Makhangoa Community Camp 2019/20 Season – Blog 4

One of the greatest challenges of fly fishing is making the most of the conditions on the day. Sometimes it’s easy, other-times you need to dig deep into your skillset, flybox, and patience to get those fish into the net. Recently the Bokong tested the resolve of angler and guide alike, after a few days of solid rain the river was doing its best impression of a chocolate milk factory, not a great start for the few days of fishing ahead. 

G-Man, Davo, Big John, John Robinson, Pelham and Viv returned for their annual trip to Makhangoa. Last year the group had very similar conditions and hoped to make the most of their return trip. After two day the rains stopped, the sun came out, but the river was still pretty angry. Cold dirty water and high flows forced our hands deep into the nymph boxes for some tungsten beaded flies, focussing our attention on deeper pools with slower flows and big eddies, while the fish waiting for the river to return to normal. 

The fishing was slow for most of the trip but started to come alive during the last day. With the water level dropping, visibility increased, and water temperatures back into the late teens, the fish came back on the feed, sipping dry flies off the surface like there was no tomorrow.

All in all a tough week’s fishing, but a memorable trip we won’t forget anytime soon ?

Till next time,

Greg