Catfish on Fly

By Terry Babich

Dreams do come true on the own tied "B B B"

The final count down is on, the last day of 2004 was with us, not much time was left to reach my 2004 goal of being able to catch a big cat fish on the fly rod, 20kg being the target.

The venue was one frequented by bait angles and open to only club members. Moolman's bay 13km outside Oranjeville, in the Vaal River above the Vaal dam. I got to the dam at approximately 11 a.m. The conditions looked good, the water had risen about 20m up the banks and had covered a fair amount of vegetation. There was a small amount of fish playing in the shallow water. Things looked good.

I approached the water as quietly as possible, the fish often spook easily when in shallow water and it happens often when a whole school of fish are spooked just because of a noisy entrance to the water. I walked about knee deep into the water just on the verge of the reeds and open water. This positioned me in water, so that I could walk in with minimal amount of splashing, as well as being in the best position to fish both the reed beds and the deeper water.

I could hear many big fish surfacing out in the deep water and I was hoping that they would move into the shallower water as the day progressed. I often stand still and wait to see if fish rise on a spot. I casted a fly splashing it onto the water about 5m away from me where I had seen a small catfish rise, the fly hit the water for the second time and I let it sink to the bottom, lifted my rod and as sure as can be there was a fish on, a minute later, and he was released to fight another day. 2 minutes later I was casting to another rising fish one cast, two casts, three casts and the catfish was visible on the surface frantically looking for my drowning feathers. I let the fly sink, nothing! One back cast and a slap onto the water, letting the fly sink again. The fly hit the water, I saw an instant splash, lifted the rod and I was in again. This scenario repeated itself another 13 times in the next two hours, with the average cat being a small 3.5 to 4.5kg with one specimen over 8kg.

The weather plays a big part in the success of being able to catch and see catfish, what with the fish changing their behaviour as well. The wind had died down and I could see the bigger catfish moving into the back of the bay. I headed off in that direction, placed myself in a good position and waited for a rise.

It wasn't long before I saw a slight movement on the water about 10m away from me, not sure what it was, I casted in that direction landing the fly on the exact spot. There was an instant reaction as a catfish surfaced immediately to find the fly, the next cast was a strike and the fish was on, but only for a brief moment. "A miss strike" this usually scares a fish off. In a moment of disappointment I splashed the fly back on the spot not really expecting any result. I was mistaken. The catfish came up again halfway between myself and the fly, heading towards me, still looking for the fly; I gathered my wits, stripped line in and repositioned my fly right on top of the fish, he came even closer, by now he was to close to cast properly so with a flick of the wrist I placed the fly 1.5m away from me, where I had last seen a swirl from the fish. I let the fly sink, I saw the swirl waited a second and struck."Fish on".

own tired "BBB"

I had an idea that this was a large fish, so I put the pressure on immediately trying to keep the fish away from the reeds and on the surface so that he could not dive under the reeds that could easely dislodge the fly. The battle lasted 40 minutes with it coming to and end with me lip landing this monster. This fish was well over the 20kg mark. The bad news of the story was that I did not have a camera with me and my electronic scale went blank whilst I was holding the fish. With no proof no one would believe the story.

The weather had turned bad and a storm was on its way. I waited for a break in the storm, this lasted only a while and 6 more fish were added to my total for the day but these, because of the weather change, were caught with long cast on a slow retrieve on the bottom. This is where the catfish will be found when a storm is brewing.

I had no proof of the catch of the day, so the alternative was to return to the same venue two days later with my brother Tim, armed with an electronic scale and a camera.

The weather was brewing up a storm and I did not think we would have much time for fishing that day. I had seen a school of fish beyond casting range and decided to take to the float tube. Within an hour I managed to take 13 fish mostly small. I then hooked a better fish, not having seen the fish I paddled back to the shore otherwise this was going to be a long battle.

Sitting on my 'donkey" in two inches of water was the most undignified position that anyone could have put themslves in to play a fish from, there was no way I would be able to stand up with the flippers, float tube and still play the fish without me seeing my "donkey".

I pulled the fish towards me and the very first time he presented his head to me, he was lip landed by hand. The fun had only just begun. A photo was the call of the day. Dilemma I was stranded on the opposite side of the bay 150m away. Solution? mmmmmmmm? Put fish on top of float tube, paddle across and pray that he doesn't wiggle and puncture the tube or fall back into the water. "No problem" How would you get into a float tube with a large fish and size 11 flippers?

Anyways job done no drowning or lost rods, the fish weighed in at 18.4 kg somewhat smaller than the previous " biggy" but it counts because I HAVE THE PICTURES.

Tight loops Terry Babich

Unlike some of the mags where very sophisticate cameras and alteration with photoshop software before printing is used you will notice the size of my hands are actual size which indicates that this pic has not been "doctored"