South African Angling Safari

Myself, Sue (wife) and son Tim off to Josini dam to catch tigerfish. In view of the heavy rains and muddy water we decided againstartificial and opted for worms to catch kurper to use as live bait. We could not catch the kurper, because the small tigers nailed thebait, hook and all, with their razor sharp teeth.

We tried normal steel piano wire and they wouldn’t touch it. Unfortunately I had left the fancy supple French braided steel wire(cannelle) at home. We had fun with the small tigers on lighttackle and then switched over to catfishing, with fish up to 15 kgs;these powerhouses gave us a run for our money using 4 kg line oncentre-pins with 9 wt fly rods.

The bush camp we stayed in offered something different in that youcould go out and stalk the resident herd of elephants (with a guide)- thank you, but no thank you! we stuck to matters piscatorial.

Back to Johannesburg to collect Sue’s sister Delia and her husbandJim arriving from the U.K. It was then down to our cottage on theVaal Dam (shoreline 800 km) for some lazy coarse fishing for carp,yellows, mud and catfish over the new year.

Upped stakes and motored to the beautiful Drakensburg Mountains,which had a dusting of snow on the high peaks, due to some freakweather over the new year (snow in the middle of summer – unheardof!). We were heading for “Giants Cup” an unspoilt area in theUnderburg to ‘drown some feather’s’ trying to tempt the wild trout. Tim (the trout poacher) faired the best with 2 fighting-fit rainbows. Unfortunately they fought themselves to death on his 2-wt rig.

We then travelled south across ‘The Mountains of the Dragon’ downto the wild coast, the last 30km taking us one and a half hours inthe 4 x 4.

Opting for light tackle and Scarborough reels we had a great timegully fishing. Coming back the Nissan Sani 4 x 4’s fuel pipe fromthe filler cap to the tank came adrift (that’s another long story),but it meant a night over at the Nottingham Road Hotel. It is theoldest hotel in Kwa Zulu Natal. It has quite a history and I wasinterested to see a list of do’s and don’ts in the good old days. For example, guests were requested to not sleep more than 2 to a bedand to ensure that they removed their boots.

What with the tragic floods, foot and mouth in the U.K. SouthAfrica offers many opportunities for visiting anglers and theirfamilies.

Most important our currency has weakened to such an extent thateven the ladies of horizontal tendencies are leaving. For example,first class accommodation with meals starts at about £ 20.00 anda pint of “bottled sandwiches” round about 30p.

If you are unfamiliar with some of the fish species mentioned gointo my site www.fishingowl.co.zaand click on species on the home page.

Please don’t forget to sign the guest book!