Richtersveld in July

[Nymph+O-]

Andre, consider yourself an extremely fortunate man! I'm contemplating on letting go of one of my kidneys to fund a decent holiday over there.

[dlampert]

Eish boet, you have no idea, I have been there no less than eight times , and still long to go back.

I agree with Andre, it's a very special place - especially Kokerboomkloof. Here is a trip report I wrote a couple of years ago for the Overland community. Lots of pics to wet your appetite.

http://reports.overland.co.za/Darryl...rip_report.htm

Regards,
Darryl

[Nymph+O-]

Thanx for the strong visual content, you should have put an age restriction on that one , thus no more work will be done today.
I'm drooling both above and below.

[Andre]

The Richtersveld trip was great. we had 12 people in total including 4 children under 11 years old. Everyone caught reasonable quantities of sizeable fish. Most fish were taken from the heads of pools, glides, slower runs, and deeper pools. Few fish were to be found in the rapids. The water was cold, at no stage going above 14 degrees, the river was at a good level and flowing at around 10 cumecs. favourite flies were anything you would expect, and nothing specific. Just about any old fly as usual. Serious largmouth of up to 75cm were caught on zonkers and muddlers.
We will be hosting another group from the 15th of August, so will report back on that one as well.

[noel]

Hi Andre

I read through the this thread and i must say that i have been very keen to go to the richtersveld for some time now,but i was a bit hesatant on going there for the first time by myself with my family as I wouldnt know where to go and what to do etc.Would much rather go with someone that knows the ins and out of the park and enjoy new company.
If you go again in the near future let me know as i would be keen to hopfully join you.

[Andre]

There is a trip planned for August and one for September. Send me your e-mail address by PM and I will send you all the info. I am not really keen on using the forum for any type of advertising. I am sure you understand.

[ebf]

Howzit Andre,

Were the two locals still on the island at de Hoop ?

The canoe boys with their fish drying rack operation?

Cheers,
Eben

[kelly]

Hey,
Just with regards to water levels on the orange. I have fished there a few times...and find that the fishing to be pretty bad when then water level is high or has recently changed drastically. It obviously effects the clarity a lot and also decreases the amount of accessible good fishing spots. I find this a really good source to look at before going as it gives you a good idea of what you can expect. http://www.dwaf.gov.za/Hydrology/rtmain.aspx , you can select the lower orange from the drop down menu, at the moment the flow in vooilsdrift is about 10 cubic meters/sec. Which should make for some awesome fishing. There will be a lot more rocks exposed which gives you a much better indication as to where to fish. To give you guys an idea , I have been in the richtesvelt when the flow was 400-500 cubic meters/sec and as you may have guessed the fishing was very 'interesting'. Anyway , just my 2c. Heading up there for this up coming long weekend. Time couldn't go any slower!

[Andre]

Hey,
Just with regards to water levels on the orange. I have fished there a few times...and find that the fishing to be pretty bad when then water level is high or has recently changed drastically. It obviously effects the clarity a lot and also decreases the amount of accessible good fishing spots. I find this a really good source to look at before going as it gives you a good idea of what you can expect. http://www.dwaf.gov.za/Hydrology/rtmain.aspx , you can select the lower orange from the drop down menu, at the moment the flow in vooilsdrift is about 10 cubic meters/sec. Which should make for some awesome fishing. There will be a lot more rocks exposed which gives you a much better indication as to where to fish. To give you guys an idea , I have been in the richtesvelt when the flow was 400-500 cubic meters/sec and as you may have guessed the fishing was very 'interesting'. Anyway , just my 2c. Heading up there for this up coming long weekend. Time couldn't go any slower!

Hi kelly, thanks for the tip, we usually use water asffairs and forestry site, it gives all the daily flow rate and have a measuring station at Viols drift. The flow of the Orange definatly influences the fishing, but in m,y experience, water clarity is not as big an issue as you would imagine. I have sometimes had better fishing in dirty water than in clear. In my opinion the ideal flow in the lower Orange is betwee 8 an 15 cumecs. Our July trip , it was about 12 cumecs, and a little strong in places.