Sharon decided to take me fishing for my 30th birthday so we drove up to Lake Naverone on Friday evening amidst the mist and rain. I didn’t set an alarm but was awake by just after 6am on Saturday. We lazed around a little so I only made it onto the water at around 8am. I fished the large dam in partly cloudy conditions starting close to the inlet. Almost immediately I missed two strong hits which got me rather excited. Sadly I saw no more fish for the next hour.
The inlet was heavily weeded so I made my way to the far bank which appeared to be the deeper of the two. I picked up one tiny rainbow but wasn’t feeling confident here. I therefore started the long trip across the dam to where I had missed the fish earlier. On route I came across Sharon who had paddled out to see me. Amazingly, while she was watching, I got onto another fish of around 500g.
Bad weather was fast approaching so Sharon made her way back to our chalet. Shortly after that I reached my initial spot and picked up a 1kg rainbow in the rain which I assume was the fish I missed earlier.
The rain was coming down hard so I started fishing my way back to the cottage. By the time I reached it the rain had eased off and so I fished the wall area directly in front of our cottage while Sharon read in the window. I picked up another small fish and decided that that was a good note to end on.
Back in the chalet I had a quick shower and a couple of hot dogs before Sharon and I headed out in search of wine. After not finding any at the local store we headed over to the Drakensberg Gardens Hotel which has a small shop. It’s well kitted with tennis and badminton courts, putt putt, a golf and mashie course, a spa, bowling green, animal farm, swimming pool and more. That said it’s looking a little run down. This combined with the taxi parked in the picnic area pumping music sealed the fact that I’d never stay there.
After having a quick look at the river, which looked a little high for fishing, we bought a ridiculously priced R48 six pack and R52 bottle of wine and headed back.
It was a little early to fish so I dozed on the sun bed (yes, it’s the first time I’ve ever done this and must be because I’m over 30 now). Sadly a storm then approached which meant cards and beer instead of fishing.
Eventually the storm passed so I loaded Sharon up with beer and headed out to do some fishing from the bank (in case the storm returned). Sharon stood patiently under a tree, beer in hand, while I fished the bank in the rain. I managed to pick up 3 fish in miserable conditions and sadly got bitten off by what felt like a monster fish. After taking the fly it headed for the hills unworried that I was trying to slow it down. Just before hitting backing the line went dead and I brought it in to find my fly was gone, and with it the fish.
The evening’s short, and wet, session was followed by an awesome braai on the patio as the rain had finally moved off. All in all a fantastic day at a beautiful location.
I decided that since Sharon has paid for the weekend away I’d better spend at least a little time with her (instead of floating around by myself on my float tube). On Sunday morning we therefore headed out in our cottage’s boat and did a little fishing together.
I thought that since we were in the water the lack of distance on her cast would not be a problem. This was mostly true and she got a couple of knocks while fishing but sadly didn’t pick up anything. I on the other hand learned what it was like to fish with kids. I spent the majority of my time helping her, untangling lines, tying knots, etc. And just when I could get a cast in the boat would’ve drifted to a bank and I was forced to row out again. But despite all the chaos on the boat we had fun, even if no fish were landed.