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