| Date of Report: Monday, 13th January 2025 |
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Name: Martin Davies Email: flyfishdavies@gmail.com Phone: 082 398 1088 or 046 622 4423 Winterberg. Martin says that 2024 was a good year for his Makhanda/Grahamstown hatchery and by the end of the year he had stocked about 50 000 fish (MTD strain) into 29 different waters in the Eastern Cape to ensure that these dams continue to produce high quality fishing. He also states that Thrift is still overflowing and despite the fact that we are in January the water temperatures are reasonable. As expected fishing pressure has been quite light over the summer holidays as families tend to go to the coast. The dam has been comprehensively restocked with both rainbows and browns in the last few months, the water is full of food from daphnia to tadpoles and he expects an excellent autumn season. All the Redcliffe dams on the other side of the Winterberg are also full and have been well stocked including the new dam. The popular Ventnor dam which has a high population of fish and is therefore not considered a trophy dam still produced a 3,2kg, 63cm rainbow recently. There is good accommodation close to this dam. Stormberg (Queenstown area). The Queenstown Fly Fishing Club waters have been comprehensively restocked with 30 000 MTD fingerlings of 7,5cm, half from Martin’s hatchery and half from the ogsback hatcheryHogsback hatchery. Stocking included the three new dams outside Molteno. Note that all QFFC waters are now closed to protect the fish while water temperatures tend to be high and reopen again on 1 March . The 2025 QFFC/Xplorer Gathering bookings are already at the half way mark and the number of teams competing has been reduced to 10 so if your team is interested in participating you better book asap. The event is from 3 to 5 July and the cost is R8500 for a team of 4. Your contact person is Alex 0828530512. More information may be gleaned from the club’s website at www.qffclub.com. The Highland Lodge waters. Vicky Bell states that her dams are holding their levels and are now closed for summer and re-open in March when the water cools down. Some very fine fish came out of these dams before the the waters were closed. Stocking was carried out in December and will be completed when it cools down again. Somerset East. Alan Hobson at the Angler & Antelope Guest House states it has been relatively dry over the last month so for trout fishing he has tended to focus on the very reliable Mountain Dam, the Naudes River where the fishing starts at the famous waterfall pool and some of the Glenavon dams. All the trout dams he manages, and the upper Little Fish were restocked in November. Fortunately, over this summer period there is excellent bass fishing at some of the Glenavon dams and elsewhere in the district plus yellowfishing in the lower Little Fish near the town, and new venue on the Great Fish and also in some dams.
A Thrift brown.
A MTD strain rainbow. |
