Good day dear fly-fishing enthusiast

It is my great pleasure to introduce you to the Lourensford Fly-fishing Club.

We offer a broad spectrum of fishing, from catching stocked rainbow trout underneath an Oak tree canopy in cold spring water, to catching wild rainbows in the 25-hectare Blue Gum Dam or dry-fly upstream fishing for magnificent fingerlings in the Lourens River.

Membership gives you access throughout the year via bookings. Membership is Annual no pro rata, costs R5750 per year for senior members and R3200 for junior members. You can keep one free fish per month, and you can bring one angling friend per month (senior members only).

Oaktree Pools: 

The Oaktree pools are eight small ponds situated along a small spring underneath an Oak tree canopy. These ponds are stocked with Rainbow Trout from the Trout Farm every two to three weeks.  Stocking normally occurs between April and December when there is sufficient cold water in the pools for fish to be introduced.
The fish that are normally stocked are anything between 500g to 1,5kg (depending on what is available at the Trout Farm.)

The spring that feeds the pools have been under severe pressure over the last four years due to the ongoing drought in the Western Cape.  Current conditions allow for very good fishing from when we receive our first rains in April/May until the end of the year around November/December when the flow becomes drastically less.
That said, the fishery is not closed over the summer and even though the flow and water levels are low, there are still fish in the ponds and it still offers a nice day out from the office.  The water temperature stays fairly cool right through the summer.

There are 12 pools in total situated along the spring, but the top four pools act as sediment traps to collect topsoil erosion coming from the mountain during the winter period.  We clean them out every year or two and will always stock them with fish if there is sufficient space.

There are two fishing sessions per day: 07h00 until 12h00 and 13h00 until last light.  There is space for three members per session at the pools and one of these members are allowed a monthly guest (specified when booking.)  Senior members are allowed to keep one fish per calendar month and additional fish from the pools can be purchased if the need arises.
 
The Lourens River:

The Lourens River offers fantastic dry-fly fishing for the purest among you.  These small wild trout are probably the prettiest trout in the world!  The river was first stocked in the 1890s with Rocky Red Rainbows from the McCloud River.  These pretty trout is great fun on a light rod!
We utilize 6km of this Cape Small Stream for our fishing purposes divided into six beats.

During the last four years we have had sufficient flow in the river to fish from April until the end of December.  The water tends to drop very low through February and March.

Unlike the CPS rivers, we do not close over the winter breading period.  The breeding grounds of the trout higher up in the mountain is not open to fishing.
The population of wild trout in the river has taken a bit of a knock over the last ten years, with two big fires decimating our fish stocks and also four years of drought making it hard for the fish population to recover.  Ten years ago, a member would easily catch 20 fish plus in one session, with the catch record of 100 fish in one session being achieved by one of our members.  In the last couple of years, you could be well pleased with your efforts if you could hustle up a handful to take a fly.  But it’s still my favourite fishing on the estate.

Currently it seems like the population is starting to recover.

Fishing in the river is purely catch-and-release.  Members can book specific beats on the river and will be able to fish undisturbed over a kilometre section.
 
Blue Gum Dam:

This picturesque dam is a 25-hectare buffer dam at the top of the Helderberg Basin with lovely views all the way down to the ocean.  The dam is normally fairly full between June and December.  It is 20m deep when full and normally drops to about 8m deep by the end of the irrigation season before the first rains come.
This dam holds a healthy population of wild rainbows that swim up the feeding stream in winter to breed.  We also do additional stockings if or when the dam has dropped to a very low level, negatively impacting the population.

Please note that the dam is catch and release only.  Fishing can be done from the embankment when the dam is not completely full but fishing from a float-tube is recommended otherwise.  The Club owns two kick-boats for members’ use. Cash deposit of R300. Refunded at end of session, No cc, only CASH