Blog - Page 20 of 30 - Baha Adventures

02Dec 2012 by Warren Prior No Comments

Still Water Trout Lies

Articles

I often find it strange that people are intimidated by rivers and yet think of dams and lakes as their friends. Yes, it's true that still waters are often easier to fish, especially when they're maintained specifically for that purpose, but in rivers the fish have fewer places to hide and the water is easier to read. When one approaches a still water, especially a relatively large one, they are met with an expanse of water with endless places for fish to hide. It’s also relatively unclear as to what lies beneath that glassy surface. Is it deep or shallow? Is there a lot of structure? And most importantly, where are all the fish? As such deciding where to start fishing is not always an easy decision. I suppose one…

02Dec 2012 by Warren Prior No Comments

Upstream Dry Fly Fishing

Articles

A Silky Pholela River A Lotheni Wild Brown One of the many benefits of fly fishing is the amazing destinations it takes you too. You can end up anywhere from a crystal clear mountain stream to a rocky shoreline unspoiled by humans. There's something for everyone and the only limitation is your imagination (and budget). Luckily for us in South Africa (and KwaZulu-Natal) some of the most beautiful fly fishing destinations are right here on our doorstep. This month the Baha Boys take you stream fishing in the Drakensberg and explain how to fish the dry fly with huge success. Few memories come close to that of your first wild trout taken on dry fly. Sadly, despite the pristine streams available to us in the country, fly fishing is dominated…

25Nov 2012 by Nick Nortje 2 Comments

Nick’s Underberg Virginity, Broken

Fly Fishing, Fresh Water, Trip Report, Trout

Friday the 24th finally saw Nick head out to test the much talked about waters of the UHTFC (in Underberg) with Neill in tow to show him the ropes. After a late start due to an issue on the N2 we departed Assagay at 17:15 in high spirits. [caption id="attachment_863" align="alignright" width="226"] UHTFC Sign[/caption] The drive up was uneventful and tales of how the waters were dominated on past trips filled most of the 220km road trip. I was praying silently that I would A) catch a fish, and B) it would be a lunker. We pulled into Undies around 19:30 and headed to “Woolies” hoping to grab some meat. Unfortunately they were closed so we opted for KFC. We pulled into our accommodation, scoffed the KFC, cracked some ice…

18Nov 2012 by Warren Prior 1 Comment

Inanda Dam Bass Bashing

Bass, Fly Fishing, Fresh Water

[caption id="attachment_590" align="alignright" width="300"] Warren With A Bass[/caption]After a rather interesting DFT demo by Marco Breschi, our club’s bass expert, I had a chat with him and we decided to head down to Inanda Dam on Sunday morning for a little bass fishing (on fly of course). With my newly tied strip leech in hand, Nick picked me up, we met Marco at the gate, and we headed down to the dam. Our first mistake was arriving at 5am only to be told that the gate only opens at 6am. We must thank Nick for this great piece of planning, so if you ever happen to run into him please be sure to rough him up a little. None the less we put the time to good use by pumping…

11Nov 2012 by Warren Prior No Comments

Another Underberg Himeville Trout Fishing Club Trip

Fly Fishing, Fresh Water, Trip Report, Trout

[caption id="attachment_585" align="alignleft" width="300"] Hail On Arrival In Underberg[/caption] Having been up to Underberg earlier this year I was quick to accept another invitation to go up and fish a few of the UHTFC (Underberg Himeville Trout Fishing Club) waters. I put in a half day’s leave and met Neill at Plantations at 1pm. We promptly packed up the Jeep and were soon on the road to Alan’s house in Underberg. After weeks of rain (over 400mm in a month which normal has around 90mm) I was glad to see that the weather sites all agreed that it would be a sunny weekend. That said there was a severe storm warning for the Underberg area on Friday and it certainly didn’t disappoint. Thankfully we had just carried the last of…

04Nov 2012 by Warren Prior No Comments

Cancelled DFT Outing

Fly Fishing, Salt Water

The heavy rains of October had not yet eased but we'd promised a salt water outing and we had to stand by our word. As such we headed north on Sunday morning to the agreed venue of Westbrook. Sadly people seemed deterred by the conditions and despite the last 2 outings having been supported by over 20 anglers, it was only Nick and I who arrived. The was perhaps lucky since the conditions were terrible and even we decided to give the fishing a miss. That said we explored some of the coastline for future venues and eventually succumbed to the temptations and flicked a line at Casino beach for half an hour. Sadly the ever productive beach produced nothing for us and we eventually headed home empty handed, but a little wiser as…

20Oct 2012 by Warren Prior No Comments

Port Edward Quickie

Fly Fishing, Salt Water

[caption id="attachment_575" align="alignleft" width="300"] Port Edward Beach[/caption] During a recent trip to Port Edward Nick and I took the obvious opportunity and headed down to the waters edge to get in a little fly fishing. Sadly October had seen over 3 times the normal rainfall for the period and as such the seas were chocolate brown to say the least. Not being easily deterred we fished the rocks in front of the chalets with no luck before heading north. We were hoping to find a few gullies but sadly the seas were as big as they were dirty. Eventually, after an hour or so of exploring, we decided to head back to the beach. We'd fished a few gullies while battling with waves, and Nick had dropped a small fish,…

06Oct 2012 by Warren Prior No Comments

The Bushmans River With An Aussie

Fly Fishing, Fresh Water, Trout

[caption id="attachment_572" align="alignright" width="300"] Underwater Brown Trout[/caption] Thankfully the weather on Saturday was rather more pleasant than on Friday. We were therefor up at 5am and headed for the Bushman's River to do a little small stream fly fishing. Competition was in the air since my uncle was out from Australia and I had been dominated by him on the golf course. Thankfully I got off to a good start and landed my first fish just a few casts in on a small elk hair caddis. Nigel struggled a little thanks to what he deemed to be "small fish and light tackle". Apparently it was somewhat different to the tigerfishing of the previous week. In fact he struck so hard on his first wild brown that it sailed past us…

01Oct 2012 by Warren Prior No Comments

Warren’s DFT Demo Tie

Fly Fishing, Fly Tying

[caption id="attachment_568" align="alignleft" width="200"] Warren Prior's DFT Demo[/caption] On Monday 1 October I had the pleasure of being the guest tyer at the Durban Fly Tyer's monthly meeting. Although I was originally asked to demonstrate a salt water fly I opted for something a little more intricate and exciting to tie. Since past flies had been aimed mainly at salt water fish, trout and tigers I initially decided to tie a yellowfish fly. My first idea was therefore to tie the famous orange hotspot. Sadly however, with all the recent rains in Kwa-Zulu Natal, the rivers are a little high and muddy and yellowfishing has therefore taken a back seat. I therefore made a small change and decided to tie the Pheasant Tail Nymph, or PTN as it is commonly…

30Sep 2012 by Nick Nortje No Comments

Baha/DFT Harbour Outing

Fly Fishing, Salt Water

[caption id="attachment_565" align="alignright" width="300"] Durban Harbour Fly Fishing Outing[/caption] The 30th of September saw DFT head down to Durban Harbour. No less than 20 fly fishermen congregated in the Café Fish parking lot in eager anticipation to lay claim to the many species that can be caught in the Harbour. We made our way onto the banks at 6:30 to fish the pulling tide. Earlier in the week we had heard reports of a shark sighting, so the boys timidly walked knee deep onto the banks keeping an attentive eye out for this elusive shark. On arriving at the drop off we were greeted by a pod of dolphins smashing the fish we were about to target! All of us stood in awe as we watched them no more than…