NIGHT FLY FISHING EXPERIENCE - Flyfishingtails
NIGHT FLY FISHING EXPERIENCE - Flyfishingtails
NIGHT FLY FISHING EXPERIENCE - Flyfishingtails
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9<br />
FISHERMAN’S TAILS<br />
Know your<br />
FLIES<br />
THE TROUT OF<br />
THE HIGHVELD<br />
– A REPORT ON A RECENT<br />
MILLSTREAM TRIP<br />
By Gareth Roocroft<br />
Myself and my girlfriend Aimee recently<br />
went on a trip to Millstream, 3kms<br />
before Dullstroom. It was a great privilege<br />
to visit this place once again, possibly for<br />
the last time too...<br />
We arrived at Millstream late afternoon on<br />
Thursday, and we quickly setup and headed<br />
to the weir called My Beauty... A few casts<br />
produced nothing, so I changed to an orange<br />
woolly bugger in the low light conditions, and<br />
first cast, I was hit hard and landed a nice little<br />
rainbow. There was plenty of wildlife around<br />
and we were able to see a Cape Clawless Otter<br />
and plenty of scrub hares throughout the late<br />
afternoon session!<br />
The next morning we were up before sunrise<br />
and proceeded to cast every fly known to man<br />
up until 11am with no success. We then headed<br />
up to the upper weirs, namely Canterbury Pond<br />
and Ferreira’s Find and then fished again at My<br />
Beauty. We had good success at these 3 dams<br />
and all our fish were caught on an Olive Woolly<br />
Bugger. Aimee got 3 fish between 500 and 600<br />
grams and I got 5 fish around about the 400<br />
gram mark, including 2 cock fish. And that was<br />
the day... Lots of walking and lots of casts for<br />
a few fish, better than nothing of course! We<br />
also saw Common Duiker, Grey Rhebok, Dassies<br />
and a Giant Kingfisher throughout the day...<br />
Surrounded by the beauty of nature, the 8 fish<br />
were in truth, a bonus!<br />
Saturday, the wind was howling and it was very<br />
cold... The Olive Woolly Bugger struck again as I<br />
got 3 fish: 300, 400 and 600 grams... Aimee got<br />
a 400 gram Hen... We managed to watch a Long<br />
Crested Eagle for a long time, and then it was<br />
off to the recreation centre to watch the Currie<br />
Cup.<br />
Sunday came along, and we decided to fish<br />
one of the trophy catch and release dams,<br />
Solitary Reaper. I struggled, but Aimee did<br />
really well, catching 2 beautiful fish of 1.4 and<br />
1.6 kgs respectively. She caught them on a GRHE<br />
fished drifting in the wind, on 5lb tippet! They<br />
were both amazing fish in great condition, and<br />
the 1.6kg rainbow was a PB for her... There was<br />
a swan on the dam (an escapee from a neighbouring<br />
farm) and there was a pair of Fish Eagles<br />
calling nonstop throughout our session here.<br />
We also saw a Slender Mongoose, very cool<br />
creatures. The wind chased us back down to the<br />
weirs and Aimee was onto the fish again, this<br />
time on the dry fly... She missed one and then<br />
next cast she hooked a fish of about 500 grams<br />
on the White Wulff. I eventually managed 3 fish<br />
on the Olive Woolly Bugger...another tough day<br />
in paradise.<br />
Our last day of angling was tough, very tough...<br />
Once again all sorts of methods were tried and<br />
explored. I got 3 more fish on an Olive Red Eye<br />
Damsel, Olive Fritz and Black Woolly Bugger. The<br />
birding on this day was amazing! Two new bird<br />
species that I have never seen before and they<br />
are not very common either! We saw an African<br />
Rail and a Little Bittern, it was awesome! All in<br />
all it was a fun trip with lots of fish caught in a<br />
beautiful area. If you have never fished this part<br />
of the world, it is a must!<br />
Here is the summary of the fish we caught:<br />
• Gareth - 15 Rainbow Trout: 300 grams - 600<br />
grams<br />
• Aimee - 7 Rainbow Trout: 400 grams -<br />
1.6kgs<br />
All fished released...<br />
Flies caught on:<br />
• Olive Woolly Bugger - 15<br />
• GRHE - 2<br />
• Orange Woolly Bugger - 1<br />
• Black Woolly Bugger - 1<br />
• Olive Red Eye Damsel - 1<br />
• White Wulff - 1<br />
• Olive Fritz – 1<br />
Check out Gareth’s website, www.fishthesea.co.za<br />
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