7-12 October 2016, Tutwa Lodge and  Kalahari Outventures

 

Rods: Shimano Exage Telescopic rod, Shimano Sellus 2pce 7’2”

Reels: Stradic 3000, Sustain 3000

Line: Stradic: 14lb Sufix Pro 8, Sustain 10lb Sufix 832, Leader 12lb XX Fluoro.

 

Owner/Guide: Craig Eksteen

Assistants: Melvin and William

 

We flew from PMB to JHB on Airlink at 6.40am, then JHb to Upington at 11am, landing at 12.30.

We were collected at the airport by Craig Eksteen and driven to the lodge, stopping at a bottle store in Augrabies to buy some whiskey for the trip. 2 hour transfer in total.

 We were met on arrival at Tutwa by Lodge Manager Eugene, along with barman/waiter Oscar and Guide Norman. They gave us refreshing drinks and cold towels to wipe faces down.

 We were then shown to our rooms, very smart, with airconditioning and huge beds. Myself and Terry had our own neighbouring rooms upstairs with a great view over the small dam and canyon in front of the lodge.

 Went for an afternoon game drive, saw sociable weaver nests, pale winged starling, mountain chats, white throated canaries, quiver trees, gemsbok, springbok, giraffe and a rare Smith’s Red Rock Hare, with its black tail that stands upright. We were looking for a Leopard that Norman has been seeing regularly, but didn’t find it.

 Dinner at the lodge was amazing, with a springbok carpachio starter, mains of fillet steak, mushroom sauce, veg and potatoes and some fancy dessert that I didn’t eat, but the guys reckon was awesome.

 We were up at 6am and had a good brekkie, then loaded our gear onto the game drive vehicle and headed for the river. We drove through some impressive grape farm lands and down to the put in point. The westerly was blowing quite hard upriver, so there was going to be some work paddling into that!

 The water levels were very low due to the drought, and the water was very clear. The cleanest I have ever seen the Orange! There was at least 2m visibility, this was exciting, as we knew that we would be sight casting to fish at times.

 We paddled down the first long stretch, stopping and having a couple of casts around some dead trees in the river that had cormorants and darters nesting in them. We had no luck there and continued down to the weir, where we had to do a short portage to get our rafts over the wall and down to the water on the other side.

 We paddled to the Namibia side of the river and parked our rafts at a little beach and walked around the back of a reedbed, back upstream, to some rocks just below the weir, where Craig said that there were always some 1kg-3kg largies around. I let Terry have first honours with the fly rod, while I sat on a rock and watched the mudfish trying to jump up the water flowing over the weir, a few made it! Terry hooked a big fish, which took him downstream and he had to get into the water and follow it for a while, it eventually made its way back upstream, but went into some reeds and he had to break off. It was a big barbel. I went onto the rock and started casting close up to the weir, where I could feel my line bumping into, what must have been hundreds of muddies, stacked up below the wall. I worked my lure further and further downstream, after having seen some fish swirling in the pool just below. I finally hooked and landed a largemouth of around 1.5kg. on a Rapala deep shad rap 7cm in gold and black. I could see where the fish were holding, and it was directly downstream of me. I didn’t want to be fishing downstream, so looked at a series of rocks below that and realised that it would be a better place to stand and get a natural presentation.

 I made my way behind the reed bed to where I estimated the rocks would start and pushed my way through the very dense reeds. There was a steep drop into the water, still in the reeds, which I had to go down, and in the process the line on my light rod got caught up in some reeds and pulled the tip down, snapping it. Grrrr, not even an hour into the trip and my light rod was broken. I waded across some waist deep water and onto the rock where I cast upstream from. I used a Blue Fox spinner and got hit hard and landed another similar size largie.

 From there Shaun and I got back into our croc and paddled a bit further downstream to where we could see Craig and Terry fishing from a big rock in the middle of the river. Along the way we saw a female shelduck with three ducklings, swimming near the side, with mum quacking furiously at her offspring, trying to get them to hide in the reeds. We pulled up onto the rock and joined the fly guys. There was a deep channel on the left hand side, that Craig said often held some good largemouth yellows. I made some casts into the channel and had a follow from a yellow on a deep shad rap, I couldn’t see if it was a largie or a smallie. Terry got a good largemouth on the other side of the rock on fly, bringing his fly over a shallow rock and it was hit just as it crossed into the deep. I put on a Gomoku Bottom and worked it right on the bottom in the deep channel, and was onto a strong fish quite quickly. It turned out to be a barbel, which I landed. I then cast again and hooked and landed an even bigger barbel. I decided that bouncing a lure off the bottom in the deep water was just going to result in more barbel hookups, so changed back to the deep shad rap.

 As luck would have it, I hooked another big barbel on the shad rap, this one snapped the braid, as it had been a bit damaged by the previous fish on a rock.

 I then tried a Storm Gomoku Vibe, a great little lure which looks ideal for yellows. I caught a few smallies and a small largemouth, but found that I was dropping fish, perhaps because of the very small treble hooks on the lure. I had one good fish that I saw swimming over a shallow rock, grab the lure and take off before the hooks pulled. I then changed to a 3” ginger coloured paddletail on a 1/8 oz jig hook, which got me a few nice smallies. We saw a few quite large carp swimming around the rock, and tried casting lures at them, with no luck, same with the mudfish that were plentiful everywhere.

 Craig had paddled down to another rock, this one on the left hand side of the river and was having some good action. He called to us that he had a good largie on and we paddled down to join him. He landed a fish of around 14lbs, which got all of our blood flowing properly! I made a cast from the rock and landed a very nice smallmouth, then Terry got a big one on his fly. I got a couple more smallies, then we decided to head downriver and find the lunch stop, it was about 3.30pm and we weren’t keen to stop fishing yet. We found Melvin and William at the lunch spot and Craig decided that we would camp there that night. After a lunch of cold meats, salads and bread, I explored the area a bit and saw that there were some bream around some watergrass. I put on a number 1 Mepps spinner with yellow dots and was rewarded with a couple of nice Mozambique tilapia and some small smallmouth yellows. Later that afternoon, with the west still pumping, we headed a little downstream, to where there was a deep channel between some patches of water grass. I cast a deep shad rap, which I pulled down to around 1.5m and then worked it with twitches and pauses. I had a hit on the first cast but didn’t hook up. I then landed a small largemouth, less than a kilo. I kept trying but had one more knock, then landed a medium sized barbel, and that was it for the day.   

 We had a good dinner of T-Bone steaks around the fire, and I slept on the ground outside in my sleeping bag, while the others slept in tents to get out of the wind. We were up before sunrise and had some cereal, I tied up a small black bucktail on a 1/8 oz jig head, using a zonker strip wrapped around the top, and a bit of black squirrel tail as a tail on Craig’s vice. I also replaced the small treble hook on the back of my Storm Gomoku Vibe with a single hook. We then packed up and headed down the river again. The wind had dropped overnight and then turned in the morning with a light easterly.

Craig called me over to a spot, where he said there were some good smallmouth holding in a deep channel next to some water grass. I pulled up our croc next to a rock and started casting my new ‘bucktail jig’. It wasn’t long before I went vas with a good fish, just next to the grass. After a good fight, I landed a largie of around 9lbs, then shortly after that I landed another of around the same size, from the same spot.

The bite went quiet, so I decided to change lures and show the fish something different. I put on the 3” paddletail and sent it out into the middle of the river, behind a rock ledge. It had just landed, and was still sinking when my line went tight and I struck into a solid fish. This fish swam straight out into the deeper water, taking line easily and felt very solid. I was not sure if it wasn’t another barbel. The fish then started heading downstream and I could feel my line touching rocks as it got further away. I lifted the rod high and started to run across the rocks, which were slippery in places. I managed to cover some ground and get to an elevated rock, not too far from the fish, which had tucked itself behind a rock near the bank, and also into some water grass. By now I was starting to think that it must be a barbel, as that seemed to be their typical behaviour. The only thing that made me unsure was the speed that the fish had taken off at when I had hooked it.

 I put pressure on the fish from my high rock, and felt it move a bit, I kept it up and the fish came out, and started to swim back towards me. I lifted the rod with as much pressure as I dared to try and get sight of the fish. When it came up into sight I nearly had a heart attack. It was the biggest largemouth that I had ever seen! Suddenly I backed off pressure, mindful of the tiny hook on my jig, and called for Craig to come over with his landing net, while I gently fought the monster below. The fish was so broad, that from the top it looked like a decent kob! It tired eventually and I managed to slip it into the shallows and land it. I was elated, this was a proper largie! We weighed it on the boga and it tipped the scales at 16.5 lbs. We filmed it, photographed it, and spent some time reviving it, before allowing it to swim off back to the depths.

After that I landed an absolute bomber of a smallmouth on the same lure, a fish with thick rubbery lips that was at least 4kg’s.

We then made our way down river to the lunch stop, where we had a great lunch of tuna salad sandwiches. After lunch we paddled for a while to reach a long pool that Craig said held some good largemouth and barbel. We arrived there not too long before sunset, and I started working the top of the pool with a deep shad rap, landing one decent smallmouth. We worked our way down the pool, and despite a lot of visible fish activity on the surface, I had no more luck, apart from hooking a good fish next to a rock, which managed to burn my line off on the rock quickly. Terry got a largie and a couple of barbel, and we pulled in to the beach to celebrate a great day’s fishing with a couple of beers and whiskeys.

I slept outside again, under the stars, after another excellent dinner cooked on the fire. In the morning I woke up next to the fire and sat up, still wrapped in my sleeping bag and watched the sky lighten. The guys threw some more wood on the fire and made some coffee. I was sitting in my sleeping bag chatting to them, watching the water. There was an aggressive fish which kept on coming up and smashing baitfish in the same spot, a bit upstream of us and quite far out. I thought about it and decided to get up and cast something there. It would be a long cast, and the light lures that I had been using would never make the distance. The heaviest lure that I had with me was a Rapala Skitter-V, a rather large surface lure, compared to anything else we had been using. It was also hot pink!

The guys needled me when they saw me tying this on, and all watched with interest as I sent it sailing out, landing it exactly where the fish had been coming up. As I clicked my bail arm over, the water exploded on the lure and I was on! Nobody could believe it!

After a good fight, with the fish running well, and trying various directions, I brought it in to the beach and we were all amazed to see a beautiful largemouth of around 12-13lbs. We photographed and released it, and I had a few more throws with the pink lure, with no result. I then changed lures and put on a Storm Express double blade 16g copper spoon, which I sent out to the area. It landed and on the sink was picked up by another hard fighting fish. This one turned out to be a solid smallmouth yellow. I released it and after a couple of casts went tight again on an even bigger smallie, also on the sink after the lure had landed. In fact of all the fish I caught off that beach that morning, every one was caught after the lure had landed and before I started retrieving. On the retrieves, I didn’t get a single pull.  I think that the splash of a large lure landing is a very attractive to these fish when they are actively feeding, and they come over and gulp it down quickly. A large lure physically swimming does not appear to have the same attraction.

 We packed up and headed out again, with me stopping on a large submerged rock in the middle of the river, just downstream of our camp. I put on a 5cm Rapala Countdown in gold, and worked it around the deep channel next to the rock. I was rewarded with a medium sized largemouth yellow, but nothing else.

 We then headed further downstream, and were paddling along when we saw some big carp cruising below and next to us. They seemed totally unconcerned by the croc, and the water was very clean, so I decided to pull up on a rock and see if we could film the fish in the water. While we were on the rock, I saw some very large smallmouth as well, swimming near the bottom. I flicked my black bucktail at them and watched them attacking it in the clear water. I landed a few really nice smallies, wih a couple of fish over the 4kg mark from that rock. Also saw a huge barbel following my lure, which I yanked away from it.

 We paddled a bit further down and found another deep pool, with some nice water grass on the side. I made a cast and got hit by another big fish, this one went upstream very fast, taking line at an alarming rate and as hard as I tried I couldn’t turn it or stop it. It then headed for the other side of the river and went into the grass there. Shaun paddled me across, and I kept tension on the line. We reached a rock, only about 2 metres from where the fish was lying under the grass, and I lifted hard on the rod, trying to lift the fish, after a couple of attempts, the clip opened and it was gone. I was angry with myself. That fish was either a barbel or a largie. If it was a largie I reckon it was in excess of 20lb’s.

 We continued downriver, to catch up with the others, it was mostly shallower runs, with just a few smallies along the way. I let Shaun fish a bit, as I had already had an amazing day. Shaun landed a couple of smallies. At the lunch stop the guys did some nymphing and caught some smallmouth on the flies.

 After lunch we passed some shallow water and made our way to the next camp. There were a lot of mudfish spawning in the shallows and we saw a fish eagle swoop on them, then land in the water and hop around trying to catch a mudfish. It was very hot, as there was no wind, and I decided to stay out of the sun for a while, as I had been fried that day.

The guys cooked us a great meal of roast lamb, butternut, cabbage etc that night.

 The next morning I walked down a short distance and caught a barbel and some smallies from the bank on the paddletail. We then packed up and started paddling downriver. We stopped at a couple of spots, fishing some very good looking water, but the bite was slow and we didn’t get anything notable.

 At around 10.30 we reached the takeout spot, where we loaded the rafts and all our gear onto a trailer and into a sprinter, which transferred us back to the lodge, a trip of about 1.5 hours.

We all enjoyed a good shower and a lovely lunch of chicken pie and salad. Then we had a rest and headed down the canyon to the river. We saw a black eagles nest and some klipspringer along the way. There was leopard spoor on the track, near the river. We had sundowners there and did our wrapping up shots, before heading back to the lodge with a spotlight, picking up an African wild cat along the way.

 After a delicious dinner of fillet steak, we went to be early and had our last night at Tutwa. In the morning we had breakfast, then jumped into the bakkie to head to the airport. We stopped in at Augrabies national Park and had a look at the falls, then continued on to the airport. We were all tired and sunburnt, but elated at the amazing trip that we had just experienced!  

I would urge anybody that is keen on yellowfish fishing, or any river fishing, to get hold of Kalahari Outventures and book a trip down the Orange with them. This was one of the highlights of my fishing career, and I am definitely going back soon with  my Dad, I need him to experience it! The water levels are low at the moment, and the big fish are concentrated in deeper pools, the water is also unbelievably clean, making it so beautiful, and there is some spectacular sight casting to big trophy fish available. Kalahari Outventures is an exceptionally efficient and well run setup, they looked after us extremely well and I can definitely recommend them. Craig Eksteen has many years of experience on the Orange and is a very keen fly fisherman himself, so he knows exactly what is required from his guests. 

I checked what their rates were and was impressed that a trip of such quality could actually be so affordable. Lots of guys would spend ten times that amount of money to fly halfway around the world in order to experience the quality of fishing that we had last week!

 

 

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