06Sep 2015 by Warren Prior No Comments
The New Location X

The New Location X

Fly Fishing, Fresh Water, Trout
During a recent trip to the Bend my mate Dave and I decided to head out to try a new water. Admittedly I was initially a little upset that we weren't fishing the Mooi River, seeing as the season had just opened, but looking back this was the best decision we could have made. The river was still very thin after all, while the brown trout we discovered were fat and happy. After loading up the Ark we took a short drive to our new location X and launched the boat. Dave handed me a paddle and proceeded to tell me tales of woe about a biking accident, a plate in his shoulder, and his new inability to paddle. In his defence he did take 3 strokes before lowering his paddling and letting me do…
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16Aug 2015 by Warren Prior No Comments
Back To Underberg

Back To Underberg

Fly Fishing, Fresh Water, Trip Report, Trout
Craving some trout fishing, Neill was kind enough to put together another boys weekend to trout mecca known as Underberg. I put in for a full day's leave on Friday (rather than the usual half day) in the hope of getting in a full day's fishing. Sadly this was not to be as Neill got stuck with customers which temporarily delayed our departure. Add to this that my car's fuel warning light had come on, and that Neill's car had battled to start the previous morning, and it was clear we weren't off to a great start. As it turned out Andrew and Richard weren't doing too much better, and we all arrived at Turner's Cottage at around 11am. Being close to midday I wasn't expecting much from the fishing, but it was great to…
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10Aug 2015 by Warren Prior No Comments
A Tough Weekend At Kamberg

A Tough Weekend At Kamberg

Fly Fishing, Fresh Water, Trout
[caption id="attachment_2466" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Fishing Erskine Dam, Kamberg[/caption] I recently spent a long weekend at the Kamberg Nature Reserve with my family. It's a beautiful venue and was once one of the most highly regarded fly fishing venue in Kzn. Sadly, since the hatchery closed, I've found the dam fishing to have declined, although they do claim to still stock them regularly. That said, it's still a great venue for beginners thanks primarily to the mowed banks making it an easy venue to fish compared to our many farm waters. And if you exclude the dams it still has a beautiful stretch of the Mooi river, which I was sadly unable to fish due to it being the closed season. Over the course of the weekend I only managed two short afternoon sessions of around…
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02Aug 2015 by Warren Prior No Comments
A Rare Bait Outing

A Rare Bait Outing

Bait
On the odd occasion us Baha Boys down our fly rods and head out instead with a bait stick in hand. Sunday was one such day. Alan had invited me to join him on his trusty vessel to do a little grunter fishing in the harbour. Needing to pump some cracker we got to the harbour shortly after 9am, just as the banks were beginning to expose themselves. I have to admit, I felt a twinge of jealousy as I watched a fly fisherman land a small fish while I was dirtying my hands with the cracker pump. With enough bait in our bucket we climbed back onto the boat and headed for our first spot of the day, nestled under a large container ship. We kitted up a few rods and…
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06Jul 2015 by Warren Prior No Comments
Trout In The Sleet

Trout In The Sleet

Fly Fishing, Fresh Water, Trout
I recently decided to take the family on a mini adventure to a very cold Underberg. Snow was predicted and it's not often that it falls over the weekend in accessible locations. I was therefore going to make sure that my little girl got to build her very own version of Olaf (as a parent I now get to reference Frozen). Our snow hunting on the first day proved unsuccessful and at 2:30pm it was clear that we would have to wait for nightfall for snow. I therefore decided to shoot off to one of the UHTFC's dams for a quick fish. I dropped Sharon and Emma off at the hotel and promptly headed for Lake Isabella, at Alan's recommendation. Amazingly as I passed through Underberg the sunny skies darkened and the rain…
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14Jun 2015 by Warren Prior No Comments
The Boston Fly Fishing Festival 2015

The Boston Fly Fishing Festival 2015

Event, Fly Fishing, Fresh Water, Trip Report, Trout
I can safely say that the Boston Fly Fishing Festival is by far my favourite festival. Yes, I will admit it's the only festival I fish regularly, but I'm utterly convinced this is irrelevant - it's just that good - and this year was no exception. Will I be back next year? Definitely, but I'll be packing a set of bolt cutters. Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself, so let's start from the beginning. With Nick, a key Baha Boy and team member, having left SA for Australia I was forced to relook at Team Baha for the 2015 event. Neill and Bruce had both secured their places after dominating the 2014 festival, which meant there was just 1 space left to full. Coxy's mom might have prevented him from coming and Alan…
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01May 2015 by Warren Prior 5 Comments
Castleburn And The Umzimkulu River

Castleburn And The Umzimkulu River

Fly Fishing, Fresh Water, Trout
[caption id="attachment_2484" align="alignnone" width="1200"] The view from Lake Madingofani[/caption] I was lucky enough to win a weekend away at Castleburn at last year's Boston Fly Fishing Festival (courtesy of the UHTFC). We finally decided to make use of it when my dad and Cassia flew up to Durban to visit Emma and us. The weekend was fantastic while the fishing was a bit of a mixed bag as my dad and I only made it onto the water twice over the course of the week. Our first attempt saw us heading down to Lake Madingofani (Castleburn Lake) for a late afternoon session. On the walk down we fished a few of the smaller dams, more out of curiosity than due to their potential. I assume these dams are targeted at beginners as we were easily…
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22Mar 2015 by Warren Prior No Comments
Fishing The UHTFC

Fishing The UHTFC

Fly Fishing, Fresh Water, Trip Report, Trout
Having been voted onto the UHTFC committee at the AGM, Neill and I decided that it was time for a club visit and informal committee meeting. In other words, it had been far too long since we'd targeted trout on fly and were itching to get back in the water. We phoned a few friends and had soon organised a group of 4 fishermen, and had booked accommodation at Twin Springs. I took the Friday off with the plan of heading to the Berg after my wife had left for the office. It was a good plan on paper, but fell apart when I tried to get my fly rods out of the garage after my wife had left for work. I soon discovered that she'd taken both garage door…
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01Mar 2015 by Warren Prior No Comments
The Bend Curse

The Bend Curse

Fly Fishing, Fresh Water, Randoms, Trout
I've now visited the Bend twice, both times in pouring rain with the river far too dirty to fish. But that's far from my biggest problem. On my latest trip, when everyone headed off for an afternoon nap, I decided to skip the river and give the still waters a try. I therefore got Dave to sketch me up a rough map of the dams on the property, grabbed my fly rods, and headed out for an afternoon session. My first stop was at Otter Dam which was too dirty to dedicate any time too. So I quickly popped over to Three Springs Dam which, although dirty, was fishable. I kitted up my rods and began prospecting the wall with minimal confidence. There was little sign of activity so after 15 minutes I called it and…
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