You can never pay a good guide enough is a mantra that we live by, as the intel on any piece of water is half the battle in the war that we wage with the fly.
So when Rob Scott from Tourette Fishing invited us to their new camp in Lesotho, we leapt at the opportunity.The Journey into the Kingdom is both breathtaking and daunting, as you carefully navigate the sheer mountain passes that seem to never end and making our expedition a little unnerving was the conditions that we faced…..water seemed to spring from every crevice and as picturesque as it was, in the words of Jim Morrison, it was ‘Eyes on the road and hands upon the wheel’.
Despite the mist and drizzle, we were determined to explore the renowned Bakong river, where their Makhangoa Community Camp is situated.The Tourette built and managed camp couldn’t have been any better located, on the bend of the river as it enters into the Katse dam, it ensures that you will enjoy a migratory run of fish irrespective of season.
It was miserable weather and the river was pumping through, but even in these challenging conditions the fishing was easier than any other Trout and Yellowfish river that I have ever fished.
In their Yellowfish season you are encouraged to fish a dry, due to the sheer population of fish moving through the system. And in fairer conditions, even for the Trout this would have been the preferred method, as there is no shortage of Rainbows and a good few Browns running. But,with the wet weather and volume of water, we elected to throw fast sinking lines with heavily weighted streamer patterns. A 5wt T50 stick was our weapon of choice, with a 9ft 2x Rio leader rig did the job and a variety of patterns worked. The infallible Pappa Roach, as well as a number of Zonker and Buggers (with a hot orange bead) brightened up our day considerably.
As such, he is included not as a Guide in terms of the someone who can give you any indispensable tuition or direction, but to provide us with some fishing tales from the events that WildFly hosts and of course from the locations that the the WildFly team happen to be filming.
The real account from a social fisherman's perspective...
- The Trout Report - November 15, 2022
- It’s not a Competition - August 10, 2022
- Fixated Fish – TCC Leg 3 - July 14, 2022