BREEDE RIVER STATUS

[Zane]

Dear forum,

Even though I am a great fan of catching barble on fly I can only express with great sadness the loss of one of the best smallmouth bass venues in the country.

I have fished from Slanghoek right up to Swellendam and can report that the smallmouth bass populations in the river are now extinct in many of the runs that produced literally dozens of fish in the past.

Reports have also surfaced that barble have been seen in Du Toits Kloof valley and as far as the Breede River valley just before Ceres?

Can anybody confirm the locations that they have seen barble and if there are still areas where there are lots of smallmouth bass, even if they are small fish.

Sincerely,

 

[wahoo warrior]

zane, i love catching smallies, and its a real pitty about the barbel in the river.  any that get caught must be killed...to say that the smallies are extinct in the river....well...dunno about that. they are pretty aggro predators themselves, and im sure that they are still full up in the breede. just gotta look for them... think its more a case of water conditions.  ps...where is this doring river you talk about?

 

[Zane]

Hey Wahoo,

I do acknowledge that I may have been a little melodramatic but if you fished Bonnievale 9 years ago you would have sworn that it was a different river to what it is now.

You can access the Doring river near Trawal (approx 10kms before Vredendal) on a farm called De Brug owned by Koos Greef. He rents out a cottage on the river at very affordable rates.

His stretch of the river offers the best smallmouth bass fishing I have ever experienced. Just limit your group to no more than 3 anglers as the pools dry up and it can get a bit crowded if too many people fish there.

The first pool is approx 500m long and at places about 3-4 meters deep. The river then breaks into isolated pools that are far apart at this time of the year.

Beware this is wild country, there is no cell phone reception. You fish in a huge valley with the next farmhouse on the river being Oudrif resort approx 38kms away. Lots of cobras and puff adders in the area so be on the lookout.

You can get the Greefs details from the Vredendal tourism office. Ýou may be wondering why I'm sharing this hotspot on the Net. Well its a LONG drive from Cape Town so very few people do the trouble to fish there on weekends.

Another place that I discovered is a farm called McGreggors cottage owned by Anine Mcgreggor. The farm is situated on the Olifants river 25kms upstream from Citrusdal. You can find the contact details and rates on Gumtree-Cape Town. Only fished there once but caught lots of smallmouth bass there to.