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Hi guys, Any recent reports from Mteri? Heading
- Thread starter DocPhil
- Start date
here is my report back. I was there a few days ago.
Lake Mteri 5th – 8th August 2011.08.10
This ended up longer than anticipated.
Our well planned trip started over two months ago with planning and confirmations of all requirements. On Tuesday the 2nd August we made contact with Collette Booth (Owner and Manager of the lodge) to confirm everything was in place, which she confirmed and asked for the balance of the money (normally paid on departure). As she confirmed that everything was there waiting for us we deposited the balance before we left South Africa. With much anticipation and excitement the trip finally started at 9:30PM on Thursday evening with hope of getting an almost full day of fishing in on Friday.
The trip was plain sailing until we hit the border post, with queues that were estimated to be 6 hours long we decided to make use of the runners that claim to get you through the border in less than an hour. This was a huge mistake and I would urge anyone planning a trip through the border not to give into the temptation of promises of quick passage, they are nothing but con artists. 2 hours and R2500.00 later we were through the border feeling robbed. With the prospect of fishing Lake Mteri in a few hours it didn’t take us long to get our spirits up again. Not far into the trip we hit a Zim toll road, was a joke and they charged us R10 toll to lift a manual boom gate on the national road. Then we hit an un-official toll road in the form of a speed trap with some idiot with a speed gun claiming we were traveling at 132kmph and we had a choice of paying a spot fine or going to jail. We paid the spot fine of R200 and carried on. Our mojo a little bent with all the corruption we finally arrived at Metri lake Lodge at about 9:30AM ready for some Mteri fishing action.
On arrival we walked to the harbour and saw some nice bass swimming around and hundreds of bream, the bad trip there was soon forgotten. We had ordered and paid for a hired boat (VX70 with HDS) 2 months before and confirmed on Tuesday that a VX70 with an HDS10 was there waiting for us and there in the harbour was a slightly worn VX70 with an HDS10 exactly as promised. We were so excited we just wanted to get unpacked and out on the water.
Sadly our Chalet was not ready so we unpacked the fishing gear in the car park and started to set up rods. This is when the acting manager/Mteri guide introduced himself to us and explained that the VX70 was his personal boat and Collette had not made any arrangements for us to use it. There were no other VX70’s or other useable boats with electronics there so we phoned Collette to find out what was going on and it was very bluntly and defensively explained that the VX70 was down and had been towed away for repair the day before and we were informed that we would have to use James as a guide for 3 days and then we could use his boat. 3 on a VX70 is a bit cramped but more than doable but four adults (3 of us and James) on a VX70 seemed implausible but seeing our only two options were to take the offer or pack up and go home we were left with no choice but to cram 4 of us onto the VX70.
11AM; the official check in time arrived and our chalet was still not available so we ordered breakfast and sat outside and patiently waited for our chalet. There was loads of nice bream swimming around in the harbour so I set up a bream rod to pass the time whilst we waited for the Chalet. I asked for the worms that we ordered and were confirmed by Collete as being there and waiting for us. Nobody knew of any worms and nor was it possible to get any. What else could go wrong? Eventually at 12:15PM a chalet was available but it was not the waterfront chalet we had booked. They had double booked and the only available chalet was number 7 which is right at the back with no view or quick access to the water for a quick cast or two at night. Mega pissed off we unpacked and met James on HIS boat for a couple of hours fishing but before we could go fishing he wanted petrol for his boat. As we had ordered petrol for our rental boat we told James to take that petrol. Guess what? NO FRIGGING PETROL had been ordered for us. James did however have enough petrol in his boat for 1 trip so he took us out and we paid him nearly R1000 for him to organise another 70lts which by his calculations should be more than enough for the 4 days we had booked to be there.
Finally on the water and off to our first spot with our 12 rods between 3 of us and the Guides 5 rods all on the deck we got to the first spot, 3 on the front deck with guide in prime front spot and one at the back all 4 of us tried to start fishing which turned out to be like 12 step shuffle for every cast due to the cramped conditions. Fishing was tough and the boat was uncomfortable but it didn’t take long before we boated what we would call decent fish in SA but by Mteri standards were rats. Very quickly we learnt that although the preferred bait at the time was plastics, finesse fishing does not work very well at Mteri and lots of action is required, once this was learnt fishing became better and before long Hennie had landed a decent fish of 3.42kg (a new PB) with a Rapala slash bait (jerkbait). Before we knew it the sun was almost down and it was time to head back to the lodge.
With a new PB amongst us our spirits were a little higher than earlier as were our hopes of more PB’s to come in the next 3 days. We had a couple of cold beers and an excellent supper supplied by the lodge and retreated to our chalet with no view to try and catch up on some sleep that we missed during our trip there.
DAY 2
4:00am up and ready to rock and roll, fuel arrived and the guides boat was filled. The information from the guide was that the dam wall and main dam area had warmer water than the river section due to warmer water being pumped in from the sugar mill and that the river section was a waste of time due to colder water coming in from the river. As the sun started to come up and we could see the first tree line we hit a few bays and banks close to the lodge. The fishing was rather tough with overcast conditions and a solid wind blowing that is rare for Mteri. Non the less fish started to visit the boat on a regular occurrence rather much like you would expect from a good day at Rhiniohead. The guide on the front of the boat again landed a few nice fish of 2kg+ on a spro frog and the three of us taking it in turns to cast and duck and do the 12 step shuffle, armed with a spro frog, brush hogs, craws and flukes also managed to boat a number of fish that we lost count of but nothing over the 2kg with the average weight between 800g and 1.2kg. Lesson number 2 for Mteri learnt and that was Mteri fish do not give you a 2nd chance and being on front of the boat (especially with a newly installed hydrowave is a huge advantage). 10AM and very hungry it was time for breakfast so back to the lodge.
There was a bust up old ruffneck R160 and old version of the X16 available for us to use with an antique Merc 90HP that had a busted prop and an even more antique evinrude sneaker with no top cover or direction arrow but at breakfast we decided that anything was better than being squashed onto the boat we had been using for the next 2 days and our 4th day the guide was not available so we would be forced to use it anyway so we informed the staff to get it fuelled and ready to launch as we would use it the follow day and our last day.
After breakfast we headed to the rocks opposite the lodge without much joy, we tried a rock pile that is not well known with moderate success and then down to the dam wall where we had some serious fun landing fish every couple of minutes. All on plastics used as a jerk bait but non of them were of any size. We wanted to explore the river section but on advise against it from the guide we only went half way towards the river section and Danny managed to land a 2.6kg fish which was better than we had been getting, but by no means what you would expect from Mteri. The sun came down and once again it was time to return to the lodge. At the lodge one of the other anglers reported a 4kg fish caught in the river section and a couple more with 3kg fish also from the river. We checked up on the boat that we were to use the following day and yes you guessed it nothing had been done so we did it ourselves and launched the boat in the dark and took it to the harbour ready for the morning, all that was left to be done is for the boat to be fuelled for a days use. Super and a couple of drinks and once again early to bed again.
Day 3
4:00AM again, unloaded the guide’s boat and loaded our ship wreck bath tub, no rod lockers or deck space to put our rods but we made a plan, anything was better than 4 up on a 17ft boat. Hennie had made friends with one of the other anglers who was 1 up for the day and was invited on board for a days fishing with him so the R160 only had 2 anglers with 4 times the amount of space we had had the previous 2 days. As the sun came up we headed for the right of the dam wall section. The boat had serious fuel starvation problems and stopped and started when it felt like it and a serious vibration due to our 2.5 blade prop but we made it there and started to have fun immediately, Danny also found a pattern with a little lipless crank for Robbies which he enjoys as much if not more than bass and he caught 4 in quick succession. I was throwing a bomber 8 inch jerkbait and on two occasions had a large fish follow it all the way to the boat one of them was in excess of 4kg but I never got a take from them so we stayed on that section all morning until breakfast trying our darnest to get a Mteri Piggy. Danny got smoked by a steam train but never managed to set the hook properly and after the first initial run the line just went limp. The result was 30+ fish all under the 2kg mark but we had fun none the less, we had more fun at breakfast as everyone else was reporting 1 or 2 fish and none of them of any size so we were chuffed with the results of the morning and planned to go back after the 10am breakfast. We were informed by Collette previously that if we didn’t want to get of the water they would arranged a packed lunch for us to take on the water but to our surprise the staff knew nothing of this and were not prepared to make us a packed lunch so we had to get off the water every day at 10am or go hungry until supper at 7pm.
In the afternoon we headed to the left of the dam wall after recommendation online not to overlook it but this exploration was to no avail. After a little while we went back to the other side of the dam wall, again we started to have fun straight away but could not get anything to write home about with a basic finder on the console we went into the inlet where they were pumping water in and discovered that they were not pumping in warm water as we were informed by the guide but water that was 3 degrees colder. With this revelation we decided to disregard the advice about the river section and visit it. It is about a 4km trip and half way to the river section at 2pm the boat ran out of fuel, stranded in the middle of the lake, luckily with no Hippos to be concerned about eventually we finally got a tow back to the lodge where we discovered that the staff are only allowed to put 12lt into the rental boats. Despite the fact that it was our fuel it was locked/put away and the only person whom could give permission to let them put more fuel in was James our guide for the previous two days and he was out on the water having fun with the fuel that we had put into his boat until after dark so we were stranded on the bank for the rest of the afternoon.
Day 4
4:00AM and back to the rental boat to make sure they filled the tank with our fuel instead of only the permissible 12lts lodge rule and again only 12lts was put into the tank which was a guessed 12 and to me with much less than half a tank looked more like 10lts. 5AM and James was nowhere to be found his phone was answered by someone else who informed me that he was still asleep and would not wake him up. After lots of arguing with the staff and finally shouting they finally put in another 4 lts which was still only half full I finally took the matter into my own hands and took a half full jerry can from the lodge and partially filled the tank myself to about 3 quarters full.
6AM and the sun was already up and we headed for the rock pile again, it took a while to calm down after the petrol circus act and we had no joy at the rock pile. Hennie had jumped ship again and was back with us, the previous day they had had no success so we went back to the dam wall where we knew we would get some fish, which we did with the same result as the previous 3 days. Hennie was happy to land a few fish again. 10AM and back for the only option of food for the day where we were approached by James and accused of taking 30lts of petrol to partially fill a 25lt tank and that we owe him 12lts, beyond annoyed I dismissed the accusation, if people can’t do simple grade 1 math before making accusations then they will get nothing but contempt.
After breakfast we headed up river and the water was 22 degrees a whole 2 – 3 degrees warmer than the main dam, feeling cheated we started to fish and had a great afternoon catching 500g to 2kg fish. The structure was amazing, with recently flooded shallows, grass mounds, lay downs, reeds, river channels, trees and a host of others. The wildlife was amazing with hippos, massive crocs, fish eagles to name a few. We now understood why a majority of the other guests had spent most of their time in the river section and most had 3kg+ fish with a few 4kg fish all from the river. Most of our fish came from the shaded side of trees on a texas rigged madi-gra brush hog but sadly still no Mteri piggies. I did however get a surprise ass kicking from what I can only imagine to be one the piggies I was looking for. I was hot and tired and wasn’t really paying attention to my rod and I was ducking from a branch of a tree we were going under at that crucial point I had no were to strike my rod was nearly pulled out of my hands, fumbling to get a grip on the rod all I could do is reel faster, once I had taken up the slack there was nothing there. Finally it was getting late and we didn’t want to ride back to the lodge in darkness we finally had to put our rods down and retire. Our four day trip of a life time to Mteri had concluded.
In conclusion between the three of us the biggest fish over 3.5 days was 3.42kg caught on a slash bait next to a tree in 5ft of water. Second biggest fish was 2.5kg caught on a plastic in about 3ft of water. Almost all plastics worked but anything Madi Gra worked the best for us. Over 100 fish between 500g and 2kg were boated. The lake is a beautiful place to spend time on and I would recommend fishing it to anyone.
Fishing conditions: Water was clear to stained, from 19 degrees C to 22.5 degrees C and the water level was rising. Weather was moderate to warm most of the time, with two days being overcast and one day of wind.
The lodge and management. Lake Mteri lodge is the worst experience I have ever had whilst being away. Promises were made and not fulfilled, we were lied to and disappointed would be a gross understatement. In my opinion based on our experience Mteri Lodge is a disorganised, uninterested and unprofessionally run venue. We were so annoyed that after our last fishing session we packed up and left to drive through the night rather than spend another minute there. We also spoke to a lot of the other anglers, all of whom had horror stories about double bookings and having to stay in town and non-delivery of rental boats that had been paid for and promised. It was no surprise that we were told by many customers, current and ex as well as parks board officials that Justin and Collette have lost the lease as of 30th September 2011. The Parks board official whom we chatted to on our departure, when asked why is the lodge closing down? We were informed that they get to many complaints. James the official guide claimed that the war vets have given them notice and are taking over on the 1st oct, they will drain the dam, harvest the fish for market then take all the wood for fire wood and leave it baron. It is such a shame.
Lake Mteri 5th – 8th August 2011.08.10
This ended up longer than anticipated.
Our well planned trip started over two months ago with planning and confirmations of all requirements. On Tuesday the 2nd August we made contact with Collette Booth (Owner and Manager of the lodge) to confirm everything was in place, which she confirmed and asked for the balance of the money (normally paid on departure). As she confirmed that everything was there waiting for us we deposited the balance before we left South Africa. With much anticipation and excitement the trip finally started at 9:30PM on Thursday evening with hope of getting an almost full day of fishing in on Friday.
The trip was plain sailing until we hit the border post, with queues that were estimated to be 6 hours long we decided to make use of the runners that claim to get you through the border in less than an hour. This was a huge mistake and I would urge anyone planning a trip through the border not to give into the temptation of promises of quick passage, they are nothing but con artists. 2 hours and R2500.00 later we were through the border feeling robbed. With the prospect of fishing Lake Mteri in a few hours it didn’t take us long to get our spirits up again. Not far into the trip we hit a Zim toll road, was a joke and they charged us R10 toll to lift a manual boom gate on the national road. Then we hit an un-official toll road in the form of a speed trap with some idiot with a speed gun claiming we were traveling at 132kmph and we had a choice of paying a spot fine or going to jail. We paid the spot fine of R200 and carried on. Our mojo a little bent with all the corruption we finally arrived at Metri lake Lodge at about 9:30AM ready for some Mteri fishing action.
On arrival we walked to the harbour and saw some nice bass swimming around and hundreds of bream, the bad trip there was soon forgotten. We had ordered and paid for a hired boat (VX70 with HDS) 2 months before and confirmed on Tuesday that a VX70 with an HDS10 was there waiting for us and there in the harbour was a slightly worn VX70 with an HDS10 exactly as promised. We were so excited we just wanted to get unpacked and out on the water.
Sadly our Chalet was not ready so we unpacked the fishing gear in the car park and started to set up rods. This is when the acting manager/Mteri guide introduced himself to us and explained that the VX70 was his personal boat and Collette had not made any arrangements for us to use it. There were no other VX70’s or other useable boats with electronics there so we phoned Collette to find out what was going on and it was very bluntly and defensively explained that the VX70 was down and had been towed away for repair the day before and we were informed that we would have to use James as a guide for 3 days and then we could use his boat. 3 on a VX70 is a bit cramped but more than doable but four adults (3 of us and James) on a VX70 seemed implausible but seeing our only two options were to take the offer or pack up and go home we were left with no choice but to cram 4 of us onto the VX70.
11AM; the official check in time arrived and our chalet was still not available so we ordered breakfast and sat outside and patiently waited for our chalet. There was loads of nice bream swimming around in the harbour so I set up a bream rod to pass the time whilst we waited for the Chalet. I asked for the worms that we ordered and were confirmed by Collete as being there and waiting for us. Nobody knew of any worms and nor was it possible to get any. What else could go wrong? Eventually at 12:15PM a chalet was available but it was not the waterfront chalet we had booked. They had double booked and the only available chalet was number 7 which is right at the back with no view or quick access to the water for a quick cast or two at night. Mega pissed off we unpacked and met James on HIS boat for a couple of hours fishing but before we could go fishing he wanted petrol for his boat. As we had ordered petrol for our rental boat we told James to take that petrol. Guess what? NO FRIGGING PETROL had been ordered for us. James did however have enough petrol in his boat for 1 trip so he took us out and we paid him nearly R1000 for him to organise another 70lts which by his calculations should be more than enough for the 4 days we had booked to be there.
Finally on the water and off to our first spot with our 12 rods between 3 of us and the Guides 5 rods all on the deck we got to the first spot, 3 on the front deck with guide in prime front spot and one at the back all 4 of us tried to start fishing which turned out to be like 12 step shuffle for every cast due to the cramped conditions. Fishing was tough and the boat was uncomfortable but it didn’t take long before we boated what we would call decent fish in SA but by Mteri standards were rats. Very quickly we learnt that although the preferred bait at the time was plastics, finesse fishing does not work very well at Mteri and lots of action is required, once this was learnt fishing became better and before long Hennie had landed a decent fish of 3.42kg (a new PB) with a Rapala slash bait (jerkbait). Before we knew it the sun was almost down and it was time to head back to the lodge.
With a new PB amongst us our spirits were a little higher than earlier as were our hopes of more PB’s to come in the next 3 days. We had a couple of cold beers and an excellent supper supplied by the lodge and retreated to our chalet with no view to try and catch up on some sleep that we missed during our trip there.
DAY 2
4:00am up and ready to rock and roll, fuel arrived and the guides boat was filled. The information from the guide was that the dam wall and main dam area had warmer water than the river section due to warmer water being pumped in from the sugar mill and that the river section was a waste of time due to colder water coming in from the river. As the sun started to come up and we could see the first tree line we hit a few bays and banks close to the lodge. The fishing was rather tough with overcast conditions and a solid wind blowing that is rare for Mteri. Non the less fish started to visit the boat on a regular occurrence rather much like you would expect from a good day at Rhiniohead. The guide on the front of the boat again landed a few nice fish of 2kg+ on a spro frog and the three of us taking it in turns to cast and duck and do the 12 step shuffle, armed with a spro frog, brush hogs, craws and flukes also managed to boat a number of fish that we lost count of but nothing over the 2kg with the average weight between 800g and 1.2kg. Lesson number 2 for Mteri learnt and that was Mteri fish do not give you a 2nd chance and being on front of the boat (especially with a newly installed hydrowave is a huge advantage). 10AM and very hungry it was time for breakfast so back to the lodge.
There was a bust up old ruffneck R160 and old version of the X16 available for us to use with an antique Merc 90HP that had a busted prop and an even more antique evinrude sneaker with no top cover or direction arrow but at breakfast we decided that anything was better than being squashed onto the boat we had been using for the next 2 days and our 4th day the guide was not available so we would be forced to use it anyway so we informed the staff to get it fuelled and ready to launch as we would use it the follow day and our last day.
After breakfast we headed to the rocks opposite the lodge without much joy, we tried a rock pile that is not well known with moderate success and then down to the dam wall where we had some serious fun landing fish every couple of minutes. All on plastics used as a jerk bait but non of them were of any size. We wanted to explore the river section but on advise against it from the guide we only went half way towards the river section and Danny managed to land a 2.6kg fish which was better than we had been getting, but by no means what you would expect from Mteri. The sun came down and once again it was time to return to the lodge. At the lodge one of the other anglers reported a 4kg fish caught in the river section and a couple more with 3kg fish also from the river. We checked up on the boat that we were to use the following day and yes you guessed it nothing had been done so we did it ourselves and launched the boat in the dark and took it to the harbour ready for the morning, all that was left to be done is for the boat to be fuelled for a days use. Super and a couple of drinks and once again early to bed again.
Day 3
4:00AM again, unloaded the guide’s boat and loaded our ship wreck bath tub, no rod lockers or deck space to put our rods but we made a plan, anything was better than 4 up on a 17ft boat. Hennie had made friends with one of the other anglers who was 1 up for the day and was invited on board for a days fishing with him so the R160 only had 2 anglers with 4 times the amount of space we had had the previous 2 days. As the sun came up we headed for the right of the dam wall section. The boat had serious fuel starvation problems and stopped and started when it felt like it and a serious vibration due to our 2.5 blade prop but we made it there and started to have fun immediately, Danny also found a pattern with a little lipless crank for Robbies which he enjoys as much if not more than bass and he caught 4 in quick succession. I was throwing a bomber 8 inch jerkbait and on two occasions had a large fish follow it all the way to the boat one of them was in excess of 4kg but I never got a take from them so we stayed on that section all morning until breakfast trying our darnest to get a Mteri Piggy. Danny got smoked by a steam train but never managed to set the hook properly and after the first initial run the line just went limp. The result was 30+ fish all under the 2kg mark but we had fun none the less, we had more fun at breakfast as everyone else was reporting 1 or 2 fish and none of them of any size so we were chuffed with the results of the morning and planned to go back after the 10am breakfast. We were informed by Collette previously that if we didn’t want to get of the water they would arranged a packed lunch for us to take on the water but to our surprise the staff knew nothing of this and were not prepared to make us a packed lunch so we had to get off the water every day at 10am or go hungry until supper at 7pm.
In the afternoon we headed to the left of the dam wall after recommendation online not to overlook it but this exploration was to no avail. After a little while we went back to the other side of the dam wall, again we started to have fun straight away but could not get anything to write home about with a basic finder on the console we went into the inlet where they were pumping water in and discovered that they were not pumping in warm water as we were informed by the guide but water that was 3 degrees colder. With this revelation we decided to disregard the advice about the river section and visit it. It is about a 4km trip and half way to the river section at 2pm the boat ran out of fuel, stranded in the middle of the lake, luckily with no Hippos to be concerned about eventually we finally got a tow back to the lodge where we discovered that the staff are only allowed to put 12lt into the rental boats. Despite the fact that it was our fuel it was locked/put away and the only person whom could give permission to let them put more fuel in was James our guide for the previous two days and he was out on the water having fun with the fuel that we had put into his boat until after dark so we were stranded on the bank for the rest of the afternoon.
Day 4
4:00AM and back to the rental boat to make sure they filled the tank with our fuel instead of only the permissible 12lts lodge rule and again only 12lts was put into the tank which was a guessed 12 and to me with much less than half a tank looked more like 10lts. 5AM and James was nowhere to be found his phone was answered by someone else who informed me that he was still asleep and would not wake him up. After lots of arguing with the staff and finally shouting they finally put in another 4 lts which was still only half full I finally took the matter into my own hands and took a half full jerry can from the lodge and partially filled the tank myself to about 3 quarters full.
6AM and the sun was already up and we headed for the rock pile again, it took a while to calm down after the petrol circus act and we had no joy at the rock pile. Hennie had jumped ship again and was back with us, the previous day they had had no success so we went back to the dam wall where we knew we would get some fish, which we did with the same result as the previous 3 days. Hennie was happy to land a few fish again. 10AM and back for the only option of food for the day where we were approached by James and accused of taking 30lts of petrol to partially fill a 25lt tank and that we owe him 12lts, beyond annoyed I dismissed the accusation, if people can’t do simple grade 1 math before making accusations then they will get nothing but contempt.
After breakfast we headed up river and the water was 22 degrees a whole 2 – 3 degrees warmer than the main dam, feeling cheated we started to fish and had a great afternoon catching 500g to 2kg fish. The structure was amazing, with recently flooded shallows, grass mounds, lay downs, reeds, river channels, trees and a host of others. The wildlife was amazing with hippos, massive crocs, fish eagles to name a few. We now understood why a majority of the other guests had spent most of their time in the river section and most had 3kg+ fish with a few 4kg fish all from the river. Most of our fish came from the shaded side of trees on a texas rigged madi-gra brush hog but sadly still no Mteri piggies. I did however get a surprise ass kicking from what I can only imagine to be one the piggies I was looking for. I was hot and tired and wasn’t really paying attention to my rod and I was ducking from a branch of a tree we were going under at that crucial point I had no were to strike my rod was nearly pulled out of my hands, fumbling to get a grip on the rod all I could do is reel faster, once I had taken up the slack there was nothing there. Finally it was getting late and we didn’t want to ride back to the lodge in darkness we finally had to put our rods down and retire. Our four day trip of a life time to Mteri had concluded.
In conclusion between the three of us the biggest fish over 3.5 days was 3.42kg caught on a slash bait next to a tree in 5ft of water. Second biggest fish was 2.5kg caught on a plastic in about 3ft of water. Almost all plastics worked but anything Madi Gra worked the best for us. Over 100 fish between 500g and 2kg were boated. The lake is a beautiful place to spend time on and I would recommend fishing it to anyone.
Fishing conditions: Water was clear to stained, from 19 degrees C to 22.5 degrees C and the water level was rising. Weather was moderate to warm most of the time, with two days being overcast and one day of wind.
The lodge and management. Lake Mteri lodge is the worst experience I have ever had whilst being away. Promises were made and not fulfilled, we were lied to and disappointed would be a gross understatement. In my opinion based on our experience Mteri Lodge is a disorganised, uninterested and unprofessionally run venue. We were so annoyed that after our last fishing session we packed up and left to drive through the night rather than spend another minute there. We also spoke to a lot of the other anglers, all of whom had horror stories about double bookings and having to stay in town and non-delivery of rental boats that had been paid for and promised. It was no surprise that we were told by many customers, current and ex as well as parks board officials that Justin and Collette have lost the lease as of 30th September 2011. The Parks board official whom we chatted to on our departure, when asked why is the lodge closing down? We were informed that they get to many complaints. James the official guide claimed that the war vets have given them notice and are taking over on the 1st oct, they will drain the dam, harvest the fish for market then take all the wood for fire wood and leave it baron. It is such a shame.
FishingBud
New member
Howzit Pomerob,
Thanks for the report back, Mteri is a very special place with monster bass.
I can't believe that Justin & Collette's managment of that awesome place is so poor. I've been to mteri 6 times, and each year the service went from bad to worse. I was planning a trip for the end of this month, but after reading your report I've changed my mind.
I was really looking forward to the trip, but at the back my mind I was always worried about the arrangements. Will there be a boat for us. Will we get an air conditioned chalet as per the confirmation etc etc.
Its really sad that I might not fish that lake ever again, but while its under Justin and Collette's managment I'll pass.......thanks.
Thanks for the report back, Mteri is a very special place with monster bass.
I can't believe that Justin & Collette's managment of that awesome place is so poor. I've been to mteri 6 times, and each year the service went from bad to worse. I was planning a trip for the end of this month, but after reading your report I've changed my mind.
I was really looking forward to the trip, but at the back my mind I was always worried about the arrangements. Will there be a boat for us. Will we get an air conditioned chalet as per the confirmation etc etc.
Its really sad that I might not fish that lake ever again, but while its under Justin and Collette's managment I'll pass.......thanks.
FishingBud
New member
Pomerob, thanks for the details.
I've known about the other lodge but couldn't get any details.
I believe its self catering?
I've known about the other lodge but couldn't get any details.
I believe its self catering?
After my trip to Mteri sadly I have to agree with Pomerob. The boat we hired was crap to say the least. The trolling motor barely worked and the boat had no carpets or rubber in the hatches so was noisy as hell to use. The fishing was very average, if you want to go I would strongly recommend using a guide with a boat or take your own boat. I would take everything James at the lodge says with a pinch of salt. I will say no more on that subject. The service at the lodge was average, and promises made to us by management were not met. Petrol was difficult to come by and very expensive, why they don't keep a supply at the lodge is beyond me. The fishing at the lake struck me as past it's glory days. Good fish are still to be had, but it certainly was very very hard work to get them. The whole trip easily cost me double as much as I anticipated, although this was more due to constant toll fees on the SA side and expensive border fees on the Zim side. Alcohol and drinks at the lodge are ludicrously expensive. I will certainly think twice before visiting this venue again.
Hi all,
I had a rather ridiculous time @ Mteri over a year ago. I went up with my old man after Divisional Nationals @ Tzaneen dam. We went to Nottingham 1st for 2 days and had a blast, but biggest was about 2.7kg.
Then on to Mteri...
We arrived, eventually got everything sorted and our room was
the lovely chalet close to the 'main house' on the waters edge. We had a great time the first day (luckily we had our own boat etc. there).
Then upon coming off the water the 2nd day there was a whole bunch of new anglers arriving, and without ANY notice when we went to our chalet our belongings were being moved and were left on the grass next to the chalets. Reason was something about that the one angler who was coming was ill or something (of which i assure you he was just overweight when i saw him). We were told we are moving to another chalet, and then when we came off the water that evening ALL of the chalets had new occupants and we were standing on the grass with our belongings and our boat...after a long story we eventually had supper at the lodge and then HAD TO be driven back into town and stay @ Justin & Collete's horrendously run-down home, only to be driven back the next morning and so on for next 2 days!!!!
basicly, it was a lovely time spent with my dad and got a few decent fish however the lodge and its running was absolutely SHOCKING and i will certainly not be returning to Collette's lodge again. I have even left some shocking info out of this message as there have been soo many bad reports im sure you can make your own mind up...
Lastly, If you want to go to the Double Booking Gold Award Winning Lodge in the World then go visit Mteri (Collette Lodge).
Tight Lines,
Q
I had a rather ridiculous time @ Mteri over a year ago. I went up with my old man after Divisional Nationals @ Tzaneen dam. We went to Nottingham 1st for 2 days and had a blast, but biggest was about 2.7kg.
Then on to Mteri...
We arrived, eventually got everything sorted and our room was
the lovely chalet close to the 'main house' on the waters edge. We had a great time the first day (luckily we had our own boat etc. there).
Then upon coming off the water the 2nd day there was a whole bunch of new anglers arriving, and without ANY notice when we went to our chalet our belongings were being moved and were left on the grass next to the chalets. Reason was something about that the one angler who was coming was ill or something (of which i assure you he was just overweight when i saw him). We were told we are moving to another chalet, and then when we came off the water that evening ALL of the chalets had new occupants and we were standing on the grass with our belongings and our boat...after a long story we eventually had supper at the lodge and then HAD TO be driven back into town and stay @ Justin & Collete's horrendously run-down home, only to be driven back the next morning and so on for next 2 days!!!!
basicly, it was a lovely time spent with my dad and got a few decent fish however the lodge and its running was absolutely SHOCKING and i will certainly not be returning to Collette's lodge again. I have even left some shocking info out of this message as there have been soo many bad reports im sure you can make your own mind up...
Lastly, If you want to go to the Double Booking Gold Award Winning Lodge in the World then go visit Mteri (Collette Lodge).
Tight Lines,
Q