The Central Drakensberg and Southern Drakensberg have long been favoured as prime fly fishing destinations. From rivers, wild-spawned fish of up to eight pounds are taken and from the dams come fish of ten pounds and more. Nowhere else in South Africa are so many heavy-flanked fish caught in such unspoiled surroundings.
Specialist stores in the region provide a range of fly-fishing gear and equipment.
Best Fly fishing locations
Giants Cup Wilderness – Called “one of the world’s most beautiful trout angling resorts” (Fly-Fishing in Southern Africa, Robert Brandon-Kirby). It offers self-sustaining populations of Brown and Rainbow Trout in the midst of an unspoiled wilderness. The lake varies in depth from about 1 – 2 metres over the shallows, down to 14 metres in the channel and the main basin. The Umzimkulwana River runs for 18 kilometres through the Ukhahlamba Drakensberg Mountain Park and is accessible by hikers off the farm. No vehicular access is permitted, but the first few kilometres above the farm are not hard to get to. Here you can you fly-fish for wild spawning fish of up to 10.5 pounds, while surrounded by herds of grazing eland and mountain reedbuck, and with lammergeyer or black eagle circling overhead. The lake & Umzimkulwana River, which flows through it, comprise an open, naturally self-sustaining fishery. Although their hatchery produces 95% of the trout used throughout the Southern Drakensberg, They do not stock the system. Thus the fishery is a unique wild system, replenished from the wild spawning of Brown and Rainbow Trout in the headwaters of the Umzimkulwana, a major tributary of the Umzimkulu.
Injasuti – Injasuti is the next main valley to the north of Giants Castle that contains the eNjesuthi River which has several kilometres of trout fishing. There is a daily rod fee and the bag limit is two fish.
Highmoor Dams – The Little Mooi River rises in the high wetlands of the Highmoor State Forest, a proclaimed wilderness area. The river has been dammed at an altitude of 2000 metres to create two still-waters – Salmo (6 hectares) and Kamloops (1 hectare). The fishing is highly rated and limits are to a maximum of 500 rod-days per year with no more than six anglers daily. Float tubes are permitted but, owing to the environmental sensitivity of the area, no cars may proceed beyond a designated area. This means that you will have to carry your tube and tackle for approximately 400 metres to Kamloops and double that distance to Salmo. The fishing season is closed from 1st June to a flexible 31st October each year. (Determined by the breeding progress of the endangered wattled cranes which nest in the area.)
Kamberg Nature Reserve – The Reserve straddles the upper Mooi River. The total length of river available is approximately 13 km. Kamberg also has six dams ranging in size from 0,3 to 3,5 hectares. Boats or float tubes are not permitted. A day permit is per angler is required. The daily bag limit is three fish of any size per angler on the dams and ten on the river. A Trout Festival takes place in June to pit the bests skills against each other.
Bushman’s River – As the river moves from source, there is pristine fishing from 1 km above the Giant’s Castle rest camp, dropping a further 7kms below and within the greater Drakensberg Park, followed by 5kms through a private farm. Buy day fishing permits from the rest camp or Snowflake Cottages, depending on where you will fish.
The Bushmans is best known as a Brown Trout stream, but the hatchery has had various spills of Rainbows, and in some years Rainbows are plentiful, especially within a few kms of the hatchery. Trout are typically 10 inches in length, but fish of up to 24 inches are reported in very good years. 16 to 18 inch fish are not uncommon.
Adapted from article by Antbear Eco Lodge
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