Hey So we finally did our trip with Kalahari O
- Thread starter Ant86
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RUSSELL EVERITT
New member
You guys had such an awesome time I see , helps if you got some pros showing you where to fish , I just went with my own gut , still had fun though. 
RUSSELL EVERITT wrote:
The guides made the trip, well worth it as they showed us all the best spots and set up/broke down camp, prepped meals etc so we could just concentrate on fishing. Glad you enjoyed your trip. Take your fly rod next time and give it a bash
You guys had such an awesome time I see , helps if you got some pros showing you where to fish , I just went with my own gut , still had fun though.
The guides made the trip, well worth it as they showed us all the best spots and set up/broke down camp, prepped meals etc so we could just concentrate on fishing. Glad you enjoyed your trip. Take your fly rod next time and give it a bash
IWyk wrote:
We put it off for 18 months and after a disappointing trip to Zambia decided to keep it local. It is truly world class fishing and one of the best adventures, the fact that I got to share it with my best friend and both our dads made it even more special
Excellent report and awesome pictures!
Always been on my to do list and this year I WILL be going, for sure!
Well done and thanks for the report.
We put it off for 18 months and after a disappointing trip to Zambia decided to keep it local. It is truly world class fishing and one of the best adventures, the fact that I got to share it with my best friend and both our dads made it even more special
Skuimkop wrote:
Hey Riaan, no we caught all the cats at night and due to limited supplies we decided to save the camera batteries in case we got something really big, 30kg plus. We definitely hooked a few in this region that busted me up on a locked 15/30 drag and 50lb braid in the strong current.
Probably the most memorable cat of the trip, 3 of us where fishing on a tiny 1.5m2 rock outcrop in the middle of the surging river in pitch black darkness. We would lob our full muddies out about 15 metres and let the current take it down in between a patch of reeds. Every single one of these drifts was an on with BEEG cats, we got absolutely raped. I think at one stage we where 10-1 to the cats, anyway I hooked into what felt like a really decent cat. After about 10 minutes I got him closer to the rock and in our guides headlamp we saw an absolute beast well into the 30kg region. Heart was pounding as I thought I had finally got my monster but thought it was fighting a bit strange. Next thing we realize the monster was actually swimming alongside the 17kg that I had hooked!
When we go back we will be a bit more proactive in targeting big cats and take bigger hooks with, there are a lot of awesome big cat spots just downstream from where you fish for yellows in the rapids.
Hey Riaan, no we caught all the cats at night and due to limited supplies we decided to save the camera batteries in case we got something really big, 30kg plus. We definitely hooked a few in this region that busted me up on a locked 15/30 drag and 50lb braid in the strong current.
Probably the most memorable cat of the trip, 3 of us where fishing on a tiny 1.5m2 rock outcrop in the middle of the surging river in pitch black darkness. We would lob our full muddies out about 15 metres and let the current take it down in between a patch of reeds. Every single one of these drifts was an on with BEEG cats, we got absolutely raped. I think at one stage we where 10-1 to the cats, anyway I hooked into what felt like a really decent cat. After about 10 minutes I got him closer to the rock and in our guides headlamp we saw an absolute beast well into the 30kg region. Heart was pounding as I thought I had finally got my monster but thought it was fighting a bit strange. Next thing we realize the monster was actually swimming alongside the 17kg that I had hooked!
When we go back we will be a bit more proactive in targeting big cats and take bigger hooks with, there are a lot of awesome big cat spots just downstream from where you fish for yellows in the rapids.
HennieB wrote:
Yes no problem, we used small Salmo Hornets (greentiger and hot perch) and caught a number of SM Yellows and cats on them. I got 3 cats on poppers as well, having said that the fly totally outfished lure by a very very long way. I really would advise against going only lure, you will miss out on loads of fish. The muddies were spawning so the yellows and cats were so zoned into eating anything that resembled a small fish egg, the fly was on cast for cast.
We also fished a hybrid rig on a spinning rod, took the hook off the back of the popper, tied a fly tippet to the back of the popper and then a beetle fly with a hot spot underneath. The popper allows you to cast the fly and then reel in as the current takes the fly downstream, this technique was really deadly and more effective then pure lure lol
Baits for cats were whole mudfish on 50lb braid and 0.80mm leaders and good old Shimano TLDs
Yes no problem, we used small Salmo Hornets (greentiger and hot perch) and caught a number of SM Yellows and cats on them. I got 3 cats on poppers as well, having said that the fly totally outfished lure by a very very long way. I really would advise against going only lure, you will miss out on loads of fish. The muddies were spawning so the yellows and cats were so zoned into eating anything that resembled a small fish egg, the fly was on cast for cast.
We also fished a hybrid rig on a spinning rod, took the hook off the back of the popper, tied a fly tippet to the back of the popper and then a beetle fly with a hot spot underneath. The popper allows you to cast the fly and then reel in as the current takes the fly downstream, this technique was really deadly and more effective then pure lure lol
Baits for cats were whole mudfish on 50lb braid and 0.80mm leaders and good old Shimano TLDs
Yes no problem, we used small Salmo Hornets (greentiger and hot perch) and caught a number of SM Yellows and cats on them. I got 3 cats on poppers as well, having said that the fly totally outfished lure by a very very long way. I really would advise against going only lure, you will miss out on loads of fish. The muddies were spawning so the yellows and cats were so zoned into eating anything that resembled a small fish egg, the fly was on cast for cast.
We also fished a hybrid rig on a spinning rod, took the hook off the back of the popper, tied a fly tippet to the back of the popper and then a beetle fly with a hot spot underneath. The popper allows you to cast the fly and then reel in as the current takes the fly downstream, this technique was really deadly and more effective then pure lure lol
Baits for cats were whole mudfish on 50lb braid and 0.80mm leaders and good old Shimano TLDs[/quote]
We also fished a hybrid rig on a spinning rod, took the hook off the back of the popper, tied a fly tippet to the back of the popper and then a beetle fly with a hot spot underneath. The popper allows you to cast the fly and then reel in as the current takes the fly downstream, this technique was really deadly and more effective then pure lure lol
Baits for cats were whole mudfish on 50lb braid and 0.80mm leaders and good old Shimano TLDs[/quote]
Dr halibut hoffman
Moderator
That looks like an epic trip! Added to the bucket list for the future for sure..
HennieB wrote:
I was also clueless before the trip having only had 2 prior outings to Dullstroom for trout and had never Czech nymphed or targeted yellows on fly. The beauty with Czech nymphing is that its a really simple technique and doesn't really require any fly casting. The guides were also really helpful and spent the 1st hour with us showing the technique without touching their rods to make sure that we were doing it right. I had my 1st hookup within my 1st 10 drifts ever and went on to catch about 40 yellows on my very 1st day.
After having lunch on day 1, I decided to throw a few lures (hornets) and managed to get 1 SM yellow and 3 cats in an hour. Switched back to the fly rod and straight away started landing yellows and muddies again which is why I would definitely not go without fly.
The one drawback about fly is that fly gear is insanely expensive. However you can still do it on a budget and have fun. The following options
- Rent all the gear from them apart from flys. It was R600 last year for the entire duration so say R650 to R700.
- My one friend who is not really an avid fisherman apart from these annual trips bought a Stealth Procast combo rod,reel and floating line for around R1300.
- I gambled on me getting into it and decided to buy a Shimano Biocraft 6wt rod (R850), Biocraft 5/6 reel (R1100) and Rio floating line (R550). I didn't want to have to buy again if the fly bug bit, which it did. Didn't break the bank too badly.
- I enjoyed the Biocraft so much that I bought another set except with a 5wt rod this time and Airflo Velocity floating line (R300).
- Don't spend a lot of money on the fly line as you tie mono onto your fly line and nymph with the mono, the fly line almost acts more like a backing.
- Flys are around R8 each, you only really need 6 types and say 5 of each. So flys will cost you around R250 to R300
- Waterproof Fly box R200
- Mesh vest R400
At the end of the day, I don't think I would of caught any more or any less fish with any one of the above options, so its really up to you.
Tight lines, Ant
I was also clueless before the trip having only had 2 prior outings to Dullstroom for trout and had never Czech nymphed or targeted yellows on fly. The beauty with Czech nymphing is that its a really simple technique and doesn't really require any fly casting. The guides were also really helpful and spent the 1st hour with us showing the technique without touching their rods to make sure that we were doing it right. I had my 1st hookup within my 1st 10 drifts ever and went on to catch about 40 yellows on my very 1st day.
After having lunch on day 1, I decided to throw a few lures (hornets) and managed to get 1 SM yellow and 3 cats in an hour. Switched back to the fly rod and straight away started landing yellows and muddies again which is why I would definitely not go without fly.
The one drawback about fly is that fly gear is insanely expensive. However you can still do it on a budget and have fun. The following options
- Rent all the gear from them apart from flys. It was R600 last year for the entire duration so say R650 to R700.
- My one friend who is not really an avid fisherman apart from these annual trips bought a Stealth Procast combo rod,reel and floating line for around R1300.
- I gambled on me getting into it and decided to buy a Shimano Biocraft 6wt rod (R850), Biocraft 5/6 reel (R1100) and Rio floating line (R550). I didn't want to have to buy again if the fly bug bit, which it did. Didn't break the bank too badly.
- I enjoyed the Biocraft so much that I bought another set except with a 5wt rod this time and Airflo Velocity floating line (R300).
- Don't spend a lot of money on the fly line as you tie mono onto your fly line and nymph with the mono, the fly line almost acts more like a backing.
- Flys are around R8 each, you only really need 6 types and say 5 of each. So flys will cost you around R250 to R300
- Waterproof Fly box R200
- Mesh vest R400
At the end of the day, I don't think I would of caught any more or any less fish with any one of the above options, so its really up to you.
Tight lines, Ant