Some of my friends have been asking for me to show then how to cast and catch trout, so my wife and I decided to organise a trip to the Dullstroom/Lydenburg area to do just that.

Our group consisted of three engineers, one of which has a Phd and a torn Achilles-tendon, six final year medical students, a vet, a speech therapist, two marketing gurus, one housewife and a physicist.  Thus making the total (possible) doctor tally an impressive nine!  It is fair to say that we were prepared for any emergency, be they of medical, animal or even academic nature.  All that remained was for the trout to play their part.

Most of us managed to get out of the office early in the afternoon and drove the overloaded cars to Crystal Waters, a farm situated in the Mpumalanga escarpment between Dullstroom and Lydenburg.  We only arrived after dark and unfortunately could not cast to the evening rise.  After some steak, pap, salad and pudding, not to mention some beer and wine we called it a night.  Early the next morning I hit the water with my wife, she landed a beautiful hen of 2.5kg, her personal best.  I gutted the fish next to the lake, thinking that we can smoke it at home.

The morning proved to be quite productive with about five rainbows falling for damsel patters and sunset blobs fished in tandem.  Surprisingly once the others joined, the fishing cooled down a bit and we only managed the odd take every now and again.  One of the meds landed her first ever trout on fly and even gutted the fish herself.  The slippery fish popped out of her hands and she dove into the water after it, the best part... we got it all on camera.

For the remainder of the day the fishing died down but the scenery remained breathtaking.  Some decided the catch up on their reading while others  soaked up some of the early spring African sun.

The accommodation at Crystal waters was top notch and not expensive.  The fifteen of us occupied the old farmstead (de Berg Lodge) which sleeps ten comfortably and one of the chalets which sleeps six.  There are at least ten stocked dams on the property with the majority of them situated around the chalets.  The fish were in good quality and fought with vigour.  I can highly recommend Crystal Waters for beginner fly fishers and nature lovers alike.

At the beginning of the year I went to the local fly fishing shop to purchase some feathers and other accessories to tie a couple of flies for an upcoming fishing trip.  While I was there I started talking to the owner and he mentioned that a some of his clients decided to start a club and that the very first meeting was that same evening at a driving range bar in Centurion.  The first thing I did when I came home was to contact the guys and asked them if I could also join their fraternity, they accepted me without asking any questions.

Since then we have arranged a couple of outings to the Vaal river near Parys and got some of the youngsters of the South African Fly Fishing Team to give us a couple of pointers.  They introduced to us the concepts of Czech and French nymphing and showed us how to construct the various leaders and the different flies used by the respective techniques.  During a later event, which took place at the stunning venue of Verlorenkloof we had the opportunity to put our skills to the test on some of the wild rainbows that rule the upper regions of the Crocodile River in Mpumalanga.  The fishing proved difficult since the water was gin clear and levels were very low (as can also be seen in the photo below).  One afternoon proved to be quite successful with three wild rainbows falling for my size 16 hot spot pheasant tail nymph.  For the majority of us the fish came out on top at this occasion.

The guys at the club organised Dries de Bruin, a legend in the South African fly fishing community to give a talk about how to tackle still water trout.  He even gave a fly tying demo and showed us how to tie some of his favourite still water patterns.  His advice came in handy on our next trip to Katrinasrust, a little known fishing venue outside Machadodorp on the Slaaihoek road about 15km before reaching the local chrome mine.

We arrived in darkness and knocked back a couple of beers to help with the cold weather.  We started fishing the next morning at the lower of the two dams and caught a couple of 1kg rainbows.  I lingered longer at that dam than what I intended, this was mostly due to the size of some of the bigger fish, and I had to try my luck... unfortunately none took any of my offerings.  The river was in great condition and the perfect small stream for both the beginner and expert fly angler.  Some of the areas are forgiving and a well presented fly will surely entice a willing trout to come out from his refuge and engulf your offering.  Other areas demand stealthy motion and tight bow-and-arrow casts into small holes.  The river fishing proved to be very successful, we landed about twenty rainbows ranging in sized from 15cm to 30cm.

The next day we spent the majority of our time around the top dam, which is also the larger of the two.  Most of us had success with the majority of the trout falling for Pancora Woolly Buggers.  At one of our fly thing events we had Daniel Factor, a brilliant South African angler who showed me how to tie a Blob.  I decided to give one a try and met with immediate success.  The largest was a 3.2kg cock fish that gave a good run for his money.  He took the blob so deed that I had to cut the tippet in order to release him safely.

I thought that I wouldn't catch a bigger one than this and decided to head back to the cottage.  There I prepared some breakfast for the guys still busy chasing the big ones around at the top dam.