Millstream, arguably one of the best Stillwater Rainbow destinations in the country, and we were lucky enough to be back here again! We headed off on Wednesday afternoon and myself and Darryn met up with Sean and Gavin at the microbrewery in town, After swallowing a few draughts, we went to Millstream to check in.
We had been looking forward to this trip for a few months and it was great to finally be there. We offloaded and unpacked and went down to the weirs in front of the cottage to do some fishing. Darryn had never fly fished before so I spent the afternoon/evening showing him the ropes, unfortunately he did not get any fish on this day, Sean and Gavin managed 9, all safely released, including a Rainbow hen of 1.35 kilograms. A while a go we invested in a Rapala digital scale and it has really helped. We had an early braai, spoke some nonsense around the fireplace with a few more ales and went to sleep.
Strangely none of us could sleep, well not properly at least. We were all wide and awake by 4am and took the opportunity to sort out our tackle and Gavin tied a few flies. We headed to Lake Millstream, via Thistle Pond, in the pitch-blackness. Gavin and Sean landed some fish on Joes Hopper at Thistle Pond, some awesome early morning dry fly fishing. Darryn and I headed straight down to the island, and just as some light started to peer over the mountains I was on. The trusty White Fritz landed me a nice Rainbow of around 800 grams. A quick release and we were back fishing. Darryn still had not mastered the technique, so we all assisted him and soon he was casting like a season veteran. Gavin and Sean got a few smaller fish from Lake Millstream, and then we went back to have breakfast, tie some more flies and head out again.
The wind was pumping! And we struggled to find any protected areas to fish. We walked around and fished Lake Coleridge and Tintern, where we got some nice fish between 400 and 900 grams. Darryn managed to catch his first fish as well, a 1.1kg Rainbow Trout hen! He was then into his second fish, 870 grams and from there he had the technique down to a tee. The 3 of us managed a few fish as well and we decided to make use of the poor conditions to have a late afternoon braai. We then headed out for another hour or so back to Tintern where we managed some nice fish in the 700 gram range.
We were all in bed by 7 30pm that night and were once again up before 5 the next morning. We headed off to one of the trophy dams, the Solitary Reaper, but stopped at Tintern on the way up where we each managed a fish. The wind was shocking once again, but our perseverance of casting into 40km/h + wind paid off when we caught some fish. Sean managed 2 smallish fish and Gavin caught a nice 1.1kg Rainbow. I hooked into and landed a 1.45 kilo fish on an Orange Blob fly retrieved very fast. Gavin and Sean stayed a bit longer and they had huge success at another dam, Wordsworth, where they caught 11 fish in 15 minutes. The fish were quite thick there and they weighed up to 900 grams.
Sean had to head back to Joburg after breakfast, and we were lucky enough to continue fishing. We braved the wind and headed to Wordsworth where we caught a few fish before we got uncomfortable. We then found protection in the weir systems and managed 22 fish between the 3 of us in a few hours. Beautiful fish, they looked so wild with their colourings, white edges on their fins and the reminiscence of their purple spots from their juvenile stage. The ladies then joined us a bit later on Friday afternoon and we had an early braai with a few more ales to go with it.
We had a later start on Saturday, and after a good breakfast we headed to Lake Millstream, we had some chases in the shallow parts of the dam by 2kg + fish, but no takers, Gavin tied a few “new” patterns that did the business, we managed a few smaller fish and then headed back to Wordsworth where we spent the rest of the afternoon and my Sage 5 weight broke (20 years old), I was so disappointed I did not fish for the rest of the day. Gavin nailed the Rainbows in Wordsworth on the dry fly, DDD. Another successful day where we all got fish and the wind calmed down for parts of the day as well which was good.
Our last day and we split up, Darryn and I wanted to get a few more fish and so we fished the weirs and Gavin wanted to try get that PB as he went to Lake Millstream again. We all had successful mornings on Gavin’s Woolly Bugger/Fritz imitation. It’s a magic pattern and outfished other flies during the trip. After a few more fish and a few more casts, we sadly packed up and headed to Joburg, until next time, Millstream we love you!
More photos & videos coming soon.Trip Summary
Total fish: 117 (All Rainbow Trout Hens), 108 released safely.
Sizes: 200 grams – 1.45 kilograms, we each got a fish over a kilo, between 40 and 51 centimeters.
Flies: Fritz (White & Olive), Joes Hopper, DDD, Black Buzzer, Woolly Bugger (Olive), Blob (Orange), and then some of Gavins custom tied patterns – Woolly Bugger Fritz (Olive, Green), Lake Dragon (Olive), Pappa Roach (Olive), and an awesome pattern that is mixed between a Zonker and a Fritz.
