in the fast aerated riffle& pocket water , especially in low light and overcast weather. The rest of the day the fish hang out below overhanging trees / vegetation and deeper glides. It’s purposeful fishing, but if you get them in hard feeding mode , you will get pockets of full blown action along your beat . Imitations of Macrostemum Capense (green rockworm) & mustard caddis are good bets for control flies and Garth Wellman’s Green Machine as a dropper can be deadly. I also noted a very high percentage of ginger caddis (brown head/thorax ) in # 14 on the rocks at most venues. The interesting thing is that their appearance coincides with the disappearance of the forest green caddis(black head & thorax) # 14 Go figure ….

My pet challenge in summer is also to bump into a Trico mayfly migration which bring its own challenge and variation to the game. Trico Mays are big….. #14 for adult with football humped wing cases. The nymphs are STOUT with olive/brown dorsal side and yellow/cream ventral side -do not confuse them with the black Leptophlioebeadae? Mays of the same size.When these mays are ready to hatch the mature nymphs migrate to the slack water on the sides of the runs and shallow slacks behind big boulders from where they hatch. They do this by simply walking over & under the rocks. Needless to say the fish follow. To establish if a migration is happening or has happened - turn over a couple of the loser rocks on the side of the river. If one of the rocks is crawling with trico’s (looks like a cattle farm) , you could be in for some good fishing by concentrating on the thin water on the sides and using a stealthy approach. In good water clarity and light you can even sight fish to individual fish using a dry-and-dropper setup. Anglers mostly use a brown Mayfly imitation to imitate the nymphs and I had on occasion achieved good results with a brown gold bead may with a golden flashback. However this is not always effective , especially if you are simply covering water. Lately I found the yellow/cream/mustard ventral colour of the nymph to be more of an attraction and definite trigger - combine that with a brown thorax and a gold / copper or orange bead for an effective imitation. And of course a scruffy picked out GRHE will also account for fish.

Late Nov/early Dec is also the time of the second spawn for the fish (depending on flows) so be aware and tread carefully. This is a windfall for those married to the hotspot PTN as this little pattern will once again pull in good numbers of fish together with its fellow orange hotspot cronies. There simply is no denying the effectiveness of orange triggers especially around the time of spawn runs. Herman.

If you are going on holiday, travel safely, switch on those head lights and be more visible. Enjoy the fishing at your destination and spend some time with the significant other unless you’ve already fished yourself single. Have a blessed Christmas and I hope your 2011 will be a great fishing year!

Cheers

Carl and Keith.

October 2010 Middel Vaal Report

I did get out in September, my first day fishing the Vaal since the river levels got too high in 2009, it wasn't great. I suppose to some extent I was to blame being in a bit of a masochistic dry fly mood. I focused on searching for fish moving on the surface, paddled almost 1km upstream. On some days this works – one will eventually find consistent feeders but on the particular day I blanked. Even in the late afternoon session fish were picky. I tried nymphing the rapids but hooking up with the algae got the better of me.

One bonus for the day was getting close to this juvenile Black Winged Stilt.

The Actual Vaal Report by Herman Botes
The caddis took their good time to do their thing, but boy , when they started the main hatches… it was worth the wait. Strangely this year the daily hatches hit their peaks quite late at dusk. Normally in spring the caddis species are full force anytime after 3 pm in early spring.
Needless to say, dusk is the magic hour, when you would swear you’re in fishing heaven with caddis popping off like popcorn and the yellows rising mad. The low light and drifting buffet results in the fishing pushing right up into the thin water at the pool heads and current breaks(ridges) as well as sitting right back in the tail-outs.
For success only 2 things are required … ultra stealth (don’t move around too much) and a HERMAN-HAMER. This Klinkhamer variant is so effective that if your targeted fish does not eat it , it means you cocked up on your presentation. Sometimes ,out of nowhere a fish would it eat drag-and- all. The pattern is published in Favorite Flies Vol. 4 - named klinkhamer variant. Don’t leave home without it.
On the nymphing front : - the green hydroshycidae larva # 10 are prolific as well as the smaller cream specie #14. The small cream specie is responsible for the current mass hatching. I was lucky last week to capture an actual pupa – at night with my headlamp & seine net. Description ; # 16 / abdomen – bright yellow ! / wing buds – black / thorax & head – ginger brown / antennae & legs – body length and tan. Now I understood why my Plaza Pupa is always a hit.

Cheers

Carl and Keith.