As the season draws to a close catching on Sterkfontein becomes more difficult.  The water temperatures have dropped down to a chilly 16 degrees but we managed to find some warmer water in sheltered bays at 18.

The fishing has now become totally weather dependant.  If it is overcast and grungy you will be hard pressed to find fish let alone catch one.  If it is a bright sunny autumn day, you will still battle to find fish but they are far more willing to take from the surface.

With the breeding season now over the fish have dispersed and are scattered around the dam.  Suddenly, the dam doesn’t seem to be that well stocked. Finding fish is far more challenging and it takes a good knowledge of the dam to know where they are located.  We fished this last weekend and all but blanked Thursday/Friday and Saturday and then had fine weather on Sunday and we caught a few fish.  It was a long hard weekend.

There are flying ant hatches every afternoon now, so the fish are gorging on these insects and don’t really need to eat for the next day.  There are two types of hatches, the first is of small black flying ants and this happens between 12pm and 3pm. Then there is a late afternoon hatch of small termites that occurs just before sunset.

Each year I promise to crack the winter Sterkies code and each winter I get “cold feet” and never do.  Winter is a time to return to our roots and catch a few trout.  Enjoy the cold months, tie up some new flies and hopefully I will be able to start reporting again in September.

We did accidently catch one Largemouth Yellowfish that took a size 14 F Fly.  I regard Largemouth Yellowfish as a by-catch and discourage the targeting of this magnificent fish in Sterkfontein.  The presence of bass in the dam has increased the number of Bass fisherman using treble hooks and this is a great threat to these apex predators. Please remember that it is law, that exotic species such as Bass and Carp, may not be returned to the water if caught.