Elandskloof Trout Festival

[Gerhard]

This past weekend I had the opportunity to be part of the trout festival on Elandskloof.

I arrived at Elandskloof Friday afternoon really looking forward to a good day of fishing but a bit worried about the water temp because the snow was in places 30 cm thick the past Tuesday...

05:30 Saturday morning was the briefing and 06:00 53 fly fishermen, ladies and kids headed to the dams.

I was one of 4 guys crazy enough that will be fly fishing from a float tube.

I got into the water at 06:15 with the water temp at 6?C

I was not planning on letting the cold in and dressed as warmly as possible.


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Well to say the least.

My 1st 4 hours was a disaster with no takes at all.

I hunted for trout on the inflow side of the dam in between the grass and reeds.

I moved to the deeper side of the dam and had my 1st trout in the net at 10:35

Soon after that I had another one and I know what needed to be done...

11:00 was lines up till 13:00

Time to go get something to eat, take part in the fly casting competition (distance and accuracy), try to tie a fly.... ( forgot my kit at home) and judge the weight of the trout in the tank...


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Some of the guys just decided to take it easy for a couple of minutes

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Then anglers ready for action

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And I was back on the water as well...


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and not to long after that




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I had to make sure the marshal dont damge the fish and weigh accurately


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I had to make sure the Highveld sun do get hold of me while on the water


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Lines up was just after 17:00

I had a brilliant day on the water although I did not catch as many or as big trout as I wanted I was more than satisfied with the 7 trout.

At the price giving I would hear that I was 30g to heavy and 30g to light ....

My smallest trout was 30g to heavy for the price of the smallest trout and my biggest trout 30g to light for the biggest trout...

But who cares...

This fund raising and competition was all for a good cause ....

An auction was done with some prizes and all the money generated during the day will be divided between the Old Age Home in Belfast & Birchcroft Primary School in Dullstroom.

The results


Heaviest Bag: 1st - Brett Jenkins, 7.48kg, 16 fish caught 
2nd - Louis Joubert, 7.42kg, 22 fish caught
3rd - Johan Ferreira, 2.59kg, 9 fish caugh
Heaviest Fish: Louis Joubert, 760g
Heaviest Fish JNR: Rudolph Combrink, 700g
Best Overall Fisherman: Russell Cramb (being polite)
Floating - Longest in the water: Gerhard Delport (total 9 hours) 
Fly Tying: 1st - Kevin Snyman 
2nd - Francois Smit
3rd - Jannnie Jacobs


From my side...


Thank you to all the hard working people at Elandskloof that made this event possible.

Thank you to the marshals on the day.

Thank you to all the sponsors:


Distell, Nooitgedaght, Clean Cut Glass, Treeferns, Peebles Country retreat, Elandsvalley, Forever Resorts Loskop, Kevin & Heather Harvey, Duck & Trout Cherry Grove, Blue Shop, Dullstroom Apteek, Dullstroom Inn, Elandskloof Forel Plaas,ICreate, Jonk Schoonhuid Beauty, Mavungana, Mrs Simpsons, Old Transvaal Inn, Vygenhoek Organic Spa, Plat du Jour, Rose Cottage, Senqu, Simply Carrols, Village Angler, Blue Gum Country Lodge (Bethal), Ian & Irene Jackson,
Lume Lures, East Rand Fire, Brandhouse, Wellington & Grants, Dullstroom BP Garage, Electrolux 


I will be back in August 2012

[henried]

Klink lekker.

Ek het lanklaas forel gevang, sal die somer die geeles in die Vaal aanvat.

"Ons gaan nou 2 Beagles kry vir ons seuns"