A Tough Morning At Prairie

Having played four league matches in a row I was feeling a little tender and in desperate need of a relaxing evening. Friday thankfully provided just that, so we turned down a few braai invitations and instead spent the evening relaxing on our couch.

But rest is for the wicked and so I dragged myself out of bed at 5am on Saturday morning and headed for the Midlands. Sadly I’d been unable to find a fishing partner but this did little to deter my enthusiasm. In fact, if anything, I was more enthusiastic as I prefer the odd trip alone on the water. It removes any competition and allows me to focus on experimenting with new techniques and flies which I otherwise may not risk (with someone breathing down my neck).

I pulled into the water at around 6:30am and was fishing by 7am. Sadly conditions were far from ideal. In a slight miscalculation I’d opted to fish one of our closer club waters rather than drive for another hour into the Berg. At the time this seemed like a good idea as I was both worried about rain in the Berg (which there was) as well as not feeling like driving a few hours by myself.

As a result I found myself fishing very warm, very murky, very weedy water. The warm water was a problem but the murky water meant I was relatively well hidden from the fish. The weed on the other hand would be useful in winter by providing shelter and food for the fish, but under these conditions it posed a few problems as I was fishing deep (and hence in it). Not to be deterred by this I began experimenting with smaller flies, fishing deeper, and almost statically. It was tough going but thankfully I was rewarded for my perseverance when I landed a small rainbow trout at around 11am.

Knowing things were far from perfect I breathed a sigh of relief, packed up my kit, and headed home to spend some time on the squash courts.