13 minute read
BUSH & BARBS
LIMPOPO BUSH & BARBS
WHEN TINTSWALO LAPALALA (TINTSWALO.COM) INVITED US TO SEND SOMEONE TO CHECK OUT THEIR WATERBERG LODGE AND THE NEW FLY FISHING OPTION THEY HAVE ADDED TO THEIR ACTIVITIES, WE KNEW WHAT THEY WANTED.
A ROMANTIC COUPLE.
INSTEAD, WE SENT THEM TWO INDIAN OCEAN GUIDES, MILAN GERMISHUIZEN AND JUSTIN ROLLINSON, WHO HAVE BEEN LANDLOCKED IN GAUTENG SINCE SA FIRST STARTED GOING IN AND OUT OF LOCKDOWN. WHILE WE HAVE FELT A BIT SORRY FOR THESE GUYS OVER THE LAST YEAR OR SO (THEY NORMALLY SPEND THEIR DAYS STALKING FLATS FISH IN PARADISE SO BEING STUCK AT HOME IS NEW TO THEM), WE ALSO KNEW THAT, TO DO JUSTICE TO TINTSWALO’S NEW OFFERING, WE NEEDED TO SEND ALONG TWO ANGLERS WHO KNOW HOW TO CATCH FISH WHEREVER THEY ARE. THIS IS THEIR ACCOUNT OF THE FISHING AND OF BEING, FOR ONCE, ON THE OTHER SIDE.
Photos. Milan Germihuizen, Justin Rollinson and Tintswalo
With all the travel restrictions recently, it’s been pretty bleak for an Indian Ocean guide. Being stuck at home, missing that sense of the wild and adventure, has been kak (shitty), to say the least. There’s been little to look forward to as we wait for some sort of normal to return. So, when my fellow FlyCastaway guide, Justin Rollinson, and I were invited to stay at Tintswalo Lapalala for a few nights and fish their virtually untouched river for indigenous yellows, it was a no brainer. Fly fishing and the bush, fly fishing IN the bush…there are very few things better than that. Plus, we were going to fish a stretch of river that’s hardly been fished at all and has definitely only been fly fished a few times. As guides and fly fisherman this is what we chase all the time… finding the wild places and fishing them.
We started researching the area and the excitement grew as we realised where we were going. I’ve always wanted to fish smaller streams in the African bush, so this was a first for me. As guides we love the fish and the fishing but, mostly, we were just looking forward to getting to live it up for a change as guests in a 5-star private safari lodge. Plus, during our stay, we’d have our own game vehicle and three rangers at our disposal to take us fishing and look after us. Counting down the days, we were tying flies like mad men trying to find out as much as we could about what would work for small scale and large scale yellowfish. Tintswalo at Lapalala is situated in the Lapalala Nature reserve just under three hours drive from Pretoria. The Palala River flows for 30kms through this massive 50 000 ha Big Five reserve in the Waterberg. Before the trip we were concerned about water clarity as most rivers in South Africa run chocolate at the best of times. However, this section of the Palala seems to be spring fed from the surrounding hills and mountains. That, and the fact that the river has carved large cliffs and rapids through the rocks, meant that it also seemed to have a lot less sediment in it, which made the clarity very good considering the wet summer we just had in the northern parts of SA. The reserve is looking amazing after the rains and the number of animals seen, both around the main lodge and on game drives, is an indication of a very healthy ecosystem. All we needed to discover was what the river had in store for us.
We were met at the gate by Daniel, a ranger from Tinstwalo Lapalala who helped us load all our gear and gave us snacks and drinks for the 45 minute game drive to the main lodge. Like typical guides, we both got stuck into refreshments and we were on our way. We then pulled a solid ‘client’ move and proceeded to grill Daniel about the reserve’s animals, about the river, the fishing, even guessing how many leopard there might be roaming around looking for something to eat. We soon realised that very few people had actually fished here before, a fact that got us super excited. It was only once we reached a bridge that we appreciated how pristine the Palala River is. The clarity was the best I’ve seen from a bushveld stream in a long time. We could easily see many little minnows swimming around the slack back waters and there were bugs popping off the river. We were now very keen on getting rigged up and down to the water. About 15 mins later we arrived at the lodge where we met Dave the GM and Morné, the head guide, as well as the super friendly hospitality staff waiting for us with an exotic looking welcome drink and refresher towel. After a quick check in, orientation and a great lunch with a few beers we were taken to our rooms.
Now, where Justin and I currently guide on St. Brandon’s atoll (430km north-east of Mauritius), the island we stay on is about 400m long and 100m wide, so we are naturally used to living in smaller spaces. At Tintswalo Lapalala we were given the Xhosa Family suite which had been divided into two, one room for each of us. The rooms were out of this world… everything from the biggest bed I have ever seen to my own private pool and a shower that looked out onto the bush. The room alone was the size of the whole upstairs of the house I grew up in. Justin and I had a brief freak-out about how epic our rooms were and from there we just relaxed and let all the good things come. The rooms were kept immaculate throughout our entire stay and we had everything we could possibly need: from a fireplace to a well-stocked mini bar. As soon as we got back from our morning fishing sessions and after a solid breakfast, having relaxing ice cold beers next to our pool was a daily thing. Speaking of breakfast, the food during our entire stay was top quality and this was the first time ever where I went home heavier after a fishing trip. With three-course dinners, great lunches and breakfasts that kept us going all day, there was never a single moment where I wasn’t happily fed and satisfied.
While it may look like he is having his way with the pool filter, Milan Germishuizen is in fact wearing boardshorts while enjoying the view from his chalet’s private pool. But, the fishing was always the main reason for us being there. Tintswalo Lapalala has recently decided to offer fly fishing as an activity for guests staying at the lodge, so we realised that we could help the guides out by actually figuring out what kind of fishery they have there. We were certainly not disappointed. On the first afternoon Dave, Daniel and Morné took us to a spot they had been to before and where they had caught a fish or two. The water looked superb with everything from riffles and laminar water to epic pool tail-outs and short rapid sections. The reason we had three guides with us was because two of them were carrying rifles, while the third fished with us. This is a wild area and we had to look out for things like hippo, crocs, buffalo, leopard and the rest of the Big Five. They also have all of the “mean” snakes you can encounter when in the bush so, having guys who know what to look for and how to keep you safe from the animals, is very important. As uneasy as it is knowing you could be stalked by a spotted death cat or croc while tying on your size 16 nymph, it’s also great knowing there’s an experienced guide who has your back when there’s trouble. At very least there’s someone with you who is potentially slower than you so you can make it back to the Land Cruiser in time. I suppose it’s similar to what Justin and I have to do while out on the flats, i.e. making sure nothing eats the clients and making sure they come home at the end of the day in one piece and preferably with smiles on their faces. I decided to cross the river at a low water bridge while Justin went upstream looking for some faster flowing water. Before the trip we had concluded that Euro nymphing would probably be the best way to catch the yellows we were targeting, as both the small scale and the large scale yellowfish tend, predominantly, to be bottom feeders because of the structure of their mouths. I had set up a drydropper rig on a floating line as well as two small streamers on an intermediate line to swing in the larger pools. Justin went for the Euro Nymphing rig and the intermediate line with two small streamers set up. We fished separately for a while and did a bit of exploring, checking out what bugs we could find and trying to spot fish moving. Every now and then I’d have to remind myself to look around me carefully, wondering ‘am I being stalked?’ ‘Where’s the nearest big rock or tree to climb up?’ Once that paranoia passed it was back to focusing on the fishing. I met up with Justin a bit later as he was nymphing a beautiful run where we had rapids dumping into a large, deep pool. I had a feeling it was pretty deep when Dave noticed a big bull hippo in the bushes on the far side of the river. Luckily we were all safe higher up on the opposite bank. I was fishing the head of the pool when my dry shot under water and I went tight. The fish shook its head and went straight up a very strong part of the stream at a serious speed. I put a bit of pressure on it, but this fish just kept on going as if it didn’t even feel the tension.
The fish made one more powerful surge before snapping my tippet. I dropped a few F-bombs because, whatever that was, it was big. A minute later Justin went tight on the nymphing rig and landed the first two yellows of the trip, hooking two small scales. He was very stoked by that as hooking two fish at once usually means losing both. This first afternoon session gave us some good insight into how we would target these fish in the coming days. The key was to find deeper flowing water where the fish could feed and be comfortable, while still being safe from the predators both from above and in the river.
We fished a new section on the second day that the guides called Rapids, an epically breath taking spot with massive Jurassic Park-like cliffs and thick bush. This was my favourite spot as it’s where I landed two yellows and dropped a bunch more on the dry fly while working seams with my dry/dropper rig. The one fish ate a size 6 Chubby Chernobyl, which I usually fish during golden stonefly hatches in Idaho. So this meant that, even though these fish feed mainly on sub-surface aquatic invertebrates, they will still try eat the legs off a drowning grasshopper. This was all very exciting considering this trip was right at the ass-end of summer. If the yellows are still looking up at this time of year, things could get very exciting in a few months time. In the meantime, Justin was slaying them on the nymphing rig in the run just above me and landed another beautiful large scale yellow. These fish are really stunning with orange gill plates and an almost royal blue shine around their eyes. It’s really amazing to be able to catch these wild native fish where they’re meant to be. After a while I saw the rangers head downstream to check if it was clear for us to fish. I’ll never really get used to standing with a fly rod in my hand while listening to a game ranger telling me what to do if the buffalo (that just left a very fresh turd next to me) comes charging at us out of the bush. We found lots of signs that the buffalo were in the area -some a bit too close for comfort - but luckily they moved on and we were safe.
We were convinced we had found the spot so we decided to head back to the rapids for the afternoon session but, before we did that, Justin spotted a very tasty piece of water down stream from where we had the buffalo scare. We crossed the river at the rapids and made our way down stream using hippo trails that were littered with hippo and leopard tracks, all our senses on high alert. You could smell the animals, that’s how wild a place it is. The only footprints I saw were Dave’s from where he was walking ahead of us with the rifle.
Eventually all this walking through thick bush would be worth it when we found what was waiting for us downstream. Perfect water lay in front of us in the form of long fast-flowing sections with deep water where we knew the fish would be holding. I was awestruck by the
surroundings and missed a fish because I wasn’t paying attention. The further I headed downstream, the better it looked and I eventually found a spot with a high cliff on one side and thick bush on the other where I could see fish moving and sight fish them from a higher spot (away from the things that wanted to eat me). From up there I could quietly sit and sight fish to the yellows holding in the current below. This is what I had been looking for. I caught a few decent large scales and called Justin and Dave to get in on the action as I was still seeing more fish. When we eventually turned back towards the Cruiser, the light was beginning to fade. If that wasn’t a reason for us to pick up the pace, then the hippos calling from very close to us downstream definitely did the trick. We ended up with 14 large scale yellows, two small scales (one of which was an absolute beaut caught by Justin) and a lot of Canary kurper. There are also bass in the system but we weren’t super focused on them and caught a few as by-catch. Tintswalo Lapalala is set in a very special place. The Palala River flowing through the reserve is pristine and I think that, with a little more exploration, it can be an amazing destination to target these indigenous species in a stunning setting. That, along with a world class lodge and the staff they employ, makes this a unique getaway and a must for anyone who has a passion for both the bushveld and fly fishing.
TINTSWALO LAPALALA SHOP THE MISSION
Vision Nymphmaniac 10’3 fly rod - delicate enough to feel slight takes with a serious backbone.
tacticalangler.co.za
Patagonia Nano Puff Jacket - packs up small, perfect for chilly mornings on the water. patagonia.com
Costa 580 lenses in Sunrise Silver Mirror - the best lenses I’ve used for shade or low light. costadelmar.com
Sapmok Vellies- perfect bush shoes, the best Vellies around. sapmok.com
Orvis Tactical Sighter Tippet - easy to see in high and low light conditions. flyfishing.co.za Shilton CR 3 - Large arbor- picks up line super fast.
