News from Jan: The weather over the last week has been pretty stable, so much so that it leaves one wondering what’s coming! The Norwegians of YR seem confident that the status quo remains for the week ahead, that is partly cloudy conditions with a spit and a spot here and there. The lack of any major precipitation over the couple of weeks has the overflow of Midmar Dam reduced to all but a trickle and with no big rains in the forecast, the wall will be dry again soon.
Time to take advantage of the moderation in the weather, and get outside and throw that line. Reports from the trout rivers and streams are varied — ranging from “fishable” to “higher than expected” — but all were in agreement that it’s not yet quite dry fly water, and that some form of “heavy metal” is required, especially for the deeper pocket water. Cabin Fever is running high within the ranks of the Natal Fly Fishers Club river anglers, however one intrepid member finding that treacherous wading and hard work was worth the effort to report fish up to the 13-15 inch / 33-38cm bracket.
The KZN Fly Fishing Association (KZNFFA) Senior League officially kicked off this last weekend, with a river session on the Lotheni — closer to The ‘Berg, the water was still on the high side, but some good fish were recorded. Another week or so of little to no (major) rainfall, and conditions should improve that much more … watch this space! The NFFC stillwaters were a little less tolerant of the anglers affections, with only a single return reporting fish in the 3-5 inch / 8-13cm “fingerling” class … but a reminder that “a fish, is a fish!”.
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There were some fish reported from a private water — the water being coloured up, a Black Woolly Bugger did the business. The foot-and-mouth epidemic has come to a point where much of The Midlands has been shut down to limited / essential travel. In a notice released this week, the uMngeni Local Municipality called on all businesses and service providers to take reasonable and proactive precautions to reduce risk of further spread of FMD, to mitigate the devastating consequences for local agriculture, food security and livelihoods, and the impact to the broader rural community.
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