While exploring for a place to fly fish in the Drakensberg mountains online I came across a series of community based projects that sought to connect rural communities with fly fishers seeking to fish the legendary Mooi and Bushmans rivers. The one that really piqued my interest was the Thendela Fly Fishing project on the Mooi river in the Kamberg valley just below the Kamberg Nature Reserve. Being right in the middle of the rainy season with highly variable river levels and washouts depending on the rainfall in the mountains it seemed like it wasn’t the time to be fly fishing and the community guides were out-of-town. However, family circumstances saw me there and keen to have a go even if there was a risk of getting washed out. I needed a guide who knew the area and was available on my limited set of dates before I flew back to the UK. Graham from Wildfly came to the rescue and was able to squeeze me in for a morning.
The road in to the Kamberg valley from Nottingham Road was worse pothole wise than the drive into Underberg. The saving grace for this drive was the lack of animals to dodge on the road and minimal other cars. That said we narrowly missed a head on collision with another car on our side of the road attempting to avoid a canyon of a pothole on their side of the road. Surprisingly the final 2 or 3 kilometres from the dirt Mpofana Road to the village of Thendela was like a billiard board and a joy to drive on. The community office was closed when we arrived so we hit the river knowing that the lady who runs the office would come and find us and we could settle up later in the morning. It had rained the day before so the river was high and dirty and cold at 16.5 ºC so not ideal. There was a slight breeze from the west but it was hot even though it was only 8:30 am; Durban was melting under a heat wave and the Berg was set to share in the heat. All of these things were miles from my mind …. Look at the mountains and breathe deeply … my soul was home and my spirits were riding high …. it was gonna be a spectacular day!
Given the crime rate in South Africa the concept of fishing in rural tribal lands and relaxing knowing you and your car are safe seems like an odd concept. However, the community have made this central to the project and I didn’t give a it a second thought as we set off from the car having set up our rods. The local people we encountered during the day were extremely friendly. The river meanders quite extensively through the tribal lands so you don’t have to walk far to get to the beats and explore a range of river environments as you walk the meanders. We started towards the middle of beat 7 and worked our way back up the river towards the car parked near the start of beat 5. Much of beat 6 has been lost with much of that meander having been cutoff …. river dynamics in action!
Given the fast flowing water which was cold we needed to get the fly down deep, so spent the day using various styles and colour variations of woolly bugger-damsel flies with tungsten bead heads. Three casts in and my first opportunity went a begging. I don’t river fish very often and I was still getting the hang of casting a heavy cast with the light breeze across my right arm, casting with a high bank behind me and mending to deal with a fast flowing current. My mend wasn’t quite good enough and the take was subtle and undetected. I can be sure that there was interest in the fly as the back of a good sized brown trout was seen arching through the water back towards some weed on the far bank. I was working the far bank allowing the fly to swing into the bank, then working the fly back along the undercut of the high bank on which we were standing.
There were several points where thorn trees were toppling and falling into the river as the bank was slowly being undercut and I attempted to work these by casting upstream and getting the fly down deep below this structure in the event a brownie was lurking below waiting for a snack. Nothing stirred. Another chance went a begging at the bottom of beat 5 as I cast upstream and couldn’t retrieve the line fast enough to keep in constant touch with the fly in the fast flowing current. A swirl showed a smallish brownie rising to the fly and then swooshing back down to the depths. The walking along the bank was easy as the grass is short having been grazed by the local cattle. Despite the rain the previous evening the ground underfoot was firm and not muddy. While the fish weren’t producing any sport the walk was fascinating with wild flowers, e.g. dierama spp., insects e.g. grasshoppers, and birds, e.g. weavers and swallows nesting in parts of the river bank, all making the most of the sunshine.
It was excruciatingly hot and my arm was aching from hurling heavy flies into a strengthening breeze and not having taken any break during 4 hours of fishing. We fished beat 4 to complete the session but my concentration was starting to wane. I worked a promising section of river casting upstream then watching the fly swing deep and slow with the current ending alongside the bank. I was starting to chat to Graham and in that instant I missed the final opportunity of the day. As I worked the fly back along the bank a smallish brownie struck the fly, I lifted into the take and for a brief moment the trout was on, it threw itself into the air shaking its head and in that instant it threw the hook and disappeared bank into the undercut below the bank.
My half a days guided fishing was up and we headed off to the office to pay for the day’s fishing, R160 (about £8) which was good value for the venue. The office is one of a series of stores that were built to house a community craft centre aimed at targeting the passing tourist trade on their way to Kamberg. Unfortunately, the project seems to have stalled waiting for funding from government which is a real shame as it seems like a really good idea. The fly fishing project initiated by the KZN Fly Fishers includes selling flies that are known to work at the venue but tied by the local community. Unfortunately, the fly tying project was not operating at the time, again it seemed to have stalled awaiting government funding despite donations of materials from commercial sponsors.
While I could have continued without Graham I was exhausted from the extreme February heat and dehydrated from 5 hours of fishing without a break, water or snacks. While I had ended my African brown trout adventures fishless I was on cloud nine. The location is simply stunning and being able to support a community project only added to the whole experience. I started the long pothole winding route home in the daylight as the challenge of doing so in the dark would have added a whole new dimension to the trip.
Tight Lines
Greg
