Author Topic: Fishing Report - Trout Hunters (Read 17039 times)

Wynand13 · « **on:** August 07, 2012, 09:58:54 AM »

Pictures to follow soon

We went to trout hunters this weekend and as its a stocked dam I do realise some of you might never fish there. However as its less than 10 mins from my house and a good day out I would recommend it especially to new anglers who needs that first catch just to build confidence. I took a friend who never fly fished before, and just spend a load of money on gear, so I wanted to be sure he does not become another one of my friends who gets the gear have a few blank days and sells it again.

We arrived early and the weather was cold, fishing with dry flies we had little luck, only a few strikes but unfortunately no proper hooks. Then at around 09:00 we decided to use sinking line and the trusted White and Green cats whisker and orange and yellow buggers.

I fished on sinking line and my friend on intermediate letting it sink a while then fast figure of eight retrieve.
We had loads of strikes as soon as we started this and managed to land quite a few trout for the day using this method. I broke my tippet on a trout that I did not expect in that water when I hooked it I realised its not the normal below 1kg trout, and using a 1.5kg tippet on a 4WT before I released the reel in the strike the fish was swimming with my fly, that will hopefully be at the bottom of the dam by now. I must say that at R85 P/kg I am not to upset that I lost it... We did try to land all we caught however we did loose a few.. I caught 5 trout for the day another 2 by my wife and 2 by my friend who had his first day fly fishing and who are now hooked to this great sport. As we did try our luck at the carp dams we would propoably had a lot more trout if we focused on that alone.

Jason Heyne arrived at the dam in the afternoon, as he hunted for carp he got quite a few, some pictures to follow. He also caught a yellow.

So trout hunters is still a great venue to catch fish on the fly, nice trout in stocked dams and nice carp and yellows to release in other dams.

Just my 2c on Catch and Cook and stocked dams...

I do understand the reasons for Catch and Cook especially with some fishermen who have no idea how to handle trout. Doing the maths spending R200 pp for a full day out including the trout is not that bad, going for a dinner and movies would be a lot more expensive....

As mentioned above I also have a liking of stockies when taking newbies out. Fly fishing in streams is not as easy if you are new to the sport and stocked dams are "forgiving" on bad casts and the fish are not that spooked as in the wild. I have lost a lot of friends to the sport as they tried for a few days at a venue where oiled fly fishermen catch a lot of fish and they caught nothing, got frustrated and sold their gear. As I dont mind getting a bargain every now and then I would rather have more people enjoy the sport. For me stocked dams are the perfect first step for a newbie and once you catch that first one you get confidence and build from there. Also its a nice day out if like me you get bored by movies and walking in a shopping mall within 10 minutes...

Debbie · « **Reply #1 on:** August 07, 2012, 10:02:20 AM »

Im trying for a carp on a fly so looking forward to seeing the pics.

Wynand13 · « **Reply #2 on:** August 07, 2012, 10:13:57 AM »

HI Debbie

Will post tonight, it was something to watch he caught one every 10 minutes or so.
Hopefully UrbanFF will host another day with him soon as I am still in the learning process with Carp on a fly myself...

Debbie · « **Reply #3 on:** August 07, 2012, 10:17:52 AM »

That is great .. im also still learning.

toosix · « **Reply #4 on:** August 13, 2012, 10:35:22 AM »

After reading wynand's post and with all the moving and not having fished in 3 months I decided to go to trout hunters yesterday.

Got up bright and early and set out from Magalies where we were visiting family. There was quite a nip in the air but nothing that would normally put me off. On the way there I noticed that sand was blown up from the farm fields but with my withdrawal symptoms driving me I still went through.

On arrival the wind tore through everything and anything probably gusting between 50 to 60 kph. There were some brave pap gooiers who seemed to have been camping there but did not emerge from their tents. So we left and had some breakfast and visited some friends till around 13:00.

The wind had calmed down considerably so I went back. Got there rigged up and within 15 min had my first trout of around 400g.

Now and then there were still some serious gusts blowing, which at on stage left my line in a nice bundle for me. We were there for about 3 hours in which I caught 4 rainbows. All in the 300 to 500 g range with sinking line on a black wooly bugger and boy each of them put up a lekke fight.

The lady on duty told me that the stock they received from the farm, last week, were all very small, which I was very happy with other wise my wallet would not have held up.

Despite the wind it was a nice outing. Trout hunters is one of my favorite places for still water fishing.

Wynand13 · « **Reply #5 on:** August 13, 2012, 11:29:31 AM »

Hi Toosix

Brave man to take on the wind like that... Glad you caught a few despite the weather, what dam did you fish?

Sorry for not posing pics yet have a upload issue with our firewall.......

toosix · « **Reply #6 on:** August 13, 2012, 11:55:23 AM »

Hi Wynand. The first one I took from the small dam by the gate. The rest were all caught in the middel dam, from the large dam side where they do the carp fishing. I haven't had much luck on the dam next to the club house.

Wynand13 · « **Reply #7 on:** August 13, 2012, 12:05:18 PM »

Thank you, I had all my luck on the dam next to club house.... But no one else seem to have any luck there, all my friends/family catch the Middle and small one, where again I have no luck.. That`s just something that is a bit strange to me..

toosix · « **Reply #8 on:** August 13, 2012, 12:11:17 PM »

A few months back my daughter of 7 years cuaght 2 nice ones in that dam.

Wynand13 · « **Reply #9 on:** August 13, 2012, 12:25:25 PM »

Just an update so all know, I spoke to the owner during my last visit and he clearly advised that people who willingly slack their line to drop fish will be fined if caught. He was going of at one angler on the day about this, only to then realise that the angler is trying to unhook a rock/stick not a fish...

WalkersKiller · « **Reply #10 on:** August 13, 2012, 12:27:35 PM »

Nice stuff Wynand

Wynand13 · « **Reply #11 on:** August 14, 2012, 11:48:12 AM »

Herewith some pics of last weekend

Wynand13 · « **Reply #12 on:** August 14, 2012, 11:50:41 AM »

This is just to show that Jason Heyne can catch other species on the fly as well...

WalkersKiller · « **Reply #13 on:** August 14, 2012, 12:16:31 PM »

Awesome fish

Debbie · « **Reply #14 on:** August 14, 2012, 12:38:59 PM »

Thank you for sharing ...... im have to get this discipline right. Practice practice and more practice

toosix · « **Reply #15 on:** August 14, 2012, 12:44:23 PM »

Sjoe wynand julle het 'n paar mooies uit gehaal. Baie geluk.

Wynand13 · « **Reply #16 on:** August 14, 2012, 12:52:32 PM »

Debbie, time at the water is the most important and patience. I had some days even full weekends at Dullstroom where I casted everything I had to the fish with nothing in return. Expect to have a few blank days every now and then, however they are still great for getting your casting right.
I am a long way of from catching carp as seen in pictures, but I did learn a lot on how to do it, he makes it look all to easy....
As long as you enjoy what you do, whether you catch or not, you must enjoy the day out.

Toosix
Karp was maar net Jason, ek het hom net daar gesien en n paar fotos geneem.. Maar die forel was goed gelukkig nie te groot nie, maar groot pret.

toosix · « **Reply #17 on:** August 14, 2012, 01:08:19 PM »

Ja ek sukkel nog met die karp ding en die keer met die kliniek het dinge nie uitgewerk dat ek kon gaan nie so sukkel maar aan haha.

Wynand13 · « **Reply #18 on:** August 14, 2012, 01:36:41 PM »

Dit is juis hy wat die kliniek aangebied het, ek sukkel maar nog self en wag vir my eerste karp op die vlieg. Ek was ongelukkig ook nie by die kliniek nie maar het baie geleer die rukkie wat ek hom sien vang het...

UrbanFF · « **Reply #19 on:** August 15, 2012, 11:33:28 AM »

Jason Ruben and I went there on Women's day and all landed Carp - here is one of mine.