What we did last Summer

FLY OF THE SEASON

Instead of showing you a fly that was very effective over the Summer season, we've decided to give you an Autumn fly to try out in the coming months.

This time of the year, the wind action on the side of the water, causes a lot of grasshoppers and other terrestrials to blow onto the water.  The trout are fattening up for the spawning season over the next two months, and gorge themselves on the abundance of food.

WHAT WE DID LAST SUMMER

The last couple of months have been quite eventful, with anglers able to target bass, trout and yellowfish in the hotter months.  Alan has developed a fantastic dam for bass and yellowfish, so the trout fishing is supplemented with that in the heat of the day.  The advantage we have here, is that it only gets dark quite late, and this means that you can target the evening rise for trout sight fishing dry flies, getting to the dam around 4pm and very often fishing until past 9pm, when it gets dark!

Toward the end of the year we were getting really worried about the levels of the dams, as the rains had been very patchy, with the dams around the town filling up nicely, but the trophy waters in serious trouble.  Alan's rain dance must have worked though, as we received some wonderful rains in February, and the Little Fish River is now running again, with the some trophy waters having filled up.  Hopefully there are still some monsters that survived the low water levels!

SEARCHING FOR SLABS OF GOLD

This season we were privileged enough to be able to experience Sterkfontein dam twice!  This is an amazing dam, and searching for yellowfish in the crystal clear waters just doesn't get any better!  With the fluctuations in the dam levels over the last couple of years, as well as the increase in rod pressure, the fishing has really become tough, but the combination of Alan's flies and experience produced some beautiful yellowfish on both of the trips.  Watch this space, as A&A Adventures will be looking at hosting guided trips to Sterkfontein dam in the future.

WHAT'S TO COME IN WINTER

Our winter newsletter will be after the Fly Fishing and Fly Tying Expo, so just a mention here.  If you're in and around Cape Town at the end of July, don't miss this annual event! Have a look at their Facebook Page for more information.