South African Trout

During this last trip to South Africa I spent a day with a local guide fishing for wild rainbow trout.   Tim Rolston of Inkwazi Flyfishing was my guide for the day.   I found Tim through the Stream X site, and I’m so glad I did.   It’s interesting that the streams outside of Cape Town are all locally managed in a “beat” system, that anglers have to sign up for prior to using them.  They are also all strictly catch and release, which I would be doing anyway, but it was nice to see how it all worked out there.   After driving out of Cape Town, we ended up at the Holsloot River which flows through the Stettynskloof valley wine country.  It was a beautiful day and Tim was a great guide.

Tim on the "highway" above the river

Tim wet wading his way up the river

My first South African trout

Further up the river, sometimes wading up to our chest

Another beautiful wild rainbow, photo by Tim

Guide Tim Rolston rigging up another dry fly after lunch

The Holsloot River

Guide Tim Rolston even gave me the shirt off his back - my arms were getting fried!

Dry fly action on the Holsloot River in South Africa, photo by Tim

Over all it was a perfect day and exactly what I was looking for when I found out I was going to have time to fish in SA.  Tim, who also is an author and provided me with a copy of his book on fly casting, was a great guide, but if you do hook up with him, don’t let him take you to “beat six” unless you have long pants and teflon arms … getting to the water through the bush is not for the faint of heart!

Thanks - JI