Flyfishing at Vrederus for Wild Trout
About
our Lakes and Dams
- Flyfishing at Vrederus for Wild Trout
- Accommodation - 2 Luxury Stone Chalets next to the Lake
- Other Activities at Vrederus
- Diary extract about Vrederus
- Verederus - by Tom Sutcliffe
- A Place beyond words - Gerhard Weldhagen
The dams and lakes at Vrederus were first stocked in July 1994 and have continuously been stocked by Danish strain rainbow trout, and a limited amount of brown trout. Phenomenal growth over the years can best describe how these trout have fared, with 8 pounders regularly taken. (There has never been any artificial feeding in the dams.)
The lake is uniquely shallow, spring fed and clear, lying in a flat basin
at ±2000m.Because of its high location, the water is cold all year
round, and being shallow, it has a varied tapestry of weed beds, grassy islands,
inlets, bays and everything else any Stillwater angler’s heart could
hope for. 
The
shallowness of the water also makes for abundant insect life and with those,
improved conditions for the trout. The trout in these dams can become very
selective in eating, testing one’s skill and patience.
Fishing Naudes Lake
Outside the front door of both our lodge and cottage, 18 hectares of pristine cold water can be fished from the bank, waded or float-tubed. A small battery powered boat is available from the Naudes, who make sure that it is charged every day when used. The lake has been stocked with rainbow and brown trout. The shallowness of the water also makes for abundant insect life and with it, so too is the condition of the trout. You can wade an area the size of a city suburb, searching for big rainbow trout or brown’s in thigh-deep, clear water, using, if you like, light tackle, dry flies or tiny nymphs and a strike indicator. It is the sort of stuff some of fly-fishing’s finest fantasies are made of.
Fishing
Robs Dam
A comfortable 800 metres walk from both the lodge and the cottage, this small dam ±1.5 hectares is stocked only with brown trout and has recently produced a 5lb trout. Wading and tubing is permitted.
Fishing the Pond
This is a relatively small body of water, which has developed from the overflow of Naude’s Lake. Here novices and youngsters can be guaranteed the promise of landing a few trout at sunrise or sunset on a dry fly, while casting up the edge of the weed banks.
River Flyfishing
VREDERUS
makes a nice focal point for fishing in the Maclear /Rhodes area because you
have access to streams like the Hawerspruit, the Antelope, the Tsitsa, the
upper Luzi, the famous Boardman’s Chase section on the upper Bell river
as well the lakes on VREDERUS. That is quite a menu.
Catch and release and the use of barbless hooks are strictly practiced in all areas of the North-Eastern-Cape. The flyfisherman exploring the water of this area finds such a wealth of trout – so much river, stream and dam- that one could spend a lifetime of flyfishing and not going to the same water twice. The flyfisherman needs to be as much a hunter as a human, for the trout are wild and very alert.
