It was with much anticipation that I walked down to the Lotheni River, ready to end 2012 (and start 2013) with several wild brown trout. Sharon and I had booked 5 nights in the nature reserve from boxing day into the new year. Camp was set up and I was ready to enjoy 6 days of trout bliss.
On our drive in I could see that the river was high, but looking down on a river from above is always a little deceptive. It was therefore only when I stepped onto the bank that I realised that the river was literally raging. In fact it was impossible to cross in places and, despite having fished it often, it was unrecognisable to me.
Many of my favourite pools were gone, hidden by the raging white water. It was only the longer, deeper pools that were still potentially fishable, and these were few and far between.
In reality the river just wasn’t fishable.
On the up side the water was warm and the high water levels and rapids offered some great swimming opportunities.