Typical tight-line nymphing tactics with a variety of the nymphs and caddises worked the best for the smallies in the rapids. If your inclination is more towards ‘go big or go home’, this is one of the best places in the country to swing streamers and large flies in deeper runs and pools, since the area is renowned for still being a refuge for many largies and bus-sized smallies. Those of us that did explore this were rewarded with catfish, exceptional smallies, and a few largies. All in all, every angler improved their personal best on the trip.
A trip like this is not only memorable for the great fishing, although it certainly helps. The inevitable incidents make it just as worthwhile. A lost net on day one and the subsequent manhandling, beaching, and losing of fish. An unprovoked otter water attack and the associated water ballet manoeuvres. The trauma of being the cause of someone else’s lost big fish when trying to land it (“hey I can feel the tippet rubbing against a rock..”). A mumbled report of a blank during official fish roll-call at the end of the day. Various spectacular slips and specialist neck-deep wading tactics.
All the quintessential elements of an Orange river experience also reveal themselves. The dramatic landscapes of inhospitable mountainous desert juxtaposed with the lush green riverbanks. The cry of the fish eagle. The golden flash of a fin-perfect smallie as you remove the fly. The sun setting the sky ablaze in a thousand reds and pinks at dusk. The campfire crackling merrily at night. The familiar stubbornness of a muddy testing your tippet strength. The calm coolness of the unpolluted water as you wade. The pure adrenalin of a largie viciously attacking your streamer. The evening banter while tucking into a juicy T-bone steak and sipping a cold one with your toes in the coarse river sand. You get the idea.
Get out there!