-November 2009-

Change in weather, change in season, change in behaviour.

Qnh: 1009
Wind: NW / 10knts
Temp: 14 deg avg.

The drop in temperature, air pressure, and Northerly wind left us a bit confused as to what technique to use. Established methods saw a few small fish come out of the tail-outs and runs but the usual big fish spots produced nothing.

We went looking for better water, walked carefully over the runs and rapids and discussed our misfortune and bad timing. We would soon find drops of blood below the cliffs-reminding us that we were truly in the wild and the further we followed, the darker and fresher it got. Not wanting to see what was at the end we turned towards a fast deep run in the shadow of the plateau .

I noticed a Largemouth Bass and and joked to Liam about how easy it would be to catch it. I couldn't resist... I stripped ten meters of line, watched my back cast and my loop unfolded right above the bass. I stripped quickly to tease it, hoping not to catch it and ruin my leader on its sandpaper mouth. Then all hell broke loose. A large yellow flashed out the shadow of a boulder and absolutely smashed my nymph, right on the surface. It took off down stream and my reel screamed as a good 40 meters of line vanished. It would be a good 5 minutes before I would land our first decent fish of the trip.

We would catch more fish out of this spot, and not one of them seemed to have read the yellowfish behaviour manual. All chasing fast stripped flies and not spooking, much like their large-mouthed cousins.

The best fish would come out the head of a large murky pool, not wider than four feet.

click to enlarge:

-Bells Fly Fishing Festival-

-October 2009-

We returned to the Karoo hoping for a few things. We wanted to prove that Yellowfish could be taken readily at night and we wanted to pursue them in the small fast riffles that feed the fast pools.

We left successful on all accounts. A rapidly decending QNH and front definately affected the size of fish, but not the numbers.

Yellows at night, well over 50 caught fish in a few hours:

Our first attempt at Yellows in very fast moving water. We moved in slowly behind the reeds pictured in the background and held small leech nymphs in the current. Two decent fish would come out this run:

New Species - Mudfish or Moggel? :


In six inches of water, casting at times to individual fish:







Biggest fish of the trip: