Thursday, 02 May 2013

Transcription

1 Thursday, 02 May 2013 I often think that our streams are one of the best kept almost secrets around the Cape. Sure word is that they are good, demanding and offer exceptional fishing but since last week s Ladies National Championships held on the Smallblaar and on Lakenvlei dam I think that some visitors realise just how special these waters are. The ladies hit the rivers at what I would consider almost all time perfect. The waters had dropped from a recent deluge and were fishing exceptionally well. As indeed was Lakenvlei too for that matter. With any luck there will be hordes or nubile young fisherwomen from all over the country making a pilgrimage to our waters now that word is out. A very well done to all the participants. Northern Gauteng took the Gold but our ladies, many in their first ever serious fly fishing competition took the bronze. I know that the girls and in particular the captain Denise Hills worked really hard to prepare so wonderful that you all got your just rewards. Special appreciation should also go to Sharland Urquhart who did a great deal to assist and support the WP Ladies team in their preparations. Equally I have heard that they ladies really enjoyed the experience, and Anne Czerner hooked and ultimately lost a massive brownie at Lakenvliei, word was that it looked far larger than the 70cm gutters they used to measure the fish. Almost makes one wish the river season was over so that we could head out there to try to find that fish, well almost. More on the rivers: A recent correspondence on Facebook from Ryan Weaver says that the rivers have warmed up again over the past few days, there has been a lot of sunshine of late that s for sure, but hopefully with still better than summer flows the fishing should stay top notch.

2 Ivan Shamley sent a note to say that we shall unfortunately have to delay Ryan Weaver s talk on Trout Farming which will not be scheduled for 6th June. Roland Oelofse: dropped me an with feedback on a recent trip to Feedback on our trip on Saturday. It's only my second time fishing this year and Morne's first. Morne and I fished SB6 on Saturday and the water temp was 12 deg at 8:15. It was a brilliant day with a slight downstream wind. Fish were rising regularly but not going ape. We were quickly into fish but I managed to lose my first 3, with one coming off as I was about to land it. I was broken off on my next fish and tied on a new fly and thankfully it was the end of fish coming off. The water level was perfect and we got fish in pretty much every likely lie. We had some of the slowest and gentlest takes we've ever had and then those smashing, almost jump out the water ones. Not sure how many fish we got but it was a very nice day to be out there. Ernst Paul: Also provided some valuable feedback from the Elandspad: I fished the Elandspad beat 2 all by my lonesome self on Saturday morning and I m happy to say that it truly was another day in paradise..as a matter of interest I was met by two officials from Cape Nature checking permits at the parking area and they mentioned that they ve already turned away a couple of fishermen who did not have the necessary permits good to see them there at that time of the morning (just before 8 am). Weather wise it was a perfect late autumn day with a very slight upstream breeze but nice and sunny and I managed to catch and release 17 beautiful trout (2 on nymphs and the rest on dry) The water was still on the high side (but close to perfect I think) after the last rains but very fishable and most of the fish were in the 8 to 14 inch range..all of them healthy and strong and rising freely to the dries..especially from about 11h00 onwards. Craig Thom at Stream X wrote to advise of a new innovation: They will service your fly reels for free: Free Reel Service During May you can bring your still water reels into StreamX for a free service. This will ensure it is in top shape for the season ahead. We will do Saltwater reels during June so they don t spend the off season corroding, and stream reels during August in time for the new stream season. bring it in, and we will do the rest. News from Phillip at Fly Talk: / Winelands Fly Fishing: News from Winelands Fly Fishing We have stocked on Tuesday with great conditioned Rainbow trout up to 2 kilo s. The fishing rates are still the same at R per person per day and R for school going kids. Trout sells at R per kilo. We hope to have great news soon on a new venue close to Stellenbosch and the Northern Suburbs. As soon as it is official we will let you know.

3 The Weather:. It seems that the Gods just keep smiling on us at present, a smattering of rain in the mountains over the next few days just to freshen things up a tad and then clearing to light winds and sunshine for the weekend anglers who can then take advantage of what are likely to be near perfect condtions. FLYFISHING ON YOUR DOORSTEP: BLUE GUMS MEMBERSHIP OPEN A reminder that this water should be stocked very shortly. Memberships are now open. Danie Carinus was in touch to say that Blue Gums will be stocked again in the next week or so and membership is open. Numbers will be limited on a first come first served basis but it affords some lovely fishing on an intimate little dam close to the big smoke. Very suitable for a quick afternoon away from the office. You can contact Danie on daniecarinus@gmail.com to make an enquiry about joining. If you are not aware of the location, Blue Gums is on the way to Stellenbosch and really does offer some of the closest fly fishing to Cape Town. Lovely to have some quiet fishing so close to home.. FORTHCOMING EVENTS: Please do make note of these forthcoming events, the DVD evening last week saw better attendance and the club room started to show signs of some returned vibrancy. The film Uncharted Waters about Bassas Da India was most entertaining but more special to me was simply that I got to meet some new faces. It really is pleasant just to be able to chew the piscatorial fat with fishermen of similar ilk, meet some new people and reacquaint with some old friends. When you get right down to it, it is also a pretty inexpensive evening out.

4 PETER HAYES COMING TO SA: FFF Certified Master Casting Instructor Bronze medal winner 2000 World Fly Fishing Championships Silver medal winner 1981, 1983 World Casting Championships 10 times Australian Fly Casting Champion of Champions Peter Hayes will be visiting SA shortly, and will be running some workshops on fly casting down here in the Cape during his visit, organised by SAFFA. Keep your eyes on this newsletter and on the CPS Facebook page. Peter is a very highly regarded, dynamic and entertaining instructor and we hope to have a couple of opportunities for you to meet up and get some down and dirty advice on casting dynamics. SEE THE POSTER IN THIS NEWSLETTER WITH THE DETAILS OF PETER S WORKSHOP AT EIKENDAL. Key dates: Thursday 9th May: Regrettably Ryan Weaver s presentation on Trout Farming has had to be postponed. Thursday May 23rd: Planned talk by Peter Hayes at the CPS Clubrooms. Sunday May 26th: Peter Hayes, fly caster extraordinaire will be hosting a demonstration and some tuition at Eikendal. See event poster on the final page of this newsletter. Thursday June 6th: Ryan Weaver s rescheduled talk on trout farming. Thursday June 13th: Tim Rolston (That s me folks) will be giving a talk A drift boat fishing primer. With the season on the streams at this point over and done with and the opportunities of stillwater fishing coming to the fore many will be thinking on bank fishing, boats and float tubes. So what is all the fuss about Loch Style fishing? Why can it be so effective? How do you go about it? What gear do you need? And how do you approach things? This is the time to find out answers to many of those questions. A PERSONAL APPEAL: Stealth X-treme 5-6 spool required. I am rather desperate to find a spare spool or spools for one of these Stealth X-treme reels. Either a spool, spools or even a complete reel if you have such which you are willing to part with. I lost one spool overboard last winter and have all my stillwater lines on the same spools so the missing one causes something of a problem. If you have such and are willing to sell it to me please let me know on rolston@iafrica.com Thanks Tim. FINALLY: I fished with Peter Mamacos last week, and the rivers were really on fire. Although I didn t fish well and had some trouble with some questionable tippet material, which didn t seem to be performing at all Peter got some cracking

5 fish and we had a wonderful day. You can see some of the action on You Tube on the link You now have slightly less than a month to enjoy the fruits of the Western Cape Streams, they are on fire and are likely to stay like that until the season either ends officially 31st May or is blown out by sudden downpours which although yet to be predicted can t be far off now. Thank you to those who contributed some angling feedback this week, it really is nice to hear from other people and I hope that more will join in with the process. It also helps me not to have to write everything myself and anyway you are, I am sure, bored with my fishing stories. As to stories, Craig put out an amusing anecdote about float tubing mishaps recently. One comment (and I am not stealing his thunder by copying the entire piece), from back in the days of surfing and knee boarding or body boarding, those who use float tubes will find it a helluva lot easier when entering and exiting the water with flippers on if they walk backwards. Once again well done to all the ladies who participated in the recent National Championships, and also to the organisers and to the kids at Tafelberg School who provided I understand a good deal of the controller function for the competition. Once again a reminder about Peter Hayes Visit and a copy of the poster, just to keep you focused.. Wherever you are headed over the weekend, as always, Be Careful Out There..