I would describe myย first trip to the Lesotho highlands asย satisfying. The fishing was slow due to a huge thunderstorm, which capped the mountain tops in snow and chilled the Bokong River on the day of my arrival. Although theย fishing was no walk in the parkย (the previous trip can be viewed at: http://themissionblog.com/?p=6411), the yellowfish were big and it was fun casting flies toย sighted fish. With some beautiful Bokong smallmouth yellowfish under myย belt, I headed back to the land of thunderย in April to catch some trout.
Iย crossed the border near Maseru and headed up the southern highlands in search of an infamous brown trout fishery. The weather of theย river valleyย was as fickle as blue ice on a mountain ski slope, but when there was no rain and the water flowed clear, browns of 31 inches and bigger could beย spotted from the high banks, I was told.
The drive was slow due to road works in the mountains and after a six hour stop-and-go mission the light started dimming as the sun setย behind the mountain peaks. The delay in reaching myย destination madeย the itch to see a 10 lb brown rising in clear water grow, but that dreamย was spoiled byย heavy thunder clouds rolling over the mountains above the pass and into myย destination river valley.
I arrived atย aย narrow bridge crossing leading to the thatched chalet Iย booked for three day’s accommodation and watched how the river clouded with muddy rain run-off.ย ย That was theย last straw I needed to see and instead of rigging a rod to fishย the evening rise, Iย cracked aย Maluti Lager to drown my sorrows.
Twoย days passed before Iย couldn’t deal with getting drenched duringย site-seeing pony treks any more and I went fishing. Reluctant to cast a fly in the mud-and-grass cocktail of a river I got off to a late start onย the morning of my third and also last day in Lesotho.
Elvis, the local fishing guide that accompanied me, pointed to the banks and tail-out of the firstย pool we arrived at. Even though the water looked like sewerage, itย was a great day for fishing, there was no wind and the sun reflected on the calm surface of the pool. I tied a biggish nymph to 4X tippet and started fishing the tail out with an active, figure-of-eight retrieve. The bulky fly created enough movement in the murky water for a brown hugging a large rock in the tail-out to sense it passing by. The fishย rolled on the surface, exposing its buttery yellow belly as it took the nymph. It was tricky to fight a dirty-fighting fish in the dirt, but I soon had the upper hand and slidย theย lovely 16 inch brownย into my net. Some souvenir mug shots were taken by Elvis before the fish was released and the nymph ‘plonked’ย into the head of the pool with a more enthusiasticย cast.
The tip of my floating line stopped as the fly was worked back with my left hand and I tightened up into a monster brown. A heart-stopping fight followed involving a line-wrap on a metal bar that was hidden under the muddy water. I considered myselfย lucky to get the fish in the net after taking a plunge into the river to unwind the fly line from the piece of rusted oil drum it was tangled around.
Elvis smiled broad when I lifted the net and shouted: “Seven pounder!”
It was the biggest and prettiest brown trout cock fish I had ever caught in Southern Africa. After a brief photo shoot, the trophy brown was released with shaking hands back into its pool to spawn and reproduce some more next-generation beauties.
From there on it was a fairly relaxed fishing day and I never felt intimidated to cast the fly into a large, murky pool, knowing that the browns were hungry and that they could somehow detectย it in the turbid water. I managed to land six more fish, none of them as big as the second fish of the day, but every one a chatoyant gem and uniquely coloured like a tiger’s eye.
Holy shit!
This changes my whole construct of Africa.
bucket list!
beautiful man.
Awesome trout and made even better that it was a brown. When fishing in Lesotho do you have to go through a tour operator or are there private waters you’re able to fish if you hire their accommodation? I’ve always wanted to fish Lesotho but am not prepared to pay upward of R10k (a price I’ve recently seen for a 3 day trip) for this luxury. That’s a shit load of fishing trophy dams in SA
Hi Richard, as far as I know, the Lesotho government regs allow you to fish in all areas – I speak under correction here though. If a tour operator is working in a designated area, where a specific river or dam is situated, it means that the tour operator has acquired legal rights to guide people there, but they cannot close the area off to the public and to foreign visitors (obviously); so if you wish to fish a river where a tour operator is functioning and you wish to fish without a professional guide, the best approach would be to contact the tour operator and inform them about your plan. If they are good guys, they will set you up with the local community interpretor responsible for accommodating foreigners in the area – note that most civilised areas in Lesotho has a ‘chief’ and things that happen with the local chief’s consent is considered acceptable. Then, Lesotho is all about giving back to the communities and landowners where you gain; so if you find yourself hiking through a civilised area (or even in the wild open veld), then you would automatically qualify to camp, fish and have fun in the area if you say paid one of the local herders to watch your goods, hand some of the local families a freshly caught fish when they ask you and/or give them a bag full of groceries etc. etc. If you are confronted by an over-demanding or aggressive chap, report the incident to the interpretor or the chief of the nearest village.
Great stuff thanks a lot. Sounds a lot like the Transkei. Going back to the roots of nature, helping out your fellow man and most importantly, don’t spoil or exploit what is there and has been there forever. I’ll definitely be looking into arranging a trip with my old man for a long overdue boys weekend. Thanks again and tight lines