I’ve never been the biggest stillwater fan. I’ve always preferred the ever changing, almost petulant mood of moving water whether it be stream, river or tidal push…

However to every norm there is an exception. And small, crystal clear spring fed ponds are that exception for me.

There’s string of such ponds nestled in the mountains of the Western Cape. You need to know people who know people to fish them. I’m lucky 🙂

If you’ve read any of my musing on fly fishing, you’ll have picked up that I’m a big fan of crab patterns. And getting to fish water that is clearer than gin to cruising fish over sand and weed allowed me some crabbing fun time!

There’s nothing that beats seeing a fish turn, eye your crab as it sits on the bottom, swim over and inhale it. Strip strike, inside! I could have been been anywhere!

And so the four of us spent the morning. Fishing to big trout in crystal clear water that rushed me back to Patagonia. We caught a passle of fish on a variety of flies. But it was the crab pattern that dominated!

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