Flyfishing report: Yellowfish - East Free State

As the season draws to a close, I realize that it’s all about the weather. 

Two weekends ago, it was raining, cold and all-round miserable.  I was on the water with guys that have been fishing Sterkies for over 20 years.  They know their stuff, they turn over a perfect line, they understand where to put a fly and what fly to use when, yet we struggled to catch fish.  This weekend we had sunny skies; a gentle NW and we couldn’t put a fly wrong.  There were hungry fish on every bank.  You know it’s going to be a good day when you’ve boated 6 fish before your morning coffee break.

It was the perfect way to end the season, because just when you thought the fishing on Sterkies had gone north, you have a purple day that you will remember till next season.  It is a temperamental pond and a humbling piece of water that no angler or guide will ever master.  

Speaking of guides, I strongly recommend that you make use of our services, we might not have all the answers and will never guarantee that you will catch fish, but we know where the fish were yesterday and where they have been for the previous week.  The Yellows on Sterkies are “pelagic” in their movements and are never in the same areas from month to month.  Someone that spends time on the water will have a better understanding of where to find fish in different weather conditions and in different months.  This will greatly increase your chances of getting into a fish.

There’re a gazillion Maize Beetles on the water currently, being toxic, nothing eats them, so my fly choice would be, use anything that is not the same size or shape as these Maize Beetles, and definitely don’t tie on anything that is black and yellow. 

There was a consistent ant hatch at 9h30 every morning.  They are the minute black ants, say a size 28# hook.  Please if anyone knows how to catch fish during these hatches, give me a call.  After 25 years of taking people fishing on Sterkies, I still have not cracked the code.  Late afternoon the larger Balbyters emerge and then life is good.  We have had a few afternoons with mild Termite alates and then the fish will readily take a small brown Hopper, Stimulator or Brown Grass Cicada.

I only have two more weekends on the dam, so probably won’t be writing a report in April.  In closing I just want to urge anyone who loves flyfishing to do a trip to Sterkies.  No two days are the same, no water is cleaner, and it is the premier still-water, dry-fly, sight-fishing destination in South Africa, if not the world.

I wish you tight loops and bent graphite as you work your way through the winter trout season.  Roll in November 2025.

David Weaver