The year flies by...

It's been a busy year, what with two trips to Sterkfontein dam and another to Vanderkloof, and that's just the yellowfishing trips.  Then we also had a number of day trips, surveying the waters in desperate need of rains.

We do know that we are located in a semi-desert, and most of South Africa is still in the grips of a terrible drought, but some of our waters have been lucky enough to get just enough rain to keep them going.  The trophy trout waters to the west of town, have not been so lucky, and if we don't get rain in the next couple of weeks, we're probably going to lose those fish.  It will be a sad day, but a farmer will tell you, that every day of drought is a day closer to rain!  Once the rains come, and the Little Fish River is flowing again, and filling the farm dams along the way, we'll be able to stock again, and the abundance of food that makes the fishery so amazing, will ensure that we have trophy trout again very soon.

In the mean time, Mountain Dam in the Somerset East area is showing it's summer madness again, with prolific caenis hatches in the evenings.  They're not called the fisherman's curse for nothing!  The other day, Alan had to have strong words with a client that was suffering from fish fever!  The fish were rising so frantically, that he couldn't decide which one to cast to, so tried to cast to each rising fish...focus! 

It's the perfect time of the year again to target yellowfish, bass and barbel.  Alan has developed a stunning spot on the Little Fish River for yellows, and made a lovely "afdakkie" so that you can get out of the sun in the heat of the day.  The bass dam is on the western side of town, and not in good shape.  Fortunately it is a large piece of water, and should survive this drought as it has all the previous ones.  But...have you ever caught a barbel on fly? Now that is a proper "pull fish"!  They can really be great fun to catch, and readily take a fly...if you get the right fly in the right place!

We're excited about the upcoming season and the diverse fly fishing opportunities that it presents.