Olive Chaos Hopper and Puterbaugh Caddis produces the goods!

On Sunday, 18 March 2012, I headed back to Vaal Streams with a friend to try get a better result than the previous weekend. I rigged up two rods, one with a Czech nymph rig and the other one with a hopper pattern. My game plan was to wade and nymph downstream to the slower part of the river to target the fish on dry fly. On my way there I had one bump on the Czech nymph rig, however I was too late to set the hook.

When I arrived at the slower section I got onto some higher ground, and immediately saw some fish rising. My first choice of fly was a light brown Chaos Hopper and after a few casts I had a take, I was too fast on the pick-up and the hook popped out. I was quite frustrated with myself after missing out on the first fish, after another few drifts I switched to an olive Chaos Hopper and got a very powerful take as the hopper hit the water. The fish jumped a few times after the take and after a valiant fight it was safely in the net.

First Fish!

Olive Chaos Hopper!

I got another two fish on the olive chaos hopper where after it went quiet. I decided to Czech nymph back to the car, my friend managed a small yellow on the way back and I only got a bump from a yellow in the shallows on the olive hopper.

After lunch we headed straight back to the slower section, I stood on the bank and my friend waded to a sand bank close to the opposite bank. He almost immediately got a knock on a foam beetle, however he missed it the strike. This happened another three times where after things went quiet on his side. Meanwhile I was changing flies on a regular basis with no luck, I switched to a Puterbaugh Caddis and made an upstream cast from three rising fish. One of them spotted the fly and didn’t hesitate to take it, the fish was another averaged size smallmouth. This fly proved to be quite effective and I got another few fish on it, missing out on many more. My friend also managed to hook a few on hopper and beetle patterns during this period. This ended up being my most productive day with dry fly for yellows thus far!

PB Caddis - Fish Nr. 1

PB Caddis  - Fish Nr. 2

PB Caddis - Fish Nr. 3

All seasons in one day - Foam Hopper delivers at the end

So on Saturday my girlfriend and I headed down to Vaal Streams. She tested out her new rod and reel, and I experimented with some Czech nymph rigs. In the morning it was quite cold and the fish had some serious lock jaw. I spotted some carp, grass carp and some big yellows in the shallows during the morning, but could not manage any of them to take a fly. By mid-morning it was scorching hot and humid, with some clouds forming, a sign that the afternoon thunder showers where heading our way

Lunch time we headed back to the car and I met a fellow angler on the bank. We swapped some fisherman stories and discussed why the fish where not biting. After a long lunch and rest I was determined to get a fish before the end of the day. I headed to my favourite spot on this stretch of river and started casting some dry flies in the slower flows. After about an hour I switched to a small foam hopper with reddish brown legs, I made repeated casts to some rising fish and eventually I was rewarded with a little yellow. The weather during this time was deteriorating fast. A storm was approaching and after the first lighting I decided to call it a day!

Smallmouth that fell to the Brown Foam Hopper!

Little Brown Foam Hopper that saved the day!