Brown trout, Loteni river.

Land of mountains, trout streams and wild brown trout.


After paying the entrance fee and for a fishing permit we drove about 2km further to the first camp site. I put on my neoprene booties and wading boots, we both grabbed our back packs, mine with my 2 weight rod in it, and we were off to the water. The descent to the water was pretty steep but we made it down without mishap.


I quickly set up my rod, threaded the line and tied on a size 14 *RAB on 4x leader with a 5x tippet. Without wasting time I waded in, the water was cool, but pleasantly so. The Italian leprechaun was appointed official expedition photographer and he wasted no time taking photos.


Click on pictures to enlarge.

The first pool that I fished.

Third or fourth cast I was rewarded with this nice wild brown trout, small but beautiful. A perfect specimen of a wild fish. A great thrill to catch a fish with a rod you built and a fly you tied. The largest fish I've heard of caught in this stream was 6lb +, but that was much further downstream where the stream is much wider and deeper.


Brown trout were released into the Loteni river more than a hundred years ago, since then they have bred and thrived in this stream in spite of extreme heat, cold, floods and periodic drought.


After this I decided to move downstream about 500 metres and fish my way back upstream.

Deciding which fly; decision, a parachute Adams. I had completely forgotten about the Italian leprechaun with the camera so I was totally unaware of him taking photos.

Tying it on, sometimes a tricky business.

Fish on. Only for a second or two though, and it became one of several long distance releases of the day.


In spite of catching only catching one fish, missing many and losing several, it was still a great day. After four hours on the river we called it a day.  


*RAB, a South African dry fly in the variant style.