When I first arrived in Pretoria in 2008, one of the first things I wanted to know was where I could get a good dam to fish at.

One of my workmates informed me of Hartebeespoort dam, about 30km west of Pretoria. The dam, he said, was famous for bream and big carp.

Just a month after arriving in Pretoria, I found myself at Hartebeespoort one weekend, and was fascinated by the size of carp which fishermen were catching there. I was also impressed by the cleanliness of the venue, Mierhoff. On my first visit to Hartebeespoort, I only fished during the day, as I could not commit myself to my favourite outing – camping.

Having satisfied myself about the security of Mierhoff, the following weekend I was back with my family on a Friday and camped until Sunday. It was an enjoyable experience, and for the next several months I became a regular fisherman at this venue, which was not only safe and clean,but the fishing was also good.

I soon became friends with the owner of the place, a big and hardworking Afrikaans man, who did most of the ground maintenance himself. I eventually discovered other dams which were better at other species of fish since Hartebeespoort was only good for carp. However, I went to the other dams mostly for day fishing as the alternative dams I had discovered did not have good ablution facilities.

This meant that when I wanted to camp, I reverted to Hartebeespoort for its cleanliness and relative safety. I was later to dump Hartebeespoort after learning that fishermen were losing their property -especially cellphones and laptops – to thieves who sneaked in at night when fishermen were asleep, and cut open their tents to steal.

What baffled the owner of Mierhoff was how the thieves gained entry as the gate to the fenced property was locked during the night. The thieves became emboldened by their success, and later I heard they had stolen a fridge from a guesthouse on the premises.

The thefts prompted several fishermen, including me, to stop camping at Mierhoff as it was no longer safe to do so.

Months later, two young men were caught by private investigators who had been hired to try and solve the mysterious thefts. It turned out that the two were stealing in a very clever way. They arrived in the dead of night in a canoe, having pedaled from across the dam. They carried fishing rods, and when they docked at Mierhoff, they acted as if they were some of the campers who were returning from fishing in deep waters during the night.

On that fateful day, little did they know that they were being watched as they performed their usual ritual of docking and moving out – fishing rods in their hands. Watching them from parked cars, the investigators eventually caught the culprits in the middle of the act and arrested them.

When they appeared in a magistrates’ court, the two culprits said they had gotten away with their thieving activity because they carried fishing equipment and appeared as though they were fishing. They said fishermen had not suspected them when they arrived in their canoe with fishing rods, and they proceeded to carry out the thefts.