I remember the Vaalriver as a kid, beautiful sunsets and bushveld. We use to visit the Vaalriver a lot when I was younger and never was I disappointed. My parents loved camping and my dad loved nature, so this is for him, a lovely little camp we found on the Vaal called Goose Bay Canyon. He passed away a few years back so it is a great shame that we could not share this piece of unspoilt nature with him.
We arrived around 12H00 Friday the 26th of October. As you enter the gates you feel at one with nature as you drive down the farm road. At the office you are greeted by a bubbly old lady called Jacqueline that makes you feel like you are visiting your uncle on his farm. One has to be careful or you will end up chit chatting all day by this caring lady. We paid our dues and was directed down the road, but be careful of driving of the road or the buffalo might get you she still jokingly directed. I thought she was kidding but man what a site awaited us around the first bend in the road. One drive up on a old "Windpomp" that is still in working condition mind you. The kids posed for some photos as this is not something a bunch of dorpies are used to.
As one looked around there was game everywhere. Now I am not going to try and identify them as I am no buck expert but there were Rooibokke, Elande Kudus Zebras and Wildebeeste to name but a few. I could not believe it, they were not scared of us but rather seemed as if they were posing while I took pictures. It is obvious that no hunting is allowed here for no wild animal being hunted would allow a human so close to it. We got back in the Bakkie and took of further down the road was our log cabin.
Upon getting to the cabins we were overwhelmed with the friendly staff cleaning around the cabins and campsite. We stayed in Kiewiet overlooking the Vaal. Now I am used to buildings being damn far from the rivers edge but not here. The cabins are built on stilts about two meters of the ground not even 30 meters from the rivers edge. Neatly kept the cabins caters for all of ones needs except towels which you have to take with. It has its own shower and toilet and can comfortably sleep four. It is a open plan cabin so there is no fooling around for the grown ups while the kids are sleeping on the bunk bed provided for them. I found it rather strange that you could ride right up to the steps on our cabin to offload our baggage. The staff immediately offered to help.
Once settled in it was time to hunt them fish. The river is around 200m wide here and that truly makes for excellent fishing, and the tress are trimmed away more than enough not to bother one when casting. I decided to put in two specimen rods along with our conventional angling. After all the rains the current weren't half as strong as I expected it to be but I reckon this is due to the fact of the river being rather wide here. The specimen lines were dropped on the opposite bank close to the reeds wit the bait boat and that was were they would lay for the next 24hours without any action. Me and Patricia, my loving wife and mother to my sons, got baited up and started our weekend fishing holiday. For the first couple of hours nothing seemed to be going on and worry started to set in as I thought the sudden cold has scared the fish into "Hibernation". The other cabins started filling up and introductions became the order of the day.
At around 19H00 some movement, or was it my imagination. Nope again, yes definitely the fish were waking up. 19H30 and the first carp was out, nothing huge but something. Now quick, rebate cast get them carp caught. Friday evening saw four carp and my sons nephew got stuck into a nice muddy of around 1 Kg. Early Saturday morning D Mac and me set of for some bass fishing. We tried all over but no luck, only things biting was the mosquitoes, reckon I donated about a pint of blood. Saturday did not deliver much fish, but they started getting bigger, 1.5 Kg common was the biggest for the day and I landed a muddy of 1.5 Kg. Late Saturday afternoon I stumbled across a little secluded Island and hit a bass of 980gr, not huge but still nice.
The evening was a bit nippy and we did not stay out to late. Around 9 carp so far for the weekend. Sunday morning turned out to be beautiful and it gave me some new hope for fishing. Around 8H30 my Shimano started screaming while I was spinning about 100m away. Duran striked but the 13 foots being a bit big for him he missed. 30 min later Patricia's rod almost went flying in the river. Now me being a loving husband I did not want her to be sad for losing a rod and reel so I had to catch it. It felt like a monster on the end, but that is what makes river fishing so nice, the carp are not scared of a fight, would not have minded them backing me up when I was still drinking, reckon I would not have been donerd so much. The fight lasted about ten minutes on the 7lb Double-X and a nice little carp of 3.82Kg stared up at us. That was the last fish for the weekend and we slowly started packing up, with the hope for another run before we leave.
In all an absolutely excellent weekend. Goose Bay Canyon is a must visit for all nature and angling lovers and it is with great satisfaction that I can reward them a four star for their beautifully kept grounds and friendly service. A neatly kept ablution for campers and all round splendour in nature. Unfortunately though, if you want to visit them you will have to make haste, for this is another piece of heaven we are losing to development.
