After a great start to our trip we arrived again at Beacon Vlei only to be greeted by some horrible weather. But as we know by now the Midlands is famous for having four seasons in one day. So we decided to use the opportunity to visit our new favourite local pub, Notties Pub at Nottingham Road Hotel. It’s supposed to be one of the oldest pubs in Natal and it’s got the history to prove it. They make a fabulous beef and Guinness pie and after that we headed home feeling much better about our afternoon.
From then on things went back to normal. The weather cleared mostly and the fishing (as always) was great. When we did get a little bit of rain we continued fishing throughout and were always rewarded. Here’s some photos of the dozens of fish caught.
Each night we had a braai overlooking the beautiful dam and off course we always tried our hand at night fishing with some dark flukes.
On the Wednesday we decided to force ourselves away from Beacon Vlei to visit Midmar Dam. We’ve been threatening to do this each time we’re there but never managed. This time we made the effort and we were pleasantly surprised. The Nature Reserve (at R40pp) has to be one of the cleanest large camping grounds we’ve ever visited. Everything just seemed organised and cared for, from the lawns and toilets to the bins and signs, Gauteng dam management can learn a lot from this place.
As for the fishing we caught around 10 small bass, not great but still a lot of fun. Apparently it wasn’t an easy time at Midmar so we were happy to get something. We’ve been seeing photos in magazines of monsters caught there so we’ll try again in future.
Then came the moment of truth. We went out again the Thursday at Beacon Vlei and everything was going as per normal, we were catching lots of average fish, when all of a sudden my small black fluke was hit with such force I thought my line was going to snap for sure. I could obviously tell it was big but only when it jumped did we realise how big. Long story short we eventually got it on the boat but without a scale we judged it to be around 3.5kg when compared to my previous pbs. Have a look, you be the judge…
It was released very quickly and safely, to give someone else a massive fight (fright) some day.
After that we just enjoyed our stay at Beacon Vlei. It’s an amazing fishing destination with great accommodation and now we know how big the fish really are.
Summary
Great stay as usual with some awesome fishing. And the added bonus of my new pb. The Midmar excursion was also a pleasant surprise and one we will be repeating in future.
Previous stop: Cloud 9 – Craigie Burn Dam
Next stop: Station House – Mearns Dam
Fish count (5 days)
bass x35 (small)
bass x35 (medium)
bass x10 (big)
bass x1 (massive)
Dis amazing! Ek kan nog steeds nie glo jy is hierdie expert outdoors fisher girl nie 😁. Well done, baie happy v jou 😘
Dankie Estelle….. Ja, wie sou nou ooit kon glo dat ek sou visvang.