Pongola Game Reserve Fishing Report

April 2010

General

Fishing:

The season is almost over, but I think we still have a couple of weeks to go. April was not as good as expected but we did have quiet a change around in the weather. Our biggest fish was a 4, 8 kg caught by some of our guests from Mpalane fishing camp, and apparently a couple more buses were lost as normal. We have had a full month of fishing clients and even though they were not as excited as previous trips, everyone still caught fish. I think in general more quality than quantity came out.

We had some unexpected rain on a couple of occasions which brought down the dirty water; though it did nt take to long to clear up. At present the river stretch up to Nkwazi is partly dirty though should be clean by the end of the month. The water temperature is still looking good and if we lucky should stay above 20 degrees till the end of May remember under 20 degrees and things get difficult.

On the fishing side the river is still producing fish up to 3, 5 kg’s, though they don’t seem to be taking the bait as nicely as they are doing in the main dam area. I took the family out for a fish against the Lebombo’s and wow did we have some great fun. We landed over 10 fish above 2 kg’s with my oldest son, Kaylim taking the day with a 3, 2 kg. The reels kept on screaming and the fish fought low and close to the boat. On the way back we stopped in the river for a quick fish and what a difference in the strikes, really sneaky takes though I’m sure their where a couple of big fish around.

I think it might be a good idea to change to circle hooks in the river at the moment, not giving the fish much time to take. I am personally not a great fan of the circle hook, but Ryan from Shayamoya is definitely convinced it’s the answer. He mentioned he sets the drag up a little more than usual and when the fish turns to run the hook does the job. Worth a try especially with the sneaky takes. Sardine, chicken fillet and tiger fillet are working as normal with tiger fillet still being a must though not as high on the menu as the other two.

The month for the crank baits and trawling has arrived! I do recall a couple of years ago quoting that all the months without a R are the months for trawling, so will keep you informed on what colors are working best for winter. As I recall gold, blue and red/white combination seemed to work best. Spinners retrieved very slowly with a bit of fillet also used to work well for me.

On the fly side, well I think one will never go wrong with this. Again a great month for clients and myself alike. I unfortunately didn’t get as much time to fish this month but every time I did, I caught. The same colors and patterns are working. I am going to change to sinking line soon though intermediate still working well in the shallows. I am finding the fly needs to get down to bottom before retrieving unlike the last couple of months when one needed to retrieve as soon as it hit the water.

The barbell fishing has also been impressive with quiet a couple of fish over 10 kg’s winding the guests up. Think with the slower fishing, the barbell are getting in first and they are really giving some impressive fights.

Bream fishing has also been great though personally have not done too much. Most fish are just over the kg mark though as well all know they are some bream touching the 2, 5 kg mark. Earthworms are working well mainly fished on the float, though I had some clients who caught some great blue kurper around the 4 m mark while fishing for tigers.

Unfortunately, Gareth our Croc researcher is off at the moment so I won’t be able to put in his input about the Croc research this month.

Tight Lines

Chris