A DAY ON THE ETHEREAL WITTE RIVER, BAINSKLOOF

Stanton Hector

Chevaan Patience and I headed up to the Witte, beat 6 on Saturday. The weather was fine but not ideal with a stiff downstream wind blowing when we got to our beat. The fishing started off slow due to the wind causing a lot of surface ripple, so we couldn’t spot feeding cruisers in the deeper pools.

However, things changed for the better once we reached the smaller water with plenty of fish spotted (between 15 and 18) of which we managed to catch 10. There were also a lot of fingerlings which obviously indicates a healthy spawn.

The fish were in prime condition and stunning as only Witte browns can be. The fishing was still tough as the major pools were often barren (at the time we fished them). In hindsight I think the fish were hiding because we fished these pools over lunch time, which is normally the hottest part of the day. At that time the valley was really hot and the sun particularly sharp. The fishing did pick up afterward until we called it quits at about 15:30 for the dreaded hike out.

(The Witte is an enigmatic river, but it’s the best brown trout stream we have in the Western Cape, possibly the loveliest brown trout stream in the country. I speak from hard experience when I tell you that it’s a whole heap tougher than the Upper Itchen in Hampshire.  See more below. Tom Sutcliffe.)

Here are some images of this great stream just sent in by Western Cape fly fisher Liam Surridge