Makhangoa Community Camp 2018/19 Season: Blog 2

The last few days in camp saw quite a contrast of guests. Father and son combination, who were almost completely new to fly fishing, joined world renowned fisherman and casting instructor Tim Rajeff and his partner Kath. Tim was world casting champ many moons ago and togerther with his equally competent partner Kath Hart, are the the founders of Echo Fly Fishing.

Melkham and his son Keagan couldn’t have picked a better week to start fly fishing. Tim luckily had all his necessary teaching equipment with him at camp and gave them a full on casting lesson. By the end of it, both father and son were ready to tackle the Bokong River.

Tim and Kath had been in camp for a few days and both had a couple of Yellows under their belt and were happy to help where ever they could. The first day of fishing amazingly saw Melkham bag two Yellows, which is phenomenal for his first day out. Keagan also fared well by hooking a couple of fish but the power of the Bokong Yellows were a bit much. Tim and Kath had a full on joll with their new glass rods that are about to be released in January. They were happy to allow us to give the rods a go and we were completely blew us away. I can see a few orders being placed.

A few overnight pointers and suggestions were given over a delicious dinner. The advice seemed to do the trick for both father and son as they seemed to find their feet in windy conditions the next day. Melkham got a nice fish on a dry and Keagan picked up two Yellows of his own. The second fish saw us running and tumbling through rapids chasing the fish, just to have it turn around and go the other way as we got into the same pool. Keagz was ecstatic with his catch and was soaking from head to toe by the time the fish found the net. Both have many fish in their future to come.

Tim and Kath also managed to find time to assist the guides with little tricks when trying to help new anglers. These lessons also helped with our own casting technique. Tim was also kind enough to leave the necessary gear to help out beginners for similar situations in the future.

Unfortunately the day came for the guests to make their way back to civilization and it was a rather dampened feeling in camp as Tim and Kath over their week stay really just slotted in well and felt like part of the camp. The stories and lessons learnt was really appreciated by all.