9th April 2015

The Cape Town Fly Fishing Report: April 9^th 2015

These reports have been a little few and far between of late, not only because I haven’t been out on the water to be able to proffer and worthwhile advice as to the conditions and the behavior of the fish but equally because it hasn’t really been worth doing so. The water is as you may well anticipate is still low, the much expected rain has yet to arrive and it seems later than usual, and the temperatures were still sitting more than a tad on the high side.

So it happens that a week or so back I played host to William van der Vorst from Holland. He was out here as part of a SAFFA initiative coaching some of us on the finer points of fly casting and more importantly on becoming fly casting instructors. The idea is that we should be able to gain qualification through the IFFF (International Fly Fishing Federation) through undertaking their Casting instructor exam (CI) and perhaps go on to complete the Master Casting Instructor Exam (MCI).

Visiting angler and Master Casting Instructor William van der Vorst fishes the Elandspad River

More of that later, the first order of business when you host a fly angler is surely to take them fishing and so it was that we headed up the Elandspad River on a cool and slightly overcast morning. The river wasn’t showing any improvement in flow from previous recent visits and I wasn’t certain that the fish would be any more accommodating. Things have been tough even if you take the long walk into the upper beats. However although there was little sign of surface activity we were seeing fish out and about in shallow lies and managed to extract a few of them using small dries or soft hackle patterns. We still spooked a lot more than we caught but I won’t dwell on that, it is par for the course in such conditions and more so as the cloud burned off and the skies turned blue.

William plays a fish taken from the tail out of a large pool.

The good news though is that as the temperatures have cooled the activity kept up for the entire day and we had a glorious half an hour at the end of the day in the final pockets where we found sighted fish to cast to in every run. In fact the water temperature started the day at around 18°C and only climbed to 20°C by the end of the afternoon. A good three or four degrees less of a jump than had been the case a month back.

William van der Vorst with a small but beautiful wild rainbow from the Elandspad River.

So what does that mean? It means that the fishing is coming back on song for the final dash towards the end of the river season on May 31^st. We are of course gambling, at some point there will be the first of the winter rains and if they are not too severe to start with not only will the water temperatures drop but the flows will improve too. Generally the fish can be expected to “feed up” in the run up to the spawning season and the end months of the season can prove to be every bit as good as the beginning. Then again if all the rain arrives in one fell swoop it could be tickets as the rivers move into flood. Only time will tell but for now at least the fishing is on the up, the fish are getting more active and staying that way again throughout the day. The lower beats are also beginning to stay cool enough for fishing throughout most of the day although again the flows are still at this point pretty limited.

Much taken with the beauty of the place and of course coming from Holland impressed with the mountains.

I was on the stream again recently with the guys from Expresso Morning Show, shooting a “challenge” between Graeme and Evan to see who might pick up the rudiments of fly fishing the fastest. (the program is due to air on SABC 3 on the morning of the 28^th April as I write but is apparently subject to change).

Filming a piece for the Expresso Morning Show on SABC 3

We didn’t get any fish on that occasion but that was more due to the limitations of filming and the neophyte status of the participants. Given more mobility and perhaps an earlier start I am sure that there were trout to be had. We saw a couple as we walked up the river.

A further positive note was that we filmed the show in the gardens and surrounds of the Du Kloof lodge and the place is looking like it is brightening up quite a bit under the new management. The small duck ponds in the garden are clear and the place has the air of being tidied up considerably from what it once was. Hopefully that trend will continue and we will find ourselves with a worthwhile overnight stop near the rivers if required and more control over the issues related to pollution that have plagued the venue for a long while now. I had a long conversation with the new management and it all sounded very positive.

There isn’t any immediate sign of serious rain coming but the overnight temps are falling, next week they are due to sink into single figures for the first time in a while and with that so should the rivers keep cooling down and the fish should as a consequence become more active.

That should be good news for the participants of the Nationals which are due to take place on these waters from May 6th to 9^th. I am sure that the competitors will be praying for a little bit of rain but then again contrary to popular opinion you can indeed have too much of a good thing so let’s hope that any precipitation falls in moderation.

 

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