Venue Reviews

Venue Name: Komati Gorge

Date Visited: September 2008

Duration: 1 day.

Access and Vehicle required: Tar road all the way to the Doornkop turn off. The 4,6km of dirt road until you turn in at the Komati Gorge sign is well managed. Probably a good idea to have capable vehicle for unexpected bumps and rain storms.

Species: Rainbow Trout, Small-scale Yellowfish, Large-scale Yellowfish.

Type of water: 12km of river, Medium sized dams

Difficulty: Yellowfish - Challenging, Trout - Easy

Daily Rod Average: 1,5

Flies that worked: PTN, Zak Nymph, GRHE, CDC Emerger (Olive)

Tips and Tactics: Make sure that you first of all go in the right season. The fishing is very rainfall dependant, so late autumn before the rain is your best bet of hooking some good fish. A 5 weight setup will do just fine. Floating line is the order of the day. Make sure you have enough strike indicators to detect the subtle takes and split shot to get the small nymphs down quickly in the faster water. Take plenty of fluids as a whole day of walking through the bush can take its toll. Keep an eye out for their signature golden flashes as they scrape algae off the side of rocks.

Weather Conditions: Sunny and warm. Strong wind.

Area: South Africa, Mpumalanga

Fishing Write-Up: The first thing you'll notice when fishing the Komati River is the breathtaking scenery which surrounds you as you wind your way up the 12km of river frontage available to the fisherman. This long stretch of the Komati will keep you busy for the whole day if you're willing to trek all the way up. We started our fishing at the large weir upstream and well away from the cottages. The fishing started out tough and remained that way for most of the day, as one might expect when fishing for a species which eats algae 90% of the time. Not to mention the strong upstream wind we had to battle. We picked up most of the fish in deep water just downstream from good riffle and rapids. You've got to bring you're A-game when fishing for these wily characters as the takes can be near impossible to detect and you need to strike for any irregular movement in your strike indicator. After lunch, walking down the long pool outside the main complex we saw many large fish cruising six to nine feet below the surface, but were unable to cast to them due to the nature of the bank. The deep pool spotting seemed to be the order of the afternoon as we came across a few more groups of large fish cruising the deep pools. Great stuff unless the fish see you first 'cause they spook in a flash. The last fish for the day were taken on dry in a deep pool upstream from the second low water bridge.

Venue Write-Up: The Komati Gorge lodge & wildlife reserve is situated on the banks of the Komati River. A two and a half hour drive from Pretoria will get you to the four-star graded venue. With a mix of self catering and hotel style accommodation there's something available for every budget plus the home style food and desserts are to die for, or so I've been told. Besides fishing for yellows in the river and trout in the three dams, visitors can spend their time bird watching, game viewing, hiking, horse riding, river rafting or swimming. There is no cell-phone reception on the farm.

Re-visits: “The Mavungana guides organised another trip to Komati Gorge on October 13 and had much better fishing as weather conditions were much more favourable. The water level had dropped quite a bit and had become much clearer, but despite this almost 20 fish were caught between the fishermen.”

Contact Info: http://www.komatigorge.co.za/

Mavungana rating: 6.5/10
How the Guides Voted: JB-9, JT-5, CT-4, MC-8

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