Wild Fly Fishing in the Karoo

Fly fishing - An angling method in which an artificial "fly" is used to catch fish. The fly is cast using a fly rod, reel, and specialized weighted line. Casting a nearly weightless fly or "lure" requires casting techniques significantly different from other forms of casting.

Karoo - The Karoo (from the KhoiSan word which means Place of Thirst) is a semi-desert region of South Africa. The Karoo covers nearly 400 000km2 of South Africa and is mostly defined partly by its topography, partly its geology but, above all, its low rainfall, arid air, cloudless skies, and extremes of heat and cold,

 

So lets put the two together.  Fly fishing in the Karoo.  Doesn't make sense does it?  But it does.  Alan Hobson of Angler and Antelope Guesthouse in Somerset East runs fly fishing tours doing just that.  Fishing in the Karoo.  The Karoo isn't all arid.  There are some great rivers and streams flowing through the region and the area around Somerset East has some of the best fly fishing spots in the province.  One moment you could be driving through a dry landscape and the next you drop down into a valley with water that could just yield something like this...

 

I've known Alan for a number of years now and by all accounts he must be one of the top fly fishermen in South Africa.  I've been wanting to go fishing with him for a while now and on a whistle stop visit to Somerset East I got to accompany him to a nearby dam for an hour or so before the light faded and we had to pack up.  That hour was more than enough though for him to demonstrate to me how it all works and for me to have a go.  When you see somebody fly fishing on television it looks quite easy.  You just flick the rod forward and back and wait for the fish to bite.... NOT! Its slightly more complicated.  You hold the rod in your one hand and the line in your other.  As you flick you let go of the line little by little to let the fly go further and further.  Its also not just for flicking.  There is a whole scientific technique to it, but after a couple of tries I got it right. Kinda.  At one stage I even got a bite as well but it got away.  I have to tell you though, it must have been the same size as the one Alan is holding above.  That is my story and I'm sticking to it.

 

Back at the ranch guesthouse, Alan went to show me his fly shop.  The fly shop along with the guesthouse's dining room and Alan's malt whiskey collection is situated in what used to be a  Catholic Church on the premises of the guesthouse.  There were flies everywhere and I just couldn't get enough of looking at the different styles and sizes.  I asked Alan how you choose which fly to use and I again found out that science and biology is very much involved in it.  If you really know what you are doing you choose your flies according to the conditions and what you see on the water.  If you see little insects walking around on the water and there is fish movement around them, you choose a fly that looks like those insects.  If there are flying insects, that is what you choose. Hectic! Clearly fly fishing is the total opposite of just sticking a worm on a hook on a line and casting it in just once.  I was back in the fly shop the next morning after breakfast to watch Alan's fly tying assistant at work.  Looking at her work I knew Alan had taught her well and even though I only had an hour or so by the water the previous night I knew he had taught me well too.  Now to find an excuse to go and spend a full day out on the waters with Alan. 

Feeding Koi at the Barrydale "water front"

Barrydale on Route 62 in the Klein Karoo is a pretty little town known for the beautiful surrounding mountains offering various walks, the Tradouw Pass, quint gardens, interesting shops and farm stalls, restaurants popular with passing tour groups and the very famous Ronnie's SEX Shop down the road.  Everything but an ocean.  So I was very intrigued when I saw a Geocache description refer to a spot as the Barrydale "water front".  One or two turns off the main road and we discovered The Blue Cow restaurant situated on the edge of a farm and... you guessed it... a farm dam.  The best seats are on the deck overlooking the farm and the owner quickly brought Erenei and I two slices of bread to feed the koi fish that live in the dam while she chatted away to us.  True country hospitality.

Farm worker fishermen in the Gamtoos Valley

Spending time in a place is more than just staying in accommodation establishments, eating in restaurants, visiting attractions end enjoying beautiful scenery.  The buzz word these days are experiences and an experience doesn't necessarily have to be an formal one.  Sometimes you see something interesting and making a quick stop can turn into a whole experience on its own.  Spending a weekend Shot Left in Hankey in the Gamtoos Valley while staying at The Milk House we ventured out on the Saturday morning to climb up to the berg window at Vensterhoek.  That was a whole experience on its own, but it was on the return journey while crossing a low water bridge over the Gamtoos River that we spotted something interesting and decided to stop. 

A number of fishermen, all farm workers from the area, were fishing in the river with throw nets and I wanted to investigate some more.  The KidZ immediately perceived it as something boring and wanted to stay in the car, but a stern warning from the Damselfly telling them they can't stay behind alone made them drag themselves after us.  After good rains the previous few days the level of the river was slowly rising and for some reason (I'm no fisherman so don't ask me said reason) brought some bigger fish.  The throw nets were all home made using net, rope and chain and whatever got caught was destined for the pot or braai that evening.

Although not every throw (perhaps not even every 10 throws) yielded a big fish, every one did bring out tiny little silver fish that were shaken out on the road.  The children would then quickly move in and throw them back in the river.  Drama Princess didn't let grass grow under her feet and quickly joined in, picking up and throwing fish back with gusto.  I don't know what the farm kids thought at first about this blond girl in pink suddenly moving in on their space but she didn't let that deter her and it quickly became a game to see who got the most fish to throw back.  Most visitors probably would never have stopped but to Drama Princess it was one of the highlights of the weekend.  Something she would never be able to do back home in the city.

Sunfish on the beach

Taking a walk along Noordhoek Beach in the Cape I stumbled on a dead sunfish.  This was only a baby, but still something very unusual to see washed up.  Sunfishes are so called because of their habit of drifting at the surface as if basking in the sun.  There are two species of sunfishes found in the waters surrounding Cape Town, the Ocean Sunfish (Mola mola) and the Sharptail Sunfish (Masturus lanceolatus).  Now I'm no sunfish expert so I'm not going to guess which one this was.  Looking at its tail though it could possibly be a Sharptail Sunfish.  Sharptail sunfishes are found only in warmer waters though, thus extremely rare in local waters.  So I'm not guessing.  Sunfish can grow up to 3m in length and a weight of 2 000 kilograms. 

Fishing at Montagu Caravan Park

In the post about Montagu Caravan Park I mentioned that the caravan park has a dam that is a very popular fishing spot with the campers.  At times the kids (and adults) were lined up next to the dam casting and reeling in.  Now I'm not a big fisherman.  I enjoying doing it for 15 or 20 minutes and then I get bored, so I don't really have the patience to be a fisherman.  I'll rather sit and watch animals in the wild or go for a walk somewhere with my camera in my hand.  The Kidz on the other hand headed up to the dam every day and luckily there were two dads (and one mom) who took them under their wings as far as the fishing went and helped them out with the rods we rented from the park shop.

 

Drama Princess literally spent hours sitting by the water watching people fish and couldn't wait to get her hands on a fishing rod. She actually did very well and hooked quite a few which the adults then helped her to bring in and take the hook out.

As soon as the hooks were out she would grab the fish (if I was there she would pose for a photo) and then go and release it very gently. The one day her fish (in picture) was probably the biggest one caught that day.

Chaos Boy on the other hand gets bored and distracted very quickly and I didn't think he would enjoy fishing. He did try it a couple of times but couldn't really sit and wait. He would cast and reel in, cast and reel in. Perhaps he should try fly fishing. 

He did catch one or two fish when he did sit still for longer than 5 seconds, but he wasn't keen at all to actually touch the fish and somebody had to hold the fish for him so that I could take a photo.

Sand shark

I found this shark washed up on the beach a little while ago and the first thought that crossed my mind was that it's a sand shark. There are actual sharks called sand sharks, but that's not why I thought it. Sand shark. Get it?