⚠️ Update
No longer available
Aqua Villa is no longer operating. We're keeping this trip report up as a record of a genuinely great weekend of fishing, but the contact details, accommodation and booking information below are historical only — please don't try to book a stay here.
Overview
A last-minute festive-season gamble
As usual we waited until the very last moment to try and find fishing accommodation during the festive season. Understandably, almost every spot we tried was booked up, and in desperation we took a chance on a place we'd been hoping to visit for a long time, Aqua Villa on Grootdraai Dam. Shockingly they had a vacancy, we snapped it up, and off we went to have one of our better carp fishing trips ever.
Fishing
Exceptional, against expectations
There isn't much content online about Grootdraai Dam. We looked and asked around, but most people had never been there. Those that have mentioned that it was very similar to the Vaal Dam — flat terrain, muddy water, and lots and lots of small fish of various species. So that wasn't very encouraging.
And that is maybe the case at other venues on Grootdraai, but we found Aqua Villa to be quite different. For starters it's up against a steep cliff, which already indicates deeper water. And in terms of fish, the average size was over 3kg, which is exceptional for us. There was the odd tiny yellowfish, but they were soundly outnumbered by bigger fish.
In the end we caught dozens of decent-sized fish.
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03A few of the dozens of decent-sized fish we caught.
One night we had yet another massive run, this time on Linky's rod. She immediately felt this one was considerably heavier and stronger than the others. After a frantic 10-minute fight we finally landed her new pb, a 10kg barbel. She refused to hold it, but here's the evidence.
And that's how things continued — we caught many big common carp, decent yellowfish, more barbel, and one mudfish. No grass carp or mirror carp this time though. We also tried for bass, but it was fairly clear that this is not bass country — they're reportedly nearer the dam wall and yacht club. No luck there from our half-hearted attempts.
Accommodation
A jetty chalet right on the water
There were a few options at Aqua Villa, including camping and a main house. But we stayed in one of the "jetties," which were basically chalets right on the water's edge. We stayed in jetty #1, the closest to the main building, with its own lapa right on the water.
Inside was an open-plan lounge/kitchen area complete with fridge and microwave. On either side of the lounge were two bedrooms, each with a double bed and en-suite bathroom. Outside was a porch with a table and portable braai overlooking the fishing area.
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04Open-plan, private, and right on the water's edge.
The only negative in the chalet was that there weren't any ceilings, so it was slightly less private than you'd think. We were also there with the dam over 100% full, which made the fishing area a little tricky to navigate — quite steep, with a narrow wall to deal with when netting fish. But that didn't deter us at all; it wasn't a big deal, and we could fish comfortably in the end. When the water level drops slightly, you should be able to fish right next to the lapa, which would be ideal.
Also remember to bring almost everything you might need — Standerton isn't that far away, but the dirt road can be a little muddy and might take a while to negotiate, which is a lot of wasted fishing time.