Kamberg Nature Reserve.2

My intention was to fish the Mooi River in the Kamberg Nature Reserve, But first I took some photos of the still water in the reserve. These waters are stocked on a regular basis with rainbow trout.

There are several still waters in the reserve and all interconnected. A constant flow of water is diverted from the river through the ponds.

A glimps of one of the other ponds.

My first sight of the river in the reserve. To tell you the truth this would be the first time that I'd fished a river. All my fishing up to now has been still water fishing from a float tube, sometimes from the bank. I had brought my new 3 weight TFO 8' fly rod. This was a Christmas present to myself. Ordered it in kit form from the US and built it up myself, doesn't look to shabby if I may say so myself.

To the left of the river you can see the thatched roof of a house. This is the largest accommodation in the reserve. When I got there I saw six young men kitted out in camouflage waders, shirts and fly vests, even their caps were camouflaged. Top of the range fly rods and 3 very expensive 4x4 vehicles. These guys take their fishing seriously. They were just busy packing up after having been on and in the river upstream for miles.

Above this small rapid/waterfall is a very long pool. I started fishing here, I had a whole selection of dry flies and weighted nymphs in the 14 to 16 size range. It only struck me much later after having no success and not seeing hide or hair of a fish, that the six guys I had seen previously must have scared every fish into hiding. Brown trout are know to hide for hours after being disturbed.

The pool above the falls/rapids. I tried everything, weighted nymphs fished at the bottom, GRHE & PTN's, lost a few due to hook-ups on dead timber and rocks. Dry flies, Adams size 14, white wulf size 16, Klinkhamer's size 16 and some CDC emergers. to no avail. This pool is several hundred meters long and quite deep.

Moved upstream to faster water to try some riffles and runs, just lost a few more nymphs. All in all I spent 4 hours fishing my way upstream. As you can see in this photo the water was gin clear, it's also deeper than it looks.

A promising piece of water. The vegetation and grass along the banks was very lush. One of the dangers fishing in South Africa is snakes, and particularly puff adders who like to lie on the banks of streams. Puff adders are lazy snakes and don't move away when they hear you come, it's not an aggressive snake and people are usually bitten after standing on one.

A tributary flowing into the Mooi River from the South. This stream might be worth exploring by wading upstream and fishing as you go. Tried a few casts with a weighted nymph into the undercut in the bank on the left. Had to cross this stream to get further upstream on the Mooi River.

A view looking westward up the valley. The mountains in the background are the foothills of the Drakensberg.
Joel mentioned in his comment on my previous post that I was lucky to have this wild country around. It's true we are blessed with several thousand square  kilometres wilderness area adjoining the Drakensberg, much of it looking as has done for thousands of years. You can hike for days and not see another soul, you can loose yourself here, literally and figuratively. Fortunately Africa still has many such places.

In my next post I'll say more about my fishing and Kamberg Nature reserve.