With Nick having purchased a new float tube on Saturday (the Xplorer Journey) we decided to break it in and headed for one of the NFFC club waters. Being the adventurous type we opted for a dam called Prairie which we had not fished before. Everything about this water looked fantastic right up until we actually got down and started to fish it.
From the bank we could see there were a fair number of weedy patches in the water. At first we took this as a good sign since there appeared to be ample fishable water. However once we paddled out we quickly realised that 80% of the dam had thick weed less than a meter below the surface (there’s nothing quite as irritating as having to pull weed off your fly after every strip). FAIL!
Just to be clear there was a small amount of water free of weed, and fishable, by the dam wall, but this just seemed like too much effort. As such we phoned the booking line, moved our booking to Uitzicht which was less than a kilometer away, deflated the tubes and started the brief drive up the road.
This is where we experienced problem number two. When we got to the final 1km stretch of road to Uitzicht we came across grass that was basically car high. Had I not been there before I would not have believed this was the road to the dam. It just looked like a field. Not wanting to move for the third time we braved the grassland and took the Golf through the forest. Thankfully we made it to the water but there was no ways we would’ve ever have made it to the designated parking spot.
We went about re-inflating the tubes in the meter tall grass and were back in the water at around 10am. Sadly the water was somewhat muddy but we were there and this was going to be our venue for the rest of the day.
Nick and I fished hard and both had a few knocks but neither of us produced. At around 1:30pm, just before leaving, Nick got into what he says was the biggest Trout he’d ever have caught. Sadly after a long fight the fish came off just before he had a chance to net it.
Not the best day’s fishing but certainly a day full of adventure. We’ve now fished Uitzicht twice and have produced just the one fish. That said, it was a sizeable fish, as was the one Nick lost. It certainly seems like this venue worthy of another trip, especially once the water clears up.