2007 Kamberg Trout Festival

The Kamberg Trout Festival that takes place in the Natal Midlands know how to pick winners! The event is highly recommended by Wildfly and the flyfishers who book well in advance to ensure they fish the event. This event is recognised as one of the best flyfishing events hosted in South Africa.

A large number of keen flyfishers make their way to the Kamberg area in Kwazulu Natal Midlands to participate in the annual festival. Their aim is to bag the lagest trout, rainbow or brown, to secure the top spot and win the festival.

The festival begins with the festival registration on Thursday evening and ends with the final final prize-giving at midday on the Sunday. The Thursday evening after registration is generally a very "warm" affair with friendships and acquaintences being reaffirmed.

The festival took place from 17th to 20th May 2007 with three morning and two afternoon sessions on the dams made available by the riparian owners in the Kamberg valley area.

The local dams are stocked regularly by The Kamberg Trout Festival committee and there are always some large trout on offer. There were also some tagged trout that had been released into the dams and all that was required was for the first angler who caught a tagged trout, was to SMS the tag number for verification - the prize - a 16ft Kosi Cat with Yamaha motors. This prize was kindly sponsored by Natal Caravans and Marine in Pinetown. Another prize for a tagged trout was an all expenses paid trip to the Okavango. Sadly no one caught a tagged fish.......

Only trout over 50cm are eligible for the weigh-in, and all trout that did not make the minimum length limit has to be returned to the water.

On Friday morning it was chilly with a covering of frost. This did not deter the anglers who were on the water in the sub-zero temperatures, looking for that elusive trout. There were plenty of fish in the first session with a number of fine specimens over the 2kg mark. 409 Trout were caught in the 1st Session.

Fourteen fish over the 2kg were weighed-in on Friday evening, with the largest being a magnificent 3.16kg, caught by Ian Roberts on Kloof Dam. Henk Coetzee, won the morning session with a rainbow of 2.51kg. The evening session went to Leslie Thiat with a rainbow of 2.26kg caught at Ballina top dam.

Over 1,000 Trout were caught during the entire 2007 Kamberg Trout Festival. Andre' Niemand managed to secure the smallest fish and D. de Lange was requested to practise his casting!

Biggest Fish for the 2007 Kamberg Trout Festival were:
1st: Philip Exeter 3.67 kg from Longclaw Dam.
2nd: Ian Roberts 3.16 kg from Kloof Dam
3rd: Peter Butland 3.04 kg from Highmoor Dam
4th. W. Watson 2.71 kg from Dairy Dam
5th. L. Badenhorst 2.59 kg from Ballin Top Dam

Sessions Prizes for the 2007 Kamberg Trout Festival were:
1st Session - Henk Coetsee 2.51 kg from Goose Dam
2nd Session - L. Postma 2.54 kg from Kloof Dam
3rd Session - Jeremy Rochester 2.50kgfrom Kloof Dam
4th Session - Richard Cliff 2.17 kg from Sourveldt Dam
5th Session - D. Nisbet 2.53 kg from Ballina Top.

Best Angler for the 2007 Kamberg Trout Festival was Peter Butland
Wally Award for the 2007 Kamberg Trout Festival went to David Poole
Ladies Award for the 2007 kamberg Trout Festival went to Janet McDavid 1.96 kg trout caught in Prosperity Dam

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Top 5 Dam Owners for the 2007 Kamberg Trout Festival were:
1st: Stuart Browne - Longclaw Dam
2nd: Paul Pringle - Kloof Dam
3rd: Brandon Karg - Dairy Dam
4th: Bruce Robinson - Ballina Dam
5th: Ed Erskine - Goose Dam