Killer and kneeling several metres back from the water made my first cast just short and to the left of where the flowing water entered. A few strips back and nothing. My second cast, slightly further than the first put the fly right in the centre of the flowing water about eight metres out, allowing the line to sink I waited for about a minute before starting to retrieve the fly in short jerks strip, strip strike! I was on. The fish didn’t waste time in heading for the surface and after several defiant jumps was brought to shore. Although not very big around the 500g mark it gave a very good fight on the 3/4wt. outfit. Not wasting any time, I recast my fly using the same technique and again hooked a fish of about the same size but which I lost close to shore. Keeping a very low profile, and where possible using the lobelias as cover I continued to fish both sides of where the stream entered the lake and within an hour had landed five fish all of a similar size and dropped two. What was interesting to note was the presence of trout fry in the shallows of the dam showing that the fish are breeding, something that apparently does not occur in the other lakes on the mountain.
View of Mt. Kenya summit from Mintos.
Whilst this didn’t have a huge affect on me initially apart from a splitting headache, it was to get the better of me the following night and prevented me from summiting Point Lenana however that is another story… Although none of the fish I caught were very big, the sheer challenge of getting to the lakes, the incredible beauty of the surroundings and the possibility of catching the biggest trout of one’s life made it very worthwhile. It is one of the most memorable fishing trips I have done and would highly recommend it to anyone interested in a little adventure. In addition to Lake Ellis and Lake Michaelson there are two other lakes that are noteworthy to fishermen. These are Lake Rutundu and Lake Alice and are much more easily accessed by four-wheel drive vehicle. One can virtually drive to within a few hundred metres of Rutundu where a deep chasm separates the road head from a cluster of comfortable Norwegian style log cabins. Basing oneself at Rutundu, Lake Alice is only an hour to two hour’s hike away but is worth the walk as it is through stunning countryside and generally produces better quality fish than Rutundu.
As is typical for most afternoons on the mountain, it wasn’t long before the mist returned and as I still had a long hike to get back to camp, jubilantly commenced the stiff hike taking with me some proof that I’d actually caught something. On cleaning one of the fish I’d kept we found it to be full of roe which when rinsed in icy water and served on a cracker with wasabi paste and a dash of The author with a Lake Michaelson trout. lemon juice made a welcome starter to our dinner. Our porters were likewise very pleased with fresh fish to accompany their rice. After a great evening recounting the walk down to the lake to the rest of the team we called it a night and turned in, snug in our tent that was already coated by a layer of ice. Little did I know that the hike I did back to the camp from Lake Michaelson was too quick for my body to adjust to the change in altitude and as a result during the night I developed the first symptoms of acute mountain sickness.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Ant Kaschula is a professional guide currently living and working in Kenya and who specialises in offering professionally guided angling adventures into some of Africa’s most exciting fishing destinations. Should anyone be interested in fishing the mountain or need any help ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????I??????????????????????????????????????)@?????????$?X???????????((0