Flyfishing report: Trout - Kwa-Zulu Natal Midlands

As I write this, it is bucketing down outside, and we are breathing a sigh of relief. I can only hope that storms like the one we are having now are widespread, because we sure do need it here in the KZN Midlands. When I say we need “It” I refer mainly to the relief from the intense summer heat. Of course, the rainfall is welcome too…the rivers were getting lower than one would expect for mid-summer. But the heat!  “Eish!” , as we say.

2 days ago a mate measured 24 degrees at the surface of a lake, and that was a lake at an altitude of 1,700m ASL!  And a week earlier one of the rivers was at 22 degrees in the morning and an alarming 25 degrees C by mid-afternoon.

We should not even be thinking of fishing in those temperatures.

But I suppose we must keep in mind that after a storm in the berg, a river could quickly reach say 18 or 19 degrees. The same will not be true of a stillwater.

So, as always, these mid-summer days are ones in which you cherry pick a day here and there after storms (unless they have dirtied the river). And to do that you really do need to keep your ear to the ground. A mate of mine was up on a tributary of the Bushmans a week or two back, and having caught a few fish on nymphs and dries, was chased off by the mother of all storms. He drove just a few kilometres down the valley to find the main river in bright sunshine and his bakkie throwing up dust.

So “Ja/Nee”….while now is when we all have leave from work, and time to get out on the water, stillwaters should be off limits, and days on rivers will be snatched opportunities at best. Not a great alignment of the capitalist machine and the rising Trout.

An angler searches out cool water along a forested side stream in the KZN Midlands.