I thought I should share with you all a “Good experience – with some fishing info added”….
Last weekend I took a quick week-end away trip to the Fort Nottingham area – a little place called Whispering Waters, Just under 2 hours leisurely drive from Durban (by the sea). My preparation included 10 minutes look-see on their website, where I noticed one of their activities was listed as “fishing”, and seemed to rank dismally amongst a host of other activities, most of which seemed to be those “close-by” kind of ones. Google Earth revealed a number of small dams on the property, and a river close by, so I added another (maximum) 4 minutes to my preparation time in order to throw 4 or 5 fly reels, some bits and pieces, fly boxes etc into a checkers packet….oh, and of course, slipped 4 rods into a tube.
Now, to put this into perspective, I usually spend the “night-before” (which ends at 3am) packing fishing gear, and then 4 minutes (the ones just before we hit the road) to pack my clothing. This almost always ends in every piece of fishing equipment being available for every imaginable fishing situation, and then no fish…. (tell me I am not alone here).
So, zero expectation in the fishing department, off we went. On arrival, I immediately inquired about the fishing, and was told that there were some fish in one dam, but not so much in the others... (now, either this lady saw my wife and kids, and was trying to cover for my wife – or genuinely had no clue about fishing). Now my expectations had been diminished further to the extent that I was regretting not bringing my mountain bike.
Pleasantly, this place caters for everything superbly. 5 MTBs, all in pristine condition – available for hire. Accommodation was way, way above expectation. What a surprise. This place was huge, luxurious, every single thing we could think of was catered for. Right down to immediate delivery of charcoal, firelighters, matches for the braai. I was so impressed by the efficiency, great service, and quality accommodation.
So, Friday afternoon - unpacked and settled, and with the sun setting, I took a walk to one of the dams (the one in which I was told there were fish). Kids, mom and gran in tow, I began fishing. I had just put one stick together, so had only an intermediate line - 6WT with me, no camera. The little dam had lots of weed, and no signs of fish. I found a couple areas where I could fish without getting snagged on weeds, and fishing my all time favourite black woolly bugger soon had one fish on. My 4 year old reeled in “his” first little rainbow – 30cm odd. Within 5 minutes, the second – my 2 year olds turn. Let’s say he has a bit to learn; we broke the fish off. Soon thereafter, the third – granny’s turn, and she landed a nice 45 odd cm rainbow. In all, 5 fish in about an hour. I was surprised. Since there is one lodge built on the edge of this little dam, and I was receiving laser-eyes from the guests who had arrived for the week-end, I decided rather not to return to “their” water the following Saturday and went down to one of the larger dams below instead.
I am no expert, but have learned a little which I would like to share about this kind of fishing.
Early morning Saturday, sunrise revealed this which I had all to myself:
Again, I only brought down the 6WT intermediate. In spring, early summer, the fish are usually active close to the surface for a while, just before the sun is up and it’s very bright. I look for surface activity, and since there are not often any hatches at this time of morning, I prefer to fish either a floating line with a wet, fast sinking fly (bead-headed attractor patterns, streamers etc and fish patterns), or an intermediate line with same. I like to fish in the upper one or two metres of water. I noticed very little activity, but every now and then, a swirl just below the surface. I fished a black woolly bugger, at varying strip retrieve speeds. I soon had my first fish.
The activity increased as the sun rose. The fish were very aggressive, and most accurate casts towards a boil resulted in a take or a hook-up. With some tailed streamer patterns, be aware to feel for the takes which don’t hook up. This happens quite often, as the fish take the tail end of the fly, missing the hook. You will feel a sharp bump. If this happens, I will cast in the same area 4 or 5 times again, but increase the retrieve speed. I was surprised at some of the takes I had on extremely fast stripping retrieves. Took some pics:
I lost one fly on some structure, so changed to olive. Same success.
As soon as the sun was up, the action was over, so I returned for some breakfast. Stoked with 6 fish landed and a couple which came off.
At this time of day and through to afternoon, it is best to fish on a float tube so that you can fish deep without snagging all the way up the bank.. One needs to fish right on the bottom, and on the weed beds, as this is where the dragonfly larvae will be. Fish big dragonfly larvae or woolly bugger patterns right on the bottom, with an intermediate or sinking line.
I returned in the afternoon again, for another go. I brought down both a floating line 4-5WT and my trusty 6WT intermediate. All seemed quite dead.
At this time of the day, I always look for hatches of insects. During hatches, the fish will feed very selectively on whatever is hatching, and it can be so frustrating watching all the fish activity, and getting absolutely nothing. Well, this was the case. I spotted a big hatch in one corner of the dam at an inlet (always productive areas of still waters). The fish were boiling everywhere. I could not get close enough to see what they were feeding on. If you can see what it is they’re eating, matching the fly pattern is what you want to do. From the bank, it can be difficult unless the insect casings or the insects themselves are visible to you. I started with a dry fly on a floating line. I noted that the fish were feeding right below the surface, and I had two ways of dealing with this - fish a wet nymph pattern on the floating line, or fish a dry pattern on a sinking line... I opted for the latter, and changed patterns and colours until finally coming right with a white dry mayfly pattern. The fly would float initially, and with one strip on the intermediate line, be pulled below the surface to slowly float back to the top. I managed 3 fish in quick succession before it was too dark to see.
Sunday Morning, things were incredibly still. I fished intermediate again, fast retrieve, just below the surface, managing 4 fish in relatively quick succession before it went quiet. I started fishing much deeper and finally bagged another. All fish were very lively, and fought impressively for their size.
Total time on the water: 7h
Number of Fish: 19. All released.
Biggest Fish: 45cm
Smallest Fish: 25cm
Successful Flies: Black Wooly Bugger (12 fish), Olive Wooly Bugger (4 fish), White Mayfly (3 fish).
I recommend this place and rate it 10 out of 10. I will return, and report again.
