After a quick break for Christmas and New Year, we anxiously made our way back up the ‘hill’ and into Lesotho not sure what the start of 2020 will hold in store. When we had left, a few weeks earlier, the river was finally showing some potential, with a few yellows moving into the Bokong river, very late into the early season. Unseasonably late rain and no snowfall over winter has left the water table extremely low, Katse was at the lowest it had been since the dam was initially filling up, not ideal conditions for a yellowfish migration.

In Clarens we met up with Mike and Beata la Sota, crossed the border, and then slowly made our way in convoy up through the lowlands of Lesotho and eventually climbing the incredible Mafika Pass. It was only once we were nearing camp that we realised Katse dam was still extremely low and the river was still not quite up to the standard that it is renowned for, the next few days were going to be challenging conditions.

We started off focusing on the lowest beats and the estuary, hoping that more fish had started to push into the system. Being from the USA, Mike was keen to target Smallmouth Yellowfish. He is no stranger to tough fishing conditions, and the pumping wind was no challenge for him. However, this made spotting yellows tough. Needless to say Mike got a few yellows to the net as well as a lovely little brown out of Home Pool.

With a quieter camp than normal, we managed to run some supplies to the Makhangoa  Primary school. The terms starts this week, so so timing was percect to ensure all the little ones are fed each day, and can focus on their learning, without the grumbling of tummies.

A slower start to the New Year than hoped but as I sit and type this in the guides room I can hear the river pumping. We have had some great rain of late, and we expect a healthy run of fish any day now. We are  pretty positive, our next group (return guests, Dale, Nishan, Greg and Reinhardt), will be treated to some great fishing.

Until next time.

Greg