I had the good fortune to do a trip to Sterkfontein Dam during February this year. I went with the intention of catching some of the smallmouth yellows on fly and seeing if I could get regular catches of them on artificial lure, on light spinning gear.

Driving in to Quantani, where we were to be based, we crossed over a little bridge which crossed a stream that feeds in to the dam. We stopped on the bridge and had a look down in to the water below. It was full of big yellows, just milling around in the pool. Man, it was enough to get everyones blood pumping. Fishing is not allowed in that stream, but it was just nice to see such quality fish hanging around

We rushed to our cottage at Quantani and offloaded our gear, quickly setting up some rods and getting ready for an afternoon session. There was a bit of thunder and lightning around, so we had to wait for it to clear before jumping onto the boat and heading out onto the dam. We arrived at a spot that has always been productive during late summer and I was pleased to see that there was plenty of fish activity in the shallows, with fish fins showing as they milled around near the bank.

I started with a five weight fly rod, using a floating line and a number 16 Gold Ribbed Hare’s Ear, unweighted. It didn’t take long to get the first fish, as I worked the fly on the deeper edge, just off where the fish were showing. After a good fight, I landed my first smallmouth yellow of the trip and soon had a few more landed. The water was a little rough,  with the wind from the storm having chopped up the surface a bit.

The following morning we hit the dam again at first light. The water surface was much calmer and I decided to go with a dry fly. I started off with the beetle patterns, which are usually deadly at Sterkies, but was not having any success. I decided to try something bigger and put on a hopper pattern. It wasn’t long before this was taken off the surface by a beautiful fish, which gave me a great fight on the light gear. It was a lovely golden colour and was my fish of the trip so far.

I spent a bit of time reviving it, before releasing it to fight another day.

Having had success on the fly gear I decided to start working on getting some of these hard fighting fish on light spinning gear. I had brought along a Fenwick Eagle GT rod of seven foot, with a lovely light action along with a Penn Conquer spinning reel, loaded with 10lb Berkley Nanofil line. I started with the smallest popper I had in my box, a little no-name brand bass popper that I had brought along to try out. I flicked it out and gave it time toi float, with the odd little twitch when the water suddenly exploded on it and I was on. The fish fought hard on the light gear and it took a while to land.

I caught a few more fish on the little popper, finding that they became more aggressive the later the afternoon got. When the sun was going down they were hitting the popper like kingies, sometimes with the lure moving at faster speeds. I got a really nice fish, in the region of six pounds in the half dark, unfortunately I didn’t get a pic of it, but the memory will stay with me forever.

The following morning I decided to push the boundaries and see just how aggressive these fish could be. I tied on a 10cm stickbait called a Sebile Slim Stick. I cast it close to some visible fish and worked it slowly on the surface. Once again it wasn’t long before the lure was smashed and it was game on!

This was a big lure for a fish with such a small mouth, but that didn’t seem to bother tham. I landed another on the same lure shortly afterwards, just to make sure that it wasn’t just a fluke the first time.

All in all it was a fun couple of days, with some interesting results. My friend and camera man, Shane also got his first yellow on fly between working, which he was chuffed with.

Next summer will definitely find me at Sterkies. I think I am going to put in an effort to find some largemouth yellows there next time. That should be a blast!