Vaal River Update

[UrbanFF]

Hi Herman, Where are you thinking of going on Friday PM ? I would love to learn more about winter fishing on the Vaal as it is a huge gap in my knowledge.

More than likely GVP Richard.

Been meaning to try that water between GVP and Oosthuzen's as I have seen plenty of "porpoising" going on there - might see you there on Friday - need to persuade the minister of home affairs that I can make it back in time to attend a black-tie dinner that evening.

Am I invited??

[Herman Jooste]

Hi Herman, Where are you thinking of going on Friday PM ? I would love to learn more about winter fishing on the Vaal as it is a huge gap in my knowledge.

More than likely GVP Richard.

Been meaning to try that water between GVP and Oosthuzen's as I have seen plenty of "porpoising" going on there - might see you there on Friday - need to persuade the minister of home affairs that I can make it back in time to attend a black-tie dinner that evening.

Am I invited??

Anyone is always more than welcome to join us on any advertised ( read posted trip ).
 
 I hope you have a boat or some other flotation device, it's the quickest and easiest way to get there.

[Herman Jooste]

Pieter and I and a few other Flytalkers tried GVP yestreday afternoon.
 
Again the wind was pumping straight upstream,   and once again no rising fish were evident.
 
After about an hour and moving spots to try and find a semi sheltered spot we ended up at the summer mudie hole. With no surface action whatsoever we resorted to nymphing. I fished an emerger about 1ft below the SI with another fly about 2 ft below that. I then fished deeper and deeper below the indicator and finally got a hit at 7ft , which I promptly lost.
 
Pieter had a nice fish on for about 30 seconds, ( which was 29 seconds longer than mine   ).
 
Inspite of the higher flows the visibility was fair at around 30cm's.
 
Lets see what Monday brings. 

[Kumz]

On Sat i went to Woelwater with the family in toe .
Go there only to find that the river was higher than normal and current was exceptionally strong ...
 
There was loads of debris flowing in the river ... nearly did the shuffle twice after being hit by branches , the other annoying part was the amount of dis-carded line in the river ... ... i had taken out about 5 differnet lines that got me all tangled up .... .. i was only angler on the water for the time i was there ..
Never the less , fish were practically non -existant .. i fished for about 4 hours before calling it a day .
weather was  bit bleek as well , with winds picking up and it became cloudy ... as a little drizzle came about , i left  and headed home ...
 
All in all ,  i was satisfied - spending the day with my girls there was reward enough ...
 
Till next time Fishy's ... 

[Herman Jooste]

I paid another visit to GVP yesterday, but wanted to check out the morning action as well. I arrived at around 06:30 to a mirror like river with themist and fish rising.  As I was getting the boat ready there was a calling competition between two pairs of Fish Eagles !!    Then I saw one flying down the river. My first sighting after listening to them for 7 years.     
 
I got the boat up to my new spot and started looking and fishing. The morning session managed 2 SM on Dry ( EHK ), both around the 1 kg mark. The wind started coming up around 11:00 so I rowed back for lunch.
 
After lunch around 13:00 I went back up again and with the wind blowing and very sporadic rises, I changed to Nymphs in the deeper pools, and BOY did I find a deep drop off  . Stepped off a ledge and I was literally swimming ! That spot has been well and truely memorised for summer,   as the ledge is around 10 m long with a 2m drop off vertically below it.
 
The afternoon session delivered 2 SM and 1 muddie on the nymphs, all fished deep through the throats and belly of the pools.
 
I left the water at 15:00 whilst I could still row down against the ever strengthening wind.
 
The Jury is still out as to which is better this time of the year, Morning or afternoon.
 
P.S. Bill is in the process of building new chalets, these with their own bathroom and a brilliant view over the river.

[Herman Jooste]

On Sat i went to Woelwater with the family in toe .
Go there only to find that the river was higher than normal and current was exceptionally strong ...
 
There was loads of debris flowing in the river ... nearly did the shuffle twice after being hit by branches , the other annoying part was the amount of dis-carded line in the river ... ... i had taken out about 5 differnet lines that got me all tangled up .... .. i was only angler on the water for the time i was there ..
Never the less , fish were practically non -existant .. i fished for about 4 hours before calling it a day .
weather was  bit bleek as well , with winds picking up and it became cloudy ... as a little drizzle came about , i left  and headed home ...
 
All in all ,  i was satisfied - spending the day with my girls there was reward enough ...
 
Till next time Fishy's ... 

Thanks for the report Kumz. Yeah it's a pity about the amont of line left behind in the water by break offs. I just wish the the bank anglers would realise that rocky areas = getting snagged, and therefore fish with very light sinkersbwhich are attached to the main line with cotton, and not 40 lb braid.
 
That way if you get snagged all you leave behind is 10cm of cotton and a small sinker, not 50 + meters of line, swivels, hooks and sinkers.

[Lichia amia]

I paid another visit to GVP yesterday, but wanted to check out the morning action as well. I arrived at around 06:30 to a mirror like river with themist and fish rising.  As I was getting the boat ready there was a calling competition between two pairs of Fish Eagles !!    Then I saw one flying down the river. My first sighting after listening to them for 7 years.     
 
I got the boat up to my new spot and started looking and fishing. The morning session managed 2 SM on Dry ( EHK ), both around the 1 kg mark. The wind started coming up around 11:00 so I rowed back for lunch.
 
After lunch around 13:00 I went back up again and with the wind blowing and very sporadic rises, I changed to Nymphs in the deeper pools, and BOY did I find a deep drop off  . Stepped off a ledge and I was literally swimming ! That spot has been well and truely memorised for summer,   as the ledge is around 10 m long with a 2m drop off vertically below it.
 
The afternoon session delivered 2 SM and 1 muddie on the nymphs, all fished deep through the throats and belly of the pools.
 
I left the water at 15:00 whilst I could still row down against the ever strengthening wind.
 
The Jury is still out as to which is better this time of the year, Morning or afternoon.
 
P.S. Bill is in the process of building new chalets, these with their own bathroom and a brilliant view over the river.

 
 :shre:  Herman
 
Looking forward trying the dry fly thing on the Vaal.
 
 
 
 

[Kumz]

On Sat i went to Woelwater with the family in toe .
Go there only to find that the river was higher than normal and current was exceptionally strong ...
 
There was loads of debris flowing in the river ... nearly did the shuffle twice after being hit by branches , the other annoying part was the amount of dis-carded line in the river ... ... i had taken out about 5 differnet lines that got me all tangled up .... .. i was only angler on the water for the time i was there ..
Never the less , fish were practically non -existant .. i fished for about 4 hours before calling it a day .
weather was  bit bleek as well , with winds picking up and it became cloudy ... as a little drizzle came about , i left  and headed home ...
 
All in all ,  i was satisfied - spending the day with my girls there was reward enough ...
 
Till next time Fishy's ... 

Thanks for the report Kumz. Yeah it's a pity about the amont of line left behind in the water by break offs. I just wish the the bank anglers would realise that rocky areas = getting snagged, and therefore fish with very light sinkersbwhich are attached to the main line with cotton, and not 40 lb braid.
 
That way if you get snagged all you leave behind is 10cm of cotton and a small sinker, not 50 + meters of line, swivels, hooks and sinkers.

Pleasure man ... Thanks for your report as well .
 
There was also a group of bank anglers that casted about 5 rods in and then left the area ... with their rods still in .. making the main area in front of resort impossible to fish ... ..
well it takes all sorts to make this World complete ...

[Rory]

.....nearly did the shuffle twice after being hit by branches.....
 

You didn't shuffle at all? Impressive, most impressive!!   

[Rory]

 ...I got the boat up to my new spot and started looking and fishing. The morning session managed 2 SM on Dry ( EHK ), both around the 1 kg mark. The wind started coming up around 11:00 so I rowed back for lunch...
 

Well done on the yellows on dry Herman! What colours were the Elk Hairs' that you used?

[Herman Jooste]

 ...I got the boat up to my new spot and started looking and fishing. The morning session managed 2 SM on Dry ( EHK ), both around the 1 kg mark. The wind started coming up around 11:00 so I rowed back for lunch...
 

Well done on the yellows on dry Herman! What colours were the Elk Hairs' that you used?

Thanks Rory, the packet says Bleached Elk Hair, it is virtually the same colour as the natural, almost a cream.

[Kumz]

.....nearly did the shuffle twice after being hit by branches.....
 

You didn't shuffle at all? Impressive, most impressive!!   

[Herman Jooste]

I had a quick sortie at YFP this morning. Boat inflated and on the water at 07:00.
Wind was very still so I thought "here we go".
 
Got to the spot and watched, and watched, and watched. The rises were here and then there    so I picked the better looking area.
 
Fishing my favourite foam fly I had 2 refusals, so switched to an EHK in tandam. I managed 2 small SM yellows ( around 700 grams ) and then it went dead.
 
Changed to dry and dropper about 500mm below and picked up another 700 grm odd fish on the dropper.
 
The wind came up at around 10:30, so I called it a day.
 
 All said another BRILLIANT morning on the water.

[Lichia amia]

Thanks for the update Herman .

[schloshd1]

Nicely done Herman Did you try fishing streamers around the dropoff there?

[Herman Jooste]

Nicely done Herman Did you try fishing streamers around the dropoff there?

Sssshhhh about the drop off
 
That is for this Sat afternoon session.

[Herman Jooste]

Yesterday ( Sat 19th ) afternoon saw me pay another visit to GVP.
When I left home in Vanderbijl at 11:30 it was warm with a gentle breeze blowing.
 
Half way there the breeze turned into a strong wind. On arrival it was blowing 
 
So what do you do ? Blow up the boat and carry on of course 
Whilst hand pumping the front pontoons my hand pump body snaps, clean in half . OK so it's a fierce upstream wind and softish front pontoons, so what to do    Carry on of course.
 
Rowing up in a fierce cross wind with less than hard front pontoons proved difficult. Got the boat to the now normal parking spot, payed the ferryman ( with a beer    ) and watched, and watched and watched.
 
After about 45 minutes I noticed that despite the wind there was some surface activity about 15 m out and 10 downstream. I got the 3rd cast in the right general area and watched my fly disappear. No splashy whack, it just disappeared, so I lifted in and was on.
 
The fish gave me a good run hither and thither and had it in the net after about 5 minutes. The fish was in perfect nick and probably weighed in at around 2.8 kg.
 
After that I had 2 misses and then that was it for the rest of the day. Enjoyed the time honing up some new skills for getting a fly a full fly line length out and into the feeding zone without casting more than 15 - 20m , across and down. Must say the wind really helped here.
 
Please excuse the pics but I did not have my Appie around ( sorry Pieter    ).
All 3 are of the same fish. 1st shows the length ( more or less ), 2nd the foam fly that is proving so successful, 3rd an idea of the girth of the fish. The head was lying on my elbow.

[Lichia amia]

Nice fish Herman  Thanks for the report.

[Herman Jooste]

Thanks Craig,
When are you joining us ? 

[Monster]

Nice Herman!