First time yellowfisherman

First time yellowfisherman!

Alan Hobson, our resident guide, has been threatening to use the opportunity that is presented annually in June, when the canal that supplies water from the Great Fish River to the Little Fish River is closed for maintenance, to target smallmouth yellowfish. The flow of the Little Fish River slows to its natural trickle and the water clears, thus allowing one to hop from pool to pool along the river. The yellowfish are restricted to the pools now formed as a result of this very slow natural water flow.

Having persuaded Tim and Ian that it would be easier to bundu bash, than tackle precarious barbed wire fences, they bushwhacked their way through a Kudu trail. After much coercing that the river was “just over there”, they finally popped their heads through the thick bush, and wow! It was a spectacular piece of river. A 100m pool surrounded by reeds with a perfectly placed sandbank in the water as a result of the bend in the river, lay before them. Nothing sparks more enthusiasm in a fisherman, than seeing rising fish.

Tim and Ian bombarded Alan with questions as to how to set up and approach the quarry. He told them to use a 12 – 15 foot leader with a weighted fly at the point, and a dropper about 2 feet off the bottom, with a strike indicator at the top end of the leader. Local knowledge had Alan attach a bead-head-flashback pheasant tail nymph as the point fly, and one of his own-tied soft hackle mayfly emergers as the dropper. Careful negotiation of the riverbank, Alan positioned Ian and Tim just off the sandbank. When the yellowfish are restricted to a pool, they tend to circulate the pool in shoals, searching for food. It wasn’t long and Tim’s strike indicator was yanked under the water, and Tim set the hook.

After catching two fish, and intermittently hooking the brush behind him, Tim had to remake his leader, giving Ian the opportunity to move to the magic spot. Ian proceeded to show off. Having never caught a yellowfish before, he caught two fish simultaneously! A little 500 grammer on the dropper, and a nice 1 kg specimen on the point fly. The smile on Ian’s face and the smooch with the fish before lovingly releasing it back to the water is proof that he was having the time of his life. Ian caught seven fish before he relinquished the hotspot back to Tim. Not to be outdone, Tim caught a further brace of fish.

Alan then suggested they move to other waters, and somehow the hike back seemed effortless in-between the excited banter of success.

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