I pulled into the water at around 6:30am and was fishing by 7am. Sadly conditions were far from ideal. In a slight miscalculation I’d opted to fish one of our closer club waters rather than drive for another hour into the Berg. At the time this seemed like a good idea as I was both worried about rain in the Berg (which there was) as well as not feeling like driving a few hours by myself.
As a result I found myself fishing very warm, very murky, very weedy water. The warm water was a problem but the murky water meant I was relatively well hidden from the fish. The weed on the other hand would be useful in winter by providing shelter and food for the fish, but under these conditions it posed a few problems as I was fishing deep (and hence in it).
Not to be deterred by this I began experimenting with smaller flies, fishing deeper, and almost statically. It was tough going but thankfully I was rewarded for my perseverance when I landed a small rainbow trout at around 11am.
Knowing things were far from perfect I breathed a sigh of relief, packed up my kit, and headed home to spend some time on the squash courts. After a quick lunch I headed for the club where Sharon planned to meet me later. She was out dress shopping with her mom and sister, hence my extra freedom.