Fly Fishing

Alan Hobson pioneered Wild Fly Fishing in the Karoo, and has secured exclusive access to fly fish on over 25km of the Little Fish River as well as several still waters. We offer excursions for targeting trout throughout the Eastern Cape, as well as indigenous yellow fish close to home and further afield.

​The area has a variety of different options available for targeting trout.  There are fantastic picturesque still waters, as well as sections of river, stocked with trout.  It should be noted that the water is so rich in nutrients and aquatic life that the trout in the rivers and dams grow incredibly well.  The unofficial river trout record was caught in 2013 and weighed in at over 14 pounds!

Although the indigenous smallmouth yellowfish have been in the Little Fish River for some time, the locals have only recently cottoned on that they are great sport to catch on fly. The yellowfish are obliging enough and can be caught in summer as well as winter, if you can find them!

Monster barbel can also be targeted on fly, a species that fly fisherman don’t target often, but when you sight fish for barbel once, you’ll definitely want to do it again.  Other species that can be caught on fly in the area include bass, mudfish, moggel and tilapia.

All the fishing waters are available to anglers when accompanied by our R.E.F.F.I.S. accredited guide.

However, if you would like to fish without the assistance of our guide, four of the Bankberg Trout Fisher's Club still waters are available to day visitors in the area.  In this case, a rod fee of R 200 per rod per day is payable to the Club at the Wild Fly Fishing in the Karoo Fly Shop, in Somerset East.  Please note that some of the landowners charge a gate fee of R 50 in addition to the rod fee.

Visit the Fly Shop