So after a little day off for the guides our next group arrived amped and ready to catch some Lesotho Yellows.
We were joined by two lads from Port Elizabeth, Phil and Ken then last but not least, competitive angler Andre Smith from Johannesburg.
No time was wasted and the guys climbed straight into the fish the very same afternoon they arrived. This despite the incredible storm experienced in camp the day before that made the water a little milky. The guides decided to fish the lower section of the river below camp for the afternoon. This turned out to be a good call as really good numbers of fish were taken on tan DDD’s, Klinkammers, and a selection of nymphs in the pocket water.
The first full day was a bit of a hit and miss. It started well with the water temperature touching 18 Deg C at 06:30 in the morning and the guys getting fish from the word go, but mother earth kept throwing a curve ball in the form of huge thunder storms and some strong gusting winds in the mix. The guys headed for shelter during the midmorning as the storm got really intense. By 12:00 the guys were out again and managed a couple good fish ranging from 30 – 50cm all on the tan DDD’s again. Unfortunately by 15:00 another storm rolled in but this time round it meant serious business and ended the day really early for the guys. Hale, strong winds and a spectacular show of lighting was enjoyed over a steaming cup of coffee from the “man cave” while the guides were busy tying some flies for the next day.
Day two is where it all went down! The previous day’s rain made the water quite discolored but luckily it did not affect the temperature much! On arrival at the day’s beat the guys saw some fish rise but not as eagerly as when the water is gin clear. The guys split up with Andre and Kenny walking with TF guide Kyle Reed while Phil and TF guide Mark Murray focused on the pool below the little village above camp. Fishing a size 18 black biot beatis nymph below a dry, Phil managed an astonishing five fish over 60cm from this pool! An absolute mind blowing session that will be remembered for years to come! In the meantime Andre and Ken also experienced some stellar fishing with a good number of trophy fish in the mid 50cm range (not to mention the amount of fish below 50cm!) Special mention goes out to Andre who managed to get a good number of rainbow trout from the pocket water.
The last full day was fished quite high up river and the number of fish landed on dry was scary! Before lunch we overtook the 50 fish count and it just kept on getting better. The fish started on tan DDD’s, moved over the klinkammers, then Black Beatles before going back onto the DDD’s. The guys were absolutely mind blown, and hats off to Andre, who managed to land the vast majority of today’s fish and also managed a tank Lesotho Yellow! It “only” reached 56cm but was by far the heaviest fish of the week!
The next group of guys will be rolling in tomorrow and on that note
Cheers from the Tourette Fishing Makhangoa Community Camp in Lesotho
TF Lesotho Guides Team
Mark and Kyle
Group 6: 24-27 January 2014
Being fortunate enough to work in some of the amazing destinations that we go too really makes one have to stretch their vocabulary. As many times as we try explaining to friends, family and you guys what these destinations are like, I always find myself lost for words or stuck using the same series of words explaining how amazing these places are. But unfortunately like most incredible experiences there is absolutely nothing like seeing it, to believe it. Lesotho is definitely one of these places, making it really difficult to convey to people what it’s really about. Like how clear the water actually is, sessions where hungry yellowfish absolutely devour size 4 dries, you tell these stories and you watch how people that haven’t experienced it slip into that “Yeah right attitude.” This week was no different, with four awesome guys in camp; we had an opportunity to show them what true world class sight fishing for yellowfish is really about.
Campfire stories is what makes trips likes these really special, this week we had Johan, Eugene, Barry and Steve long time varsity mates. Listening to the guys reminisce about mountain biking trips and the old days, really makes the time around the campfire special. When it comes to the fishing this last week the guys were all blown away. The first afternoon we headed over a saddle and downstream to a series of runs and pools close to camp. With the guys shaking the rust off and Mark and myself showing them the ropes, in no time everyone was tight. Eugene and myself were walking to a pocket water section where I noticed three fish holding in a fast little rifle right on the edge.
Eugene had about 3metres of fly line out and his fourteen foot leader followed by a DDD on the end. I showed him the fish and asked him to literally flick the fly out and just watch the drift, the fly barely touched the water and the lead fish turned and engulfed the fly. Eugene was blown away, a solid mid 40cm fish, definitely not a bad way to start off the trip. The first full day on the Bokong we started slightly higher than where we left off the first afternoon and worked our way back up to camp. The guys all managed to get some really good fish, but things were a little more tricky than usual, fish were spooking and being very selective. However this sometimes makes things slightly more rewarding when one really has to get that perfect natural drift to entice the fish to eat your fly. With a lekker lunch in camp the guys were recharged and we headed up stream, the trickiness seemed to follow though, fishing dry dropper rigs and getting fish on tiny black tungsten nymphs everyone managed to get some epic fish and an awesome day all round.
The next full day, we took the cruiser loaded the guys and rods in and headed upstream from camp to fish a bit higher and look for better fish. There was seriously no way we could’ve expected the fishing we had that day. Double up’s on high 50cm fish seemed to be the norm. Mark had Barry and Steve downstream in a nice pool and they seriously proceeded to pin some monster fish. The numbers were ridiculous another 50 fish morning, this is seriously just unheard of. Johan and Eugene were with me in a pocket water section and a good pool as well, Eugene got many good fish, almost ever fish was over 40 cm and the largest stretching the tape just shy of 60cm. These fish all weighed in at 3 pounds and two big boys tipped the scales over 4. Amazing fishing in any river. And even more unique and special is that they were all over the dry fly. Absolutely ridiculous.
With another week come and gone with really good company and some unbelievable fishing, the Lesotho guide team is anxiously awaiting the next group of guys to arrive in camp and show people them what an amazing fishery this really is.
Till next time guys, tight lines.
Kyle and Mark
Lesotho Guide Team.
