The weekend started for the Baha Boys at 4:30am on Saturday morning as I climbed out of bed and packed the final few items for a fishing trip to the Berg. The summer humidity seemed to be breaking and we’d decided to give Granchester a go to find out whether the trout fishing was improving.
Nick picked me up at 5am and we started the 100 odd kilometer drive to Granchester, stopping for the usual cup of steaming coffee. When we pulled up next to the dam the conditions were difficult to read. It was partly cloudy and there was a stiff breeze creating a strong ripple on the surface of the water. The dam itself was completely full and the water was slightly murky. The water was however still close to 20 degrees.
After blowing up the tubes we kicked out onto the dam and battled the wind for a three hour morning session. Fishing was tough with neither of us having any luck no matter what we tried.
Ever determined not to blank we strategised over a few hotdogs for first lunch and then got back onto the water. It’s always difficult going out for the second session after a very bleak first session. None the less I kept plugging away and tried my few remaining tricks, sadly to no avail.
Then the most amazing thing happened; the south easterly wind died and the water went still for around 5 minutes. The wind then switched 180 degrees to a north westerly and slowly picked up. It was at this exact point that Nick hooked into a nice sized rainbow. It measured in at exactly 1kg but Nick, to this day, does not believe my scale despite testing it on a 2 litre bottle of Coke.
As for the wind switch and the fish…was this a coincidence? I’m not so sure. The wind then switched back to a south easterly and we didn’t sniff another fish that day.
At around 2pm we called it quits and headed for the Notties pub for a quick draught beer before heading home.
