KZN: Lake Naverone

[Thiaan]

Good Afternoon All

I am heading to Lake Naverone in KZN in just over a weeks time, and I was wondering if anyone has some recent fishing feedback from there?
From the older threads on this forum and some feedback from the fly-fishing shops in JHB, I am not exactly excited about the fishing, although the feedback from the resort themselves regarding the stocking of the lakes seems to contradict this a bit.
They stock 3 times a year, 2000 fish in the big lake and 1000 in the smaller lake, all around 150mm and they stocked in January last.

Any feedback would be much appreciated.

Regards
Thiaan

[Brettbyfly]

Hi Thiaan

Lake Naverone is possibly one of the most beautiful destinations in KZN. The management is organized there and they do stock the dams, especially the big one. The smaller lake is quite small and has a bit of weed so not sure about the 1000 per year but there are fish in it.

Being such a great place its usually full throughout the year which means the trout see the conventional flies all the time. I think a woolly bugger is imprinted in the memories of most fish in the dams.
Try using flies that are not common if fishing goes quiet eg: white fritz, cats whisker,white death and even old traditionals like the march brown and bloody butcher.

Im not saying wooly buggers, red eye damsels etc wont work but you will need to think a bit on that water.

Still a great place, when the fishing is a little quiet just stop and look around.

[Rhodesian]

Hi Thiaan

Lake Naverone is possibly one of the most beautiful destinations in KZN. The management is organized there and they do stock the dams, especially the big one. The smaller lake is quite small and has a bit of weed so not sure about the 1000 per year but there are fish in it.

Being such a great place its usually full throughout the year which means the trout see the conventional flies all the time. I think a woolly bugger is imprinted in the memories of most fish in the dams.
Try using flies that are not common if fishing goes quiet eg: white fritz, cats whisker,white death and even old traditionals like the march brown and bloody butcher.

Im not saying wooly buggers, red eye damsels etc wont work but you will need to think a bit on that water.

Still a great place, when the fishing is a little quiet just stop and look around.

One day when I'm big, I want to go to Lake Naverone!
Seriously though, I have only ever heard good things about this venue.
However, as has been said above, heavy fishing pressure makes fish smart, so you will have to think out of the proverbial box to have success.

An interesting comment perhaps.
When one considers the sheer size of the lake, add 1000 fingerlings and they will automatically be very much diluted.
Then deduct from that number those that are eaten by a variety of predators, those that are caught by anglers and then those that have got clever, it suddenly becomes apparent that the odds may be stacked against the angler.
This supports the above theory that success will requires some contemplative thought.

[Thiaan]

Thank you for the feedback and advise.
I have been connecting to the camera they have up at the resort and the weather seems to have kept people away from fishing :-)
I am primarily a dry fly fisherman so I am sure I can come up with some different tactics and flies for the fish.

Thanks again, I will update after my trip with how it went.

[Thiaan]

As mentioned. Here is my feedback.

Lake Naverone – Southern Drakensberg
15/04/2018 – 20/04/2018

1: Weather
The weather for this trip was absolutely stunning. It was consistent and predictable and allowed us to fish the entire day. It might not have created the perfect fishing condition though, although I have long ago decided that no such thing exists as in my opinion trout make up their mind on an hourly basis on what is and what is not their ideal condition. The days were bright and sunny with temperature in the low to mid 20’s and the evenings were mild and just short of being cold. It might have been a bit warmer than what we expected for this time of the year, but as it was our first trip to this location I really am not able to compare it to any previous times.

2: Venue and Accommodation
This is probably one of the most picturesque venues that I have ever visited for fly fishing. The setting in the mountains is majestic and I do not believe anyone could find fault with this. Stunning location for photographers as well.
The accommodation was fantastic. We stayed in number 12 called Robin which is a large unit with two outside cottages as well and I think it can sleep 12 in total. It is spacious and built in the old farm style, so more than enough space. They offer a mixture of gas and electrical for cooking and water as well as an old Defy number 3 anthracite oven, which was already burning by the time we got there. It has everything you could possibly require other than steak knives according to my wife. The grounds are well kept and so is the areas around the lake and dam and I think you can clearly see that the owners and managers take real pride in this venue. There are activities for the family as well. They offer horse riding and tennis and a play area for the kids, as well as paddle boats and row boats. So the family can be entertained while the fishermen or fisherwomen fish.
The staff are very friendly and professional and the units are also services twice a day, which I think is absolutely great as it means at no time did I have to wash any dishes J
On our way there the resort called us to find out how far we were and to wish us a safe journey and because it was a Sunday to tell us where to find the keys for the unit as reception closes early on a Sunday. However if we needed anything they would be available to assist regardless. A very nice and personal touch. This reflect in everything they do and help to ensure that guests would like to return to the venue.
The side of the lake that unit 12 is on, is also apparently the cold side of the lake, with most units surrounded by large trees, so if you are looking for a warmer cottage I would suggest you speak to the managers before booking as they will happily assist with this. Some units are also more “private” than others, although none of the units are so close to each other that I think this could be a problem.

3 Fishing:
I tried to do some research on Lake Naverone before going as like I mentioned it was our first trip there. I really did struggle to find any recent feedback about this, although there are plenty of review for the venue. Very few reviews actually mention the fishing. So I asked around and did not get much feedback, but luckily Trevor from Lake Naverone was more than happy to reply to all my questions. They stock 3 times a year with roughly 2000 fish in the large Lake and 1000 in the smaller. The feedback at the time of asking was that they had last stocked in January and the fish they stock are around 150mm. So these should be nice and grown by the time we got there. On arriving the Sunday and after unpacking we decided that it was a bit too late to go fish, as you really do need a float tube or make use of one of the row boats to really fish the large lake, and we would not be able to set up the float tubes before the sun was down. So we opted to sit outside and watch the evening rise while having some coffee and soaking up the clean mountain air. The lake turned into a bit of a Jacuzzi with all the fish activity and the urge to go cast a line was difficult to ignore, however from our unit it is a roughly 50m to the water and with little to no place to try and cast from. Other units that are right on the lake might have made it possible however, but to catch from the side I would suggest the other end of the lake where reception is located. But having seen all the activity from on the surface we were rather excited about the fishing ahead.
For the remainder of the trip one of us was on the water from early the morning and until sunset, so we really did fish as much as possible. What we found however is that 99% of the activity was caused by tiny trout. Some truly appeared sardine size once landed on my tube. So we caught plenty of these small trout. Although this could have spoiled the fishing I suppose it depends on your point of view. Our timing was a little off and we should probably have asked when next they stock instead of when last. These small little fish are very nimble and fast and I don’t think the bigger trout stood a chance to even get to a fly before one of these would grab it. So morning and evening rise you had very little chance of getting into a solid fish. Catching the small ones was still fun though, and they are surprisingly aggressive and some of those initial takes would have you believe you are into a much larger fish.
We did manage to catch 3 decent size fish around the 800g- 1kg mark and these were caught deep and during the middle of the day and on GRHE. The small fish were caught on a variety of dry flies and nymphs all fairly small, although I caught the smallest sardine size trout on what I am sure must have been a size 12 GRHE. The fly was nearly the size if the fishes head.
We fished from float tubes which would be my recommendation for anyone going here, unless you are very comfortable to fish from a row boat, but there are no anchors for the row boats so the slightest breeze will move your boat all over the place. The smaller dam has more opportunity to fish from the banks, but a rather large part of this dam has cottages in front of it which might not be ideal if people sit outside them and your fly lines comes buzzing past. So that leaves probably 30-40% of the banks easy to fish on this dam.
We also took a walk down the river, but the water level was too low for fish. I say this not from knowledge or experience from fishing rivers but rather from the fact that the water was low and gin clear so there was nowhere a fish could hide where we would not see it, and we really did scrutinize every centimetre of the river looking for fish. If the water is higher and the fish are back then this would be a spectacular river to fish as there are areas where it takes little to no imagination to see it as a heaven for fish. The river is also kept clean and so is the area to walk along the river.
All in all, although no massive fish were caught I would say the venue and the fishing was great anyway and I will most certainly be back, but once those little ones are a bit bigger. There really does not seem to be much fishing pressure on this lake, as during our stay we were the only people fishing, and I have not gotten into the habit of checking out the camera that they have at least once a day and I have not spotted a single person fishing since the middle of March. So if you are going there in a month or two and this remains the case then the fishing should be really good.

[GrahamS]

I visit that area once a year and stay at Castleburn. In my experience Castleburn has the best fishing in the area by a big margin. The number and quality of fish there make it one of my favourite still waters in kzn.
I was last there in Oct/Nov last year and there were plenty of fish in the river. They are extremely hard to spot though and quite often you only see them when they rise to your fly.

[Thiaan]

Thank Graham, I have been wanting to go to Castleburn for a while now, so maybe I should do it this year. The river that is available at Naverone was very low, in places where you can see it is supposed to be at least 1m deep it was ankle deep, but like I said crystal clear. With all the rain I do not know why the river would be that low, unless someone upstream decided to do something silly.