I love fishing the Ash. But what I experienced yesterday tops everything else I have seen so far.
Have you EVER seen anything like this in South Africa:
Got this beautiful specimen within the first 5 minutes post arrival
Fishing pockets
It is always a good idea to fish small pockets of water in between the rapids. you will be surprised how much those pockets can produce. It is definitely worth spending time on. I once saw a guy pull a 3kg yellowfish out of a crack on the rocks with what I thought contained a puddle of water.
Rule number one:
STAY LOW!!!!
I chose to sit down here behind a big rock while working the pocket of water behind it. More difficult than it looks.
Nice Action shot (Thanks Neil)
Although I fell in the freezing river, drowned my phone, wallet, lost a fly box containing about 250 plus flies, it was so awesome to be in this paradise and fishing the most beautiful piece of water I can remember, I will gladly do it again.
Prior to landing this young man, I had two hits which I missed. I can say I was lucky that this Rainbow cock fish still honored me with quite a battle. He got into a piece of water under a rock face where I did not even know he would be able to swim and he went deep. Took quite a bit of rod flicking and switching hands to get him back out. The fish here are very strong due to ideal conditions and very oxygenated water,
Close to victory:
I enjoyed this outing immensely even though I had a few losses due to lack of balance my side. This also reminds me to take the time to zip lock valuables before getting to the waters edge. If you do fall into freezing water just concentrate on breathing and don't fight the current. Just go with the flow until you are close to the edge and get yourself out there. I fell into really deep water. I fell in feet first with some velocity and I never hit the bottom, I had to let go of my rod and use my hands to swim back up. Once I got out I dusted off my ego and took everything out to dry. While everything was bathing in the sun, wallet, credit cards and a few notes, smokes etc I got in a bit more fishing time with my bare feet on the rock face. I could not help but laugh at what just perspired.
I hope to be doing this again some time next week, (without the swimming I might add) and will report back, as I have a few new ideas on flies that need to be tied for those pocket waters. I also have to re-tie some streamers and dries since I drowned my prime fly box.
Until next time.
