Rates Vary depending on currency exchange, so please contact us for more information PDF

Fishing Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Accommodation Rating: ★ ★ ★ 

Alternative Activities: Game Viewing, Bird Watching

Matoya Fishing Camp, located on the upper Zambezi in Western Zambia, is a comparatively stripped down, no frills fishing camp for those with a single interest in catching fish. This part of Africa is known for sumptuous bush camps and luxury wilderness lodges that sometimes seem to loose focus on what we all come to Africa to do. And at Matoya we come there mainly to catch the might African Tiger Fish. Matoya Camp is located on the northern reaches of the Barotse Floodplain. This is one of the great wetland ecologies of Africa, and thanks to the extensive annual submersion of the river banks, habitation has tended to be driven back leaving the east and west banks of the river more open to sport fishing than many other sections of the Zambezi River.

Matoya is well configured for an unadulterated fishing experience. There is a certain amount of wildlife diversity available locally, but if fishing is not your core interest then there are probably camps that will serve you better. This is a fishing camp, and big fish are available. Matoya field local Zambian guides with a fair working knowledge of conventional and fly techniques, coupled with slick equipment and a generally well honed knowledge of local fishing conditions. This is an A-List Tiger Fishing destination.

In Partnership with Wild Fly Travel, South Africa, Peter Baxter Africa is offering a 5-day tiger package at Matola Camp.

Trip Includes

• Charter flight from Lanseria (Johannesburg) to Matoya (Lukulu)
• Passenger Taxes
• Luxury Accommodation
• All meals
• Bottled Water
• Local guide and boat
• Unlimited fishing with 20 litres of fuel per boat per day
• Daily laundry

Trip Does Not Include

• All other beverages – only Matoya Lodge bar’s beverages and soft drinks are to be consumed (no private stock allowed)
• Any non ticketable taxes
• Visas (if applicable)
• Inoculations (yellow fever required)
• Items of a person nature
• Gratuities
• Additional fuel – current price USD 3.00 per litre * subject to increase and levies
• Travel Insurance

Price: 4-night Package US$2300 pp  PDF

Fishing Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Accommodation Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

Alternative Activities: Game Viewing, Spa, Game Walks, Relaxation

Baines’ River Camp on the lower Zambezi River lies on the north bank of the Zambezi, sandwiched between two iconic wildlife preserves, Zimbabwe’s Mana Pools and Zambia’s Lower Zambezi National Park, both of which encompass, and preserve, a large swath of some of southern Africa’s most important wilderness habitat. Baines conforms very neatly to the by now fairly standard pattern African luxury bush camp. These days what tends to distinguish one from th eother is location, and Baines’ River Camp is superbly located.

The region offers almost unlimited potential for eco-travel and game viewing. Mana Pools is not directly accessible, but the river ecology is, and at certain times of the year the banks of the river in this beautiful corner of Africa seethe with wildlife. The facilities available at Baines River Camp are on a par with the best in the region, and that in reals is setting a very high standard. The lodge was built in the 1930s colonial style, and oozes cultured charm, maginfiied in no small way by the pristine natural environment that surrounds it. Bains Camp is one of those rare gems that many seek to imitate but few actually succeed.

Peter Baxter Africa in partnership with Wild Fly Travel in South Africa are offering a unique fly fishing package to the lower Zambezi, making available some of the best tiger fishing on a fly in Africa. Tour includes flights from Johannesburg to Lusaka, and from Lusaka via charter flight to the Lower Zambezi National Park. All guiding and wildlife excursions included. This trip can be combined with other destinations in the region

Your Trip Includes

• Flights Johannesburg to Lusaka
• Flights Lusaka to Royal Airstrip (Lower Zambezi)
• Domestic departure tax
• Royal Passenger Access Fees
• Return transfers to camp
• Accommodation
• Meals
• Non alcoholic drinks
• Safari activities
• 30min massage during stay
• Daily laundry
• Wireless internet
• LZCT community levy
• Statutory service charge
• Meet and greet at Lusaka ex international flight

Not Included

• All alcoholic drinks
• LZNP Fees USD 25.00 pppd
• LZNP Angling fee USD 5.00 pppd
• lost damaged fishing tackle
• Non ticketable airport taxes
• Travel Insurance
• Gratuities
• Items of a personal nature
• Visas (if applicable)
• Yellow Fever Inoculations

Trip Itinerary PDF Dates: March 14 thru 28 2014 Cost: PP US$4950.00 All Inclusive In Partnership with…

This trip is available for a maximum of four anglers, with additional space for family and friends not fishing. Multiple excursions are available at each location for those not involved in fly fishing.

The character of this is fly fishing for trout. The opportunity exists for bass or yellowfish fishing on a fly, but primarily we will be hunting trout. This is a trip that would best suit the technical angler interested in exceptional dry fly and small stream/headwater work. Conditions in South Africa offer a superb synergy of climate and geography to produce sizable, spirited wild bred trout. Populations are stable, the sport is well controlled and most waters supporting trout have a fly-only policy.

South Africa also offers a diversity of trout waters. From the African tropical highland runoff of the Eastern Berg to the hard-edged and stony bottomed rivers of the Platteland to the the cobbled streams of the Western Cape, it is hard to believe that a country in Africa can support something like this, but it does. And not only does South Africa have the waters, it also has the fishermen. Luminaries like Tom Sutcliffe, Ed Herbst, Wolf Avni and Tony Kietzman are world class swordsmen of the fly fishing fraternity.

And then there is the rest of South Africa. This is a large country, but not a huge country, so it amazes me always that there is so much in it. Our journey will take us across the spectrum of South African cultural and geographic diversity. If you are impressed by the fishing, you will love the country. Join me on a journey of a lifetime witnessing South Africa through the eyes of a fly fisherman.

Accommodation standards en route are generally high, transit is in an air conditioned mini bus, accompanied and guided at all times by historian, author and fly fishing guide Peter Baxter, myself. Local guiding is usually available at specific destinations. Accommodation varies between simple country lodges to five star wildlife lodge. Generally accommodation options are atmospheric, integrated and extremely local.

What is Included:

• All Accommodation, Meals and Transits Between Airports
• All Guiding and Rod Fees
• All National Park Entry Fees

What Is Not Included:

Personal Rods and Tackle. These are available en route.

• Alcohol
• Private Meals
• Travel expenses to and from South Africa
• Visas, Vaccination etc

From the Super 8 Motel astride the junction of the I-40 and I-75 the prospects did not seem superb – although the weather at least was promising. A low swelling upon the south horizon, barely discernible behind a deep spring haze, indicated the Appalachians close to their southern extremity, and the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. Therein lies a concentrated fly fishing culture that is undiluted by any trickery other than the ancient and respectable deception of the fly. To prove this, just outside the mountain hamlet of Townsend, sits Little River Outfitters, a toothsome, compact little fly fishing centre with that exclusivity of purpose that so delights the heart of a true fly fisherman. No hint of a spinner here. Not a silicone worm in sight. Just the pleasing, anodised texture of finely crafted fly reels, rows of slim, purposeful and mildly malevolent fly rods and a series of fly trays sweetly girded with some old favourites alongside plenty of bright and spry modern adaptations. Lovely. Add to this an enthusiastic and well informed counter assistant and this is without doubt the place to start a day fly fishing in the Great Smokey Mountain National Park.

Quintessential Fly Fishing Streams

My background reading on fly fishing on this side of the Smokies had painted a picture of a headwater/dry-fly culture that appealed very strongly to me. Punctuating the usual superlatives that one can expect to encounter in a fly fishing manual were warnings that the fish in the Appalachian streams tend to be small. It seems, though, that they compensate for this with unusual energy and aggression, and with a size-to-cunning ratio that makes them extremely difficult to catch. I was encouraged also by warm and dry local weather conditions, clear skies and much entomology evident in the dense deciduous woodland that seemed so characteristic of the region.

According to local standards, a small fish in the southern Appalachians is a very small fish, usually at less than five inches. A medium catch would be something between five and nine inches, and an outstanding result would be a fish upwards of nine, but rarely exceeding sixteen inches. A twenty in inch trout is a beast. Brown Trout, which are an introduced species, and are quite commonly caught, are usually the largest, with the indigenous Brook Trout rarely exceeding ten inches, and even that would be a fine fish. Rainbow Trout are probably the most commonly caught.

A nice sized brown trout

Approaching the Great Smokey Mountains National Park from Knoxville leads to the most visited Gatlinburg/Cades Cove vector that even on a weekday during the school term is overcrowded, so it stands to reason that most of the north flowing streams are heavily fished. However there are a number of them, but also there is an almost unlimited associated network of reasonably accessible headwaters covering both the north and south facing slopes, some more fishable than others, but all offering a quintessential fly fishing experience in this uniquely beautiful mountain environment.

And there is no lie about this. There is an extraordinary beauty about these mountains, but also sense of immeasurable bounty. The woodlands hereabouts were once roamed by the Cherokee, one of the five so called Civilized Tribes, who assimilated much of advancing European culture, where generally compliant and who lived an existence of combined hunter/gathering and agriculture. Life then must have been idyllic. There would seem to be no obstacle to a fairly comfortable survival here if the need should ever arise. To a skilled woodsman the forests and woodlands are alive with potential. Black bear are the icon of the Smokies, and are probably the most recognisable mammal, but white tailed deer are not uncommon, along with other antelope species, and they would certainly have been more common a century ago. There are also reported to be over fifty native fish species inhabiting some 700 miles of accessible streams, so how bad could it possibly be?

Neversink Caddis, Extended Body yellow Stone and a Mr Rapadian

There is also a cloistered, secretive aspect of the Appalachians that is not quite so easy to quantify, and which gives the region much of its mood and character. The dense carpet of deciduous woodland and hardwood forest tends to close in the senses, generating superstition and in some respects fortifying the development of alternative senses that, on the one hand, aid survival, but on the other also generate clannishness, distrust and such widely charismatic pursuits as snake handling as a spiritual device (this art is still practiced widely in Appalachia). The popular hillbilly stereotype is quite easy to picture in this natural social redoubt where a family, or a community, could quite easily lose itself indefinitely, reproduce prolifically and evolve any number of unique social peculiarities. One need only remember Deliverance, the original bad-seed portrayal of that very hillbilly stereotype.

And indeed, Cades Cove, a nicely showcased community of the old Appalachian kind, speaks eloquently of the gorgeous, Eden-like beauty of the mountains, but also of the isolation that must have been a very real factor during Prohibition and the days of the Great Depression. It was then that the Moonshine culture hereabouts reached its peak.

But what we are here to do is fish. Including the Carolina side of the park there are nineteen separate water catchments flowing off the Smokies that amount to several major streams and rivers, and any number of smaller sub-streams and tributaries. The two main north flowing rivers are the Little River and the Little Pigeon River, with other smaller options including Abrams and Crosby Creek.

Little River, a no brainer for the purist

With a limited amount of time available to me I opted for the line of least resistance and drove out early on a sundrenched morning to fish the Little River, pausing at Little River Outfitters for a day licence and some advice on local flies. There had been some suggestion of a local sulphur hatch in the days past so yellow was the key pattern to present. I had no interest in nymphing, although the suggestion was that water flows might still be too high to effectively work a dry fly, but that is what I had come to do and that is what I did.

I selected a few likely looking yellows from the trays – a few foam tipped Never-Sink Caddis, some Mister Rapidian and Mr. Rapidian Parachute and a handful of Burk’s Extended Body Yellow Stone. It is a known fact that yellow is the colour of choice for the Southern Appalachians and Great Smoky Mountains, and this is fairly well reflected in the number of yellow patterns on offer at Little River Outfitters.

From Townsend I drove through the picturesque countryside heading towards Gatlinburg before turning right at Wear Valley and junctioning with the Little River alongside a large picnic area. I rigged up my preferred 2-weight carbon fibre with a weight-forward floating line and a nine foot leader tipped by a few feet of tippet. Dispensing with waders or a net I plunged into the stream, finding my footing on the cobbled streambed before commencing to probe the upstream riffles with a nicely buoyant Never-Sink Caddis. The first strike was registered almost immediately. It was quick and aggressive but wide, and I missed the fish.

Abrams Creek – no less inviting

Then upstream the fly seemed to attracted the constant interest of fry, but no fish of even reasonable size. When eventually I did hook a small brown it was probably four inches on a good day, and although sparky and certainly worth the effort, it was still a small fish for the day.

And in truth the water flows were too heavy for effective dry fly work, but as I made my way steadily upstream, probing the edges of feeding streams and quiet eddies, interest was constant but sizes again were very poor.

The Little River, however, was a wonderful fly stream. The average depth was probably a little over a foot, with odd channels that were much deeper than that, but underfoot the pebbled surface was easy to navigate with enough underwater topography to make the hunt very interesting. But no meaningful action, so I moved on.

I made my way generally towards Gatlinburg along the Little River, taking note as I drove of a wonderful riverscape of pools and rapids broken up occasionally by long runs that were just a little too deep at that time to really offer much hope. I paused at one or two spots, worked a few variants on the yellow dry pattern, but again, the best that was recorded was a six inch brown trout – a beautiful, caramel toned creature with deep chocolate and rose coloured spots that fought a good fight and disappeared quickly as it was released off a barbless hook.

A few days later I returned to the area and tried the West Prong of the Little River, using the same basic technique, but this time on a smaller stream with a somewhat reduced water flow, and here I was able to hook into a seven inch rainbow that seemed to me to have a few hybrid markings. But this was all the waters offered up that morning.

The difficulty was that waters were high, but an additional issue would probably be crowds when the summer season came into effect and large numbers of anglers could be expected to be on the water. It is not difficult to see why this would be so, and although technical reports give no indication that fishing pressure is negatively impacting populations, finding a worthwhile run during the busy season will probably be difficult.

Despite this I would recommend the Smokies as a fly fishing destination even though my own results were disappointing. The waters are so quintessential that no time spent engaged in technique is likely to be wasted. Fish are small, but they are canny, and extremely difficult to catch, so even if the adrenalin factor might be lacking, the cerebral thrill of catching one of those smart little buggers always tends to make up for that.

A lovely little rainbow taken from a headwater stream in Rhodes

They say that the pinnacle of a fly fisherman’s art is mastery of the dry fly. In fact there are those that say that the use of any other technique is not fly fishing at all. I am sure that this is overstating the point, but the small stream, small tackle principal is definitely addictive, and in my experience at least it is easier to catch a fat, torpedo sized trout in one of the warm water dams and reservoirs of the Eastern Cape of South Africa than it is to tempt a seven inch wild bred brown trout to rise up for a dry fly on the crystal clear streams of this superb fly fishing region. To this I will add that South Africa is a perfect training ground for this sort of fly technique, because getting a fish to move for a dry seems to be easier here than it is anywhere else that I have ever fished.

South Africa offers an awful lot of very viable fly fishing opportunities, in particular for those interested in the pure fly experience – not chasing tiger fish on the Zambezi or sail fish off the coast of Seychelles – with a surprising diversity of waters available. There are a few spots with quite a high profile. I think in terms of Underberg and the southern slopes of the Drakensberg in and around such places as Rhodes, Ugie and Maclear, and of course the Jan du Toit Reserve where the best Western Cape fishing waters are to be found. But there are also a great many lesser known locations across the region that offer a great deal of diversity in this most wonderful of sports.

The best of what South Africa has to offer though, is in the combination of scenery, unique surroundings and fantastic headwater opportunities. This has much to do with the fact that wild trout in the region tend to only survive in the higher reaches of natural watersheds due in part to climate, but due also to heavy land usage at lower altitudes. In situations such as Highlands Lodge, the unique combination of water temperature, food density and water ph levels all contribute to stocked trout of exaggerated size. Elsewhere, in wild trout populations, the same basic factors, combined with a much more vibrant local entomology, make for a greater diversity of natural food sources, translating into a greater willingness on the part of wild fish to accept different fly patterns, particularly dry fly patterns.

The dry fly phenomenon in South Africa is well established. Anglers use a wide variety of floating options, hoppers being among them, and the diversity, and creativity, of a lot of the patterns in wide use not only testify to the well supported nature of the local fly fishing fraternity, but that experimentation in the development of alternative fly patterns is echoed by the willingness of fish to experiment with different food sources.

So from the point of view of a visitor to South Africa, the choices really lie in the big adrenalin hunt for hard hitting game fish like tiger in such locations as the Zambezi, and more locally Jozini Lake, or the more delicate, purist form of fishing typified by light tackle, small stream and tiny fly, punctuated by the less technical, but more impactful experience of hauling out big fish from the productive still waters of the Stormberg. It also, of course, goes without saying that South Africa offers the no less unique potential for wildlife travel, and in the Cape particularly, the uniquely interesting possibility of wine, cuisine and fine living in a manner which none but South Africa can offer with quite the same atmosphere and aplomb.

The inaugural G Adventured MS Expedition 2013 West African Cruise kicked off from Cape Town on April 6, 2013. This was a cruise adventure with a difference. An expedition cruise. The good ship MS Expedition is more typically found in the polar regions, in real expedition cruise territory, but this year, while transiting from south to north, G Adventures decided to try applying the vessel on an adventure cruise from Cape Town to Senegal, the bi-polar regions, visiting a diversity of destinations in ten African countries.

The MS Expedition West African Cruise offered a very different take on the standard template of African cruises. On board were a hundred and twenty or so passenger, mostly older travelers, but some within the thirty to fifty demographic, and all tending to be highly accomplished people in one field or another. The staff compliment was made up of a number of experts in history, ecology, photography and ethnography, among whom I was honored to be numbered to discourse and entertain on the subject of African imperial history. The idea here was to provide and interpretive aspect to the various countries and territories visited, to foster a deeper understanding of the history, culture and natural history of each country, which actually worked very well.

Apart from a general series of lectures delivered at scheduled times, an evening recap offered thoughts and explanations on odd phenomena encountered during the day. Often this took on the character of a question and answer session, with passengers offering insight and observation, sometimes quite serious, at others quite entertaining.

I chose as my subject the imperial styles of the British, the French and the Belgians, while my colleague David Conrad focused on the art and ethnographic history of West Africa. In addition contributions were made by Dr. Steve Boyes, Conrad Hennig, Wolfgang Kaehler, Bronwen Clacherty, Lucia Deleiris, David Van Niekerk and Rob Caskie.

An interesting point here is that Dave Van Niekerk, of High Constantia Winery in Cape Town, offered interpretive guiding of a very unique nature, conducting several wine tastings on board that showcased his own wines, those of South Africa too, and a handful from other wine producing regions for their comparative interest.

Brief Trip Log:

Namibia

The first port of call after leaving Cape Town was the Namibian port of Luderitz, where a short tour of a rather dour and strange town on the edge of the Namib Desert was followed by a visit to the abandoned mining community of Kolmanskop. The following day the MS Expedition docked in Walvis Bay. Here we toured the hinterland of Walvis Bay and Swakopmund in a fairly general road tour of local scenic spots, followed by a light lunch provided by the historic Swakopmund Hotel.

Kolmanskop Ghost Town, Luderitz

Angola

Things started to get interesting, though, a few days later when the MS Expedition docked in the Angolan Port of Lobito. It had been anticipated that this would be the commencement of the real African journey, and in many ways it was, but it was also quite surprising. Angola experienced one of the longest and most divisive civil wars in modern African history, so my expectation certainly, was that the urban structure of the country would be in ruins, but nothing could have been further from the truth.

In fact Lobito was almost a showcase of that lovely Portuguese colonial architectural style that I am more familiar with in Mozambique, but which was actually more pronounced here, suggesting that Angola had in general been a wealthier and more populous colony than its Indian Ocean cousin, and in fact it was.

Benguela Beach Front

Our tour covered the twin cities of Lobito and Benguela, and it was conducted with enormous fanfare, almost a celebration, in recognition of the fact perhaps that Angola very much wanted to encourage tourism, and that we were one of the first major tourist events to occur in the city. In a convoy of busses our entire compliment of passengers and staff took off on a rambling motorized tour of both cities, accompanied by a paramedics ambulance and several police vehicles and motorcycles each announcing every turn in the route by a massive cacophony of sirens.

Angolan Street Party

There were two notable points to the day. The first was a rather stiff and canned dance performance and market set up for us in the picturesque central square of Benguela that began initially with a little bit of confusion and uncertainty, but which very quickly devolved into a rollicking street party as people from all around gather to the sound of drums and singing, and to the whole thing a degree of authenticity that not even the organizers expected. The second surprise was an unexpected train excursion back to Lobito within a venerable line of railway carriages dating from the 1930s, and harking back to grand old days of train travel. For many this was the highlight of the day – a slow, rather elegant shamble through the crowded shanty towns and open spaces between the cities, seeing and being seen, and absorbing the wonderful ambience of dark wood interiors and the musty airs of an age long past.

Benguela Street Scene

Congo

Our next stop was a little darker and less pleasant. We paused for an odd day at the Congolese port of Point Noire. Our arrival into port had been accompanied by the apocalyptic sight of multiple oil platforms burning off methane on both the far and near horizons. Port itself was congested with oil related shipping. We were greeted in a cheerless way by a convoy of busses, and, after passing acres of enormous indigenous hardwood logs stacked for export, we were conveyed through a dour, rather featureless African city that seemed to offer almost nothing in the way of unique feature. As we cleared the city and entered the countryside a somewhat derelict social environment greeted us, with nothing in the way of established African village life notable anywhere.

Fetish Mask Congo

The obvious conclusion here is that oil and timber account for the local economy, beyond which no industry is attempted at all. This certainly seemed to be the impression. The highlight of the day was a large and cold Primus beer drank on the pool deck of the plush Atlantic Hotel in the company of the local expatriate community and a few French soldiers. I was not sorry to leave the Congo Republic.

Congo Beach Scene

Sao Tome and Principe

After a slow and easy sea day, the Island of Sao Tome appeared on the far horizon as daylight touched a wet and blustery Atlantic Ocean. After the environmental ruination of Congo Republic it was a pleasure to see this rugged and verdant island emerge out of the gloom chocked with forest and greenery. Access to port was by a zodiac shuttle, and from the onset there was a colorful, musical and extremely beguiling atmosphere to the island.

Sao Tome Village

Once again in a convoy of busses we set of on what was becoming a customary commencement to every day. This time the route wound up through the compacted village life of a densely populated and heavily vegetated landscape. After a brief visit to the Saint Nicholas waterfall near the settlement of Trinidade. Thereafter we paused at the Monte Café coffee estate for a taste of the local brew and a splash of local entertainment before returning to Sao Tome for lunch. The day was rounded off by a rather perfunctory visit to a local Portuguese fort, a brief and somewhat rain soaked street performance and a short stop at a local chocolate outlet.

Sao Tome Street Scene

The Island of Principe offered a much different day. The MS Expedition docked a few hundred meters off the Bom Bom Beach Resort, after which a zodiac shuttle was established with the beach. Thereafter a combination of beach and nature was punctuated by an on board lunch and a considerable amount of leisure.

MS Expedition anchored off Principe

Benin

West Africa proper was reached when the MS Expedition docked in Cotonou in the small enclave country of Benin. Known during the colonial period as Dahomey, Benin is a highly cultural nation with an acute sense of history and a weighty legacy of the Atlantic Slave Trade, and of course the regional epicenter of the local Voodoo religion.

Cotonou Urban Transport

There were three notable highlights to our day in Cotonou. The first was a visit to the uniquely interesting Ganvie stilted village on the north shore of the tidal Lake Nokoue a short distance out of Conotou. Ganvie is a deeply traditional fishing village that seems to tolerate tourism poorly but at the same time benefits from it, which is an interesting and unusual juxtaposition in Africa. The village was originally established in order to provide a refuge against the predations of Dahomey slavers but has since become a thriving fishing and trade settlement.

Ganvie Village Traders

From here we drove out to the village of Ouidah, an old Portuguese slaving settlement and currently a center of voodoo culture. This strange synthesis, along with a heavy overlay of African urban life, presented a very interesting picture. The dominant feature of the town is the collection of spiritually orientated statuary featured just about everywhere. One of the many Gates of No Return that feature large on the West African coast, and which commemorate the awful Atlantic Slave Trade, is to be found here, along with a Sacred Forest that needs a little interpretive guiding to appreciate, and a few other odd shrines and temples associated with voodoo make up the interest of the town. Certainly a worthwhile spot to visit.

Gate of No Return

Togo

Togo appeared to me to be a very depressed nation with very limited interest. The entire tenor of our day in the city of Lome was ruined by a visit to the Fetish Market which showcases voodoo fetish devices and instruments, dedicated mostly to mummified animals – mainly primates and avian species, but also a smattering of dogs painted with spots, cats and other domestic variations. The smell was horrendous, the ambience disgusting and the concept vile. As Ghandi remarked: The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. Lome in this regard did not measure up well.

Togo Fetish Market

It is also true that the moral development of a nation can be assessed by the quality of its art, and so a visit to the Musée international du Golfe de Guinee, a private collection dedicated to West African art, tended to redeem the day somewhat. West Africa has nothing if not multiple layers of art and culture, and here an extraordinary cross section of regional art – sculpture mainly – reveals the antithesis of the dreadful mistreatment of animals that defined the first visit of the day.

Voodoo Symbol Togo

Ghana

The MS Expedition visited two ports in Ghana. These were Tema and Tokoradi. Tema is located close to the capital city of Accra, so some part of the day was involved in transiting this large and messy West African capital. Our first stop was Mr Cedi’s bead factory which proved to be very profitable for Mr Cedi who sold a significant number of his recycled glass beads. Here we enjoyed a light lunch before rounding a long day off at the local artisan market where passengers were treated to hard sell Africa Style.

Fantasy Coffins Ghana

Our visit to Tokoradi was a little different. Here the day was split into two. A handful of passengers opted to visit the Kakum National Park canopy walk, which seemed like a bit of a disappointment, proving what tends to be known, that West Africa is a better cultural than wildlife destination. The remainder opted to visit the Cape Coast and Elmina forts which served for centuries as international entrepots of slave transfer from inland to the coast, and thereafter to the Americas. The visit was extremely somber, but nonetheless extremely worthwhile.

Elmina Castle Ghana

Sierra Leone

Our visit to Freetown offered a quick glimpse into a city made famous by war and the horrors associated with the blood diamond conflicts of the mid to late 1990s. Freetown is an odd city. It is punctuated by wonderful remnants of British colonialism, with names such as Waterloo, Gloucester Road and Cockle Bay Road, but beneath this it is a seething, colorful and energetic African city. Yes it bears the unmistakable scars of a terrible phase of African history, but its compact, noisy and irrepressibly personality seems to rise leagues above those years of horror.

Gloucester Road, Freetown

Our tour really comprised a lengthy bus haul through the horrendous city traffic of Freetown, during which everyone had the opportunity to absorb the atmospheres and ambiance of a very African city indeed. There were a few stops…markets, churches and suchlike, but really the interest lay in just being there.

Clock Tower Freetown

Gambia

The city of Banjul is the capital of Gambia. The first impression as we steamed into port was how clean the air smelt and how absent was the noise, bustle and confusion of the other West African cities that we had visited thus far. Gambia lies in the Sahel region of Africa, and is characterized less by verdure that dry savannah type ecology punctuated by baobab trees. Our journey through Banjul revealed a cleaner city than most, less compacted and much slower in pace.

Sahel Music in Gambia

Our first stop was the Abuko Nature Reserve a few miles west of the city of Serekunda. Here we were all treated to a magnificent birding experience, guided and interpreted by Conrad and Steve. Abuko is a small reserve, totaling just over 105 acres, but it is without doubt the most important and accessible. It boasts over 500 bird species and a small number of antelope and primate species, with occasional sighting of crocodile, porcupine, bush baby among others.

Main Market Banjul

We then paused at Makasutu Cultural Forest, an important cultural site in the local Mandinka mythology, located not too far from the town of Brikama, and offering music and dance, a restaurant and bar, and of course a craft market, all nestled in the shade of a baobab grove reflecting very much the indigenous local ecology. We were treated to a selection of western Sahel tunes and rhythms before embarking on the busses for the return journey, and a visit to a fabric market in Serekunda, featuring batiks and tie-dye fabrics and clothing.

Zodiac on the Gambia River

Day two in Gambia involved steaming up the wide Gambia River after which the zodiacs were launched for a brief few hours of exploration upriver, and through the many inlets and tributaries, rounded off by a short visit to the slave fort of James Island.

James Island Gambia River

Senegal

Our much anticipated arrival in Senegal began with all the mayhem of disembarkation as passengers and crew disengaged from the MS Expedition. This wonderful ship had been our home for the month prior as we steamed up the West Coast of Africa on one of the most superb adventures imaginable. Like Gambia, Senegal appeared crisply cool and dry on the horizon, with none of the sights and smells of concentrated human commerce that had tended to characterized most of the other West African cities that we had visited. Besides this, and very much unlike the Gambia, there was about the dockyards, and the city beyond, the unmistakable aura that this is an important regional capital, and a center of very significant importance in West Africa.

Goree Island Resident

Historically Senegal, like many other parts of this region, was a center of the Atlantic Slave Trade, and one of the most iconic landmarks of this is Goree Island, located a few miles offshore from Dakar, was where we made our first stop for the day. Goree was one of the French urban Communes of the colonial period, with the ghosts of its slaving past now buried under many layers of pleasant French Provincial styling that served the administrators and business elite of the late 19th and early 20th century with a comfortable bedroom community away from the hustle and bustle of Dakar.

Goree Island Street Scene

Nowadays Goree Island is a little tourist haven, surprisingly intact, but just grubby enough to stamp it with an unmistakably African flavor – and while on the subject of flavors, lunch was taken in a beautifully appointed quayside restaurant, and in a uniquely island style. Here, against a backdrop of melodious Sahel string rhythms, and the hustle and bustle of a small fishing community, we could all taste the rustic breezes of a bygone age that drifted through the compacted avenues of the extremely atmospheric little social relic of Goree Island. Lovely.

Goree Island Beach Scene

After a quick ferry ride back to the mainland we split up into two groups. The first made their way back to the Dakar Novotel to wind up their adventure a little early, while the rest embarked on two busses for a whistle stop tour of the capital city. Here, to no one’s real surprise, we encountered a modern, clean and functioning city of a style and character very different to anything that we had seen since leaving Cape Town. As usual the most interesting part of the journey was the bus ride itself, which is always the best way to absorb the nuances of any new city, with stops at a local artisan market and a rather humble art gallery to punctuate, and round off, an extremely interesting day.

Dakar Street Scene

Back at the hotel sad farewells were exchanged, groups broke up and dispersed while a number of riotous farewell parties began to warm up. The MS Expedition staff enjoyed a wonderful group meal before signing off on an outstanding adventure, with all of us hoping for, and indeed anticipating, another meeting next year along the fragrant – more or less – West Coast of Africa.

The Western Cape hinterland of Cape Town enjoys a well fleshed selection of fly fishing opportunities, quite a few of which are along the lines of stocked dams and reservoirs, but there are also a good number of wild stock streams and rivers, all within a few hours drive of the main metropolitan area. The best of these can be found in the Hawequas Mountain Catchment Area in a wide arc between the towns of Ceres in the north and Grabouw in the south, including Wellington, Worcester, Villiersdorp and Somerset West.

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Fishing these streams was without doubt the perfect way to wrap up the substantive phase of my fly fishing journey in South Africa. This is a pristine network of fast flowing, crystal clear streams characterized by pale sandstone cobbled beds, a fairly low nutrient load and healthy populations of wild bred rainbow and brown trout. The surrounding countryside is signature montane fynbos of the Cape floristic region. The waters in this area are conditionally accessible to the public being that they are for the most part state owned. They are managed by one of the best organized fly fishing clubs, the Cape Piscatorial Society, based in Cape Town, where beats can be booked and where comprehensive maps and information are available for all the key fly fishing opportunities in the Western Cape.

Molenaar River alongside the N1

Again, with a limited amount of time available, I opted to fish the Elanspad River which is fairly easily accessible from the  mainN1 highway that runs between Cape Town and Johannesburg. I telephoned the Cape Piscatorial Society, and for a very modest fee (SAR150, or about US$20) I was able to book a beat on a trust system after which I simply had to run down to the local bank and deposit the money in the society’s bank account.

The next day I hit the road, following directions for hiking trail parking located at the east entrance to the Huguenot Tunnel which bores through the Du Toits Kloof Mountains for about 4kms. Initially it seemed quite an inauspicious backdrop for a fly fishing morning – set against the tunnel entrance, a mini-spaghetti junction and the rumble of heavy traffic – but very quickly, following a clearly marked trail, I was out of the industrial zone and deep into the wild beauty of the Hawequas Mountain Catchment Area reserve.

Elandspad River against a backdrop of superb mountains

The trail leading alongside the river was surprisingly rough, but that is a good thing, it keeps the novices away. As the sun was coming up I identified my beat and made my way down towards the river’s edge. There I stepped into the first pool (see the featured image), and after a few quick practiced casts I dropped a tiny #16 Adams barbless dry on the placid surface. Immediately I was rewarded immediately with a quick rise and a determined take. There followed a sharp little fight with a highly spirited 12 inch rainbow, and an excellent start to the day. The second and third casts also yielded fish, a little smaller, but no less spirited and aggressive. All three were returned uninjured.

The first catch of the day

By the time I began to move further up the beat the sun was up and the river was clearly illuminated. The character of the beat became one of brief pools, riffles and small rapids. I worked slowly upstream, taking care to keep my profile low and as deep in the bank side shadows as I could. The Adams picked up several more fish of more or less the same size in shallow water cobbled with large, cream colored pebbles. The water was extremely clear, and the fishing very technical. I did, however, find that the fish were fairly willing to come up for a dry, and varying this with a few different nymphs achieved nothing. Returning to a dry I was again catching fairly steadily.

Interestingly also I tried a few few different dry fly variants, all of which were taken. There was strong evidence of a recent mayfly hatch, and it was these patterns that did the best.

Elandspad River Valley

On the whole the fishing here was superb. It is my personal belief that dry fly fishing on a head-water stream is as accomplished as a fly fisherman can become, and despite the fact that only small fish are usually caught does not in any way diminish the technical challenge that this type of fishing represents. I would also say that on the whole this is the best that South Africa has to offer. Fishing in a similar style with Tony Kietzman in Rhodes in Rhodes was very similar, and no less challenging. For the light tackle, small stream aficionado, this cannot be improved upon.

Crystal Clear Streams

]]> http://peterbaxterafrica.com/index.php/2013/03/03/fishing-the-headwater-streams-of-the-western-cape/feed/ 1 http://peterbaxterafrica.com/index.php/2013/03/03/lagoon-and-estuary-fishing-in-the-western-cape/ http://peterbaxterafrica.com/index.php/2013/03/03/lagoon-and-estuary-fishing-in-the-western-cape/#comments Mon, 04 Mar 2013 06:25:14 +0000 Peter Baxter http://peterbaxterafrica.com/?p=4909 This entry is part 9 of 11 in the series Getting the Reels in Motion - Fly Fish Africa 2013

By the time I made my way down towards the East Coast – that is the coast of the southern rump of South Africa – I had begun to run into a time crunch and could not really make the best of the opportunities available. I did, however, pull into the small coastal town of Hermanus, usually famous for its Southern Right Whale breeding runs, but also located at the mouth of the Klein River and one of the recognized coastal fly fishing hotspots along the East Coast.

Hermanus itself is a lovely spot. In the African context it might appear unnaturally clean, well ordered and safe, but actually in many respects this is typical of the Western Cape, which is the lifestyle capital of South Africa, and as such a little bit remote from the grit and grime of Africa that becomes more concentrated as one travels progressively north.

Hermanus,  Western Cape – not a bad spot

Just by way of general background, the East Coast is as far south as you can travel in Africa. It sits astride the Indian and Atlantic ocean, which, apart from generating a uniquely interesting land ecology, also hosts the confluence of the warm, southwards bearing Agulhas Current that slides down the east coast, and the cold, nutrient rich Benguela Current that rides northwards up the west coast from the antarctic. The result is an unusual mixture of fish life from opposing sides of the habitat spectrum which in turn offers a diverse range of angling opportunities. This particular region of South Africa has long been the main focus of commercial fishing, but also sport angling. Fly fishing is something of a new direction in this regard, but it is growing in popularity, and although not always easy, it is extremely rewarding when the forces are aligned.

It is generally accepted that the best time to hit the water is during the summer months between November and May, with the peak period tending to be through March when water temperatures east of Cape Agulhas vary between 15ºC and 24ºC, and elsewhere between 12ºC and 24ºC. As a rule the warmer the water the better the fishing. Warmer water arriving onshore tends to bring in the bait fish and the predators that naturally follow.

There are quite a few tidal rivers incising the coast of the Western Cape, most of which are fishable, but with a few exceptions these tend to be marginal with limited rewards for the fly angler. For the really big fish most fly fishermen flock to the Breede River Mouth north of the De Hoop Nature Reserve and just south of the small settlement of Witsand. The river is navigable upstream for 52km and tidal for some 40kms.

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Fishing is best between October to May, with the December holiday season tending to be crowded. On a good day anglers can hope to catch kob, leerfish, or Garrick as it is often called, elf, grunter, skipkack, white steenbras, blacktail, batfish, mullet, sharks and skates, all of which have regularly been taken on a fly. For more information refer to the Nedbank Guide to Fly Fishing in Southern Africa.

The Breede River mouth is the place to go if you are looking for the really impressive catch, with no other location registering the fish sizes regularly pulled out of the Breede on a fly. Closer to Cape Town, however, is Hermanus, and the Klein River Mouth where the action is more understated, but nonetheless very good. It is also a fact that the lovely settings of Hermanus itself, and the superb backdrop of the Fernkloof Mountain Reserve which looms over the city, all tend to make this a very pleasant location to fish.

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Geographically, the Klein River mouth swells into a wide and shallow lagoon that is quite frequently cut off from an outlet into the bay, although the breaching of the mouth, which occurs in spring with the filling of the lagoon with rain, marks the beginning of the fishing season. Prior to this large numbers of prawns, worms and other marine creatures will have taken refuge in the grass. With the flood of water in the lagoon these are washed out, causing a feeding frenzy which can be exploited by anglers using prawn and worm, and of course various bait fish patterns. Fishing is best within the channel and in the deeper sections. Some shore fishing locations are accessible, but weed is a problem in most places and a boat of some sort is usually advisable.

Target fish are the same basic array as Breede River, with Leerfish, or Garrick tending to be the most commonly caught. These great little fighters can grow quite large, and catches of several kilos and more have been recorded out of the lagoon. I landed two of these fish, not of enormous size, but each was caught, strangely, on a winter pattern Hamill’s Killer which was all I happened to have in my fly box before I was able to get into Cape town to stock up on more appropriate flies. When I did I chose a number of clousers and deceivers, and hooked and lost a monster on a blue and white clouser before time forced me to pack up and leave town.

For more information on this refer to the Nedbank Guide to Fly Fishing in Southern Africa.

It was Wolf Avni who urged me to make a point of visiting Highland Lodge just outside Dordrecht in the Eastern Cape, enthusing in his inimitable way about some environmental anomaly that produces outrageously big trout. I had earmarked Thrift Dam as the likely source of the big fish I wanted before the end of the Eastern Cape leg of the trip – this is after all big fish country, but having failed to land that big fish, my hopes shifted to Highland Lodge.

Stormberg Country

I drove up from Queenstown early in the morning, reaching the Stormberg at its most flattering hour, and on a day of absolute sun drenched clarity. I paused in the town of Dordtrecht to take in the sights, and then made my way to Highlands Lodge, arriving at about 10H30. There I was met by Vicky Bell, lodge owner, who took me on a short tour of the property, pointing out the various dams, before equipping me with a float tube and flippers and setting me adrift on the thirty or so acre Spurwing Dam.

One of several lovely three to five pounders caught and released at Highlands Lodge

Before I took to the water I threw out a cast from the dam wall, aiming for a gap in the weeds, and almost at the moment I began the retrieve I was rewarded with a solid bump of the type that is either a snag upon an immovable object or a very large fish. It became quickly apparent that it was the latter. A very carefully managed fight ensued during which I was able to keep the fish out of the weeds while at the same time handling a screaming spool and keeping my footing on an almost perpendicular rock wall. I also did not have my keep net handy, having not in any way expected this, so all in all it was quite an exercise landing a very nice five pounder cock fish, which, after a quick photo op, I released.

This is what they call a Stockie at Highlands Lodge

Now that is a bloody good start to an afternoon’s fishing! I settled into the float tube and positioned myself a few yards offshore and began to work the edges of the weed bank using my standard 5-weight rod with an inexpensive Diawa reel, shooting an intermediate line with an eight-pound test 3x leader armed with a #8 Hamill’s Killer. The results were immediate, and another heavy fish, possibly a three pounder, perhaps more, took the fly and gave me a hell of a run for my money. This was the first of a half a dozen sizable fish, ranging from three to five pounds, that I was able to lay hands on (I was using a barbless hook so removal and release in the water was fairly easy). There were another half a dozen that slipped the hook. All in all this was an absolutely outstanding afternoon spent on the water. Wolf had been absolutely right.

Highland Lodge, Simple but Practical

Highland Lodge is set in the signature countryside of the Stormberg, once again, soft hill country clad in herbaceous grassland with rare tree cover here and there. This is sheep and cattle country, and the lodge is part of a working farm. It is a striking place in that bleakly beautiful way that characterizes so much of the Eastern Cape. Each region – the Witteberg, the Winterberg and the Stormberg – has its own unique character, but each also is very much part of the same broad ecological zone.

Comfortable Lodge Interior

The fishing waters consist of a handful of fairly unremarkable looking farm dams. Spending any time upon any of these waters is time spent in the company of cattle and sheep, with the addition of much waterfowl activity, and occasional sighting of other oddities of local wildlife, such as a large clawless otter that I watched on the lake shore doing justice to a similarly large crab that he had picked up in the water.

The star of the show, however, are the trout. The dams may be small, but the fish certainly are not. I spent a very pleasant evening as the guest of Vicky Bell, and her husband Luke, who own and run the Boshoffskraal Farm upon which Highland Lodge is located. In reply to my query as to why the fish grow so unusually large within these modest waters, the reply was simply that the waters hereabouts are very fertile.

Highland Lodge

In actual fact, salmon sized trout are a bit of a feature of Eastern Cape waters in general, but Highland Lodge definitely seems to produce fish that are several percent larger than the norm, and I had something of an opportunity the next day to see why for myself.

Bernard’s Dam has the reputation for throwing up some monsters – the current record is a thirteen pounder – and it was to this dam that I made my way as the twilight dawned on a very early morning. As I floated over the passive surface of the lake I was struck by the sheer volume of entomology that either coated the surface or drifted in suspension slightly below, including a variety of nymphs, mostly dead it seemed to me, but indicative of an astonishingly fecund body of water.

A Superb Size, Standard at Highlands Lodge, Eastern Cape

The truth of this was not made clear to me immediately. The fishing was very slow to begin with, and I was entertained in the meanwhile by several hundred sheep in unending communication with one another who came down to the shore as the sun touched the water to drink. I was using the same basic set-up as the previous afternoon, having only replaced the Hamill’s Killer with a similar sized Mrs. Simpson, and so I made several changes, but reverted to Mrs. Simpson on the basis of past successes. As always, patience is the key.

It was not until daylight had completely arrived that that first action was registered. This was another solid bump that took the hook at the knot – a faulty knot I can only assume. Then, as I decided to take a quick break and return to the car for a coffee, and was sitting over a clump of weeds on the float tube winding in, another powerful strike occurred just as the leader appeared above the surface. Within seconds the line had disappeared off the spool and I was down to a few yards of backing. I actually burned my forefinger on the line, so unexpected was this hit. I tapped the spool several times to slow it down, but whatever was towing out line down below simply jumped the hook, leaving me with a proverbial mouth full of feathers, and wondering what the hell had just happened.

Stormberg Landscape

A half an hour or so later I was back on the water. I adopted the same basic tactic as the day before – sitting a few yards offshore working the edges of the weed shoals that choked the banks. The day before most of the action had taken place a foot or less below the surface, and today it was the same. It took a while to get the next hit, but when it came it was another torpedo like fish stripping line at a fantastic rate, running down to the backing in a matter of seconds. This time, though, the hook was well set, and a back and forth struggle ensued that went on for perhaps twenty minutes. This was a powerful fish that took to the air numerous times, but was eventually worn down and came in passively, belly up, exhausted to the extent that it did not recover.

Posing beside the-little- car- that- can with a nice 9 pounder taken from Bernard’s Dam, Highland Lodge

This is the stuff that fishing dreams are made of. This was a large fish by any standard – steelhead sized at the very least. Back at the lodge it was weighed, and it came in at eight and a half pound, nine pound in the fishy story version, and that is good enough for me.

I bade my farewells to Vicky and her superb establishment, and drove southwards once again, and towards adventures new, with a deep sense of satisfaction that the mission had been accomplished. Highlands Lodge is the home of the monster fish, and I say with utter certainly that I will be back one day to catch another.

Thrift Dam was suggested to me by author and adventurer Kevin Thomas as being something of an oddity on the South African Fly Fishing circuit – this for reasons of it having been at one time an experimental water administered by the Rhodes University Ichthyology Department in the study of trout in South African waters.

A view of Thrift Lake, an isolated and beautiful Fly Fishing destination in the Eastern Cape

According to Kevin, it was reputed to hold some of the largest trout in any South African water. The other point he mentioned was that he had heard that it was now inaccessible without a four-wheel-drive vehicle. I added it to my calendar without finding out much about it beforehand, earmarking it for a visit at some point during the Reels in Motion tour.

I then happened to find myself in Queenstown – not a beautiful city, but a city nonetheless – needing a break from the road and an opportunity to get connected to the web and catch up with correspondence. I had just wrapped up a fantastic trip to Rhodes in the Eastern Cape, fishing with Tony Keitzman, and my next scheduled stop was not far from there in the area of Lady Grey and the Kraai River. It was, however,  still raining steadily in the Witteberg, and the Kraai River was still largely unfishable. Therefore, with a day or two to spare, I found myself reading through the Federation of South African Fly Fishing Associations (FOSAF) guide to fly fishing in South Africa and noted that Thrift Dam was  not too far from Queenstown, about 150 miles.

An unusual landscape,Thrift Lake, Eastern Cape, South Africa

In the back of my mind I remembered Kevin’s warning about the road, and bearing in mind I was driving an Opel Corsa two-door, I pondered the prospect of fishing Thrift Dam with a balance of opinions both for and against. I still had a long journey ahead and could not really afford to trash my car in the first quarter. However I rang up the contact number listed in the FOSAF guide – actually there was a little bit of musical chairs before I found the right name and number – Christine at + 27 (0) 875501568 – who was very accommodating (she is the property owner), instructing me basically to show up at Thrift Lake, track down the caretaker and pay him what really was a very modest sum of SAR380, about US$42, for a full days fishing and accommodation. I was warned again that the road was a challenge and should not be tackled lightly.

I set off towards Tarkastad at about 14h30, arriving an hour or so later, from where I gingerly plied the road south towards Adelaide (signposted) with essentially the navigation principal of keeping left. The road was blacktop for about ten miles before it turned to gravel (you will reach a signpost pointing right to Adelaide, but continue left). I immediately got the sense of what I was looking at. The road wasdrivable enough, but there were deep corrugations that shook the heck out of the little car, forcing me to reduce speed and drop down to first gear, and even then it was a shaky drive. This, however, did not last for long, and although bumpy here and there, the road continued to be drivable, and I began to wonder where the problem was? In due course the road thinned to a farm track, at which point it became quite smooth, passing all the while througha most beautiful Winterberg evening, plying the road to ever higher altitudes, with the air crystal clear, and the unbelievable distances that a rain washed atmosphere will allow you to see.

Simple Accommodation,Thrift Lake, Eastern Cape, South Africa

Anyway, in a nutshell, the road is not that bad at all, and with due caution and observance of modest speed, my little car made it without mishap, although I got the feeling that the suspension was not what it had been. What I found was a modest sized reservoir, 168 acres I believe, set in a depression in the otherwise uniform moorland of the Winterberg. Like the Witteberg, I found the landscape easy on the eye, although a little hotter, rougher and dryer, but otherwise another beautiful and hospitable environment (I hear winters can be another story though). I located the caretaker thanks to a countrified lad trotting by bareback on a pony, who, speaking in a hybrid of Xhosa, Afrikaans and English, directed me to a bleak and isolated cottage miles away from anywhere. There the monies were paid, and the key to a gate handed over. I followed directions and found myself in a sheltered cove on the shore of the lake alongside two extremely rustic stone and thatch cottages with unlocked doors and an un-serviced mountain hut type feel. There I settled in, brewed up a cup of rooibos before setting up a rod on an intermediate line, with a #12 Mr. Simpson – the perennial fly for around here, and always a good starter – and tried a few experimental casts.

The best I have to report is a modest strike that had a fish on for no more than a second. Possibly the hook was too small, but I have to say I have searched the Western Cape hinterland for a fly shop, and failed, so I was a little short on the correct tackle.

A nice sized fish taken from Thrift Lake

That notwithstanding I packed as evening settled and made myself comfortable. The next morning I was on the water before dawn. Being without a boat or a float tube I was forced to shore fish, and actually I found Thrift Dam very shore fisherman friendly. There is very little constricting weed at the edges, almost no obstructive vegetation, and reasonably solid underfoot in the instance that I felt it necessary to wade. With a long cast I felt that the fishing was very effective indeed.

Interestingly the water is deeply sepia in color, and with a strong metallic taste tending to suggest that it is influenced by seepage through peat, with the practical effect that the water was not at all clear, and did not give the impression of being clean. Sticking with the Mrs. Simpson I soon hooked into what I thought was a small fish, but it actually, upon landing, turned out to be a nice fourteen inch plus specimen that, although small for Thrift Dam (by reputation anyway), was still a nice fish. I took it out of the water to photograph, but I think that hurt the fish because it did not recover quickly, and I suspect it died. I did not risk photographing any of the subsequent fish caught.

Small Trout Stream, Winterberg, Eastern Cape, South Africa

During the course of the morning I circumnavigated the dam, catching half a dozen fish of similar size, and having an experience that suggested to me that I had one of the famous Thrift Dam big ‘uns on the hook for a short while. Initially I thought I had snagged onto a rock because the line stopped solid and was immovable. Then, surprisingly, as if I had bedded into the back end of a torpedo, the drag began to sing as it peeled off at a slow but steady rate. I tapped the spool a few times to add some drag, which hardly impacted the movement at all, and then the line went slack. I assume that the #12 had not set well and the fish had lost a bit of skin on its lip, but not much else. One of the gallery of might-have-beens.

Later that afternoon I switched to a  floating line and a black midge dry and worked the river for a few hours. The character of this stream was that of a steady, pool heavy flow set beneath the grass level and not that easy to fish. It  yielded three ten inchers or less for a great deal of effort, so I gave up, returning to the dam for a last flurry before setting off back to Queenstown. Nothing to report there.

One of a handful of small fish caught in the river

In general Thrift Dam is a great fishing spot, not too inaccessible but certainly a long way from anywhere. I believe that the big fish are there to be caught, and although the action was not frantic, it was steady, and an excellent fishing experience all in all. Accommodation was simple, but that was a plus I thought, since it was comfortable and private, although you will need to bring everything from a teapot to a sleeping bag. The road is not anywhere near as bad as it is reputed to be, and if I could make it in an Opel Corsa two-door then just about anything on four wheels will get there.

Winterberg, Eastern Cape, South Africa