Trout Archives - Page 9 of 10

04Apr 2010 by Warren Prior No Comments

Silverhill

[caption id="attachment_193" align="alignright" width="300"] View Over Silverhill[/caption] Sharon and I spent the Easter weekend at Silverhill (Kamberg) with my dad, sister and Cassia. Silverhill is a 4 star resort offering various activities including fly fishing in several, small, stocked dams. Upon arrival I looked at the photos they had stuck up...there were none of fish. I then looked at the brochure...fishing was mentioned, but again no photos. At this point I perhaps should've been more suspicious. On Saturday morning I planned to be up and on the water early, but after a severe outbreak of hayfever (I'm guessing due to the thatch) and very little sleep, I ended up only hitting the water after breakfast. Although the dam I fished was small, I took the opportunity to make use of…

21Mar 2010 by Warren Prior No Comments

Technical Lotheni

Fly Fishing, Fresh Water, Trout

[caption id="attachment_190" align="alignleft" width="225"] Western Fly Fishing The Lotheni[/caption] Thanks to a not very cooperative Achilles, it had been a long wait for me to get into my first river of the season, some 6 months after they opened. Western, Karen, Sharon and I headed up to Lotheni for the first long weekend, hoping for a combination of some relaxation and epic fly fishing. Now I've always known that the Lotheni River was very technical wild Brown waters, but this weekend really just emphasised that point. At around 2pm on Saturday Western and I walked from the campsite, back towards the main camp, rods in hand, and eager. We entered the river at the small feeder stream the road crosses, and I carefully chose my first fly for the trip...the…

24Jan 2010 by Warren Prior No Comments

Float Tube Bliss

Fly Fishing, Fresh Water, Trout

[caption id="attachment_183" align="alignleft" width="300"] Nick On His Float Tube[/caption] On Sunday morning Nick and I headed out to Mavela to do some Trout bashing. Although we knew the conditions weren't going to be ideal (they never are in January), I had to get out there. I'd bought a float tube, which had been sitting in my cupboard, unused, since September. Not only are ruptured Achilles expensive, they're also a pain in the ass. Anyway, I picked Nick up at 6am, and we were in the tubes and on the water by 7:30am. It was already sweltering hot, and the water was far too warm for my liking. A fisherman who arrived a little after us measured it at around 25 degrees. Looking back, I think we were lucky that the…

20Dec 2009 by Warren Prior No Comments

Smashing Colmonell

Fly Fishing, Fresh Water, Trout

[caption id="attachment_180" align="alignright" width="200"] Warren Prior's Rainbow Trout[/caption]On Sunday I got up at the usual 5am, packed my fishing kit, and met Shaun in the basement. We headed for Colmonell, stopping for the mandatory cup of coffee at the Bean Cafe. By 7am we were kitted up and on the water. There was a fair amount of activity around us in the shallows, and I could see it was sizeable Rainbows, so things were looking good. At around 8am I pulled out my best Rainbow of the year, a hen fish weighing in at 2,6kg. Shaun quickly informed me that I was cheating as I'd used the infamous Mrs Simpson. This of course was all biterness as he had none in his box. Shortly after that I pulled out a…

21Nov 2009 by Warren Prior No Comments

Two Weeks In A Row

Fly Fishing, Fresh Water, Trout

[caption id="attachment_174" align="alignleft" width="200"] Warren Prior Casting[/caption] For the second week in a row Sharon was working, which meant that I had the pink slip to go out and do some fishing. Western's girlfriend also had plans, so for the second week in a row he joined me. I arrived at the water at around 7am after complicating the process of getting there. Western was running again so he was going to join me at around 10am. The good news was that I'd remembered the key this time, and so I could actually do some fishing instead of sitting around in the car. There was another club member there setting up his tube so we had a quick chat while we kitted up, and then we both hit the water.…

14Nov 2009 by Warren Prior No Comments

Colmonell With Western

Fly Fishing, Fresh Water, Trout

[caption id="attachment_171" align="alignright" width="225"] Warren Prior With A Colmonell Rainbow[/caption] So after a long fishing layoff I finally made it back to the water. On Saturday morning I woke up at 5am, packed the car, and was on the road by 5:30. Just over an hour later I pulled up to the gate at Colmonell. FAIL! I'd forgotten my gate key. Luckily for me Western was following me up, so I gave him a call and then started the wait. Then it was time to keep myself occupied...I taped up my leg and kitted out 2 fly rods. This took me all of half an hour so I whipped out the camera and took a few misty photos. This killed another 30 minutes so I made a few phone calls.…

30Aug 2009 by Warren Prior No Comments

Club Waters Trip 2 – Mavela, Again

Fly Fishing, Fresh Water, Trout

[caption id="attachment_164" align="alignright" width="300"] Underwater Trout[/caption] After fishing Mavela last week and only landing one, I decided I needed to give it another try. Bruce and I drove up early to find very different conditions to those Nick and I had fished last weekend. It was overcast, and there was a strong wind blowing, making casting from the bank difficult. Due to the ripple on the water we also couldn't see the fish like Nick and I could previously. Bruce had brought his tube, and after setting it up he got into the water and I headed off down the bank. A couple of hours of tough fishing for me produced nothing. Although I did have two big hits which I somehow missed. Bruce did have more luck in the…

23Aug 2009 by Warren Prior No Comments

Club Waters Trip 1 – Mavela

Fly Fishing, Fresh Water, Trout

[caption id="attachment_160" align="alignright" width="225"] Warren With A Small Rainbow[/caption] Since joining the NFFC about a month ago I hadn't had a chance to fish any of the club waters. Thankfully I put an end to this over the weekend. On Sunday morning I picked up Nick Nortje (I write his full name since he likes it popping up in Google) and we headed to Mavela, one of the club waters. We arrived at around 7am and were on the water by half past seven. Mavela is a largish body of water with good clarity. It is relatively shallow (as far as I could see) with a lot of weed beds. All in all it looked like a great spot for trout. While tackling up we noticed a lot of activity…

31May 2009 by Warren Prior No Comments

Pholela River Blanking

Fly Fishing, Fresh Water, Trout

[caption id="attachment_145" align="alignright" width="300"] The Pholela River[/caption] I'm not even sure this is worthy of a report, but if I don't fill it in I know I'll have hundreds of disappointed readers. Ja, whatever?! So here goes... Over the weekend a few mates and myself camped at Cobham.It was, as expected, f$%^ing cold. But other than this, we had a fantastic time. Anyway, part of the trip involved me taking a friend of mine up the river for a few fly fishing lessons. I must say, he caught on quickly, and certainly had a good chance of picking up any Rainbows that may be around. Sadly, due to several factors, we didn't manage to pull any fish out of the Pholela. So here's the list of excuses... Firstly, all of…

02May 2009 by Warren Prior No Comments

The Mooi River

Fly Fishing, Fresh Water, Trout

[caption id="attachment_137" align="alignright" width="300"] The Mooi River[/caption] Just 2 days after a fantastic morning's fishing on the Lotheni River, I was back in the Berg, this time fishing a section of the Mooi River just below Kamberg nature reserve. Shaun and I left Plantations at around 5:30am, and after a short stop for coffee, were at the river by 7:30am. We kitted up and started our 5km walk downstream, from where we would fish our way back to the car. On the way down we fished a few of the pools without much luck. The weather was overcast, with a cold front approaching, and we figured this could've turned the fish off. Shortly after turning around and heading back to the car, the sky cleared and the sun came out.…

Category: Trout