NIGHT FLY FISHING EXPERIENCE - Flyfishingtails

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