Just before our trip to Gkhui Gkhui River Lodge (check out the article in The Mission issue 49), Ant (Anthea Linsell – professional guide at Gkhui Gkhui) sent us photos of flies that she recommended we bring with. To my surprise, a biggish tan beetle featured among the nymphs and streamers; although skeptical about these dry flies, to make sure I wasn’t going to miss out on any ‘potential’ surface action, I tried to copy her beetles a few nights before our departure from home.

Ant’s beetles, highly recommended for the stretch of Orange River when flowing clear between Vanderkloof Dam and Hopetown. (Photo provided by Anthea Linsell)

(Photo provided by Anthea Linsell)

En route to the Orange, I told Michelle that I recalled seeing largish, tan Christmas beetles in that area before and that those tan beetle imitations of Ant made sense – fish love eating terrestrials and a fat, juicy scarab beetle imitation, such as the Good Doctor’s Beetle, work like a charm for rising smallmouth yellowfish in Sterkfontein Dam, for instance. When we arrived at Gkhui Gkhui it was already dinnertime and while sitting indoors at a romantically lit table, the tan Christmas beetles started greeting us through the large restaurant windows. Buzzing against the glass, trying to get to the light coming from inside, these beetles hung around just long enough for me to step outside after our meal and catch one to photograph for future reference…

I was intrigued by these beetles and the thought of targeting surface-dwelling yellows with the imitations we had brought with; after seeing a flotsam of dead beetles the size of a lilo in the swimming pool next to the dining area the next morning, I couldn’t contain myself any longer and quizzed Ant and Vian Ferreira (Anthea’s partner and also professional guide at Gkhui Gkhui) about it while enjoying breakfast with them. However, Vian’s explanation only made things worse for me, he said that in certain large back eddies, big schools of yellows could be found patrolling the surface and that they’ve experienced fantastic dry fly fishing for them using a variety of flies, including the beetles. I simply had to see and experience this, sooner than later…

Thankfully, Vian took us to one of these back eddies under a bridge that afternoon and as a final teaser, he took me to a viewpoint on the bridge before heading to the parking area. It was just mind blowing to watch so many fish, numerous species and sizes, rising and grazing in the shallow, clear water. By the time I was tackled up, beetle imitation in hand and ready to cast on the riverbank, I was visibly shaking from the viskoors (fish fever – the uncontrollable tremble and racing heart you get from excitement when you anticipate an ‘eat’ from a fish in front of you). It’s not like I get much viskoors these days, as you somehow grow immune to it over the years, but this situation was obviously too much for me to control my nerves.

After taking a deep breath, trying to calm myself down a bit, I flicked the beetle out in front of a nice fish that Vian spotted closest to us (with the idea to start with fish feeding tight to the bank and slowly working our way outward toward fish feeding near the middle of the river to try and catch as many as possible before the schools of fish grew wise and stopped taking the flies). The smallmouth yellow glided forward and sucked the fly down as if it was exactly what it was looking for. The fight was exhilarating in the torrent; the yellow made long and powerful runs while I focused on keeping the line away from large, exposed rocks on the edge of the main flow.

The rest of the dry fly fishing we experienced that afternoon was exactly like the first fish, predictable with guaranteed takes if the beetle landed near a yellow, followed by fast and long runs. Some of the ‘eats’ were explosive as numerous yellowfish rushed toward the fly to get it first, resulting in a lot of commotion on the surface. It was simply sublime and also turned out to be one of the highlights of our visit at Gkhui Gkhui.