Tag: NFFC

[caption id="attachment_306" align="alignright" width="225"] Ali G?[/caption] Nick and I headed for the Berg on Sunday to get in a last fishing trip before we both headed to opposite ends of South Africa for the Easter holidays. The venue was once again Granchester and the weather was once again ominous. That said things looked good when we arrived - there was a nice cloud cover, a good chill in the air, the water was cold and there was the slightest of ripples on the surface. We fished our way towards the inlet each missing a fish on route. Nick then got into a nice Rainbow which he fought feverishly mocking me all the way. Then an amazing thing happened. While photographing the fish on his stripping net the fish jumped off…

[caption id="attachment_303" align="aligncenter" width="900"] A Misty Granchester[/caption] After a couple of blank still water sessions I was far less confident than normal as Nick and I drove the 130kms to Granchester. It was the third time we'd fished the water and success had been greatly varied. On our first attempt we'd punished the water and landed 8 decent Rainbow Trout. The next attempt however was somewhat disappointing with both of us blanking. We were a little disappointed when we pulled into the parking only to discover another fisherman already on the water. What? We'd book the water early and he definitely shouldn't have been there. After a few attempts to phone the booking line to find out what was going we gave up and kicked out onto the water. It…

[caption id="attachment_300" align="alignright" width="300"] The Parking at Uitzicht[/caption] With Nick having purchased a new float tube on Saturday (the Xplorer Journey) we decided to break it in and headed for one of the NFFC club waters. Being the adventurous type we opted for a dam called Prairie which we had not fished before. Everything about this water looked fantastic right up until we actually got down and started to fish it. From the bank we could see there were a fair number of weedy patches in the water. At first we took this as a good sign since there appeared to be ample fishable water. However once we paddled out we quickly realised that 80% of the dam had thick weed less than a meter below the surface (there's nothing…

[caption id="attachment_284" align="aligncenter" width="900"] Granchester Panorama[/caption] After a superb trip to Granchester in January we decided that it was time we hit it again. Expectations were high after landing 8 fish on the previous outing and not even the dropping pressure could lower our spirits. After all, I'd fished a falling barometer before and I'd usually caught. This had, perhaps incorrectly, lead me to believe that this was generally a myth even if there was a small amount of scientific evidence to back it up. So at 5am on Sunday I was in the car and on my way to fetch Nick. Our only real concern was whether the X-Trail would make it the 130kms to Granchester without over-heating. It did. [caption id="attachment_285" align="alignright" width="300"] Pressure Drop[/caption] Having all but…

[caption id="attachment_274" align="alignright" width="300"] Fish Eye View Of A Trout[/caption] Sunday was a day of fishing and Nick and I headed to Granchester at 5:30am. The Proteas loss soon became a distant memory as we pumped the tubes and kicked our way out onto the water. Having not fished the water before we both made our way to what we considered the good spots. I fished the weed beds while Nick fished the deeper water. Within 30 minutes I was into my first fish, a nice 1kg Rainbow picked up off a bank. Shortly after this Nick picked up a similar sized fish near the inlet. I paddled over to him to take a photo or two and left my fly dead drifting in the water a meter or so…

[caption id="attachment_210" align="alignright" width="300"] Nick And Warren Double Up[/caption] Saturday's fishing saw the normal 4:30am alarm call followed by an attempted twosie. This of course never works, so after picking up Bruce and Nick at 5am, I was careful with the morning's cup of coffee. We reached the dam at around 6:30am and were on the water by 7am. Things really were looking good...the water wasn't too warm, we had a good cloud cover with a little mist, and there was a ripple on the surface of the dam. Sadly this lasted all of 30 minutes before the sun beat away the clouds and the wind vanished without a trace. Before we knew it we were bobbing around on a piece of glass, in 30 degree heat, with very few…

[caption id="attachment_207" align="alignleft" width="300"] Nick Nortje At Mavela[/caption]The plan for Sunday had been a fishing trip for Nick's birthday, but WeatherSA (those bastards) had predicted cold fronts and Armageddon so we'd called it off. Then an amazing thing happened, we woke up to the most beautiful day. WOW! They’d gotten it wrong...when has that ever happened before (where's the sarcasm font). Anyway, Nick gave me a call and we ended up heading for the dam at 9am. The girls joined us and picnicked on the side of the damn while Nick and I went about missing fish after fish. I suppose the good news is that there were fish around, and after missing 2 or 3 fish each, we eventually both landed one which ended Nick's dry spell with the…

[caption id="attachment_202" align="alignleft" width="225"] Warren Fighting A Trout In His Tube[/caption] During the week Nick had taken a bold step and joined the NFFC (Natal Fly Fishers Club), so on Sunday we jumped in the Paj and headed for Uitzicht, a club water in the Kamberg area. Neither of us had fished this water before, but due to a rather humorous Butt Farming sign, we both knew exactly where it was. A cup of coffee and toilet break later (which involved me getting locked in the gents by an excited Nick) and we were inflating the tubes on the side of a great looking dam. We waded into the chilly water and just after kicking out Nick realised he'd lost his net. He sulkily headed back to shore and as…