My first fishing outing of the year was a weekend trip to the Kamberg Nature Reserve, which is located in the Drakensberg.
Kamberg has 4 fishable dams, although I think they claim to have 6, and a good stretch of the Mooi River. It’s easy to fish, with most of the dams being mown around the edges. The dams are also relatively small, with grass and wood jettys, and are fishable all the way around.
When I first fished Kamberg many years ago I landed 11 trout in one morning. Things have changed since then, and the fishing seems to have gotten a lot harder. I think this may be due to the hatchery closing down, and the dams therefore getting stocked less often. I did chat to a guide and he mentioned that they stocked once a month, but I find this hard to believe since, looking at the catch report, all fish being caught are in the region of 800g, which is larger than a fingerling.
On to my fishing…I arrived at 7am on Saturday and got a line into the water instantly. There was a little surface activity around which was more frustrating than anything else since I wasn’t landing fish.
Eventually, at about 9am, I managed to land a decent 900g Rainbow Trout on a Red Mrs Simpson. I carried on for another 2 hours with no more luck. Sadly the afternoon and evening weren’t fishable due to a sizable ‘berg storm.
On to Sunday…I was in the water by 5:45am and fished for an hour before landing a 700g Rainbow, this time on a black bead headed nymph. I did have a few more knocks and things were looking a bit better, but sadly this was to be my last fish of the morning. There were 5 other fly fishermen on the water with me, none of whom managed to land a fish, so maybe I must consider myself lucky.
Looking at the catch report also revealed very few fish caught in January. So my report…the fishing is not what it was, but perseverance will get you a fish or two.
The river was looking inviting but sadly I wasn’t able to get a line into it. Maybe next time…