Flyfishing report: Yellowfish - Middle Vaal

As is now our custom we rely on information for this report provided by Collin Hyman of the Elgro Windknot Club in Potchefstroom and Andre Hoffman at Wag n Bietjie nearer to Orkney.

Fortunately, there has not been excessive rain in Gauteng, and the river has been clear enough and fishable over the last month with the flow variable at times. As there has been some rain farmers are not irrigating at excessive rates and for most of the time the flow has been running at an ideal 20 to 25 cusecs. Collin did say that many riparian owners were concerned that with Vaal Dam level at about 102% there was a threat that major rains in the catchment would result in large amounts of water being released from the dam and we could once again be faced with major flooding later in summer.

So far catches of yellows have been excellent in October. Large numbers were taken during the two Elgro River Lodge festivals and Andre reported that clients fishing his section had netted plenty of younger fish with anglers using Euro nymphing techniques and light tackle were often broken up repeatedly by larger fish.

There has been heavy spawning by carp, mudfish and catfish and although there had been some yellowfish spawning this has still not commenced on a large scale. Once this starts anglers should avoid trampling the spawning beds.