10Dec 2010 by Warren Prior No Comments

Back To The Harbour

Fly Fishing, Salt Water
Since Sharon was visiting her folks in Richards Bay, I decided it was time to get in another fish. The original plan was to head to the Drakensberg to bash a few trout, but sadly my fishing buddy got tied up and I was left on my own. This meant falling back to plan B, which is never a bad thing, so I pulled out the old salt water stick and headed down to Durban harbour. When I arrived the conditions looked fantastic. There was the slightest breeze on the water and it was partially cloudy. With a Charlie tied onto the end of my line I headed down to the water, which was surprisingly warm, and flicked in my first cast. There was a lot of mullet action around…
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13Nov 2010 by Warren Prior No Comments
Mavela Double Up

Mavela Double Up

Fly Fishing, Fresh Water, Trout
[caption id="attachment_210" align="alignright" width="300"] Nick And Warren Double Up[/caption] Saturday's fishing saw the normal 4:30am alarm call followed by an attempted twosie. This of course never works, so after picking up Bruce and Nick at 5am, I was careful with the morning's cup of coffee. We reached the dam at around 6:30am and were on the water by 7am. Things really were looking good...the water wasn't too warm, we had a good cloud cover with a little mist, and there was a ripple on the surface of the dam. Sadly this lasted all of 30 minutes before the sun beat away the clouds and the wind vanished without a trace. Before we knew it we were bobbing around on a piece of glass, in 30 degree heat, with very few…
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11Jul 2010 by Warren Prior No Comments
Baha SUCCESS!

Baha SUCCESS!

Fly Fishing, Fresh Water, Trout
[caption id="attachment_207" align="alignleft" width="300"] Nick Nortje At Mavela[/caption]The plan for Sunday had been a fishing trip for Nick's birthday, but WeatherSA (those bastards) had predicted cold fronts and Armageddon so we'd called it off. Then an amazing thing happened, we woke up to the most beautiful day. WOW! They’d gotten it wrong...when has that ever happened before (where's the sarcasm font). Anyway, Nick gave me a call and we ended up heading for the dam at 9am. The girls joined us and picnicked on the side of the damn while Nick and I went about missing fish after fish. I suppose the good news is that there were fish around, and after missing 2 or 3 fish each, we eventually both landed one which ended Nick's dry spell with the…
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16Jun 2010 by Warren Prior No Comments

Baha FAIL!

Fly Fishing, Fresh Water, Trout
Youth day was upon us, as was a lot of snow, so Nick and I grabbed the fly sticks (and float tubes) and headed for the berg. We opted to fish Mavela for the normal reason...its closest. After a lot of bitching from Nick, I picked him up at 6am and we were on the water by 7:30. Sadly my eagerness didn't pay off, and 6 hours later I hadn't even had a knock. Nick missed one in the morning, but other than that I would've sworn the dam was barren of Trout. I'm not really sure what it was? I suppose a lot of things were against us, namely: A cold front had passed over the day before The water was crystal clear, there was not a ripple on…
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06Jun 2010 by Warren Prior No Comments
Uitzicht and Bracken Waters

Uitzicht and Bracken Waters

Fly Fishing, Fresh Water, Trout
[caption id="attachment_202" align="alignleft" width="225"] Warren Fighting A Trout In His Tube[/caption] During the week Nick had taken a bold step and joined the NFFC (Natal Fly Fishers Club), so on Sunday we jumped in the Paj and headed for Uitzicht, a club water in the Kamberg area. Neither of us had fished this water before, but due to a rather humorous Butt Farming sign, we both knew exactly where it was. A cup of coffee and toilet break later (which involved me getting locked in the gents by an excited Nick) and we were inflating the tubes on the side of a great looking dam. We waded into the chilly water and just after kicking out Nick realised he'd lost his net. He sulkily headed back to shore and as…
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16May 2010 by Warren Prior No Comments
Baha Bushmans

Baha Bushmans

Fly Fishing, Fresh Water, Trout
[caption id="attachment_196" align="alignright" width="225"] Warren Prior With A Bushman's Brown[/caption] With only two weeks remaining in the river season I was beginning to feel the pain of having only had one outing, mostly due to a snapped Achilles. Thankfully I managed to get a pink slip on Sunday and recruited fellow Baha Boy Nick Nortje for a trip to the Bushmans. I picked up Nick at around 6am in Pietermaritzburg and continued the long drive to Giant's Castle. We arrived at 7:30 and started kitting up. It was Nick's first time on the rivers so this took a bit longer than usual. We whipped off his intermediate line and wound on a new floating line, eager to get onto the water. The river was flowing at a good rate as…
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04Apr 2010 by Warren Prior No Comments
Silverhill

Silverhill

Fly Fishing, Fresh Water, Trout
[caption id="attachment_193" align="alignright" width="300"] View Over Silverhill[/caption] Sharon and I spent the Easter weekend at Silverhill (Kamberg) with my dad, sister and Cassia. Silverhill is a 4 star resort offering various activities including fly fishing in several, small, stocked dams. Upon arrival I looked at the photos they had stuck up...there were none of fish. I then looked at the brochure...fishing was mentioned, but again no photos. At this point I perhaps should've been more suspicious. On Saturday morning I planned to be up and on the water early, but after a severe outbreak of hayfever (I'm guessing due to the thatch) and very little sleep, I ended up only hitting the water after breakfast. Although the dam I fished was small, I took the opportunity to make use of…
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21Mar 2010 by Warren Prior No Comments
Technical Lotheni

Technical Lotheni

Fly Fishing, Fresh Water, Trout
[caption id="attachment_190" align="alignleft" width="225"] Western Fly Fishing The Lotheni[/caption] Thanks to a not very cooperative Achilles, it had been a long wait for me to get into my first river of the season, some 6 months after they opened. Western, Karen, Sharon and I headed up to Lotheni for the first long weekend, hoping for a combination of some relaxation and epic fly fishing. Now I've always known that the Lotheni River was very technical wild Brown waters, but this weekend really just emphasised that point. At around 2pm on Saturday Western and I walked from the campsite, back towards the main camp, rods in hand, and eager. We entered the river at the small feeder stream the road crosses, and I carefully chose my first fly for the trip...the…
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21Feb 2010 by Warren Prior No Comments
Jet Ski Epic

Jet Ski Epic

Bait, Salt Water
[caption id="attachment_187" align="alignright" width="300"] Jet Ski Fishing[/caption] At 4am on Sunday I was up and ready for the first epic Baha Boys deep sea fishing trip. Nick and I hooked up the Jet Ski and headed for Umdloti, stopped at a garage of course for a quick coffee and kak (you can't go at sea). At 5:30am we pushed the ski into the surf, and Nick pulled off a dodgy launch. There was a decent shore break, so the plan was we push the ski into the water, Nick jumps on and starts it, then I jump on and we go. That’s pretty much how it went down, except that as soon as Nick jumped on, a huge formed in front of him, and he put full steam to punch…
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24Jan 2010 by Warren Prior No Comments
Float Tube Bliss

Float Tube Bliss

Fly Fishing, Fresh Water, Trout
[caption id="attachment_183" align="alignleft" width="300"] Nick On His Float Tube[/caption] On Sunday morning Nick and I headed out to Mavela to do some Trout bashing. Although we knew the conditions weren't going to be ideal (they never are in January), I had to get out there. I'd bought a float tube, which had been sitting in my cupboard, unused, since September. Not only are ruptured Achilles expensive, they're also a pain in the ass. Anyway, I picked Nick up at 6am, and we were in the tubes and on the water by 7:30am. It was already sweltering hot, and the water was far too warm for my liking. A fisherman who arrived a little after us measured it at around 25 degrees. Looking back, I think we were lucky that the…
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