We finally reunited with camp after 9 long months. We had been chased out in early December the previous year when the rains came early and with bad intentions. The water had come up to our tents and made the roads impassable until June! We approached the camp with nervous trepidation, out apprehension was met with amazing clarity and fish moving everywhere!

Carlo was on a return trip and Graham was a new guest who would join us for our season opener. They arrived late on the night of arrival, but the spirits were high despite the long rattle into camp in the dark.

We started off early on the boat, drifting for Largemouth Yellowfish. We parked the boat on a ledge and cast into the deep water, searching for hunting fish along the edge. It didn’t take long for Graham to open the account with a small Largie, this set the ball rolling. The next few sessions from the boat yielded fish from most of the likely spots, we upgraded each fish until we hit the pool below Mabibi. We were drifting along the structure when a very good fish in the 10lb range charged at the boat in curiosity and vanished as quickly as it had appeared. Despite several casts at the sandbank it appeared from, we had no other interest. At the next dead tree in the water, Graham put the fly just to the left of the structure and went tight after 2 strips. The fish boiled but beneath it was an absolute brute! Excitement levels on the boat went from stoke to frothing in an instant. We re-drifted the tree several times but the big one stayed in her hole!

Besides the drifts, the guys got plenty of fish in the pools and rapids, swinging buggers, stripping crabs and floating dries. The overall tally was 25 Largemouth Yellows (3 from the jetty at camp) and 60+ smallmouth up to 3.5kg.

The first week in camp couldn’t have gone any better!