FOSAF FLYFISHING REPORTS - Trout - North Eastern Cape Highlands

Rhodes.

About 100 ml of rain plus heavy snow on the higher mountains and up at Tiffendel has transformed the country. Fly fishers at Walkerabouts have actually been complaining that even the upper reaches are almost unfishable at present. These heavy flows will also be the signal for yellowfish to start their annual spawning migration upstream into the trout zones. This will be very welcome as trout numbers have dropped after the droughts of the last 2 years.

Lady Grey

The Karringmelk which was down to a trickle, full of algae and closed for fishing at Lupela Lodge last month is now running almost bank high. Trout numbers are down but average size of adult fish has increased and there has been a good spawning in the last winter.

Maclear

Stream fishing reopened on Sept 1 but remain closed on the PG Bison stretches until November because of the danger of forest fires. Colin Moolman advises that the rain and snow of the last week has made even the upper tributaries difficult to fish. Moreover, he reports that the trout populations in most streams are low on account of the previous drought and heat wave but the extent of this is still difficult to access. In the meantime, the many dams in the district controlled by the Maclear Fly Fishers are well stocked.