Baha Fly Fishing decided to take a FOB (Friend of Baha) fishing for the day. It was a rather chilly late winter’s morning, nevertheless the car was packed with float tubes and rods and the journey began.
We arrived at the water’s edge at around 7:30am and were instantly greeted by the polar bears (a mere 1 degree). I knew the conditions were going to be tough when the water we opted to fish was lower than I’d ever seen it and was only 6 degrees. But that said Hayden and I had a cup of coffee whilst rigging up and deciding on the correct method to attack the tricky conditions.
I opted to use my Xplorer 5wt with an intermediate line and a self-tied wooly bugger, and fished the weed beds off my Xplorer Tube. Hayden, who I think hates the cold, opted to fish off the bank for the morning session.
Both of us had a bad morning and returned to the bank after a solid 2 hour session to defrost and change tactics while enjoying a welcome cup of coffee. Seeing as the water was so low I changed to a floating line and headed out with Hayden (in tow on his tube). Again we both fished the weed beds to no avail.
At 12 I suggested we try the second water just over the ridge. We packed up the tubes, had a quick lunch, and headed to the afternoon water. Again the dam was extremely low and crystal clear. We both fished the inlet off the shore and at least this time we could see the fish and sight fished to them.
Finally Hayden’s persistence paid off and he hooking into a beautiful cock fish caught on a self-tied fly. The fight was short lived but at least he was on the board.
At 3:30pm we called it a day and pulled out our reward, an ice cold Hansa. We sat discussing the days fishing and wondered why it was so slow. It was later discovered that we were pre frontal, so on a whole Hayden did well.
If you would like to fish as a “Friend of Baha” drop us a mail on outings@bahaflyfishing.co.za telling us about yourself and where you’d like to fish. We’ll be sure to arrange something for you!
Til next time, tight lines!