Still counting my fishing blessings.

Apart from the Bushman's river that runs through the farm there are several farm dams all of which are stocked with large mouth black bass. So how lucky can a man get?

Click to enlarge.

This morning while having my first mug of coffee and watching the sun come up from my veranda, I spotted this Long crested eagle hunting from this perch on the center pivot irrigation system. (Today was the first full day of sunshine, without rain, for several weeks) His main prey are rats and mice, which would be abundant in the ripening wheat below him. Every now and again he would swoop down into the wheat to catch something, he was too far away for me to actually see what he caught.

At about 5:30 this afternoon I walked down to the biggest of the three farm dams that lie close to the farmstead. This one is about 600 meters from my cottage.

The head of a terrapin, (turtle) sticking just above the surface of the water. Note the rings on the water of fish taking insects just below the surface. Bass can sip rising insects as delicately as any trout.

Looking across the water from the dam wall to the farmstead.

Looking from the dam wall down this long shallow valley/wetlands, know here in South Africa as a "vlei", (pronounced flay). This will be a good spot to look out for wetland birds such as blue cranes. 

I managed one hook up with a black woolly bugger but lost the fish when it jumped and threw the fly.