Flyfishing report: Trout - Kwa-Zulu Natal Midlands

I spent one glorious, almost ceremonial day, I suppose you could say, seeing out the river season at about the mid-May mark. I say ceremonial because we drank coffee, watched vultures, drank beer and spooked groups of little fish in thin, cold water. And that line right there pretty much encapsulates what the day was about, and where things are on our brown Trout streams come mid-May.

 I paged through my fishing log on the last day of May and reflected on the season just ended. I spent a month on the rivers ...if you add the days...a bit fewer than last season, and with significantly lower fish numbers, if that is how one counts one's success. So, fewer fish per day, and a few blank days on rivers, which is quite unusual: all of which leads me to conclude, that unless I have lost my touch, numbers were down this season.

But, moving on:

Stillwaters:  Some friends of mine have one of these syndicate things on some very high-brow water, and they are reporting some of their worst fishing ever...have done for months on end. Added to that, I was on a foray south of where I am now, a few weeks back, and there we heard from a local fellow who knows about these things, that their fishing has likewise been in the doldrums for months. 

I hadn't been out on a stillwater in a while but did so two days back. The water was 12 degrees at the surface, and beautifully clean throughout. Like the fishermen who fished there in the prior two weeks, we had reasonable sport, with enough action to keep things interesting and a few fish from two to four pounds to the net. A dragonfly nymph got it done, but I did lose a fish on a floating midge cripple pattern too. 

A previous entry in the logbook for our water indicates that the blokes all released more fish than they caught. Also, our autumn stocking was on full display: tiddlers going berserk in the afternoon, leading me to conclude a 110% survival rate.  These metrics are all very promising but, unless you take arithmetic lessons from Trump, truly confusing.  On other political matters, Foot and Mouth may have been declared over by certain ribbon-cutting personalities, but that is far from the truth, with many waters still off bounds.  Apparently, there is one of those pesky el nino things inbound as well.

I think all this points to the fact that fly fishing is a confounding affair, best taken when you can grab the opportunity, and with a dose of good humour. If the results in recent months are anything to go by, that humour may be needed even if you can get access to a stillwater, so I'm keeping some in reserve for next weekend and beyond.

Tight lines

Andrew

KZN Midlands stillwater. A good rainbow being released.