Annual Komani fly fishing event sees all rods bent
Wind doesn’t deter superb catches, releases and fun enjoyed by anglers at various dams in area
On Thursday, July 7, 16 anglers arrived at Aloe Grove from Cape Town, Pretoria and Durban North, as well as locally, to renew friendships and make new friends in Komani’s annual fly fishing competition.
Fourteen had participated in previous gatherings, and one of the newcomers, Martin Dos Santos, won the Garry Godley Trophy for the longest fish caught.
Thursday evening was used to register everyone and to allocate people into groups.
Then there was the fun of allocating the groups to their dams for the next two days.
Guides were the four available committee members; Stephan Cloete, Eric Boucher, Darren Boucher and Reg Morgan.
They were allocated dams to assist the groups fishing.
The dams used were the four at Birds River complex, Ed Clark’s top and middle dams, Johan Wege’s bottom and quarry dams, Pete Cloete’s Pine Grove, Marianne Boucher’s trophy and long dams at Snowdon and Carl Miles’s dam at Table Hill.
The groups moved off at 6am from Aloe Grove each day to their allocated dams with their guides.
The early mornings were very cold and frosty. Gerhard Cloete was thrilled to break the ice on Saturday at Pine Grove.
People fished with artificial flies from both float tubes and the bank.
The fish caught were measured with a tape measure and the details of sex, length and, in some cases, weight were recorded. All the fish were in spectacular condition and were returned to the water.
Everyone caught rainbow trout. In some cases, a good number were caught.
One angler caught 14 between midday and 4pm.
Most of the fish were between 45cm and 66cm. One of 58cm weighed in at 4.5kg.
The smaller fish seemed to give the greatest fight, with the line running down to the backing in the best fights.
The weather was fairly kind, with strong winds on occasion.
One group fished the narrow dam at Snowdon, with the wind blowing onto the dam wall, with lines of white foam running the length of the dam.
However, in the teeth of this wind, the group caught more than 30 fish.
Two were casting from the bank and two were on tubes and at a couple of points.
All four rods were bent with a fish on each line. It was a thrilling sight.
Over the two days of fishing, the catch and returns showed more than 60m of fish being caught and released successfully.
The prize-giving dinner on Saturday night was a fun affair.
Everyone received a prize and most got several. Komani businesses are amazingly supportive and generous.
One of the newcomers won the Garry Godley Trophy for the largest fish.
A 66cm fish from Pine Grove won the day with another 66cm fish in second place.
Chair Reg Morgan floated the idea of the next gathering in 2023 being a team event, which was well-supported.