9 minute read
DROP THE MICE
SINGLE NYMPHS, LONG LEADERS, EXTREME STEALTH - FLY FISHING FOR BUSHVELD SMALLSCALE YELLOWFISH IS USUALLY A DELICATE AFFAIR. UNTIL CRAIG PAPPIN STARTED LOBBING MICE PATTERNS DESIGNED FOR TAIMEN.
Photos Craig Pappin, James Topham
It was over a bottle of rum that I got the wild idea of throwing a massive articulated mouse fly fit for taimen at our local yellows in the Lowveld. My longtime fishing buddy, James Topham, who grew up with me on these waters but has travelled the world as a fly-fishing guide and actually fished for taimen with mice patterns, must have been thinking that as usual, ‘Baas Craig, that’s mal (crazy)’. But James knows the way my brain works. If there’s a chance of a successful result, I’ll throw the thing anyway.
Thinking back on it, the idea of throwing a mouse pattern for fish has been a bit of an obsession for me since I was a laaitie (youngster). After seeing a picture in a book of a gerbil or mole rat-type rodent swimming across a pond with a massive pike inches below it, I’ve always been fascinated by fish that smash rodents. I bought my first mouse pattern for no reason other than it looked cool and I knew I was going to bamba (hit) bass on it. What I did not realise is that a mouse fly is a bitch to cast. With a Stealth Start as my trusty one-and-only fly rod back then, the set- up sucked and I quickly moved onto fishing more manageable flies like minnows and hoppers. These were the early days of fly fishing for me so, at that age, I also knew fokkol (nothing) about double hauling. I must have thrown the fly once or twice at trout dams in the hope of an explosion but I can’t recall anything happening. At that stage I hadn’t even thought of targeting our bushveld bones with one, let alone seen the massive fish the Sabie River holds. Having been fly fishing somewhat successfully since the age of 11, my mates and I would go through each other’s fly boxes, stupidly manipulating the inanimate flies and laughing hysterically as the flies got crazier. This practice merged into our actual fishing and, like puppeteers, we would manipulate our flies on the water. They were mostly dragonfly nymphs, damsels and the occasional leech. We would give every twitch, strip and retrieve intent and purpose. The trick was to imagine the environment surrounding your fly and to try to give your mouse a character. These characters were always in the deepest kak (shit) as they tried to make it across the water towards dry land. Sight fishing with a large mouse pattern provides plenty of humour. The idea of yellowfish smashing a warm-blooded terrestrial came about quite organically. Come morning In the Lowveld, there’s always a half dead shrew in a dog bowl or in the swimming pool. Spending a lot of time fishing the Sabie River I would witness these explosions on the water, where a small creature gripped, by the meniscus would be there one moment and the next it would be engulfed from below. Sometimes it was hard to believe the ferocity and explosiveness of the eat. What made it even better was that I knew it was an 8lb Bushveld smallscale yellowfish doing the damage.
“IT’S A PLACE YOU WANT A GUIDE’S EYES WATCHING YOUR BACK FOR FLAT DOGS AND HIPPOS. HOW I’M NOT CROC SHIT I DON’T KNOW."
The balloon vine is an invasive scrambling vine that grows along many water courses in the Lowveld. It has a balloon pod that floats down the river and the fish can’t leave them alone, often hitting them so hard you get nervous and amped at the same time. There’s no reason for that fish to hit that pod other than instinctive behaviour. I’ve also heard stories of frogs getting smashed off the surface as they swim back to the river’s edge after been spooked by passers-by and many anglers had told me how they get big yellows on conventional poppers and surface lures. Spending hours on the river as a youngster and finding hooks baited with skinks initially led me to think locals were fishing for barbel or eels but, as my mouse mission began to take shape, it occurred to me that they could have been set for yellow submarines. Dead mice in the pool, death-row mice getting smashed on the water - all this resulted in my attempt at getting a Bushveld smallscale yellowfish on a mouse pattern. It took numerous attempts of wading on my own and doing some seriously risky shit before it became apparent that, with this large fly, as I stood waist deep in the river and with all the movement in the water, it wasn’t going to happen. My technique was plain dodgy. Winter waters are too cold and waders were not part of the kit. I’ve always taken a much stealthier approach to fishing the Sabie River, crocs and hippos being the main reason. If you fish mostly alone, you’re at high risk of meeting a sad end. The other reason is that there are very few good pools holding the bigger fish and once they’ve been spooked, that’s it for an hour or three. Fishing with a single nymph and an indicator has been my go-to for our local yellow fish as there are so many species of barbs, minnows and tilapia that affect your slow drift. The idea of a multi-nymph rig and the thought of having multiple flies tangle or snag up just doesn’t cut it for me. It’s not often that you catch these large yellowfish without seeing them first. You will find the honey hole or know from previous sightings where these fish hold up and it’s an incredible sight to see gin-clear waters and ankle-deep banks that have cruising behemoth yellows coasting from lair to lair.
I started to fish a large articulated mouse fly James had given me one evening at a braai. It’s not easy getting any 8lb plus yellowfish out of a narrow section of river and the Sabie River is an aquatic oasis with all the structure you could imagine. The yellow submarines love to hold up in these often-snagged pools and back eddies, places where you can see hippos getting their backs groomed by labeo; where Cape clawless otters stash their young and where Nile crocodiles protect their nests. The hundreds of years of matumi tree growth has created deep undercut embankments that holding the biggest Bushveld smallscale yellowfish deep in their caverns. The easiest way to access the river is by raft. This allows you to cover more water and puts you onto the fish without disturbance. However, zigzagging through hippo paths has its dangers. Casting is also a challenge. In some parts of the river it’s pretty dark with overhanging trees and, as evening approaches, the river gets a tunnel-like appearance with light at either end. A screaming Giant Kingfisher always calling as it’s exactly overhead, just adds to the wild experience. It’s a place you’d want a guide’s eyes watching your back for flat dogs (crocodiles) and checking the banks for evening grazing hippos. So often I’ve fished like this, stoked on the wildlife and the adrenalin, the only soul on the river making crazy gestures and calling a mouse towards me. How I’m not croc shit I don’t know.
There’s a short window period of only a few months to get the best out of the Sabie River. Winter months are slow and larger flies don’t seem to interest the bigger fish, spooking the pool and leaving you leap-frogging through hippo paths and riverine jungle. In the down time I ended up purchasing an 8 weight, setting myself up for estuaries and found it to be perfect for delivery of the odd larger fly. Practising in the farm dams on bass and honing my skills to present the rodent with precision was enjoyable, even hitting the river for some false casts and getting the presentation dialled in. Changing to a large surface fly like the mouse came with its challenges and getting this large fly into the zone was getting dangerous. That was until I had a massive explosion behind the fly. Funny how when the fish are biting all my concerns about Africa’s deadliest animals go out the window. These fish seem to turn on when something big plops in their pool and proceeds to attempt to swim its way to safety.
Behind the rod you’re just thinking, ‘Holy shiiiit! I’m a foooken mouse!’, as you strip and pop it towards you. There’s lightning about to happen; you’re so nervous the next hit is going to make you kak your pants and you trout strike out of absolute fear, maybe even letting out a little girl scream at the same time. I was getting these hits but zero commitment from the fish, possibly because of the water clarity or even more likely because of the size of the Mongolian mouse.
Sharing these experiences via short clips and telling my fishing mates what was happening just didn’t cut it and, with no fish to back it up, it downplayed my case. After some banter from the buggers and a visit home from James I was dead keen to show someone what I had been going on about for the past month or so. With the water clarity improving, winter around the corner, a mouse in hand and optimism riding high we hit the river in James’s inflatable raft. We drifted past a seriously good section of river where a submerged tree was just sticking out of a pool at the tail end of a rapid. I threw the fly towards structure and it wasn’t two or three retrieves and we both saw the fish come out and smash the surface churning mouse from Mongolia. On! Like chimps receiving bananas we were going off. We were both lit up like kids again, because the river we had been fishing for so many years had just turned it up a notch.
“They will eat a mouse! A large freakin’ mouse from Mongolia!”
To finally pin a fish after so many attempts was just such a good feeling. James convinced me to tie on one of his home-tied mouse patterns, smaller, uglier and easier to cast. It proved to be the go-to surface mouse pattern for the job. While that session only produced some smaller fish, the stoke of catching them on surface mice and witnessing the fly moving through the most dangerous place for any terrestrial to venture, was next level. Tight casts under structure and between hanging matumi trees was the order of the day, not to mention bashing fish on a four-hour rafting trip with a good mate.
Catching Bushveld smallscale yellowfish on surface mouse patterns is achievable. It not only works, but it’s a highoctane, fast, active retrieve. The results are explosive.
