Webmaster and Co goes to Sterkfontein Dam.



Picture Sue Babich

25th- 28th November 2004

I decided to go to the Bells Complete Flyfisherman Magazine 2004 outing held at Sterkfontein Dam. It was very well organised and all seemed to have a great time and catered for all laves of Flyfishing.

Just my companions son Tim and great friend Chris proved that Flyfishing can be taken up at any age. Tim was a Flyfisher man since he could pick up a fly rod at (from what I can remember) the age of 4 and Chris complete rookie to this type only picked up a fly rod for the first time in 2004 at the age of 50 +. We fished off my boat "STREAMLINE" because I know that this is one of the most dangerous dams in the country and I preferred to have a familiar deck beneath my feet.

Our guide was Eddie Gerber who hails from the Cape and the fourth passenger on the boat was a young man by the name of Francois. Eddie proved to be an excellent guide and worked his butt off to ensure that rookie Chris got his fish.


The smile on Chris's face tells the story

My policy when I go to these sort of outings is to be asked to be left alone to do my own thing - there is no way I am going to walk for many miles looking for fish - the legs are not what they used to be. I fish sitting on my backside next to the boat drinking plenty of my favourite and only brew which happens to be tea. Yes I do catch fish. At one stage Eddie laughingly threatened to shoot me if I caught another fish just after I landed a nice yellow sitting on my backside under a lovely shady bush under which I had been sitting and roll casting at the cruising fish with the largest DDD you have ever seen. The size of the fly is important because my eyesight ain't what it used to be.



The pic to prove it.

Being accomplished anglers son Tim and Francois caught well on the first day. Unfortunately the pictures taken by Eddie are lost somewhere on a computer.

Slow reflexes by me with my "mik and druk" camera just after Francois dropped a nice "smallie"


Picture Tim Babich
Always remember "if you can see the fish the fish has seen you first"
The Sterkfontein water is so clean and clear, one can see these beautiful canny creatures swimming warily towards a strange insect that has invaded their space


Tim a beautiful golden yellow

The barometer hit a low the next day and the fishing was poor. I saw a storm coming and we headed for base and got nailed by the rain.

We all use carbon fibre rods and they started to attract the lightning because they were in holders and standing upright so we put them flat on the deck. Back at base it was as calm as a Lilly pond and Eddie Tim and Francois decided to go and do some more fishing - Chris and I declined.

Low and behold they were caught in a major hailstorm, which although they would not admit it scared the living daylights out of them.

My only criticism of the whole event was the number of people who did not wear their lifejackets when their boats were on the plain, this will soon become a legal requirement in all Provinces and is already enforced in some at the time of writing.