I was having a delightful cup of tea at my friend’s Andy’s house one sunday morning. I had just handed him a copy of the book ‘Fishing in Kenya’. As we peered through it’s slightly brown pages an idea was born.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could go fly fish all these rivers?
A few weeks later, I was standing on the side of the road along Forest Road at 6:30am in the morning. A brawny landrover came trotting along. In it were Andy and Ron. I jumped into the back with my tackle by my side.
Quick handshakes and we were off.
Ron is Canadian. Andy is English. I’m Kenyan.
We drove towards Thika. Today we were to explore the Thika River. We took the turn near Blue Post hotel and drove towards Gatanga. Upon reaching Gatanga we drove towards Ndaikaini Dam. A massive reservoir that supplies Nairobi with some of its water. Its fed by the Thika River and is rumoured to hold some decent trout.
Ndakaini Dam in the Background
We passed Ndakaini and drove towards the Aberdares. At one of the gate’s we parked our car and got out. Within ten minutes we were kitted out with fly rod’s in hand. We walked briskly down a beautiful valley. The surrounding countryside was luminous green with tea. ‘God’s Country This is’
Lovely Tea Farms
We finally made our way down to the Thika River, just as it leaves the Aberdares. We quickly wet our flies by fishing floating lines with beaded nymphs. 1 hour later and about 2kms downstream we decided to head back upstream. The fish were just not biting. Not only that but we had not even seen 1.
Thika River
Thika River
We crossed into the Aberdares and came upon a lovely pool. Numerous casts later nothing. We continued trekking along the river upstream. This was not a walk in the park. It was hard going. I fell into the river a couple of times. Thank God for the zip lock bag for my mobile phones.
Thika River in the Aberdares
Thika River in the Aberdares
2 hours later we came to a lovely waterfall. We took a much deserved break to change our gear. I put on a Wooly Bugger and a sinking line as the pool was quite deep. This did not produce anything. I switched back to my floating line and Royal Coachman.
Andy got a strike but did not manage to land the fish. We almost sank in despair. We decided to walk back to the car and drive further into the Aberdares. We had been told of a weir with large trout. We got a guide to take us to the weir.
It was absolutely beautiful. Really picture-sq. Unspoilt.
Thika River Wier
Thika River Wier
Sadly, not a bite even after fishing it for 2 hours.
Resigned, we got back into our landrover and drove back to Nairobi.
We believe the Thika River still holds some trout. We’ll be back another day.