26th February 2015

The Cape Town Flyfishing Report 26th Feb 2015

Oh dear, here I was watching the weather and trusting that things were cooling down a bit.

The leaves on the vines in Marianne’s garden have begun turning to their glorious russet autumnal tones and the plane tree in next door’s garden is showing all the signs that it is readying to flood the patio with dying foliage. Alas, despite nature’s signs of change, recent trips to the river have been rather a case of simply more of the same. Low, warm water few and spooky fish, little by way of hatches or rises but for some fish leaping after egg laying mayflies in the early morning shade.

Visiting angler Charles Bacchus winkles a trout out of an increasingly warm Elandspad River on another tough day in the mountains.

It really has become something of a battle, not only to find a feeding fish but then to get anywhere near it. Although there is undoubtedly a slight nip in the air of an evening the sun burns off the chill all to quickly during the day and water temperatures which are kicking off around 18°C rapidly climb up to 24° or higher by lunchtime. At that point hopes of finding a feeding trout recede further and I have to admit to a level of hopelessness settling in after that.

Weather report courtesy of yr.no

I think that I need to perhaps do a massive batch of washing or something even more serious like wash the duvet or the sleeping bag in the hope that it will arouse the weather Gods and induce some loitering cold front in the Southern Ocean to press north and dump such much needed rain onto the mountains.

Right now and until there is a change in the weather I have to question the wisdom of venturing out on to the streams at all. Even the upper beats are suffering and anything below the Elandspad is really not worthy of mention. How the fish are surviving I don’t really know, but where they are visible many have slunk back into the deeper recesses of the pools and hover aimlessly waiting in what depth and relative chill they can find.

A gratuitous image of some snow on the Matroosberg overlooking Lakenvlei last winter, just to perhaps make us all feel a little less hot and bothered.

If there is any sort of positive to be taken out of the situation it might be simply that when the temperatures do finally drop and the water levels climb a little the trout should all be starving and ready to provide some action.

Until then perhaps it is time to settle in to watch the cricket, tie some flies or if you are desperate get out there and whack some bass, which are much more amenable to eating flies in the luke warm waters.

No doubt all of this complaining about the heat is going to backfire, I am heading to Lesotho shortly and if those weather Gods decide to take revenge I will no doubt see hail and snow in the high country. For now I am tying flies like mad in the hope of being able to deceive some decent yellowfish and perhaps a trout or two.

You can apparently never be too rich, too thin or have too many flies.

Bring BIG dry flies they tell me.

 

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