Hi all, Was wondering if anyone could give me s

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Sonofafish

New member
Hi all,

Was wondering if anyone could give me some advice on fishing in Island Lake Wilderness, with regards to species/bait/lures/regulations etc. If someone could share their experiences it would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!
 
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Scheco

New member
Hi Sonofafish,

I haven't fished in Island lake myself but know of a couple of friends who have. They usually go there to catch garrick on spoons and rapala's from their canoes. As far as i know, you do need a separate permit for your canoe and a normal coastal fishing license can be used. We use to fish in the touw river in Wilderness where the same conditions applied. For more info on the permits you can phone the Wilderness national parks. They are in the book.
When are you planning to visit Island Lake?

Scheco
 
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Sonofafish

New member
Hi Sheco,

 

Thanks for the info! I actually thought there might be some good size leeries there and heard there are some massive springers as well. Very keen to try it out, but I'm land-bound at the moment, with nothing like a canoe to use on the lake. Was hoping to get some info on spots from the banks to try out.

Don't have a specific date in mind, but hopefully soon.

 

Thanks again...
 
P

Psy

Sealiner
yip...thats right - leeries in there, spin from the canoe or from the side.
PM itsarap - he has fished there quite a bit!

tight lines.
 
F

fisher

Senior Member
BTW besides the leeries there's also steenbras, stumpnose, grunter, tilapia, and carp as well.
But I've only seen small one's of these caught by some of the hungry locals.
If you go further up one of the rivers black bass can also be caught.

And this guy I spoke to said that when Parks Board were netting to remove carp, that they also netted some cob in there.
 
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Sonofafish

New member
Thanks for that info!

Is there a river that one can follow from the lake itself, or can one get to one of the rivers higher up for the bass? I don't remember seeing a river run directly into the lake, but it may be covered with reeds.

Perhaps a good scouting trip will be a good idea!

Regards
 
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Scheco

New member
We snorkeled in the touws river very high upstream where the water is crystal clear and about 3m deep and it is very weird to see leeries and other freshwater fish swimming together. The tilapias we saw are very good sizes and I was wondering if there will be bass.
Thanks fisher for clearing that up for me.
There is a small water link between Island Lake and the touw river called "serpentine river". It is very narrow, covered with reeds on both sides, and has a bad smell, probably because the water is not really moving.
I might be going to the river this coming week sometime. Also don't have a proper canoe, but my old windsurfer board with a modified rod holder keeps me afloat just fine.
 
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Sonofafish

New member
Sounds interesting!

Is there a way to reach the area of the river you snorkeled by car or can it only be reached by canoe?  Don't know the area very well at all or if there are roads close to the river. Can one fish along the banks?

Sorry for all the questions, but I'm having really a dry spell with the rock&surf stuff and am keen to try something and someplace new!

By the way, how come the lake is salty? It must be connected to Swartvlei then?
 
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Sonofafish

New member
Ah! Just got the bigger picture by checking the sat images in Google Earth. Island lake is salt because connected to the Touws river, which of course will be Saline.

I see there are two other lakes between Island lake and Swartvlei. Any ideas on what may be in there and if they can be fished?
 
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Scheco

New member
I've attached an image of the part of the touw river we usually visit. The green line is part of the wilderness parks where you can fish from the banks and there's not much reeds. You can drive into both sides of the park, but we usually obtain a day permit for this. By following the green line up river, there is a hiking trail, but most of the trail is not close to the river, so I would not recommend trying that if you want to fish the river.

The blue line represents another hiking trail we saw from the river, while on the canoes. I'm not sure where it starts, but every now and then the path makes an opening right on the river bank. It is these spots that we parked the canoes and fished from the bank.

The red dots are the spots that we snorkled, where we saw both freshwater fish as well as leeries swim together.

At the end of the hiking trail there is a waterfall with 2 large water pools. The water was freezing cold but we saw an eel swimming. I wonder if someone knows if there would be any other kind of fish in those freezing pools?
 

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Sonofafish

New member
Hey, that helps alot, many thanks!

I've decided that most rivers and lakes in the area are pretty hard to fish from the banks, so going to George tomorrow to try and find a suitable two man canoe that will suffice as a fishing canoe. Also want to use it for bass fishing and rowing long distances if need be. Has to be stable to keep my heavy ass out the water and with enough space to do some nice customising. Any ideas where in George I can look apart from El Shaddai?

By the way, thanks for all your help with this! I can promise you, once I've got a canoe, it won't be long before I'm up that river and on that lake!

Regards
 
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Cobus Blouberg

Senior Member
Sonofafish,

Post here when you want to do a trip, we have a few guys here that are on canoes, etc. and we have been talking about putting a weekend together for that area or those waters.

I have been up and down there in a fishing kayak a few times and the fishfinder goes mal regularly, plus you will see lots of surface action, even in winter.

Island Lake is OK, but I think you will get bored fishing from the banks as compared to moving along in whatever craft.

If you want to try it out first, so before buying something, go to the guys at Pirates Creek, they have canoes for rental that will do a basic job.
 
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Sonofafish

New member
Hi Cobus,

Thanks for the invite, you can bet I'll make use of it soon!

I've actually decided to go to George today to see if I can find myself a reasonably priced fishing canoe. Fishing is just not the same when you're landbound and the freedom to fish were you want that comes with something that floats is amazing. I need something for bass fishing as well, so might as well dig into those savings and get it over with!

Thanks again
 
F

fisher

Senior Member
Scheco wrote:
We snorkeled in the touws river very high upstream where the water is crystal clear and about 3m deep and it is very weird to see leeries and other freshwater fish swimming together. The tilapias we saw are very good sizes and I was wondering if there will be bass.
Thanks fisher for clearing that up for me.
There is a small water link between Island Lake and the touw river called "serpentine river". It is very narrow, covered with reeds on both sides, and has a bad smell, probably because the water is not really moving.
Click to expand...
The spot that I'm referring to that has bass is actually not up the touws river (I don't know if there's bass at the spot you're talking about where you snorkeled) but under the train bridge on the other side of island lake.

If you're driving from George along the gravel road, keep going until it becomes tar and then gravel again, where it passes a caravan park on the right. Keep going and eventually the road crosses the railway line. You can park and walk along the line until it goes over the river.

The last time I was there though it was pretty weeded up, making fishing from the railway line not very feasible.
You can get there via a canoe if you launch at the caravan park (you'll have to paddle to the other side of the lake though) or closer off the road where the boulders are.
 
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fisher

Senior Member
Sonofafish wrote:
I see there are two other lakes between Island lake and Swartvlei. Any ideas on what may be in there and if they can be fished?
Click to expand...
You're not allowed to fish in Langvlei or Rondevlei, so I believe there's some big fish there.
 
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