The Rainbows Were Wild!

[WalkersKiller]

Maybe we should all go and do a Fly fishing social bash ... at least we'll catch fish then ... 

R&S is for the BIRDS I tell you !!! ... 

[E.T.]

Eish, you like the Stockies. When are you showing us your skills on a Wild Trout Stream???
With all your skill you should be able haul them in on a KZN Stream or what?

[WalkersKiller]

Eish, you like the Stockies. When are you showing us your skills on a Wild Trout Stream???
With all your skill you should be able haul them in on a KZN Stream or what?

Koos, stockies are great  , the only time I have fished 'wild waters' was in the EC, Rhodes, nailed fish in the 150 gram range on nymphs... Believe me bru I have been wanting to fish KZN streams for a long time... Just a bit far and expensive for a weekend  the thing is those wild trout in the EC were small but they fought like an 800 gram stockie, will never forget that fishing session, wading cold rivers and nailing the wild Rainbows, amazing stuff!

[E.T.]

Eish, you like the Stockies. When are you showing us your skills on a Wild Trout Stream???
With all your skill you should be able haul them in on a KZN Stream or what?

Koos, stockies are great  , the only time I have fished 'wild waters' was in the EC, Rhodes, nailed fish in the 150 gram range on nymphs... Believe me bru I have been wanting to fish KZN streams for a long time... Just a bit far and expensive for a weekend  the thing is those wild trout in the EC were small but they fought like an 800 gram stockie, will never forget that fishing session, wading cold rivers and nailing the wild Rainbows, amazing stuff!

Rhodes have water thats easy and it has difficult water. Easy is like the Sterkspruit you could catch 40-50 Rainbows with the odd Smallmouth Yellow inbetween. Difficult, I would rate as Balloch and some other unknown waters where you have one cast, one fish per pool. If you catch 2 or more you have done good for the day.


Now the KZN Streams are in a league of it's own. Recently blanked on the Bushmans, but it's fine cause these things happen on Brown Trout Streams. When I go to KZN again I will inform you beforehand, maybe you could go and show me a thing or two???

[Herman Jooste]

Good report back and nice pics Gareth.
 
Are you joining us on the Vaal Trip ?  After all it's time you put a River SM yellow and a muddie on your catch list. 
 
The Chalets are SWAMBO friendly and the first run is very easy wading.   

[WalkersKiller]

Eish, you like the Stockies. When are you showing us your skills on a Wild Trout Stream???
With all your skill you should be able haul them in on a KZN Stream or what?

Koos, stockies are great  , the only time I have fished 'wild waters' was in the EC, Rhodes, nailed fish in the 150 gram range on nymphs... Believe me bru I have been wanting to fish KZN streams for a long time... Just a bit far and expensive for a weekend  the thing is those wild trout in the EC were small but they fought like an 800 gram stockie, will never forget that fishing session, wading cold rivers and nailing the wild Rainbows, amazing stuff!

Rhodes have water thats easy and it has difficult water. Easy is like the Sterkspruit you could catch 40-50 Rainbows with the odd Smallmouth Yellow inbetween. Difficult, I would rate as Balloch and some other unknown waters where you have one cast, one fish per pool. If you catch 2 or more you have done good for the day.


Now the KZN Streams are in a league of it's own. Recently blanked on the Bushmans, but it's fine cause these things happen on Brown Trout Streams. When I go to KZN again I will inform you beforehand, maybe you could go and show me a thing or two???

Koos, your a fly fishing machine, the only thing I could show is how to catch a 1kg Stockie on a saltwater fly 


But seriously if you organise a trip to any wild waters or rivers please let me know... Would love to fish them!

Also with Rhodes, was there for 2 days, the first day I managed 5 fish, with about 4 kilometres of walking but the second day, we fished 'easier' waters and got aboiut 30 fish out 

[WalkersKiller]

Good report back and nice pics Gareth.
 
Are you joining us on the Vaal Trip ?  After all it's time you put a River SM yellow and a muddie on your catch list. 
 
The Chalets are SWAMBO friendly and the first run is very easy wading. 

Herman I will send you a pm 

[E.T.]

Will keep you in the loop

[WalkersKiller]

Will keep you in the loop

[Half-Pint]

Ok forgive my ignorance but what is the attraction of fishing difficult waters? I understand fishing wilder areas rather than trout farms for the scenery but why would you want to fish a stream that could produce 2 fish and you are having a good day? I'm not saying it wrong or stupid or anything like that I'm just trying to wrap my head around the attraction

[WalkersKiller]

Ok forgive my ignorance but what is the attraction of fishing difficult waters? I understand fishing wilder areas rather than trout farms for the scenery but why would you want to fish a stream that could produce 2 fish and you are having a good day? I'm not saying it wrong or stupid or anything like that I'm just trying to wrap my head around the attraction

Well Brad IMO you said it there its being in a scenic wild place an d knowing that you are targeting wild fish and to catch wild trout you have a few chances before you spook them, so its for the challenge  and once you get that fish its an amazing feeling as its loike you have accomplished something awesome, just my thoughts though...

[schloshd1]

Ok forgive my ignorance but what is the attraction of fishing difficult waters? I understand fishing wilder areas rather than trout farms for the scenery but why would you want to fish a stream that could produce 2 fish and you are having a good day? I'm not saying it wrong or stupid or anything like that I'm just trying to wrap my head around the attraction

That's a bit like asking why guys would want to hunt in the bush when they could just go to some "canned hunting" spot and take pot shots at game that have been crammed into a small enclosure.

Bare in mind that I don't hunt, that's just the first comparison that came to mind.

[Half-Pint]

Ok good comparison there!

[E.T.]

Ok forgive my ignorance but what is the attraction of fishing difficult waters? I understand fishing wilder areas rather than trout farms for the scenery but why would you want to fish a stream that could produce 2 fish and you are having a good day? I'm not saying it wrong or stupid or anything like that I'm just trying to wrap my head around the attraction

I would like to answer this as honest as possible please.


When you start out to Flyfish with that El-Cheapo Combo all you want to do is catch a fish. Then you evolve a bit and you want to see how many you can catch, then you want to catch the biggest. Then you get into the Species thing and all you want to do is catch different species on fly.
At this point you realize that the El-Cheapo is just not cutting it anymore. Now you start investing in different rods, cause every type of water/species needs different sort of rods.

For Yellows and Carp and trout in Lakes you will need a 5/6wt
For Bass/Barbel/Tigers anything from 6wt up to 9wt
For Kurper and Panfish Something in the 3-5wt Range
For  Trout in a Smallstream you will need anything from 0wt - 3wt, but on most you can get away with a 3wt.
For Saltwater 9 - 12wt Would serve you well in most conditions

So during all of these phases you will get to a point where Stockies and a Kazillion fish in a day is no challenge anymore.
This is where you will start focusing on Smallstreams. On some days you can hook a Wild Brown on just about any fly in your box and on others no fly in your box will bring a fish to the net. Yes you can fish in the middle reaches where the fish tend to be bigger, but it is the upper reaches where the fish are smaller, where  they   show more character and stealth and presentation is everything. So here size doesn't matter, what matters is whether or not you can actually land one.


No Stockie can beat the feeling of a Wild Brown fooled to take that Dry in Ankle Deep Water. Rainbows tend to be less fussy and they are easy compared to Browns. So for me a Wild Brown is that Proverbial Cherry on The Cake and nothing comes close, not a Yellow, not a Bass, Nothing!!!!


I still have days where everything falls in place and I hook one fish after the other and it's lekker, but was it a challenge in the end? Nah, all the happens is your head swells and you think jeepers I am good, till you hit the mountains again and you take a beating and all you do is eat humble pie. Then you realize that you are only as good as the last fish you caught

[E.T.]

Photos courtesy of a friend....












  Need I say more???? 

[Half-Pint]

I guess its also a personal thing because I have been flyfishing for the last 10 years and I'm still not over the more and bigger thing  I don't think I ever will be actually

[WalkersKiller]

Photos courtesy of a friend....












  Need I say more????