19Feb 2012 by Warren Prior No Comments

Harbour Hell

Fly Fishing, Salt Water
As we all know things very often don't go according to plan when fishing, and this weekend was no exception. A friend of ours from Finland, Simon, was out in South Africa visiting family and doing a little fly fishing in the process. And since he was fishing the harbour on both Saturday and Sunday morning we planned to meet him down there to nail some fish in the bay. On Saturday morning it was just me who braved the drizzle, got into the car, and drove down to a very wet harbour. Simon had decided to give it a miss but there were a few other fly fishermen targeting the banks. I pulled on my booties, waded out to great them, and after a quick chat learned that nobody…
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04Feb 2012 by Warren Prior No Comments
Smashing The Surf

Smashing The Surf

Fly Fishing, Salt Water, Video
Nick picked me up at 4am and Saturday morning and we headed for Suncoast Casino where we were meeting a few of the guys from the Durban Fly Tyers club. At 5am we were on Casino Beach but hadn't spotted any other fly fisherman. Undeterred we started flicking a fly while waiting for the others. Graeme arrived shortly after 5am and we had a chat to him about the club and how many people we could expect at the upcoming meetings. Since no one else seemed to be arriving we began fishing our way up the beach. The sun was just rising over the horizon with a few scattered clouds in the air. The air was fresh and the water was warm and amazingly clean. Soon I'd had a small…
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15Jan 2012 by Warren Prior No Comments
The New Baha Vessel

The New Baha Vessel

Bass, Fly Fishing, Fresh Water
[caption id="attachment_390" align="alignright" width="300"] A Tiny Largemouth Bass[/caption] Sunday started off with a little admin as I helped Nick patch up a few holes on his newly acquired boat. This was of course all worth it as we hooked it up to the Jeep and headed down to Inanda Dam to make sure it didn't sink. This did of course mean that we packed the fly rods and planned to nail a few bass in the process. When we arrived at the gate at around 11:30 we could hardly believe the queue. Yes, it was a beautiful day, but the queue was ridiculous. It must've taken us around half an hour to just get through the gate and then we had to worry about finding a free slipway. With the…
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02Jan 2012 by Warren Prior No Comments
Shongweni Dam Fail

Shongweni Dam Fail

Bass, Fly Fishing, Fresh Water
[caption id="attachment_387" align="alignleft" width="300"] Shongweni Dam, Kzn[/caption] For the first fishing trip of the year Nick and I found ourselves at Shongweni Dam. Personally I would've preferred Inanda but the general consensus was that Shongweni would be far less busy on the second day of the year. Sharon and I arrived first, just before 9am, and were greeted by hordes of people. Never have I seen the dam quite so busy. Thankfully we were just early enough to secure the last decent picnic spot with both shade and a braai. Nick and Tazz arrived shortly after us and, after setting up, Nick and I were on soon on the water. There was a buzz of activity on the surface but sadly it wasn't from fish. There were kids swimming in…
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17Dec 2011 by Warren Prior No Comments
Kamberg Bliss

Kamberg Bliss

Fly Fishing, Fresh Water, Trout
[caption id="attachment_384" align="alignright" width="300"] Another Rainbow Trout Release[/caption] Having spent the morning stocking some of the club waters Sharon and I decided to spend the night at the Kamberg Nature Reserve. We drove through the gate at 12am and I immediately became aware of the storm clouds which were already forming overhead. Worried that I wouldn't be able to fish later that day I cut a deal with Sharon which allowed me to fish while she unpacked the car. I fished the usual spots around Erskine for about 30 minutes with no luck. It was midday in summer and I wasn't expecting a lot so I continued fishing while enjoy the pair of Crested Eagles nesting in a nearby tree. It was at this point that I noticed a few…
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16Dec 2011 by Warren Prior No Comments
Trout Stocking

Trout Stocking

Fly Fishing, Randoms
[caption id="attachment_381" align="alignleft" width="300"] Stocking Rainbow Trout[/caption] With Friday being a public holiday I'd agreed to monitor the stocking of several NFFC waters by Bushman's River Trout. So at 6am Sharon and I took a leisurely drive to the Giant's Castle area where we met John. He'd stocked the 3 dams with 3" (or 5”) fish the previous morning and it was now time to put in a few 10" fish to kick start the process of rehabilitating these Mondi waters. The whole process was surprisingly fast and started by looking for a place to safely release the new fish. The obvious choice was along the dam wall into deeper, safer water. There was however a small problem in that we could see the previous day's smaller fish shoaling along…
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11Dec 2011 by Warren Prior No Comments
Lake Naverone (My 30th Birthday)

Lake Naverone (My 30th Birthday)

Fly Fishing, Fresh Water, Trout
[caption id="attachment_378" align="alignright" width="300"] Dragon Fly Nymph Comparison[/caption] Sharon decided to take me fishing for my 30th birthday so we drove up to Lake Naverone on Friday evening amidst the mist and rain. I didn't set an alarm but was awake by just after 6am on Saturday. We lazed around a little so I only made it onto the water at around 8am. I fished the large dam in partly cloudy conditions starting close to the inlet. Almost immediately I missed two strong hits which got me rather excited. Sadly I saw no more fish for the next hour. The inlet was heavily weeded so I made my way to the far bank which appeared to be the deeper of the two. I picked up one tiny rainbow but wasn't…
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13Nov 2011 by Warren Prior No Comments
Kamberg, Catch, Repeat

Kamberg, Catch, Repeat

Fly Fishing, Fresh Water, Trout
[caption id="attachment_369" align="alignright" width="225"] Clinton Nortje's First Trout[/caption] On Sunday morning I woke up at around 5:30am to far more light than I expected. By 6am I was at Nick's place where Clinton picked us up and we headed for Kamberg, stopping of course for a cup of coffee and a doughnut. We arrived at Kamberg at around 7:30am in thick mist and a little drizzle. From afar conditions were looking good and we quickly spotted two other fishermen on the water. A brief chat to them revealed they were staying there, had been fishing for a while, and had caught no fish. Not a good sign but nothing to worry about. Since the other fishermen were fishing Eland Dam we headed down to Erskine and got to it. Both…
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24Sep 2011 by Warren Prior No Comments
Lotheni’s Sneaky Browns

Lotheni’s Sneaky Browns

Fly Fishing, Fresh Water, Trout
[caption id="attachment_364" align="alignleft" width="300"] First Wild Trout On The New Rod[/caption] At 5am on Saturday morning we climbed out of bed, packed the car and headed for the Drakensberg. Stopping for petrol proved annoying when the standard garage told us they were out of diesel and we were forced to head into Pmb to find some. Otherwise all went well until we reached the Underberg turn off when I forgot that it was shorter through Nottingham Road and we headed for Underberg on my 111km worst road. After passing through Himeville the road turns from tar to dirt for the last 40kms. The dirt was in good condition bar the fact that they seem to be working on it. This meant large piles of rubble for long stretches leaving only…
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