16Feb 2014 by Warren Prior No Comments
Giant’s Castle Valentines

Giant’s Castle Valentines

Fly Fishing, Fresh Water, Trout
Being a lover of anything fly fishing related, and having a wife who understands that (hopefully), we booked a cottage in the Giant's Castle Nature Reserve for Valentines Day. Admittedly we've never really celebrated Valentines Day, but we are always looking for excuses to get outdoors and into the mountains. We left early on Saturday morning after dropping off Emma at my mom's house. It was our first weekend away without Emma and I think Sharon was a little apprehensive. None the less we took a casual drive up opting to stop at the Piggly Wiggly for breakfast. I ordered poached eggs and ham on homemade bread with a holendaise sauce and was less than impressed. The eggs were poached in those plastic cups like our parents did in the…
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09Feb 2014 by Warren Prior 2 Comments

Cape Vidal (With NekNominations)

Fly Fishing, Salt Water, Trip Report
As I'm sure most of you have worked out by now, Cape Vidal is a bi-annual trip we do in conjunction with the Durban Fly Tyers and the South Coast Fly Anglers. This year we moved the first trip forward from April to February in the hope of picking up some bigger kingies. Sadly however we got the dates slightly wrong and ended up at Vidal over neaps rather than spring tides. None the less, we got down to it and had great fun. As per usual Nick and I headed up together and were on the road by 4am on Friday morning. We met up with another group to put some of their kit into our trailer and then the journey began with a steaming cup of coffee. The…
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01Feb 2014 by Warren Prior No Comments
An Outing With The South Coast Boys

An Outing With The South Coast Boys

Fly Fishing, Salt Water
[caption id="attachment_1728" align="alignleft" width="300"] Dave Shepherd with a small blacktail[/caption] After a few weeks of bass bashing it was time to get ready for the upcoming trip to Cape Vidal. I therefore opted to join the south coast boys at one of their local beaches for a little fly fishing action in the surf. We arranged to meet at 6am which meant an early start for me. I was a little apprehensive since it was spring high at 6am which I thought may render the venue unfishable. Non the less I climbed sleepily into the car and headed south, my "new" Xplorer Guide 905 in the boot. After stopping at the Shell Ultra City on the N2, and throwing back quite possibly the worst cup of coffee of my life,…
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26Jan 2014 by Warren Prior No Comments
Third Weekend At Inanda Dam

Third Weekend At Inanda Dam

Bass, Fly Fishing, Fresh Water
For the third weekend in a row Nick and I headed down to Inanda Dam to do some fly fishing. This time however our plan was to focus on the filming of the trip rather than the fishing, in the hope of putting together a short video of Inanda Dam and the bass opportunities it offers. Sadly the conditions weren't in our favour. Initially there was no wind and the water was like glass. It was also extremely hot and as such the bigger fish seemed to have moved into deeper water. With the focus of our video being on surface action we continued fishing with poppers despite the conditions being against us. Despite the tough conditions we managed to produce a few small fish on the surface. That said…
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19Jan 2014 by Warren Prior No Comments
Inanda Dam On Fly

Inanda Dam On Fly

Bass, Fly Fishing, Fresh Water
[caption id="attachment_1715" align="alignright" width="225"] Warren Prior's best bass on fly[/caption] For the second week in a row we headed down to Inanda Dam to target bass. Conditions were close to ideal thanks to the warm water, a decent cloud cover, and a slight breeze creating a gentle ripple on the surface. Nick was convinced that he'd been at a disadvantage on previous trips due to the onerous task of skippering the Baha vessel. I therefore took control of the wheel for this outing and decided to head towards the dam wall for the morning's fishing. My first choice of venue yielded no fish (although Nick did miss one) which left me a little nervous in my new captain's hat. Thankfully my second choice proved rather fruitful and we landed several…
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11Jan 2014 by Warren Prior No Comments
Inanda Dam In The Baha Vessel

Inanda Dam In The Baha Vessel

Bass, Fly Fishing, Fresh Water
[caption id="attachment_1692" align="alignleft" width="300"] Fly fishing for lost rods[/caption] With Inanda fast becoming our most fished venue we decided to head down with a new objective in mind...to cover more water. We therefore left the float tubes at home and hitched up the boat, ready to explore the uncharted nooks and crannies of the dam (well, for us anyway). We launched the boat at 6am and were soon flying across the dam, sulking that neither of us had bothered to pack breakfast. Thankfully our hunger pangs were quickly forgotten as we pulled into our first bay. While Nick was still navigating the boat into our drift I threw out my popper and got straight into a fish. The water was murky with a lot of algae on the surface. It…
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04Jan 2014 by Nick Nortje 1 Comment
Sterkfontein 2013/2014

Sterkfontein 2013/2014

Fly Fishing, Fresh Water, Yellowfish
[caption id="attachment_1750" align="alignleft" width="200"] View at Sterkfontein[/caption] On the 30th of December I packed up the family, camping gear, and boat for a 5 day getaway to one of the Free State's best kept secrets – Sterkfontein Dam. It was an early 4am start to get to the dam and set up camp before searching for some gold. Thankfully the drive  was uneventful and, after stopping for the mandatory cup of coffee, we shot through to Harrismith via the N3 as reports were coming in that the R74 was impassable. After topping up the tank of the Terios (to avoid being raped a further 50c/litre due to a petrol price increase the following day) we headed for the dreaded R74. The road now has an unmanned stop/go and is basically a…
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01Jan 2014 by Warren Prior No Comments
A New Year’s Trip To Shongweni Dam

A New Year’s Trip To Shongweni Dam

Bass, Fly Fishing, Fresh Water
Being such keen fly fisherman there is simply no other way to spend the first day of the new year than on the water. And with Nick up at Sterkfontein Dam dominating the yellows I decided that my best option would be to take the family down to one of the local bass dams for a short, afternoon session. My gut told me that Midmar and Inanda would be chaos with the new year's rush, and so I decided on Shongweni where I thought it would be quieter due to power boats not being allowed. As it turns out I was wrong. Shongweni was absolute chaos and we struggled to find a place to park. Eventually Sharon dropped me and my tube off and kindly got permission to sit at…
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22Dec 2013 by Warren Prior No Comments
A Slow Morning At Inanda

A Slow Morning At Inanda

Bass, Fly Fishing, Fresh Water
[caption id="attachment_1642" align="alignright" width="300"] Yet another largemouth bass[/caption] Bass seem to be topping the todo list of late. I guess it's because they're close to home and great fun to fish for on the surface. So on Sunday we headed back down to Inanda Dam to have another go at the good old largemouth. I got down at 5:45 only to (once again) discover that the gate only opens at 6am. Rather than standing around I put this time to good use and inflated my tube and kitted up my rod. That way when the gate opened I was ready to go and was on the water within 5 minutes. This proved to be a good move as I picked up 3 fish within 15 minutes of kicking out. After…
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