August 2010Pongola Game Reserve Fishing Report
November 2009
| Temp (Gorge): | 26°C |
| Temp (River): | 25°C |
| Water Clarity: | 0% River Stretch, Main Dam 100% against E Shores |
| Water Level: | 70 % |
| Rainfall: | 99.5mm |
| Fishing Area: | River Stretch (see below). |
| Average Size: | 1, 5 kg – 3, 5 kg |
| Avg. / half day: | Difficult as fishing sporadic. |
| Artificial Lure: | Not been using due to dirty water |
| Bait: | Chicken strips, sardines, Josini Sandwich, live bait as always. |
| Fly Fishing: | Due to dirty water unfortunately no fly fishing clients. |
| Biggest Fish: | 6.5 kg tiger fish – Mark Smith Group – Mpalane Camp |
| Skipper of the month: | Jacques – conventional |
General
Wow, have we had our fair share of rain, and unfortunately with all the rain comes the dirty water.
This has not got our spirits down, but made us change our normal fishing spots and techniques. Unfortunately I have not done much fishing myself, but all the lodges are still going strong and the skippers are really working hard to find clean water and fish. It seems to be back to old strategies in terms of serious chumming and a lot of patience.
The skippers have been mostly fishing the entrance to the dam, the old trees just as you enter the dam and some of the western shores up towards Swaziland. There is a lot of submerged weed along these shores, but with a bit of ground bait and patience these areas are working well. I had some great fun fishing the shallows the other day in two foot of water. Most of the tigers were under a kg, but they we taking everything thrown at them. I had better success with the bigger fish on live bait on corks, set just of the weeds beds. Decent size live bait was avoided by the smaller teethy critters and we lost some nice tigers unfortunately running into the weeds.
Otherwise I have had a lot of calls by fisherman fishing the eastern shores, Swaziland banks and the gorge area who have had some great success. Two separate groups let me know they had got quiet a lot of fish between 1, 5 and 3 kg‘s in these areas. Both groups landed a fish in the four category range. These areas have huge drop off’s, often sitting in 8 m of water and fishing into 10 m plus.
On the big fish side of things, a group staying at Mpalane Camp landed a beauty of 6, 5 kg’s. It was caught between the camp site and main dam. Another big fish over 6kg was almost landed just on the opposite side of the campsite. Another area I had some great strikes was just opposite the pump station.
Anyway that’s that for November, if any one has got some stories or spots to share, please contact me and I will include it in my monthly report.
Tight Lines
Chris
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