We launched at Lake Jozini (Pongolapoort Dam) at 05h00 and took the 20Km (1.5Mi) trip to the Gorge, it was sunny already by the slipway, but at the gorge there was a very thick mist that made us wet and we could not even see the Lebombo mountain tops, the water was crystal clear and we could see the bottom at around 5m (16ft). There was a wind blowing down the gorge and the water surface temperature was averaging at around 22 deg. C.
I was hoping for some bigger Tiger fish here, as we often get nice ones in the gorge but it was not to be and we had only around 3 strikes and as we drifted closer to the rocky banks I made an over-cast and my lure landed on a rock next to a 600mm (2ft) Iguana which grabbed the lure and gave me a good fight to the boat, I did not bring him on board as he was thrashing like made, and grabbed the hook with some pliers and removed it, and he instantly swam away from the boat.
I decided to take the long ride back to the river section where we started fishing along the shallow weed beds on the south bank where the river section meets the main dam. It was extremely hot here and there was a moderate NE wind blowing, the water surface temperature averaged around 23 deg. C. It was not long before we started getting fish here and it became obvious that the fish were relating to the weed structure and were feeding in the deeper water near the weed beds. We caught a lot of smaller tiger fish here with the largest around 1.3Kg (2.8lbs). I also saw a school of Nembwe here and put on a small spinner and sight cast for them and landed a lovely specimen on the 2[suP]nd[/suP] cast. We were treated to one of natures beauty’s when we got to see two Fish Eagles up close. All our fish were released.
I had seen on the weather reports that there was rain predicted for that afternoon, and saw big black clouds building up in the south, and when the wind turned to a SW and started blowing harder I decided to call it a day as I feared a huge storm was coming and I could smell it in the wind, and my barometer reading was very low. We had just got back to our accommodation and were planning a braai, when the first rain drops started falling; I was pleased that I had just finished covering the boat. That night we had a huge thunder storm and lightning which took out the electricity, the cell phone tower and so we ended up eating sandwiches in torch light. It rained right through night and around 65mm of rain fell in the area, this was good for the area as it has been very dry. We had no more cell reception for the rest of our trip.
I was hoping for some bigger Tiger fish here, as we often get nice ones in the gorge but it was not to be and we had only around 3 strikes and as we drifted closer to the rocky banks I made an over-cast and my lure landed on a rock next to a 600mm (2ft) Iguana which grabbed the lure and gave me a good fight to the boat, I did not bring him on board as he was thrashing like made, and grabbed the hook with some pliers and removed it, and he instantly swam away from the boat.
I decided to take the long ride back to the river section where we started fishing along the shallow weed beds on the south bank where the river section meets the main dam. It was extremely hot here and there was a moderate NE wind blowing, the water surface temperature averaged around 23 deg. C. It was not long before we started getting fish here and it became obvious that the fish were relating to the weed structure and were feeding in the deeper water near the weed beds. We caught a lot of smaller tiger fish here with the largest around 1.3Kg (2.8lbs). I also saw a school of Nembwe here and put on a small spinner and sight cast for them and landed a lovely specimen on the 2[suP]nd[/suP] cast. We were treated to one of natures beauty’s when we got to see two Fish Eagles up close. All our fish were released.
I had seen on the weather reports that there was rain predicted for that afternoon, and saw big black clouds building up in the south, and when the wind turned to a SW and started blowing harder I decided to call it a day as I feared a huge storm was coming and I could smell it in the wind, and my barometer reading was very low. We had just got back to our accommodation and were planning a braai, when the first rain drops started falling; I was pleased that I had just finished covering the boat. That night we had a huge thunder storm and lightning which took out the electricity, the cell phone tower and so we ended up eating sandwiches in torch light. It rained right through night and around 65mm of rain fell in the area, this was good for the area as it has been very dry. We had no more cell reception for the rest of our trip.
