African maps can often mislead you, the main road I was driving along turned from tarmac to a rough dusty track, I was not surprised. The shocks on the hire car started to rattle a noisy protest as the sign for Elgro River Lodge came into the headlight beam. Another ten long minutes and I arrived at the security gates, which marked the entrance the game reserve. This particular lodge is on the middle reaches of the Vaal, about one hundred kilometres south of Johannesburg. It had been recommended to me as a good base to explore this region of the river and have a go at fly fishing for ‘Yellows’.

‘Yellows’ or Smallmouth Yellowfish are rapidly becoming the in vogue fish for freshwater fly fishermen in South Africa. There are a couple of reasons for this; they are plentiful throughout the Orange and Vaal river systems; they are tremendous fighters, often referred to as the freshwater bonefish by those who have caught both. Four main varieties make up the Yellowfish family; the two common ones are the Smallmouth (Barbus aeneus) and Largemouth (Barbus kimberleyensis). The other two are the Largescale (Barbus marequensis) and Smallscale (Barbus polylepis). The Smallmouth Yellowfish is the predominant strain, widely distributed, grows to around 10-12lbs and was my main target during this trip. The Largemouth Yellowfish tends to be less accommodating, found in fewer numbers but grow much larger, to around 40lbs. Both are members of the Barbus family as you will see from the pictures.

A 2lb Yellowfish from the rapids

The best time to fish for Yellows is October to May, or Spring to Autumn, however, if you are planning to make a trip South Africa after these fish I would avoid the rainy season, December to March, the rivers are often not fishable. Yellows can be caught all year round but tend to occupy the shallow water in the warmer months and are much more concentrated and accessible. The first trip was made in early April 2003, a good time to go as the water is still warm enough to wade in shorts and the hatches can start to be quite prolific, Yellows love their Mayfly nymphs! You can bait fish for them but the fly is more sporting and suits their preferred location, fast shallow rapids. The methods used are very similar to Nymph fishing for Grayling although often, when a good hatch is underway, they can be caught on drys as well.

Compared to many of the fishing resorts Elgro River Lodge was an expensive option for a weekend, but at £15 per night for the Self Catering lodge, £5 for the hire of an inflatable kayak and £.50p per day for the fishing, it was cheap by UK standards. The lodges themselves are very basic with a Bed, Sofa and Chairs, Fridge, Bathroom and a kettle. There are communal braiis (barbeques) outside the lodges and are often the only means of cooking a meal, which could limit you, but it is the preferred way of eating in South Africa and with a climate like theirs it’s a great way to finish off after a long session on the river. Additionally the lodge has an open-air bar and is the only place on the complex with a TV, not that you should need one.

I woke at 7am to the sound of Zebra walking on the wooden boards outside the lodge door. Opening the curtains I was greeted by a typical South African morning, bright sunshine, which is generally how its stays all day. Being much closer to the equator than the UK, sunrise and sunset times do not change much throughout the year, typically it gets light between 5.30am and 7am and sets again somewhere around 5.30pm to 6pm, the longer days being in the summer (December – March).

I had decided to fish in front of the lodge on the first day, then go exploring the river via kayak on the Sunday, before heading back. Within the grounds of the reserve were two large sets of rapids and more than enough for a full days fishing, given that you need a break from the mid-day sun. I started on the upper set, fishing as suggested, using a team of three nymphs cast upstream and allowed to dead drift. I was in waist deep water and worked my way upstream towards the rapids themselves. I caught a few small Yellows of between 4oz and 12oz and on the #5 fly rod they gave a good account of themselves. I fished three patterns, a GHE bug in size 10, a Black nymph in size 14 and a bright green nymph in size 14. All the fish were coming to the smaller patterns. I switched to a heavily weighted size 14 green Czech nymph, a size 16 Prince nymph and a size 16 pheasant tail. Again I caught mostly on the green pattern. The duns coming off were bright green, almost florescent.

By the end of the day I had landed a number of Yellows, the biggest going around 12oz and lost a couple of good fish that ran behind large rocks in the rapids, breaking the leader. I retired to the bar for a well deserved beer before dropping a rather hearty steak on the braii. South African meats are some of the finest I have ever eaten, they are always lean due to the dry grasses and are well cut. Talking in the bar with the other anglers it became apparent that, although I was fishing the tail of the rapids, I needed to be further into them. The common advice was if the water was up to my thighs it was too deep.

The next day, along with a number of anglers, I was transported about 5 miles up river and dropped off a bridge with a one man open kayak and a paddle. The bottom of the bridge was the start of the first set of rapids, I had been advised to spend some time there, this was known as good Yellows water and they were right. I anchored the boat in some marginal Willows and waded into the fastest water (See Pic). Following on from the previous days findings I fished small green nymph patterns and caught well from the off. On the 5^th or 6^th drift through and line snatched upstream and I pulled into what was obviously a good fish. It tore off upstream at a frightening pace against a current that was nearly sweeping me off my feet. The fish then turned and set off down stream and there seemed to be no stopping it. The #5 rod was doubled over and pointing at the fish and I had little control. It peeled the whole fly line and about 20yards of backing before turning towards a small island of rocks and reeds, I locked everything down and the hook pulled. I was gutted at loosing the fish but now understood why many of the South African Angling writers refer to the Yellows as freshwater ‘Bones’, to me it was just how it must feel when hooking a good Barbel on a fly rod. There were several anglers in this area and all were catching. Very soon I had a couple of nice fish under my belt as well as some smaller ones.

Typical Yellowfish water, thigh deep and fast.

The bridge in the background is where we were dropped off on day two.

After a couple of hours I jumped in the inflatable and set off down river. Very soon I left the fast water behind me and as the depth increased, so the current slowed. The paddling between the rapids was quite hard work in the bright sun, but worth it. To drift down a river in such spectacular scenery is fantastic and plenty of photo opportunities abound. I fished through several more rapids, stopping for no more than half and hour in each but only catching in one other. I arrived back at the upper waters of the reserve around 3pm and tied the craft up so I could spend another hour fishing, before heading back in. This time I stayed right in the heart of the fast water where the flow was fastest. I hooked and landed a couple of fish to 3lb and lost a fish that I estimate at 5lb.

Over the two days I had landed about twenty fish, the biggest a lovely fat 3lber. I caught one on the dry but the opportunities to fish the surface were few, the hatches did not live up to the forecasts. However I now wanted more. I had definitely contracted a special form of Yellow Fever.

A fine 3lb Yellowfish taken in very fast water.

It was June 2003 before I could squeeze in another business trip to South Africa that would give me a free weekend. This time I decided I would plan the trip myself and use a more typical river resort as a base. The section of river I was going to explore was about twenty miles upstream from Elgro. This area has a large number of resorts for the Yellowfish angler, most are camp sites with some basic facilities. The one I opted to fish also had a low cost self-catering option called a Rondaval. These were very basic round houses which consisted of one room containing three campbeds, fridge, hob and a sink, outside was the obligatory braii and the site had communal showers/loos. It cost £7 for the weekend, including accommodation, electricity, parking and fishing license!

Winter was well on its way and the temperatures at night were falling well into single figures. This meant the water was a tad too cool for wading in shorts and I had to call the chesties into service. From what I had read and picked up chatting with local anglers, as the water temperature dropped so the yellows fell back into the deeper water. Unlike my last trip I was advised that if the water line was not at my waist then I was in water that was too shallow.

The picture that greeted me as I pulled up next the Rondaval was breath taking, a fine mist covered the river and made it look very appealing. I spoke to a couple of people who were already fishing, they informed me there had been little Yellowfish activity but the Mudfish (Labeo capensis) had been showing in numbers, these are a member of the cyprinid family and fight like demons, growing to around 7lbs. To catch another species would be great however the presence of Mudfish usually meant the Yellowfish would be scarce.

The Rondaval on a misty Vaal

I spent a good hour just wading the water in front of the Rondaval in search of the deepest areas, which were on the opposite side of the river, given that the Vaal was 150 yards wide here that was quite a wade over a rocks and boulders, my footing was precarious to say the least. Often you will be advised to use a wading staff when fishing, here in the Vaal it really is a must, you will not see local anglers without them. I found a good, fast channel that was chest deep and started working a team of heavy pheasant tails. After about the tenth drift through a sharp pull proved to be my first strike of the day, the fish tore off down river never to be seen again, a hook pull. Twenty minutes later and the same thing happened. Third time proved to be lucky and after a good hard fight I landed my first Mudfish of 2.5lb, which I think you will agree looks more like our own Barbel than the Yellowfish.

Mudfish can put a really good scrap

During the morning I hooked and landed a couple more Mudfish but lost many more.  I do not know if any of the fish that got away were Yellowfish but it was noticeable that no other anglers seemed to be catching them either. By about 11am the sun was getting very hot and so I opted to get out of the river and have brunch. Going over the map I noticed there were a good number of resorts in the area, rather than spend my time sitting in the shade drinking beer, as tempting as it was, it could be best employed driving round and investigating some other waters. It was amazing how time consuming this proved to be, although all of the places visited were within 30 minutes drive the afternoon soon vanished in a haze of photographing rapids, talking with other anglers and passing the time with resort managers. I got back to the Rondaval just before 5.30pm, just as it was getting dark. On went the Braii and the steak soon followed.

That night I struggled to stay warm and really wished I had bought more clothing. The temperature drop between the daytime averages in the upper teens to near freezing is very noticeable, more so because it happens in the space of an hour, once that chill has set in you can’t get warm again. Needless to say sleep was scarce and I was up drinking copious amounts of hot coffee before first light. I had decided I was going to move to another stretch of the river that was about 5 miles downstream. It appeared to have plenty of moving water that was around waist deep and some nice yellows had been caught there the previous day. Before moving I would have an hour in front of me, which resulted in another nice Mudfish.

Mudfish before breakfast

By the time I had finished, showered, eaten, packed the car and got underway it was nearly 11am. Very soon I pulled up outside the house of the resort manager, to purchase my day ticket, which cost a hefty £2. This gave me access to about 2 miles of river front, most of which could be waded and with a the river averaging 100 yards wide, there was more than enough fishing for a weekend let alone an afternoon.

Miles of fast shallow water to explore

I worked a section of the river which was fairly uniform in depth and pace, just the odd deeper channel that would have topped the chest waders. I hooked a couple of fish fairly early but then it went quiet until about 3.30pm , when a massive hatch of olives started and then there seemed to be Yellowfish everywhere. I switched to the dry, fishing a light green para emerger pattern on a size 12 that I tied especially for the trip. This pattern worked wonders and over the course of the next hour and a half I landed half a dozen nice Yellowfish.

A nice Yellowfish caught during a Mayfly hatch

Over a total of four days fishing for these rather beautiful fish, I learnt a lot about the river (falling in a couple of times), the fish and their ability to take line, as well as taking in some fantastic scenery. Well worth it.

What would a trip cost? You should be able to secure a flight to Johannesburg for around £400-£500. Car hire is expensive in SA and so budget £50 per day. Accommodation will cost you no more than £20 per day even if you stop in a hotel. The fishing will be a maximum of £5 per day but more like £2. Food and drink is frighteningly cheap. The river Vaal is full of Yellowfish and there is plenty of fishing for all, but their popularity is growing and I can see this getting much more commercial over the next few years. There are plenty of local guides but they seem to be extremely expensive, as long as you follow a few basic rules they should not be needed, but they will put you on the Yellow’s and if you are travelling that far, at that cost, it's worth considering. Fish the shallow water when the water is warm. Get the fly down, if you not hooking the bottom and loosing a few, you’re not deep enough. Hold on tight when you do hook a fish. What gear do you need? A wading Staff is a must! Wading boots or an old pair of trainers, Chest waders will not be needed until June. I fished a #5 with an 8lb tippet because of the rocks and boulders and these fish do go. Many locals use #7 for the bigger fish and it is worth noting, I would not want to hook a 30lb Largemouth on a light fly rod …. Mind you it could be fun! If you want to know more drop me an email.