Great Fishing in the Great Fish River
Text: Alan Hobson. Photos: Courtesy of Angler & Antelope. Article from the April/May 2012 issue of DO IT NOW Magazine.
Our senses, sight, sound, smell and touch, develop a framework in which each individual finds their comfort zone, and these boundaries in turn construct our perceptions, from a fly fishing point of view the perception often is, what we cannot see, we think we cannot catch.
Rather ironic, as often you will hear anglers justify hours at the water fishing by saying, “It is not about catching as much as it is enjoying the outing.” Whilst it is very seldom that fly fishing takes one to nothing but spectacular surroundings, the success of catching something every now and then is definitely tonic that fuels the fetish.
We have many kilometres of river systems in South Africa that appear murky, but hold thousands of fish, specifically our indigenous Yellowfish (Labeobarbus aeneus) and moggel (Labeo umbratus), as well as carp and barbel. These fish have managed to champion many river systems throughout South Africa and abound in the Great and Little Fish River systems. Agricultural practices along the river banks have resulted in the water carrying a lot of sediment. Those small particles suspended in the water appear dirty brown, but usually have some distance between them, offering some visibility. The fish that have adapted so successfully in these systems use this reduced visibility to their advantage and have developed an extremely fine-tuned sense of smell and movement.
Generally we use flies tied with materials that offer little or no scent, and as fly fisherman we base our strategy pretty much on movement, size, shape and colour of the fly. Herein lies a bone of contention. Logically, if the fish are super sensitised to movement, then it would make sense to tie flies that offered as much movement as possible. In other words something very fluffy and fury like a bionic Woolly Bugger that incorporates Hackle (feathers from hens or cockerels), Zonker (rabbit or mink fur), fibrous feathers and rubber legs. The problem is, in reality, the insects that inhabit these waters are seldom fluffy and fury. Insects have to live and survive in the same water as the fish do. Their defence mechanism is camouflage, which is achieved through variegations and translucency by adapting to the colour of the environment. They don’t swim around as noisily as possible with flashing sirens screaming ‘eat me’! It took me months of experimentation, designing many different fly patterns and returning from many outings not only having caught nothing, but reaching a designer’s dead end.
One of the golden rules of fly fishing is to ‘match the hatch’; use flies that look like those you observe moving around at the water’s edge. Now take this philosophy a step further next time; enter the flowing water, pick up a medium-sized stone and turn it over. You will be astounded at what you find. Many insects’ life cycles revolve in and around water. On the underside of rocks you will find larvae and nymphs, observe their size, shape and colour. It is these insects that become dislodged by the flowing water and are also vulnerable when hatching in the water from one stage of the life cycle to the next, which provide daily sustenance for fish. The moral of the story, ‘go natural as often as you can’. You will catch the occasional fish on attractor patterns, but not consistently.
The trick of the trade is to stick to the basics and golden rules; find the food, find the fish and then match the hatch. A typical technique for targeting Yellowfish and moggel in these waters is upstream nymphing. This entails using #5/6 weight rod with a floating line and a nine foot leader. Attach a strike indicator to the top of your leader and, based on the strength of the water flow, attach a weighted fly at the point of the leader. If a single fly at the point of your leader leaves you feeling a little insecure then fix about two feet of tippet to the base of the hook of your point fly and tie an unweighted nymph on the end, New Zealand dropper style. The heavier fly will bounce along the bottom of the river bed while the unweighted fly will hover just off the bottom as if dislodged from the rocks.
If you see no fish moving that does not mean there are no fish there just because the water is dirty brown. One doesn’t usually observe too much surface activity, so scout the whole area. A good place to start would be an area downstream where there are rocks, called riffles, and the water is a little deeper and flowing a little slower. Present your flies upstream towards the fast bubbly water, the riffle. Pull any slack line in until the strike indicator moves every time you strip, this way you remain in contact with the fly. Your indicator should be drifting at the same speed as the water. If the indicator moves in any unusual manner, pauses, or even if you have a sixth sense there might be something there, do a strip strike. If there is nothing there, your flies remain in the water and continue their natural drift. If there is a reaction, lift your rod tip AND let the games begin!
www.wildflyfishinginthekaroo.co.za
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