INTERESTING REPORT FROM THE BANKBERG TROUT FISHER’S CLUB IN THE HEART OF THE KAROO

Text and pictures by Alan Hobson

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With a break in the cold fronts moving through we managed to choose a real hot day 35°, Wednesday last week, to head for Grahamstown to collect the last of our fish stock for the year. We had to control the water temperature by constantly packing ice into the drums with fish, some 300 rand’s worth at the end of the day. However, we topped up Grandfather’s dam at Glen Avon with 500, 6cm fingerlings and 150 good sized 300 -400gram yearlings before heading up to Mountain Dam.

It was a rush; despite the hot day it looked as though there were serious clouds building up for a huge cloud burst and it is not a good idea to be caught up on the mountain in a solid downpour. We beat the weather and stocked 3500 healthy fingerlings into Mountain Dam. Needless to say, once we got back to Somerset East the weather set in and for the next two days we enjoyed overcast, seeping drizzle. Lucky Trout as they must have thought they had arrived in heaven. Our Club waters are thoroughly stocked having blown our entire savings we have stocked over R60 000’s worth of trout in 2011.

One of the best investments Bankberg Club made this year was to take on the development of new waters situated in the Bankberg Mountain range between Cradock and Graaff-Reinet.

This is the tributary source of the Paul’s river some 1900 meters above sea level offering our member’s proper river fishing for the first time. A river that requires finesse and that you mend your line, not like the Little Fish River where you usually fish big attractor patterns with an active retrieve. These waters were stocked with 90 gram yearlings, average length 19cm.... WELL, three months later almost to the day we hosted a recce trip for our members to see how our fish were doing?

These fish are now, three months later, a whopping 30cm – 40cms, weighing in from 450grams to a huge 900grams! They are feeding on platana’s, nothing subtle about them! Our committee has decided to let the fish establish themselves and with a bit of luck breed in the river, so this water will only be open in September 2012. There are also two dams that are producing better growth rates than the river, which we will be re-stocking in April 2012 and then opening to the club members in May. Watch this space with interest!

Having enjoyed great winter rainfall this year our waters are looking the best they have been for the past ten years, add this to the successful stockings and the fishing is good. Grandfather’s produced a good fish of 56cm weighing in at 2,6kg last Sunday.