Largies demand an angler to be fully concentrated, period!

Your gear needs to be up to scratch, your plan A, B and even plan C needs to be fully detailed and layed out, then we not even talking about your fly selection, presentation, and sink rate. So much thought and meticulous planning goes into successfully targeting these fish and as many anglers will know, there are ZERO second chances with these fish.

This past week we were joined by father and son duo, Andy and Steve from Cape Town, along with returning guest and friend of African Waters, Jeff Tyser from Gauteng.

Spring had truly sprung and with a few days of hot weather, after a heavy cold front, the fish had moved from the slow moving pools and were beginning to hunt in the current lines and the shallower rocky tail-outs of the bigger pools. With the clear water we were fortunate enough to get some amazing sight fishing opportunities. One fish that springs to mind was a big largie we found cruising along a drop-off right in front of us. Remaining calm, leading the fish by a couple feet , we watched this beautiful fish inhale a streamer – as good as Largie fishing can get. 

The anglers did really well. Andy, at 73 years of age, landed some amazing fish. Jeff was also getting stuck in and had some good largies in the net. A worthy prize for an angler who never stopped working, leaving no stone unturned.

In-between the largie feeding windows, some seriously strong smallmouth yellowfish were landed as well. Whether nymphing or swinging weighted streamers in the current, these fish hit the guests flies incredibly hard in the fast flowing, oxygen rich, water. 

Despite a couple tough sessions, everyone ended their week’s fishing with some spectacular double digit large mouth yellowfish and big smiles to go along with it.

Until next time

Greg