Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Breede River Neap and the Duivenhoks River

Possibly the worst weekend to try and fish a tidal flat... The plan was to get away with the girlfriend and hopefully get a chance to push one tide.

The planned destination- Duivenhoks River.  When we got there we went to check out the accomodation and to be honest it was a little bit spooky... and nowhere near a grunter sight fishing spot.  We took a drive to the mouth.  From an aerial photograph it looked insane.  We got there and were confronted with a gate. "Private Land- NO ENTRY".  And all you can see is cottages.  Apparently owned in some time share scheme where not even friends from the original members can gain access.  This area is called Puntjie.
The Cottages
The Mouth


The whole area has an eerie feel to it.  People dont wave or talk to you.  They pretend you arent there. Deliverance stuff.  The estuary does look good.  The godfather of flies has fished it and says it does produce Kob and actually fishing similar to the Breede but on a smaller scale.  He hasnt seen Grunter tail here.

The only decent accomodation from a fly fishermans point of view is the seaside cottage that has to be booked well in advance.  That will give you access to the flats you see in the pictures.

The only public access is down this ramp.  The road veers right from the gated entrance.


Duivenhoks River Mouth
We decided to make a call.  And there was only one real option- Witsand.  Off we went.  I'm a novice on the Breede so I figured it was time to get some good wading/exporation and spotting in.  I find if my priority isnt to catch fish but to "learn" the estuary I come out with a much more positive view and tend to see more.


We booked into the Breede River Lodge, got a downstairs room and out came the fishing kit.  R100 later for a ferry ride accross to the Infanta side and there I was, on a flat, ready.  I knew the neap wouldnt be strong enough to push the water high on the flat so this was always going to be tricky.

I walked for a while... worried about those notorious monster bull sharks in the back of my mind.  Keeping an eye on shallow areas and possible refuge.  I figured the dead trees on the flat would be good refuge If i got caught out too far from land and with too dangerous a swim.

I managed to find 2 fish tailing.  One with its pectoral breaking out of every little ripple as It blew away for prawns.  By the time I got to each fish they had moved on.   20knts of wind making things less pleasant.  I kept looking and found an area with a shallow channel where fish moved onto the flat.  I tracked a few fish and followed one that swam slowly for about 200m showing absolutely no signs of feeding.  I didnt see any mullet or other fish on the flat which I always take as a bad sign.

I walked around to the Mudlark for my pickup and chatted to the owner there.  A hell of a nice guy.  Told me of the "Grunter Cove".  There is a pic on the wall of some fish taken on an olive bendback some time ago in this spot.  Bind casting.... Not my first choice for targeting these fish.

I hear the best spot is this Grunter Cove and a spot accross the river.  I'll be back with a Freedom Hawk, Loop Pushpole and lots of patience to check it out.  Brent Flack-Davidson has a lot of experience with this lagoon and reckons winter can be as good, if not better for tailing fish numbers.

We'll know in a few months.... I hope to hell thats still the case
My Breede wading experience. Infanta flat.
fly fishing breede river, fly fishing for grunter, fly fishing western cape, fly fishing duivenhoks river, fly fishing puntjie, fishing puntjie, breede river lodge, fishing infanta, saltwater fly fishing

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