Flyfishing report: Trout - Kwa-Zulu Natal Midlands

We have had a spell of surprisingly cold weather here in the Midlands, and this followed a week of widespread rains, with most places reporting 90 to 100mm. Even though the rain was mostly soft soaking stuff, that much water has to run somewhere, so the rivers are up, and there has been colour in the water.

Then in the last few days the sun has been out, and by adding a bit of heat to the recipe, along come the billowing cumulo-nimbus clouds, rumbling thunder, and everything that goes along with that.  So right now, water temps are pleasingly low (I measured 15 degrees C on the Bushmans on Saturday), but that is likely to change in proportion to how much sun we get. Mind you, you can add hail to the formula too…Giants Castle got a significant hailstorm on Saturday, which would have swung the water temps the other way. Of course, that also swings the water colour the wrong way too.  Our rivers are all full now, and farmers are flat-out planting maize, so as soon as you are out of the berg, expect topsoil to find its way into the rivers after a downpour.  And the rivers in the berg grey up, and fill with fine natural detritus as well, so clean-water hunting becomes the order of the day.  But the berg rivers clear quickly, and that, together with tolerating having to swing a small streamer in coloured water, will keep you on the water more than it will keep you off.  Swinging a streamer got some lovely Browns of around 15 inches on the Bushmans last weekend. With the flow as fast as it’s been, hunting the margins right at the edge of the river, and other spots where the water flow slows (like on the bottom…we can’t ignore that) is what will get you some Trout.

On the stillwater front I heard of one water at 18 degrees C and slightly off colour. Another lake I fish is overflowing, just 10 days after I saw it looking rather low, and that water is a bit browned as well.  If history is anything to go by, we will see water temps start to rise steadily in the stillwaters now. Clubs, syndicates and the like often start closing waters when the temps consistently measure 21 degrees, and that can happen pretty much from Christmas day, sometimes earlier. So that gives you a month. I would suggest you use it!

On the subject of history, I recently had the privilege of graphing a farmer’s rainfall figures from 1955 to the present. I hastened to analyse the numbers in every way conceivable, but quickly focused in on a trendline. What do you think the trend might have been in nearly 70 years of rainfall records? I will write up the results on Truttablog as soon as we get water dirty to the point that I can’t fish.

Some friends fished Highmoor the other day, and found it particularly slow going, but then it could just have been the barometer on the day, or the warmth of the beer. Elsewhere a mate of mine said that in slightly coloured water a large black fly was the business…..and there was a picture of a particularly large Brown!

At the risk of sounding like a stuck record (because I say this many times every summer):  There will be wildly unpredictable weather and water conditions at this time of year. But it’s also the time of year when you have some time for R & R. So, I suggest you just get out there and look for those serendipitous days where the river clears, the weather is stable, and the Trout are willing. In between, you might get stormed on, get dunked in the river, or get hot and sweaty. That is how memories are made.

Tight lines

Krantz Pool on the Mooi.