Breede River (Rawsonville) 16 October '05

6 mates and I decided to do a river rafting trip down the upper breede river. There has been decent rain in the past few weeks and the weather forecast was looking good so we packed our gear, hired boats and set off on sunday (a little later then anticipated due to a fellow rafter's rough previous night and subsequent hang over).

There were only a few high level clouds in the sky and it was warm by eight am. We got setup and were on the river by 09h00. Brandvlei is nearby dam which has an outlet into the Breede about two km below our launch spot. The water from Brandvlei is murky, but thankfully it wasn't flowing so the water was running clear.

The river was running high too. We unfortunately had a headwind so we had to work hard at paddling down the river. We fished throughout the day at good looking spots. We managed to catch four smallmouth bass between two of us, all on deep diving rapalas. Two were caught in big pools, one in a fast flowing rapid and the other in a pool cut deep into the bank at the bottom of a long rapid. This bass (pictured below in the first two pictures) deserves mention. The pool just looked 'bassy'. I cast the rapala, but it fouled on landing. So i reeled it back to unfoul it. Due to being fouled, the rapala was on the surface and had no action at all. Yet this smallie hit it in true smallie style, coming straight out of the water. The next cast was a bit shaky, but the bass took it hard. All the smallies were fat and in excellent condition!

Great day on the river, but keen to catch some saltwater fish!

Brent - 3
Brent Runnells - 1

Elandspad 02 October 05

Clifford and I left CT in light drizzle at 06h00. The rain held off as we got closer to the our destination, the Elandspad river. We arrived, parked the car and hiked the four kms up to the 4th beat which is the top most beat. The Elandspad is a beautiful river to fish as it is tucked away in the mountain, has deep ravine's and deep pools.

We arrived at the pool which indicates the start of beat 4. The river was flowing strongly, but it was at a fishable height. There were no rising fish, plenty of clouds and no wind. Clifford and I decided to concentrate on the runs. We fished with a dry fly indictor and a wet fly underneath. There were a fair number of fish around and they were fairly keen to take flies. We managed to hook several fish but they managed to throw the fly! If it wasn't such a beautiful setting, it would have been frustrating. Due to the fast flowing water in the mid-stream, I struggled to keep the fly in the strike zone. Trout would be enticed out, but the line would pull the fly away too soon.

Brent - 0
Cliff - 0

I think I need to spend some more time on the river!
Besides not landing any fish, it was a great day fishing. Here are some pics.

Tight lines.

Next fishing trip- very soon!

head of a pool on beat 4

Cliff fishing
view of the river while hiking in
view of the surrounding mountains

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