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.
Having all but given up on Wild Bean’s coffee we’d packed a flask and waved merrily as we passed them by. And thanks to a new flask and lack of milk the coffee was stronger than ever! The lack of a garage stop also meant that we reached the water earlier than usual and were quickly kicking our way out to our favourite spots.
Several weather sites had informed us that, due to the pressure drop, it would rain all day. However despite a few scattered clouds in the sky it looked to be a beautiful day, once again proving you can’t trust the web (or the weatherman).
Granchester itself was at least a foot fuller than our previous visit and was actually spilling. The water was also slightly cooler which could only be a good thing. In fact the only downside was that the water was also a lot murkier thanks to the increased flow into the dam.
Our morning session saw us fishing glass like water for around 3 hours. Shortly after getting onto the water there was a little surface activity in the area Nick was fishing. He instantly stuck on a dry fly and got 2 quick hits sadly missing them both. And then, like magic, everything went dead. I had a small knock at around 8:30am but also missed it. And that was it, nothing all morning.
While sitting on the bank eating some brunch and trying to come up with a new strategy the South Easter started to pick up. By the time we got back into the water it was blowing fairly vigorously but we were hoping that this “ripple” on the surface would aid our fishing. It didn’t. And after another 2 hours and another lap of the dam we were both still fishless. In fact, neither of us had even had a knock.
Back on the bank looking at my fly box I realised that I’d basically used every fly I owned. And looking at Nick’s sheep so had he. Clearly there is some truth to the theory of “never fish on a falling barometer”. It’s amazing to see how a water that produced 8 fish a month ago can blank due to the weather.
We decided that there was no point in going out for a third session and instead headed home. Since it was so much earlier than usual we took the opportunity to stop at two of the club’s other waters for a quick look see.
The first was a stretch of river which looked promising but was chocolate brown and flowing very quickly. In my eyes it was unfishable as it stood but may produce some Yellows if it cleaned up and slowed down.
The second was a small dam and the closest to Pietermaritzburg. Sadly however, even after driving around for about half an hour, we could find no way in. It appeared to be the correct water from the map, but there were two fences in the way and no gates. There were also no NFFC signs. From a distance it did however look promising and definitely worth a future visit (if it is in fact reachable).