Umngazi Dec 07

[Jono Shales]

There are many things that I look forward to when coming back to South Africa. Family and friends are top of the list, but so to is knowing that I'll be fishing in the same places where it all began for me.

My girlfriend and I were fortunate enough to return to SA and spend 2 weeks of our holiday at Umngazi River Bungalows, near Port St Johns in the Transkei. My family has returned to the resort 21 times in total, this was to be my 17th time. The fishing was better back then, not a lot of pressure on the river by anglers or locals. At that time the locals weren't fortunate enough to have rods or nets of their own, and only a handful of guys were into swoffing. Catch limits were kept to a sort of natural minimum because of this.

When I returned to Umngazi this time round, it felt like a sort of homecoming knowing that this is where it all began for me, where I cut my teeth in the salt. Sharing time on the water with my father is a wonderful thing.

So many hours were spent up river in those early years, standing there casting flies for hours and hours, sometimes lucky enough to pin a fish. I remember a guy from Durban who gave me a balsa popper that he'd made, it was blue and he showed me how he's tied it with a staple on the shank to hold the head on for gluing. 'Here, chuck this' he said, 'pull it so it makes a bloop, bloop noise'. I wish I could remember his name because the day he left I got a 4kg garrick and 2 skipjack using his fly. I still have that same popper and would like to return the favour somehow.

Anyway ... here's some pics from our trip ...

Umngazi River Bungalows


Bungalows along the water and a spa above looking out over the lagoon and beach


'Nkonkolo' the name of our bungalow - it's xhosa for spotted grunter


The neighbours ..


The river towards the sea

[dpammenter]

awesome Jono!

thanks mate

[Scythe]

I'm hitting refresh every now and again waiting for more ... and ofcourse the fish porn ...

[Jono Shales]

The river at early morning with no wind - great conditions for sliders and poppers


Typical fish territory around some structure


The very same bank where I learned to saltwater flyfish, being safely guarded by some locals


A double hookup by some close friends. About 30 seconds before this pic was taken, the comment 'Geez this is a special place' was made


The result a father and son double hook-up on barracuda


Me and my father working on some casting techniques one afternoon in the lagoon

[Jono Shales]

Young Andrew Padget laying out some sensational long casts amongst the structure


Walking to the next river mouth Umngazana, looking back down the beach


Looking towards Umngazana, walking with our fly rods


More pics to come shorlty, tired now so off to bed ..

[Scythe]

WOOF !

Don't stop !

I'm counting the days ... I'm counting the seconds ...

[KevinE]

Nice pics Jono, a beautiful part of the country.

[Jono Shales]

Kevin hiya mate - you are right, the Transkei is a very special place indeed.

Driving down from Jhb was so cool, checking out the countryside and just admiring the natural beauty and diversity of our country. In one day you can experience the highveld, natal midlands, the Berg, the zulu kingdom, the transkei, the xhosa kingdom and then the sea and beach.

That's one of the things I mist the most about home, the depth of culture we have and the interaction with those cultures. Over the years my family has made good connections with the local people of the area. Each time we visit my mum and other family friends collect old clothes and jumble to give to the people who live there. A little goes a long way in this part of the world.

Our great friend Sylvia and her kids


African security system - they bark at the white people!


Over the past few years, a local initiative called the River Rangers has been introduced to the area. The idea is to empower some local guys to enable them to guide clients and fly fisherman around their local waterways. It's a great scheme. My mate Humphrey can throw a fly really well, he ties his own flies too and knows what flies work better on what species. He was fascinated by my fly collection so I was happy to show him some tying techniques and give him a bag of materials, hooks, thread etc ... so he could tie his own.

[Jono Shales]

The gillies at Umngazi are a classic!! They're all local Xhosa guys who have grown up in the area. About 8 years ago I remember asking Lewis (who smoked waaaaay too much) how far he thought the moon was from the earth. His reply 'Eh, about fifteen kilometas' - we nearly died laughing.

This year was no different and when I produced the laptop and showed them some pics and videos of some of my trips, they were amazed. 'Eish, the computer is too cleva'. Classic stuff.

Another great thing about SA is the beer!!! Windhoek definitely helps catch more fish


And talking of fish, here's some fishporn. First cast of the first day, a very respectable bream that took a liking to a clouser that I'd made from jackal fur.


This little guy had an attitude


So did this guy


It wouldn't be right to visit the Transkei and not pick up a skippy


My father thought the same thing

[Jono Shales]

Tailing grunter surely must be the pinnacle of sight fishing in South Africa? They're super spooky and proved hard to track in the dirty water.

Along the banks where there was prawns I saw some nice sized tails waiving about. This was mainly at first and last light and because the mouth of the lagoon was virtually closed, there was very little tidal movement which meant targeting them at certain tides was pointless. This little guy took a liking to my fly while blind casting though. Check out the jackal clouser.


One evening at dusk I headed out in my little boat in the rain to target tailing fish. They were there, I could see them but there weren't many and not frequent enough to get consistent shots at them. Working the prawn banks with my little jackal clouser still managed to produce results in other ways though. When this fish hit the fly, the front of my boat swung around and he started pulling us. Ok, it's only a small boat but I'm trying to talk up my fish here


Greedy mr kob


My girlfriend Lucie, fishing with her birthday present - a 7wt RPLXi (you know the brand), and her first fish. Check out the amazing colours on the fish's head