The first frost heralds the official start of the still water Trout season, but our patience was challenged by the urge to test out a few new fly patterns, that were admittedly whipped up with more whisky than observations of what fish feed on.

Water temperatures dictate the menu for our cold-hearted foe and before reproduction becomes their driving force, it’s time to hit the All You Can Eat Buffet.

The beetles are long gone, hoppers few and far between and only sporadic hatches of Caddis and very small Mayfly, so not a lot of surface action. But, first light always sees moving fish and that golden half hour before dark will surprise you with how many Trout are in your vicinity.

It’s all about calories, with the Minnows and Platanna making up the meat platter and a side order of damsels or dragons should invite a few dinner guests.

Stu and Sven led the exploratory forage on local waters and their fly and rig selection was spot on.

Water temperatures were still dropping, so this first session was a good indication of what was to come.

We needed a reason to jump into those floating lazy- boys, and no better excuse than a quick visit to Kokstad, hosting the first festival of the season.

The journey to this scenic part of the world told the story, as the trees, still full of colour in Nottingham Road were fast shedding their leaves further South and the dams were noticeably colder.

The consequence was the fish not feeding on many natural imitations and already chasing those bright gawdy flies that resemble no earthly creature. And that’s when our weird patterns came to the fore.

Now festivals have more to do with celebrations than actual fishing, so my mates and I can’t claim we hit the lights out on the numbers, but there was no doubt that our fly patterns would have made fine earrings at any 70’s disco.

John Larter, (who has the rare distinction of having caught the largest fish in both the Corporate Challenge and the Swartberg festival in the same year) was a brave man strapping on an experimental pattern that really belonged in a Moulin Rouge brothel!

But yet Again the man delivered the goods!

There’s always theories about when and why a fish strikes, least not of which is the full moon, which by the way it was, in all its’ grandeur, but there’s little doubt about where you need to put the fly and how to fish it. In a few weeks or so, our water temperatures are sure to follow suit and thIS new flamboyant fly will no doubt take down a couple of horny fish!

In the shadowy depths of weed-choked lakes, where water boils with the promise of monsters, fly fishing takes a bold turn when you scale up to big, aggressive surface flies and streamers. These attract the attention of large predators and transform your fly rod into a tool for targeting lunker bass of 5 pounds or more.

As an angler who’s hooked and sometimes been humbled by these bucketmouths, I know it’s not just about size. It’s about mastering the retrieve, reading water, and provoking explosive strikes from the biggest largemouth in the system. In this post, we’ll break down what it takes to hook up with the larger specimens in your favourite bass water. I’ll share tips to help you land your personal best. If you’re ready to ditch finesse and go big for largemouth glory, pack away your dry fly and nymph boxes, grab your eight- or 9-weight rod, and tie on some big bugs for big bass.

The Target

Okay, first things first: Let’s address the elephant in the room. South African fly fishers generally do not fish for bass. In fact, many fly rodders are anti-bass. Trout anglers have a particular disdain for bass and often see them as an irritating bycatch. Some even suggest that catching bass doesn’t require much skill. I believe that perception is misguided. While I understand the frustration when bass end up in trout dams that require substantial stocking and financial input to maintain a trout population for recreational fishing, it isn’t the species’ fault that they ended up alongside trout. Nor is it their fault that they can breed and, in most cases, thrive in these lakes.

I understand that bass are exotic and invasive species that can harm populations of indigenous fish. In such cases, their numbers need to be controlled or even eradicated. This is a complex topic; I’ll leave it to someone more qualified to debate. Bass are here in Africa for the same reasons trout were introduced: for recreational and sport fishing. I can assure you they didn’t apply for refugee status back in 1928 to be shipped off from the States to S.A.
All kidding aside, bass are a widely distributed angling species in our freshwater systems, and they are not going away any time soon. So why not enjoy them for what they are — a fantastic target for anglers fishing with artificial lures and flies?

A Tricky Customer

When it comes to the idea that bass are an easy target and not too “bright,” I can tell you otherwise: they are every bit as “clever” and finicky as trout. Young bass naturally succumb to their need to feed and maintain their metabolic demands for growth, but bass are also long-lived compared to trout—they can live up to three times longer than an average stillwater trout. With age comes wisdom, as the saying goes. Although fish do not exhibit intelligence in the form of abstract reasoning or complex problem-solving, they possess the capacity for adaptive behaviours, learning, memory, and survival strategies shaped by evolution. Studies have shown that largemouth bass avoid lures or hooks after being caught and released.

Adult bass also change their diet and feeding habits as they grow older. They begin opting for larger, slower-moving, or struggling prey, and they feed less often to conserve energy. Understanding that adult bass are smarter, more experienced, and can be selective feeders makes targeting big bass (5 lbs and up) a challenge worth pursuing.

Upsize

Bass are an aggressive freshwater predator and, for the most part, don’t need too much convincing to eat. However, as with any other species, the older, wiser fish pose the challenge.

For me, the thrill of bass on fly lies in hunting the big “lunkers” and focusing my efforts on cracking the 10lb trophy mark. I have yet to reach the magic number and have fallen just short on many occasions, but any bass in the 4-pound-and-up weight class will give you a run for your money and is always fun to catch.

First, upsize your tackle. Your 6-weight fly rod and trusty old woolly bugger just won’t cut it. Although lots of fun can be had with lighter fishing tackle, you need a heavier setup that can comfortably deliver a bigger fly accurately and at a distance if you want to target bigger bass. Big streamers and poppers are both heavier and more wind-resistant. My preference for casting these bulkier flies is an 8-weight or even a 9-weight rod. This allows me to cast heavier flies with much more ease and accuracy. Accuracy is the most important factor.

I like to match my rod with an appropriate reel. You do not need to break the bank on an expensive reel with a strong drag. Remember, you are fishing around heavy structure for these fish. You do not want to give them an inch once hooked. Chances are, your line will never get onto the reel, let alone take any drag. The line is much more important in this setup. I would recommend a quality floating line with a short, aggressive taper and a heavier line size. There are quite a few specialised bass lines on the market. Most brands offer streamer-specific or heavy-fly-oriented tapers. My preference is the Cortland Hi-Vis Flip floating line. Although not marketed as a “big fly” fly line, it is a great all-rounder. It features a short belly taper in a full line size heavier. That means an 8-weight line has the head grain weight of a 9-weight line by AFTMA standards.

At the business end, I keep my leader setup short. I rarely fish a leader longer than 8 feet total when targeting bass with surface flies. I keep mytippet selection at 15-20lb. The heavier tippet gives you extra abrasion resistance when pulling fish through heavy cover.
Now for the fun part. With all this extra weight and power, you have many new fly and surface bug options to throw at hungry trophies. Large deer hair bugs, foam head poppers, flippers, and frogs or even 8” game-changers are all good choices. Don’t hold back on size, profile and built-in triggers when sitting behind the vice or shopping to fill your fly box.

Where and When

Location is everything. Knowing that the water you are fishing is home to quality-sized bass puts you one step ahead. Reports of anglers catching fish in the 5lb+ range are signs of larger fish. If you don’t live on the banks of Inanda or Loskop dam, or have access to an uncle’s private trophy dam in Eswatini, you can still try your luck in your favourite dam. Every body of water has bigger, older fish. When you scale up, your goal is to target them. You may be surprised at what lurks beneath the surface.

Seasons are a major consideration when planning your next trophy expedition. It is accepted that Largemouth Bass are a warm-water species and most active in summer. However, big fish don’t always conform to these seasons. Spring and Autumn are big bass periods. They are a great time to target them on fly gear.

Spring spawning season gives you the best chance at catching a large specimen on a fly. Large hens are hungry and aggressive. They begin moving into shallow water to find males and spawning beds. The pre-spawn females are the ones to watch; these are heavier fish yet to lay eggs. These fish sit in deeper water near spawning beds, called staging areas. Here, they feed aggressively and increase calorie intake to fuel spawning. Our local baitfish and tilapia also “wake up” at this time. This is when I fish big streamer patterns and game-changer flies.

As the season changes from summer to autumn and winter, big bass move from deep lies to hunt on lake points and in shallow backwaters. Much of their hunting is around dusk and dawn. Overcast days keep them feeding in the top water column longer, as they stock up for winter. They are usually very aggressive, and this is my favourite time to fish surface flies around shallow cover and structure. Surface smashes are spectacular. It’s hard to find another freshwater fish that attacks a surface fly with such precision and aggression.

The Approach

Besides picking the right location for big bass, you need a careful approach and strategy. Casting and retrieving through schools of smaller, aggressive fish may only give you smaller bites. It is more likely to deliver undesired results.

I focus on targeting bigger fish in the early mornings and late afternoons, especially on warm sunny days. Big-bodied bass prefer to hunt from an ambush point. Cast around likely structure, such as lily pads, weed beds, fallen trees, submerged timber, drop-offs, or old river beds. These are all great places to catch bass. Sometimes you will find larger fish patrolling edges. Always be ready to present a fly when you spot these broad-shouldered bullies. Fair warning, these fish can be tricky to fool.

Big bass are vigilant and wary, with keen eyesight. They might not look spooked when you first approach, but they can sense an angler’s presence. That alone might put them off. Approach as you would any wary fish, with a low profile and slow, steady steps. Your first cast is always the most important. Often, your biggest bass comes from the first cast, just when you least expect it.

The Retrieve

This entire article up to this point has been about being big, bold and aggressive when targeting big bass, but here is where I flip the script and tell you to tone it down.

I have seen this countless times with fly anglers fishing for aggressive predatory fish. They bomb out a long cast and strip the fly faster than anything I’ve seen move through the water column. Yes, this technique can elicit some bites from young, overzealous fish, but the big fish seldom play that game.

Whether you are fishing a big game changer or a large cup-faced popper, slow down your retrieve and be deliberate with your flies’ movements. Remember, big predators single out the slow, the weak, or the dying. A strip, strip pause retrieve with the odd longer pauses in between, I find, to be the most effective when fishing bigger flies for trophy Bass. The same applies to large poppers: if you think you are fishing them slow enough and giving the flies time to sit after every pop, fish even slower. A frog or flipper-style fly is about the only fly that requires a more consistent retrieve, but again, these are guidelines, and every water or situation presents a different scenario, so play around with your retrieve.

In the end, chasing big bass on the fly is a pursuit that rewards patience, adaptability, and the courage to step outside traditional boundaries. Whether you land a personal best or simply enjoy the thrill of aggressive strikes and close encounters, the process is as rewarding as the catch itself. So rig up your heavy tackle, cast boldly, —because when it comes to trophy bass, fortune truly favours those who go big.

TFO Elevare vs. Wyoming’s Cutties

By Amy Bo Visser

Day 5: Ladies Fly Fishing World Championships – Idaho, USA
Read More “Casting Confidence”

Waiting for the Winter Trout to turn on, means biding your time until the water temperatures tell them to. As soon as it dips below that 12 degree mark, it should properly trigger their urge to spawn, with Hens looking for running water at inlets (a rare feature in Natal Winters), and, or shallow water in which instinct dictates they should focus on finding suitable habitat to shed their eggs. These excretions will send any cock fish into a fighting frenzy, but even without this water bound aroma, at this time of year, water temperature makes the males break out their battle regalia, and bright orange flanks signal their desire and “take no shit” demeanour.

To some, targeting spawning fish might seem off sides, but in still water terms, with the general absence of viable spawning grounds, it’s sight fishing sport that brings out their best in every weight category.

Yet, despite the water temperatures being where they should be, this exciting activity has been late to arrive.

We think this is largely due to the late Autumn rains. Consequently every piece of water is full to the brim and the shallow shale spillways have an unusual amount of weed and large deposits of run off soil. Dams are ordinarily a few meters lower by the Winter Solstice, exposing the structure around which Trout gravitate at this time of year, so sighting fish is also a little more challenging.

Couple this with the amount of newly flooded shoreline releasing fresh nutrients and subsequent food through Autumn and the theory rationalises the lack of sight fishing to spawning fish in the Natal Midlands seems to make sense…..but then so do many of a fly fishers far flung reasons as to why we’re not catching.

Fortunately the Trout fishing waters in WildFly country still continue to produce fish, as the Winter festivals have shown us.

The recent Kamberg Trout Festival, driven this year by TFO and Cortland, still delivered 451 Trout, with the largest of 62cm being recorded, a beautiful Brown Trout to boot. Well done to Bradley Turkington!

What fly consistently delivered the goods was a topic of too much debate, although Minkies, those wiggle Minnows and articulated Damsels certainly caught more than their fair share. But I do believe it was the time on the water fishing in the right areas that proved the telling factor, with many fish being taken in the channels between the weed beds. This year, the ‘one fish to count in each session, made the serious fly fisher focus on those bigger Trout, with that 50cm yardstick being everyone’s goal. Fortunately almost every dam delivered on its promise in this respect. This made it a closely contested affair, but the team which eventually took top honours was the IFP (Independent Fish Producers), with their team captain Andrew Johnson also walking away with the best fly fisher award.

The KTF is a highlight of my social fly fishing calendar, as you get to spend a long weekend with your best fishing buds, acting like care free youngsters again, in the spectacular Kamberg countryside. This fundraiser is only possible because of the incredible community who come together each year, opening up their farmland to us weekend warriors.

And what a festive weekend it was, fortunately thanks to the Kamberg Ladies and their scrumptious grub, we staved off the Winter chill, helped by the lads behind the pub at the Farmer Associations’ ‘Wheel and Plough’.

Too many people to thank for all their hard work, but a big shout out to Leigh Robertson and her team for keeping us so well fed, Kim Willemse for all the organisation and admin, Matthew Moxham for steering the team behind the scenes and to Dave & Andrew Culverwell for driving everything plus a great prize giving!

It’s a one of a kind fly fishing experience, which the WildFly team would never miss out on.

I believe all us social anglers suffer the same contradiction. When emerging off the water victorious, we bestow our wisdom with great gusto, confident that we’ve cracked the code, yet when the fish do give us the middle fin, we have a littany of ‘rational’ excuses as to why they aren’t co-operating.

No where is this more apparent than at the TOPS Corporate Challenge, largely due to the fact that when celebrating the catches, loose lips are quick to dispense pearls.

There are many legitimate reasons as to why Trout don’t feed or strike but environment aside, I must reluctantly admit the root of my blank days largely lie in my own hands.

Patience is one downfall, which is exacerbated by our modern world demanding that everything be sped up and the expectation of an instant result. Take casting, being the fundamental of our sport, or so we think. As soon as we get on the water we break out into a frenzy of line chucking, in part to get a rythym going and just because feeling that line whistle through the air is poetry in motion when we get it right. Yet , this prentense at artistry is lost on the fish, unless they elect to grow wings. In short too much casting reduces your chance of catching, which is simple mathematics really.

This wasn’t the fundemantal challenge on the 2nd leg of the TCC this weekend. Convincing this very festive bunch of anglers to rise and shine is where it started and in some cases team members were dragged to the waters edge. A little bleary eyed is what the waiting Trout were very pleased about, as strikes were missed and many fish lost at the bank. Quite frankly a good portion of the field just couldn’t wait to get back to the warmth and shelter of Notties, as that beastly Easterly drove the temperature gauge South. Surprisingly, considering the number hours spent on the water, 104 Trout were measured in the first day, with many fly fishing virgins landing their very first Trout.

The weather provided a reliable reason for the beligerant Trout not coming out to play but the age old question reverberated around the dinner table. What fly should I be using? Now I would always rather to be throwing the wrong fly in the right area of a dam than stripping the right fly in the wrong area, but despite this little adage, we remain transfixed by the fly.

Driving the demanding fly question, was entrants seeing fish rise on some dams and in the gin clear watching Trout chasing each other up and down. Couple this with some very accomplished fly fishers catching up to 13 fish in a session, where others didn’t trouble the scorers and confusion reigned.

And it was a real mixed bag on the fly front.

Select dams saw the dainty red eyed damsel getting the desired result, whereas on others only the bright ugly flies got any attention. The WildFly Wiggle Minnow certainly produced more than its fair share of fish, as did GPB’s.

Day two had 74 fish caught and released, interestingly with more fish measuring over half a meter due to balmier weather keeping the fly fishers on the water longer.Adding to the 1st leg’s result two weeks ago, it brought the tally up to 514 Trout landed at the halfway mark of the TOPS Corporate Challenge.

As always the festivities outweighed any fishing, as new freindships were forged over our social sport. The Fly Fishing Consultants took top honors, winning the 2nd leg, with Reel Wanderers, Fly Beserkers, Fish On and Unispan all qualifying for the grand TCC final.

John Larter was the man of the hour, winning the biggest fish of 56cm and top fly fisher with 22 Trout to his name.

Advice as always is easily given and rarely absorbed, but if there’s one unequivicol truism it’s keep your fly in the water longer and let the fish find your fly!



At one stage, I thought the second coming of Noah was at hand. We’ve barely seen a blue sky these last few months, the consequence being that in WildFly country we’ve yet to enjoy the Brown Trout season. The rest of SA seems to have suffered a similar fate in terms of torrential, turbid rivers.

It does bode well for an action packed May though, despite giving only a small window in which to walk the Mooi river catchment.

We’ve had far too much time to contemplate how we intend assaulting our Trout waters and I’m not one for preaching more time behind a vise than we can spend with a rod in hand, but sorting one good, go-to fly box, is where it should all start. The creations which have evolved at the hands of these devoted or rather, possessed bar flies sure do look juicy and the itch to feel line taken from my grasp is almost overwhelming.

Thank whatever you call God, Trout season is kicking off. And what a rewarding few months it promises to be!

Dams have hardly stopped overflowing, with nutrients pouring into habitat and a fairly constant water temperature making a factory of food for the cold water contender that has been lying low. It’s time to go knocking on the door. Last season measured 1685 Trout caught and released during the festivals with a few 9lb Rainbows recorded and many more ‘Trophies’ testing tippets and hence why it’s wise to tackle up properly.

I have no idea what fly will reign supreme this Autumn / Winter, but I won’t leave much to chance on breaking strain. Fluoro might cost you more than a great single malt, but unlike some scotch you wont have any regrets.

It’s wondering what fly, before we strap anything on, that starts the old motor running. After many fine celebrations last year, word soon spread about that new killer pattern, which had hundreds of tying pundits scratching for more material, trying to fill their fly boxes with the latest sure thing.

It’s always boils down to water temperature, the seasons producing the varied menu for Trout and right now we’re recording the lower dams at around 19 degrees and some of our higher altitude waters a little lower. Minnows and Platanna are still prevalent and for the dry fly addict, Hoppers abound with every step you take in the veld. In my opinion, it’s a little early for any gaudy attractor flies….although we do give fish more credit than due when it comes to selective versus opportunistic feeding.

All I can tell you is that my box is never empty of Dragons or Damsels and the complete array of Midge patterns that will inevitably sit on point.

But I’ve yet to wet a fly line on our Trout waters and I’ve no doubt that the fervour behind the vise amongst the brethren will reveal a few variations that tip the scales. So stand by for our Bi Monthly Trout Report, where we’ll keep you updated on the feeding habits of fish in WildFly Country.

Raise a glass and celebrate, because your time spent on the water with great mates, is what it is all about!