Flyfishing report: Yellowfish - S.E. Mpumulanga/KZN

Date of Report: Monday, 12th May 2025
Name: Horst Filter
Phone: 082 628 7702

SE Mpumalanga.

Last month Horst mentioned that although the spawning season was over all his rivers were in heavy spate and that they would only be fishable in late May and it was when he would start taking bookings for his clients. Please note that as a result of further rain the rivers are still too high, so he has delayed the bookings until early June now. Unlike the scaly rivers (Natal yellows) further south where it is accepted that the yellows do not feed well in cold water Horst has mastered the art of winer fishing for smallscale and largescale yellows which populate rivers like the Phongoala and Assegai. This also avoids disturbing the fish during the spawning season and in winter the rivers are always clear.

KZN.

In northern KZN the Tugela tributaries are looking great according to Carl Freese who is back in the area, but he reckons it is now too cold for the Natal yellows or scaly and one will have to wait until the water warms up again in Spring. In the south of the province Michael Aadensgaard went down to their stretch of the middle Umkomaas in the Richmond area and said that the river was looking really stunning, crystal clear but cold and in 3 hours he did not have a take. Possibly an afternoon’s fishing after a few hot days day might yield something. Otherwise, it will have to wait until about September.

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Horst with a smallscale yellow from the Assegai.