The ManicaPost
Isdore Guvamombe Post Correspondent —
APART from the eternally picturesque mountain scenery of rolling moorlands, high mountain heath, mountain slope falls, lush greenery and cool temperatures, the Eastern Highlands have an added attraction for fish lovers — trout.
And, for any discerning fresh water fisherman, there is nothing that beats the experience of catching trout fish in the breathtaking scenery of Nyanga, where sparkling clear cold waters under slithers of sunlight past clouds give the fish the much needed camouflage.
The Rainbow Trout Fish’s dark bodies, decorated with even darker spots juxtaposed with inexplicably even scales, radiate in the water against the sun.
And, once in a while in the shoal, you find a member which is even more iridescent with a gracious golden body that shimmers along its less fair counterparts. That is albinism caused by lack of critical colour of life at birth.
These colours and patterns form as camouflage, based on the surroundings, and might change as the fish moves to different habitats. They live in different environments and can have dramatically different colourations and patterns.
Rainbow Trout Fish was introduced in Nyanga from the colder countries Canada, Australia and Scotland in 1940s and has become the anchor of a fishing tournament, every October courtesy of National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority.
When trout fish is caught it puts up a brave fight in leap and bounces until it is pulled out, tailing waging and panting. While they can be caught with a normal rod and reel, fly fishing is a distinctive method developed primarily for trout, and now extended to other species.
Running into its fourth year, the Nyanga Trout Fishing Tournament, will pit the best of the best anglers, the men and women who have mastered the art of angling and taken it to one of the world’s best scenic views.
The fishing tournament in its current version started only three years ago in 2012. The older version used to be called opening season and used to be held every first day of October of the year. The tournament date was arranged to announce the opening of the fishing season that closed July 1 to allow breeding.
The opening coincided with the beginning of the rainy season. During the closed period breeding of trout took place and this is when the dams (Gulliver and Purdon) were restocked with quality fish in preparation for the season. The opening attracted a lot of fishing enthusiasts and produced good sport.
However, commercialisation of the then department of Parks Wildlife meant the Authority had to fund all its operational costs and that included the breeding of trout too. Unfortunately, the transformation coincided with increased economic hardships that saw the number of people participating in the sport drastically going down and resultantly the revenue realized by the authority.
As one of its many efforts to increase revenue generation the park worked on luring back the lost trout anglers while attracting keen new anglers to Nyanga. The idea was to encourage tourists to take up this activity and many others while utilizing the Park’s accommodation facilities.
This saw the rebirth of the tournament under the current version in 2012. Not only is the sport unique to Nyanga, but it also provides an alternative to the bass and tiger angling tournaments held elsewhere in the Country. Anglers are accommodated in parks lodges at Rhodes, Mare and Udu camps or other private facilities within the resort town.
FACTS on Rainbow Trout Fish
Trout fish breed in winter when temperatures sometimes fall below zero degrees Celsius, especially at night.
They survive in cool clear streams and dams where there is a constant supply of fresh water. Young trout are referred to as troutlet, troutling or fry.
The rainbow trout in Nyanga breeds once a year in winter and each fish can lay over 400 eggs during this season from June 15 to the end of August.
The eggs need at least 25 days to hatch.
Female trout fish have round shaped mouths, while males have hooked lower jaws. An adult trout fish can weigh up to two kilogrammes and the maximum recorded life-span for a rainbow trout is 11 years.
As if this is not enough, predators prey on trout fish and these include eels and the kingfisher eagle just to mention a few.
