I posted this on our local forum and thought that I would share it with you as well even though most of the writing and places wont make sense to you guys and gals.
“The center of the universe” is how the locals describe the eastern cape area of South Africa, because it has over 300km of stunningly beautiful trout rivers to fish in a very small area. Rhodes is the center town of the district and is about 1200km from Cape Town.
Hope you guys enjoy…
Just returned yesterday from a week in the Eastern Cape/ Rhodes area.
After an early morning departure we headed for Nieu-Betesda via Outshoorn. I had my doubts about staying there for three nights, but it was a nice way to get into the mood for out holiday. The days were spent walking around and just relaxing. I went down to the river (which was flowing) but didn’t see any fish and having been insured by the locals that there is no fish in there I didn’t bother to fish. There is apparently one farm that has a dam with some carp and barbel in, but I didn’t go fish it.
From Nieu-Betesda we headed to Gateshead via Aliwal north and Barkley-East.
We arrived late at Gateshead and I only did a cursory walk down to the river. We booked into the Honeymoon House so we were right on the doorsteps of the river.
Honey Moon House
After a very cold night Shaun (Sanity-WP)and me got up early and went fishing. This is certainly a stunning and secluded stretch of the river. You feel as if you are alone and the first to have fished it. The water was very low and clear and I caught lots of little fish with the biggest being about 14 inches. Most were in the 8 to 12 inch range. This was the first time that Shaun fly fished in a river and after missing a few fish he eventually landed his first ever wild river trout.
The afternoon we went downstream and fished up to the Honey Moon huisie and I landed quite a number of small fish. We spent another cold night next to the braai fire and I did some more fishing the next morning before we left. All fish except for one was caught on a RAB.
We headed over to Rhodes for lunch at Walkerbouts and then to Balloch. We booked into The Willow cottage and was pleasantly surprised with the house. Everything you need is there. I off course headed straight for the river before even unpacking and was soon into my first fish. I was however after the browns and it wasn’t long before I got my first ever wild brown trout. I was so happy about this that I packed up shortly after and went back to the house to just relax next to the fire.
My first wild brown
The next morning I was up early again and fished up to the waterfall. I caught plenty of small fish with the occasional bigger fish that surprises you. Also caught a few more browns.
Just when you relax one of these would surprise you.
Lunch time Shaun and I headed to the dam and buggered around for a bit. Shaun caught his second trout here and was getting the hang of casting.
Some stunning water
The next morning we headed up above the waterfall and fished for a while. This stretch of the river is quite different than below the waterfall with very spooky fish. I did manage to land a few browns in the two hours that we spent here.
From Balloch we headed to Rosstrevor next to the Diepspruit river.Here the scenery and the river changed to a more open area and with the river being wide, shallow and crystal clear. At least you didn,t have to worry about where your backcast went anymore. After arriving Shaun and I headed down to the river, with me heading upstream and Shaun going downstream. You realy had to stalk these fish as they were sitting in very shalow and crystal clear water. By the time you lifted your rod they were gone. Most fish was again on the small side, but I had visions of the 9 pound fish that the owner caught and had mounted back at the farm which he caught in this river.
Shaun landing another rainbow.
Some fishy pics
Unfortunatle the big fish avoided us.
Unfortunately Shaun received some bad news that night and it was decided that we would head back to Cape Town a day early. I would definitely be back to this section of river again though.
Conclusion:
As you guys have said so many times, this is truly a stunning peace of South Africa. One week is to short to spend there and I am already planning a longer trip for next time. The people are extremely friendly and helpfully and the three places we stayed at were all very special in their own way.
In the few days that we spent fishing we landed well over a 100 fish, and even though most of them were of the small size there was the odd bigger fish that gave you that surprise when you least expect it. Most fish were caught on RAB’S and ZAK’S.
That is really an awesome set of pictures and story to go with them. I love it. It really reminds me of parts of Colorado and Utah, so it also made me homesick.
