Santa Fishing Estate

Santa Fishing Estate is a 2000ha expanse of rolling mountain grasslands, wetlands, forests and some of the best fly-fishing waters in the Dullstroom area. Santa is a perfect weekend getaway destination for friends and families.

The Santa Fly Fishing Syndicate was established in the 1940s making it one of the original fishing syndicates in the area. The syndicate has maintained an enviable reputation for its excellent waters. Members have access to 6kms of the Lunsklip River, and an extensive network of 14 weirs, 13 dams, and various natural streams, all of which provide fishing opportunities for both the highly skilled fisherman, and the enthusiastic novice.

There are different syndicate options available, to suit your needs and budget. The “syndicate season” runs from the first of January every year until the end of December. Syndicate members are entitled to between 2 and 5 visits a season, depending on their membership option, with discounts offered on the 4- and 5-week options. Each option (syndicate “week”) runs from Thursday to Tuesday. Syndicate members have first option on the cottage bookings. Each member is guaranteed one long weekend booking per year.

For more information please visit: http://santafishing.co.za/

Lake Lunsklip


The Mpumalanga Fly Fishing Association was granted access to Lake Lunsklip for boat sessions during our second trials of the 2022 season. Lake Lunsklip is about 8 hectares in size and large enough to accommodate float tubes and boats fitted with trolling motors. The Lake has some established jetties to launch from with some large islands & spectacular trees.

In a three hour competitive boat session, two anglers share a boat and fish it loch style with the wind coming from your back – the drift is controlled and slowed down with a drogue. Anglers cast downwind and are only allowed to fish a 90 degree angle from the centre of the boat. For the first half of the session the one angler is in control of the boat and will make the decisions on where to fish, anglers will rotate places and command of the boat for the second half of the session.

We had three boats / six anglers competing at Lake Lunsklip in three different sessions – in total we had 9 boat sessions with 18 anglers competing. The anglers battled cold and miserable rainy weather but managed to hook into a number of fish during the sessions.

Lake Lunsklip produced 30 rainbow trout during the competitive sessions. The average size was in the region of 45 cm but it also produced some fish close to the 50 cm mark. The trout were in excellent condition and gave a strong account of themselves with a number of anglers also losing some sizeable specimens. The fish seemed to feed a bit deeper than normal and most anglers fished with 3 & 5 i.p.s type fly lines. colourful attractor patterns seemed to be the preferred food on the menu with some fish also falling to streamer patterns.