| SCFF News April 2009 |
| Written by Pieter | |||||
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The Alien Debate – Trout and Out I have received an update from FOSAF on the proposed eradication of all alien fish species from selected Cape Rivers. I copy extracts from the report as an update for our members. “ I mentioned in the last newsletter that the consultants to the project to rehabilitate 4 Cape rivers were waiting for comment to their final EIR (Environmental Impact Report) in the EIA (Environmental Impact Accesment) process before submitting the documentation to the authorities. Apparently the only comment received was from a member of the Krom River Conservancy who had some suggestions. The consultants have now concluded that CapeNature’s selection of rivers and use of rotenone is acceptable. Moreover they have recommended that physical removal of trout in the top half of the Cederberg Krom be attempted first while a barrier be constructed half way down, and below this the other alien fishes be removed with rotenone. Rotenone will also be used in the other three rivers. If physical methods fail to remove the trout in the upper Krom then rotenone will be used in this section as well. It is expected that physical removal and rotenone treatments will commence in Feb/March 2010. From the onset this project has been the subject of very poor reporting in the media, and also some uncalled for attacks in the press and on websites on a member of CapeNature. Unfortunately the preparations for this project ran concurrently with the debate on the NEM:BA issue and the future of trout in the country and this added to the confusion in the minds of the fly-fishing public. The second round of public participation meetings was held in the last few days and these were filmed by a 50/50 crew so we can expect this to be screened in the next month or so. Hopefully this will repair some of the damage done by the Carte Blanche programme in February. It is worth reminding readers that alien invasive fishes, particularly bass and bluegill, are by far the greatest threat to the indigenous fishes of Cape Floristic or fynbos region and it is of utmost importance that a few sanctuaries are provided for the remnants of what were once unique, extensive and very diverse populations in the western parts of the Cape. Of the 23 species recorded here 21 are found nowhere else. Nearly all these are threatened with an alarming 13 are that are Critically Endangered and Endangered. A possible additional benefit will be that should the project succeed the opportunities for flyfishing for indigenous yellowfish will increase in the Cederberg. Saltwater Flyfishing - Retrieving the Fly The whole essence of fly fishing, when compared to bait angling, is to offer the fish an imitation of his natural food instead of real and edible food. The challenge flyanglers face is that unless the fly is properly tied and realistically retrieved, fish will ignore it. There are only two responses that induce a fish to take a fly into its mouth; these are the need to feed and aggression. In most cases we would like to imitate something which will trigger a feeding response. This implies that the fly should imitate the prey or food item the fish is likely to feed on, and secondly the retrieve should imitate the natural movement of the prey. There are two basic ways to retrieve the fly. The first is to hold the rod in your casting hand with the tip just above the surface of the water, while using your “stripping” or none casting hand to retrieve the line in long or short “strips”. This technique is best suited to medium and erratic retrieves. The other (used for ultra fast retrieves), is done by tucking the rod butt under your casting arm, arm pit, which allows the use of both hands to bring line in. This takes some practice to perfect but has the advantage of setting the hook without needing to lift your rod tip. For quick retrieves, the latter is the most economical and least tiring. Salt water fly fishing is all about economy of motion, both in casting and stripping the line in. The easier you do it for extended periods of time, the better your chances of success. When targeting bottom feeders or when using slower retrieves (when representing wounded fish or swimming squid or prawns), the former retrieve is better. Retrieve speeds can vary from very fast, for leerfish, to almost dead drift, for grunter. Varying the retrieve speed during the day is a very good idea and will result in more takes. There is however one golden rule when fly fishing for game fish - never strike until you feel the fish is pulling on the line! Leerfish will often hit your fly two or even three times before really latching on and if you strike to soon, the fish will stop chasing. Just keep stripping until you feel that the fish is on before doing a strip strike. Then make sure that the loose line does not tangle as the fish heads off. Next time try something different and use flies tied on circle hooks for leerfish - the results should be great as they hook themselves on a circle hook and you will loose very few if any! Here are some suggested retrieve speeds for various species: Leerfish - medium to very fast, many have been caught on a medium erratic (wounded baitfish) retrieve. Elf - medium. Kob - slow to medium and always on the bottom. Mullet - dead drift to medium (sometimes fast). Spotted grunter - dead drift to slow medium. White steenbras - dead drift to medium. White stumpnose - dead drift to medium. Skipjack - dead drift to very fast Cape Moonies - dead drift to medium A general salt water rule is that the fish targeted on fly will mostly be predators that hunt smaller fish. Smaller fish are fast and thus the larger fish need to be faster. Most takes are on the chase and thus you will be left in no doubt that something has eaten your fly for lunch! Grunter and smaller species in lagoons feed mostly on shrimp and crabs. Takes here are subtler and striking on sight can make the difference between a good day and bad one. Holding the rod at right angles to the fly line can assist in detecting takes. In this way the line pulls directly on the rod and a take is registered, easily seen when the tip of the rod moves or twitches. Making finger contact with the line at all times also assists in feeling the take. With a fly rod, it is best to keep the rod low to the water so that there is less of a bow in the line that extends from the tip of the rod to where the line enters the water. The higher the rod is held, the greater the bow and the less likely chance of detecting a take. Colours of Flies – Does it Matter? To help answer the question – we look at some experiments that have been carried out to determine the effectiveness of different colours used to catch bass. For the sake of simplicity we will concentrate on the effect of different colours on catching bass in clear water.  Click on image to enlargeThe original experiment was conducted in America using painted freshwater shrimp. Different coloured shrimp were released into the water with largemouth bass during various light conditions. The preferences of the bass for the different coloured shrimps were noted and recorded. The most popular colour under each light condition was given a rating of 1, the next most popular 2, 3 and 4. The accompanying colour chart show the four most popular colours under each light condition tested. It is worth noting that at midday (12.00) the four most popular colours (black, gold, grey and red) produced 80% of the results and during mid-afternoon the four most popular colours (green, orange, grey and gold) produced 100% of the results. The experiment did not mention what some of the other variables were at the time, such as the original colour of the shrimps (before they were painted), the colour of the bottom or the surrounding vegetation. The morning sun is normally brighter (white spectrum) than the afternoon sun (yellow spectrum) and this clearly reflects in the colour that the fish preferred. The colours with shorter wavelengths (purple/ultra violet) penetrate deeper into the water, especially in filtered (clouds) or low light conditions and the colours with longer wavelengths (red) penetrate less. For example, in clear water at 3m, only 10% of red is visible in contrast to 90% of green and 98% of blue. At 10m in clear water only 1/1000 of red is visible while the visibility of blue is as high as 90%. With increased depth, the visibility of red and orange disappear first, yellow becomes white for a while before disappearing and chartreuse and light blue remain visible for a long time. Logically, when fishing deep down, use blue, purple(violet) and black. Most light sources, although filtered by a colour will still contain a quantity of white light. The lighter colours like white, yellow, orange(bright) and chartreuse can still reflect the filtered light but black will absorb all light and therefore reflect no light but remain visible because of the contrast with the light from the sky. What does this all mean when flyfishing for your favourite specie? Try to understand the behaviour of colour of your fly under different light conditions and at different depths in clear water, then select the right fly for the target specie, but in a colour most suited to the prevailing conditions. Hope you got it, because I am still working out what would be the best colours for the yellows of Gouritz and the Leeries in our estuaries. World record Rainbow Trout - 43.6 lb (19.78kg) Check this out, received these pictures 2 weeks ago. Here's the new world record rainbow. Caught off Anvil Draw on the Utah side of Flaming Gorge Reservoir - USA. What a monster though!?? It's not even a mackinaw or even a hybrid, but a straight rainbow. The pictures don't lie? Flaming Gorge Reservoir is well known for trophy lake trout and smallmouth bass fishing, but rainbow trout continue to provide the lion's share of the lake's fishing pressure.
Fishing Report  altThe very good news is that the rivers are full of leeries and they are growing in size every week. Swartvlei (at Sedgefield) is full of baitfish and the leeries are close by. The whole river bank behind the village cente is a very rewarding area and they can be found at any time at the intersection between the channel and the stream under the low-water bridge. I have acquired an ARK rubber canoe that can be handled with ease – all by myself. I am now ready to explore other areas of the river in Sedgefield, from the mouth to the train bridge. What settled my post purchase remorse ( “was it the right thing to do and should I not have bought a kayak or canoe?” ) was my first outing on the Touw River. I launched it (carried it from my car to the waters edge without any help) in front of PW Botha’s old house, loaded with dropshot and fly gear. I soon got the hang of the oars and started to paddle upstream - in the direction of Freesia Rock.  altA quick mid-channel stop to check out the grunters on the sandbanks became an hour long attempt to lure one of these to take my shrimp fly. Being an amateur at this, the best result was a short follow by one of the many grunters and the rest I spooked into the main channel – where stayed. Without the ARK, I would not have been able to even attempt this new challenge. Next time will be an all day outing with enough time to experiment, practice and patiently wait for them to reappear. The next stop was opposite Freesia Rock right above the deep part of the channel, which I cannot reach by casting from the bank. Three casts 10 meters ahead yielded? three leeries, bigger than the ones I caught by casting from the shore side of the river. I always wanted to explore the small lake at the train bridge, and now had the means to do so. With a draft of 4-6 inches, I was able to enter this narrow and shallow channel with ease. What excited me was the gazillions of baitfish in this small protected area. A few casts into the deeper areas rewarded me with quite a few leeries, not too small but not big enough to watent a photo. Small schools of leeries swam past the ARK back to the main channel, enough for me to make a mental note to come back.? The last area worth exploring is where the Touw River and the serpentine intersect. O paddled up the serpentine and came across a lot of big grunter just having a good time. I solicited a few leerie chases, but what exited me more, was the school of big leeries that swam past me on the way to the Touw River. The next main outing in the ARK, as soon as I acquired an electric motor and battery, is to go hunt the biggest leeries around – Island Lake. Will update you later. Ruhan Neethling – Visiting George Ruhan, one of our members, who lives in Papua New Guinea, is in George on a fishing trip and visit to friends and family. He is keen to share his flyfishing experiences in New Zeeland and Australia with us. We are planning for him to show and tell – before he returns, and will let you know as soon as a date and time is confirmed. You can contact him on +27 727671050. Pieter Naude |
