A Very Pleasant Way to Spend a Sunday...

Beating sun Sweating brow Rushing river Arc'ing casts Splashing fin Dropping fly Swirling water Flashing gold Tightening line Screaming ratchet Bending rod Beating heart Relenting fish Smiling angler Releasing fish Relaxing angler Contented ============================== I caught my first Vaal Smallmouth Yellowfish at the weekend. As it was only my second attempt at catching one of these prized fighting fish, I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly it happened. Usually, anglers have to work hard before they are rewarded with a fish. Steph, myself and the neighbours (with accompanying rugrats) headed off to a resort called Smilin' Thru for a day of relaxation and, for myself, fishing for "Yellows". The neighbours aren't much of an angling family and I had steeled myself to fend off their questions and interferances before I would be able to spend some quality time on the water by myself. The Vaal River is just over an hour's drive from home and we set off at exactly 7am, each family in our own cars. I should mention here that I traded in the "old" extended cab Ford Ranger about two weeks ago, for a double cab, also a Ranger. It was an offer I couldn't resist. Same mileage, same payments and same insurance costs as the "old" one, it was a done deal. The fact that the new Ranger is Scottish Royal Blue in colour, double cab with canopy (to transport the dogs) and four-wheel drive to boot, I just couldn't resist it. What urged me to go and look at trading in the "old" one was the fact that, between us, Steph and I were driving two, two-seater cars. Not very handy when you want to have more than two people in one car. Anyway, back to the present... We arrived at the resort just before 9am, having had Brian show us the long way there. After paying the entrance fee, we drove the length of the grounds to find a suitable picnic spot as close to the river as possible. Once I'd found the area I wanted to fish, we ended up leaving the ladies encamped next to the swimming pool, with the cooler boxes and everything they needed to relax in the glorious sunshine. I drove back to the fishing spot, some distance upstream of the pool, as I wasn't going to walk back that distance in my waders in the heat of the morning. I rigged up Brian's son's fly rod with a heavy-enough fly that he would be able to get it some distance out with not too much experience. A quick lesson in casting and drifting the line, and I rigged my own rod, slapped on the sun cream and stepped into the chest-height waders. The river is very rocky, with very few sandy patches and every rock as slippery as OJ Simpson on a murder rap. The brown water (visibility about 20cm) didn't help either and each step was fought for gingerly. Brian's son gave up after 20mins or so, after losing the fly on a submerged rock. As I was too far into the water for him to come and get a new fly, he packed it in and went swimming in the pool. After casting for about an hour with no luck, I moved to the head of some small rapids and saw a couple of fish feeding in the shallows. I tied on a small green beaded caddis nymph and plonked it just upstream from them, letting the river bring it back down toward them. Next thing I know, the line tightens and the fish takes off upstream like a fuckin' rocket. I'd heard stories of how they take a fly but was not expecting this reaction. It only fought for about five minutes, but it was well worth it. It was bigger than my landing net and I had to take it in tail first. When I weighed it on my small scale (which under-reads by about 500g), it came in at 2.1kg. I had to take it easy as I was only using a 2kg leader and didn't want to have it snap me off. Not a bad fish for a first Yellow, and I decided to go back to the pool and have a cold beer in celebration. Lunch was on the braai and I was well ready for it and the beer. The rest of the afternoon was spent in relaxed mode, trying to doze amidst the buzzing of the flies and swimming to cool off. We packed up at around 16h00 and took the short-cut home, the way we should have gone down that morning. If any of you have a list of fish to catch before you die, add the Yellowfish to it if it's not already there.