It was like arriving on a cloud, it was like the world had stopped and all time stood still, as I surveyed the six visible dams. Just the sight of the dams made me eager to start fishing right away. As I got close to the water a white veil of mist covered the surface, hiding the ripples where I could have spotted trout rising. There was only one thing on my mind, and that was to get my line into the water. I had heard of big fish being caught in these dams, but to me they were all old wives tales; little did I know that a good 3 kg rainbow trout would be waiting for me. But I’m getting a bit ahead of myself. I started fishing at the bottom three dams, “Grootdam, Kwiting dam, and Mobumotsu dam”. I started at Grootdam first, looking if there was any sign of insect life, but there was none early that morning, so I tied on the fly that I always start with on new waters, “The black Woolly Bugger”, also known as the “Speedcop”. First casting it out straight in front of me, then retrieving it with a slow long retrieve, then casting it out to the left of me and then to the right, covering water as I went along. Time passed with no sign of a take or rise, so I decided to cast my Speedcop straight out in front of me and let it sink just a bit, and then start retrieving.
As soon as I did that I had a massive rip on my line, the line that was left from me retrieving had gone and I was already in my backing before I even knew it. At that point I knew I was on for a fight that would last for about six minutes, if not more. I was playing the fish really carefully because I was using 5X fluorocarbon tipped material. As soon as I saw the fish I knew it was going to be my biggest trout since I started trout fishing 9 years ago. As soon as it got in my net, it was a massive sigh of relief, but I realized that my net was not big enough, half of the fish’s tail was still hanging out of my net. I took the fish out, took a picture and released it again to allow it to make someone else as happy as it had made me.
Over the next few days the fishing was great. I hooked a Rainbow Cock Fish weighing in at around the 2,1kg mark. In the following four days I managed to hook 16 healthy, strong trout. It was a good few days’ fishing.
Flies
There were two flies I used on this trip that worked very well for me: size 10 Black Woolly Bugger, with blue tinsel, size 14 Davies beaded blood Worm, and a size 16 DDD.
The Woolly bugger must be fished with a long leader and a slow retrieve, waiting for the fly to sink a bit.
The Davies beaded blood Worm must be fished statically, with another fly that’s on top of the water. (i.e. top dropper fly being the DDD and using your Davies beaded blood Worm as the point dropper fly)
The DDD is fished statically, with a floating line and with a slow figure of eight retrieve.
Accommodation
The chalets are situated on the high ground overlooking the dams and offer visitors amazing views of the surrounding area. The Arum, Rhebuck, Oudekraal and Panorama stone chalets each offer 3bedroom, open plan kitchen, bathroom, deck and braai facility. The chalets are serviced and fully equipped but are self catering. They are ideal for anyone, even for the first timers.
There was even space for me to tie my flies for the next days fishing. I Will Recommend this Treeferns Trout Lodge to anyone who wants to get away from the hustle and bustle of city life and want to enjoy the beautiful surroundings and the good Fly Fishing.
Writer: Oszie Johnson
