The rivers have certainly given us very little opportunity to fish them. They were full and fast most of the time and anglers had to adapt accordingly to get some fish to the net. Fishing the slower edges and eddies where the fish tend to be where they are safe from the energy depleting faster currents. The lower sections of rivers were a bit discoloured and did not produce many fish. As one moves up to the middle and upper reaches the water cleared up nicely, and even though it was fast some good fish were brought to the net. Reports of 14inch(38cm) fish being caught aswell as numerous other in these upper reaches of the rivers. The number of fish being caught slowly increasing. UHTFC stats for the river show only 4 anglers fishing club beats with 1 fish to show. Flies that did well were Parachute Adams and Klinkhamers for the dry fly anglers while heavy weighted PTN, hotspot Nymphs and other Euro styled flies worked well for those opting to fish deeper, with the black perdigon standing out for hooking many fish. The coolness is already in the air and rivers settling nicely and this sure to bring along good fishing. The stilwater temperature was still a little on the high side, but atleast dropping slightly with the cooler weather we have had. Fishing the cooler days when the water temperatures dropped a little seemed to work best. Some good reports came in among all the ones of blank days. Reports of good numbers of fish caught in the resorts around Underberg with a 6lb(3kg) fish mentioned coming from these waters. The UHTFC statistics show 8 fish caught of 34 rods. Biggest fish caught was a Rainbow Trout of 24inches(63cm) caught by Bianca Luther on a Olive Bunny Leach on private water. Flies reported to work well fooling fish were Olive Papa Roaches, Olive Red Eyed Damsels, Black Wooly Buggers, Black and Orange Wooly Buggers, Pancora Buggers and various other streamers also acounting for fish caught. The cooler weather we experiencing bringing along colder water is hopefuly going to just make the fishig pick up as we aproaching the better part of the fishing season. Remember to fish responsably, keep fish wet and handling to a minimum when practising catch and release.
