Pongola Game Reserve Fishing Report

September 2009

General

September seemed to start off well, with the first two week- ends producing a lot of fish up to 5 kg’s. Then eventually a bus of almost 6, 9 kg‘s came out. Wow, haven’t seen a fish like that for a while. Gladly all bar one fish were released. Unfortunately the weather had an effect on the rest of the months fishing and although we caught fish, it proved difficult.  

The average  size tigers coming out range between 2  kg and 4 kg’s , although a lot of smaller tigers are been caught again . We are catching them in all depths although the 6 – 8 m water seems a lot more productive for bigger tigers. The old strategy of letting them run first and striking about 10 seconds later still seems to be the best method. The weather has been playing havoc with the fishing for the last two weeks.

Firstly our August wind has decided to blow the whole of September too and the atmospheric pressure is also constantly up and down too, making some days really good and other days really difficult. Our summer weather is definitely on its way though, with some really hot days in and amongst the wind which can only be good for the next couple of months. On the competition side of things, two were held this month. The first was more of a local competition which went off very well. I think about 50 boats entered and a 5, 1 kg won it.

The annual Tiervis Bonanza was successfully held again. It was well supported, with the possibility of allowing another 100 boats on for next year been the big talk? Otherwise the weather was cloudy and overcast for the first two days, improving on day three to a beautiful summer day. The fishing was up and down with each day bringing in some nice fish. I don’t think the fishing was as good as last year, but the boat was finally won with a 5, 44 kg. The rest of the fish ranged from 3.6 kg upwards to qualify for a prize. I was really great to see how many tigers were released.  Catching a tiger on fly seems to be becoming very popular. Jonathan from Mavungana Fly-fishing visited us again with some clients. They had a fantastic time on fly and on average landed more fish everyday than our conventional fishing clients. A couple of fish over 3 kg’s were landed and released and stories of bigger fish lost were talked about. The ideal seems to be a fast sink line fished just off the drop offs and weed beds.

The fly colors working best seem to include black, olive, purple and red. A very fast strip retrieve seems to produce the best results.   Finally some good news in connection with all the problems we have had with illegal gill nets. On one of the evenings a patrol was held on the dam. Working together with the honary officers, Pongola Game Reserve, SAP and other organizations, three boats, seven poachers and 21 nets were confiscated and arrested. I ask anyway with information to contact either the SAP, KZN Wildlife or PGR, so we can try and reduce our dam been fished out.

Captain Chris