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Rethinkingthe rockworm

OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF FOSAF

AFRICA’S ORIGINAL

MAGAZINE

2018 Nationals in Kamberg

Ed TruterStand up

DOWN ARABBIT HOLE

MONSTERCOCKS

Critique of DEA’s riskassessment

June/July 2018 Vol. 31 No. 167

MANVSMYTH

FAT &JUICY

8 Don’t Take a Knife to a GUN FightLessons from the masters — by Andrew Savs

10 Down the Rabbit HoleA critique of DEA’s risk assessments — by Andrew Mather and Ian Cox

14 Monster CocksCompetitive fishing in the Kamberg produces the goods — by David Karpul

26 My First FlyPart 2:Techniques for attaching materials — by Peter Brigg

25 Man vs MythGetting the low down on Ed Truter — by Gordon van der Spuy

30 Vaal GrandslamCatching three ten-pounders in a day — by Terry Babich

32 Fat and JuicyRethinking the Green Rockworm — By Ed Herbst

34 The Raging Riffles of Rhodes2018 Epson Wild Trout Association Festival — by Anglerfish

42 Undervalued GiantGetting to know Laurence Davies — by Peter Brigg

45 Road TrippingEscaping the madding crowd — by Duncan Steyn

50 Ugly Duckling RestoredSuccessful back-end days with Danish salmon — by Terkel Broe Christiansen

57 Blast from the Past: Dry Fly in the DargleAll hail the DDD — by Bill Duckworth

6 From the Editor — by Sheena Carnie7 Items of Interest to FOSAF members

49 Junior Flyfishers58 Directory Adverts;Ad Index

Volume 31 Number 167 June 2018

COVER: Competitive EdgeDaniel Factor with a 20-inch brown trout caught on the Bushman’s Riverduring the 2018 Senior A National Flyfishing Championships. See pg 14.

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30

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CONTENTS

FEATURES

DEPARTMENTS

FLYFISHING June 2018 • 5

Publisher: Erwin Bursik

Editor: Sheena Carnie

Advertising Executive: Mark Wilson

Editorial Assistants: Vahini Pillay

Advertising Consultant: Joan Wilson

Administration Executive: Anne Bursik

Accountant: Jane Harvey

Contributors: Terry Babich, Peter Brigg,

Terkel Christiansen, Ian Cox, Ed Herbst,

David Karpul, Jan Korrubel,Andrew

Mather,Andrew Savs, Duncan Steyn and

Gordon van der Spuy.

Advertising – National Sales:

Angler Publications cc

Telephone: (031) 572-2289

Mark Wilson cell: 073 748 6107

Joan Wilson: [email protected]

Publishers:

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PO Box 20545, Durban North 4016

Telephone: (031) 572-2289

Fax: (031) 572-7891

e-mail: [email protected]

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88/05863/23.

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may be reproduced in part or whole without

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effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the

contents of this magazine, the publishers do

not accept responsibility for omissions or

errors or their consequences.

• The views expressed in this magazine are

not necessarily those of the publishers, the

editors or the editorial staff.

6 • FLYFISHING June 2018

THE FIGHT IS NOTYET OVER

AS I mentioned in the April 2018 issue of FLYFISH-ING, in recent months there has been a resur-gence of activity around the listing of trout (andmany other species of animals and plants) as

invasive aliens. The trout defence stepped up to the nextlevel in April when Ian Cox made a presentation to Parliament’s PortfolioCommittee for the Environment as part of a team representing 18 organisations,including FOSAF. On page 10 you can read Andrew Mather and Ian Cox’s critique-of The Department of Environmental Affairs’ risk assessments as well as a summaryof the presentation to Parliament.

That presentation achieved a small victory in that Minister Molewa subse-quently agreed to make further information available to the public and to extendthe period for public comment.

This fight is far from over, though, and there is still a great deal of apathyamong those who will be affected if the NEMBA policy is fully implemented in itscurrent form.

As Ian Cox recently wrote on the Trout Talk FaceBook page,“A small number oftrout anglers have fought DEA to a standstill by insisting that it follow the ruleswhen trying to list a species as invasive. This tactic is technically demanding andhugely time consuming for those involved. This may be why it is so seldom used.

“One normally speaks to government on behalf of organisations representinglarge or influential constituencies. We, who have been engaged in the trout fight,have not enjoyed that luxury because fly anglers — even those who fish for trout— are by and large disinclined to support organisations like FOSAF. They prefer tocheer from the sidelines. They shy away, even to the point of becoming aggres-sive, when asked to join FOSAF. It is as if they fear fighting for the future.

“Perhaps they are worried that if they fight they will be responsible for the fail-ure so may fly anglers see as inevitable.

“There are of course a number of notable exceptions to this, but the exceptionis not enough. We cannot rely upon the efforts of a few to protect the many, nomatter how successful this may have been up until now. We need to find withinus the faith to fight for a future we want. If we do not we will inevitably find our-selves living in the future we fear.

“The war on trout will not go away unless there is a serious change in govern-ment thinking. That is not impossible, but we need to encourage the conditionswhere such a change is possible.

“You cannot assume that organisations like FOSAF or people like me willalways be around to make the personal sacrifices to fight on alone and unaided inthe defense of trout and its value chain. We can win the trout fight and we canwin a future all South Africans can be proud of. I think we in the trout fight haveshown that this is possible in our small way, but the broader community needs toget involved. This means fly anglers need to get involved by joining FOSAF. Flyanglers need to do this in their thousands and not just in dribs and drabs.If we do not, it will ultimately be our indolence that destroys the trout value chainrather than government’s malfeasance.”

Regular updates on this subject are posted on Trout Talk’s Facebook page,among others, so keep an eye on that. In the meantime, if you haven’t alreadydone so, please join FOSAF and pledge to support Trout SA, two organisationswhich are working hard on our behalf.

Happy reading. Sheena Carnie

Sheena Carnie

FROM THE EDITOR

SAFFA YOUTH NATIONALS 2018 — HOSTED BY BOLAND

IN October an estimated 70 youth anglers will be testing their skills on Capestreams and stillwaters to be crowned National Champions. The 2018 SAFFAYouth Nationals will take place from 3 to 7 October at Du Kloof Lodge,Rawsonville. Teams from Boland, Western Province, Limpopo, Mpumalanga,

Eastern Cape, Northern Gauteng and KZN will be competing along with an interna-tional team from Czech Republic.

Any youth angler wishing to join a province can visit the SAFFA website<http://flyfishsouthafrica.co.za/fly-fishing-provinces/> to get the relevant contactdetails. The top 16 youth anglers (based on a two-year ranking list) are invited toProtea trials to try for a spot in the six-man Youth Protea Team who compete at FIPSYouth World Championships.

Any corporate or individual wishing to sponsor towards the event is welcometo contact Louis de Jager on <[email protected]> or 0742304991.

BECOME a member and make a contribution to FOSAF’s most important projects, thus assur-ing the future of flyfishing in South Africa. For further information refer to the FOSAF web-site. In addition, members may purchase our FOSAF Guide to Flyfishing and the FavouredFlies books at extremely low prices. These items make ideal gifts for a friend or a newcomer

to the sport. To join and for more details visit <www.fosaf.co.za> or contact Liz on (011) 467-5992 oremail <[email protected]>.

JOIN FOSAF NOW

By Ilan Lax

IT is an honour to once again report to FOSAF’s execu-tive, membership and other external stakeholders on ouractivities, challenges and achievements during the pastyear.

STATEWhile FOSAF continued to engage in good faith with govern-ment departments to have the Phakisa win-win implemented,our efforts were not reciprocated. We were able to success-fully finalise the process of mapping “where trout occur”.However, despite completing the process and some coopera-tion from many of the provincial conservation authorities aswell as the SANBI technical staff, no final maps were forth-coming from DEA. Our offers to work with the DEA and oth-ers on harmonising the legislation (national and provincial) tofacilitate the agreed enabling environment for the trout valuechain were never taken up.

In June last year DEA unilaterally reneged on the Phakisaagreement. This breach of trust by government was reportedto the Phakisa Steering Committee and then further escalatedby Aquaculture SA on our behalf.

DEA again showed their bad faith by publishing new draftAIS regulations that seek to list trout as invasive. We have ral-lied support against this unfortunate development and we aregrateful for the many letters and submissions made to theDEA in this regard by flyanglers and other trout value chainstakeholders. In addition we have also recently pulled togeth-er a consortium of stakeholders that include agriculture andgame farming elements.

We are grateful for the support we have received and thethousands of hours (and all your kind donations) that havebeen invested by the trout value chain and others.

PUBLICI am more than a little puzzled when people appear to knowlittle or nothing about FOSAF and what it is we do.Objectively speaking, FOSAF continues to maintain a visiblepresence on the internet and social media. We are once againindebted to Peter Arderne, his cadre of reporters across the

country and the webmaster Andrew Vester for ensuring ourrelevance and profile.

Every year over the last while we have bemoaned the factthat FOSAF needs to find a way to foster youth, race and gen-der and to involve communities, especially in the rural areaswhere flyfishing is often an important potential contributorto livelihoods. This remains a priority. Some work is beingdone in KZN by Andrew Fowler and his team and it is heart-ening to see that the Northern region’s youth education pro-ject has begun to reach a sizable number of historically disad-vantaged young people. Our congratulations go out to ChrisWilliams and his team.

FOSAF continues to be an active member of Trout SAnationally. Our involvement with TSA has provided a usefulentre to AGRI SA and BUSA. Thus after presenting to AGRISA’s natural resources committee they agreed to make submis-sions on the NEMBA AIS regulations. This means we are ableto leverage support at a much more effective level.

EXCO & CHAPTERSOnce again our thanks go to Stuart and Liz Tough as theSecretariat and Treasury who act as a vital fulcrum for com-munication by keeping us all in touch. Once again I also wishto thank our President Andrew Levy and vice-presidents TomSutcliffe and Bill Mincher for their wise counsel and inputsfrom time to time.

My thanks to the Chapter Committees under the able lead-ership of Martin von Holdt (and Brian Clark), Jim Read (andTom Bloy), Leonard Flemming and Chris Williams respectively.

It important to note that our Chapters have remainedhealthy with some growth evident.

As I said last year I really believe flyfishing in South Africais undergoing a renaissance: The continuance of the FlyFishing Film Tour SA,The Fly-Tying and -fishing Expo and themany festivals as well as the highly supported flyfishing socialmedia platforms all auger well for a resurgence of the multi-faceted sport we all love so dearly.

NOTE: This is a shortened version of the Chairman’s report.The full report can be found at <www.fosaf.co.za/documents-/Nat-Chair-Report-2018.pdf>.

FOSAF NEWS


THIS issue’s winner of the FOSAF members’ draw is Andrevan Winkel (membership no EV004) of Cintsa, East London.His prize is a weekend for two at Highland Lodge on a self-catering basis.

Highland Lodge is a stillwater f lyfishing destination in theStormberg region of the North Eastern Cape. These fertile, high alti-tude waters, stocked yearly, are known for producing good sizedquality trout, like this 14.5-pounder (right) caught in Syd’s Dam byIain Ewing. The lodge offers both catered and self-catering farm-style accommodation.

For further information visit <www.highlandlodge.co.za>, email<[email protected]> or phone 087 5500 763.

JUNE WINNER

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT 2017/18


THE Sensei’s signature f ly hasbecome the straight-up, hands-down, odds-on, runawayfavourite in the fly-boxes of my

small circle of friends.The fly itself accurately represents

the purist’s personal vision of hell. It isa precocious collection of wholly syn-thetic materials that are snarled onto ahook in a dozen intricate steps,restrained in their unlikely positions byfine silver wire, scribbled on with anindelible pen, dubbed sparingly andfinally liberally glazed-over with UVgoop. I don’t know whether the goopis for effect, durability or just becauseall of the cool kids seem to be using iton everything these days.

As an imitative pattern the thing isan abomination. It has the looks andcharm of the fairy tale monster that ter-rorises the villagers, only on a jig hookand without even one of the redeemingqualities of the archetypal village mon-ster so coveted by Disney film makers.It’s not cute.

It is to carbon fibre and titaniumwhat the Ginger Quill is to tweed andbamboo. It doesn’t even hang the rightway up, for heaven’s sake, much lessfloat.

Despite all of this I can tell youwithout fear of contradiction that thispattern is a cutting post-modern master-piece of design and frightening efficacy.

The pattern is composed almostexclusively of ultraviolet materials ofsuch potent merit that it glows beforeyour eyes in the faintest sunlight as ifyou’d gone and pushed your nose tooclose up to a supernova. Staring at it

for lengthy periods has been known tocause arc eye.

How a trout can perceive it as some-thing even vaguely edible is an enigmawell beyond the grasp of human rea-son. My personal theory on why theytake it is that the post-apocalyptic radia-tion emanating from the pattern has asimilar effect on a fish that a sign read-ing “wet paint, do not touch” does to ahuman — it makes it entirely impossi-ble for one not to touch, or in this case,eat it. That it is a favourite of our sup-posedly wily resident browns is a factthat keeps me awake nights.

Of interest to those who concernthemselves with the intricacies of radi-cal fly design, the UV materials used inits construction are only a minor con-tributing factor to its success. Muchlike the American First Lady, the realsecret to its success lies in its legs. Theyare thinner than those of a catwalkmodel, as pliable as an elected represen-tative and as durable as systemicracism.

Don’t think for a second that thestuff you have in your drawer or thepacket that you saw at the store will dofor the legs on this thing; I guaranteeyou that those materials are at least fivetimes thicker than what is required. Togive you some insight into this, consid-er that the supplier recently switchedmanufacturers and the new crowdmakes them one full micron biggerthan the original.

This is considered a potentiallycalamitous circumstance among afi-cionados of the pattern.

To make matters worse, I am led to

understand that the entire global avail-ability of the leg material is restricted toone supplier in North America. Orrather, it was. The Supermodel hasbought out their entire supply. (I swearI’m not making this up.)

While it was McGupta who awak-ened us to the potential of this pattern,it is The Supermodel who most highlyextols its virtues. He does it with anevangelical conviction such that itwould make the great martyrs of theOld Testament blush and stammer asthey realise that, comparatively, theylook just a little bit tentative in theirfaith.

It speaks to his mind-set that thispattern, in 12 well-ordered rows, residesin a shiny new box reserved for italone. All other patterns he relegates toa shabby old container (much batteredover the passing of his great many sum-mers), and he refers to them as “all myother flies” when he very infrequentlyattempts to mine the box out from theforgotten reaches of his backpack.

This all sounds a little far-fetched,but do not for a second think that I amsuggesting that either of the aforemen-tioned fellows are predisposed to rushheadlong into compulsive behaviour orthat they are inclined to mindlessly fol-low trends. Their faith in this pattern isswayed not by any determinant otherthan the fact that, within our group offour anglers, during the course of thelast season it has taken a little in excessof six brace of fish longer than 20 inch-es and a few dozen more an inch orthree shorter than that.

Despite my habitual cynical misgiv-

FIRST BITE

��

ings I find it impossible to argue againsttheir point, having on one occasion per-sonally taken a combined 53 inches offish in three successive casts (on a riverthat I’d obviously not care to mentionin print) during an otherwise drearyday and only after I changed to the pat-tern.

Consequently, and true to hisnature, The Supermodel now ownsmore than two-thirds of the global sup-ply of the component materials neces-sary to tie this pattern. He doesn’t eventie them himself but passes his bountyon in discreet allotments to McGuptaand Goose who are forced, under threatof bloody disembowelment, to slaveaway through every available wakingminute to produce for him row uponrow of neat flies, each identical to theone next to it.

The Supermodel shows scant appre-ciation for their efforts as he criticallyturns each f ly over in his palm tocheck the length of the tails and theangle of the legs (a difference of a fewdegrees apparently makes an acute dif-ference to the performance of the fly).

He will not accept anything lessthan perfection. In fact, his lust for thethings has reached a pathological level.In a moment of sheer desperation heonce took a few of the pattern from myown box.

“Savs,”he spat venomously when wemet up on the stone stoop to avoid alate morning summer thunderstorm,“your flies are shit. You’re useless. Theydon’t last more than one bite. I’ve gotat least eight of them in my patch andnot a single one could be used twiceafter landing a good fish.”

Now look, I don’t know where youstand on these things, but if I tie eightflies and they consecutively catch eightgood fish they can’t be all that bad.Those are the sort of odds that a gardenvariety angler like me happily sells hissoul for. Besides, at the rate that theseguys lose them durability hardly mat-ters.

Years from today someone is goingto make a fortune panning tungstenballs from a few of our favourite rivers.Geologists are going to scratch theirheads and revisit their professionalmethodology as they try to understandhow tungsten of such pure quality, inroughly spherical form and in incre-ments of precisely 0.5mm in size isbeing sifted from alluvial deposits inrivers where it has no place being.

Far be it for an unlettered hackersuch as me to suggest that this may bethe finest attractor style nymph everdevised, but today I bought myself ashiny new f ly-box dedicated only tothis pattern.

On the lid, with a steady hand and atwisted grin, I cryptically wrote: “Don’tTake a Knife to a GUN Fight”.



By Andrew Mather and Ian Cox

AS many of you will know, theDepartment of EnvironmentalAffairs (DEA) published draftAlien Invasive Species (AIS)

lists and regulations for comment on 16February 2018. The contents of thesedraft AIS lists and regulations created apublic outcry especially in the flyfish-ing community both in South Africa andabroad. Many of you wrote to the DEAin this regard and would have got astandard response to which wereattached so called brown and rainbowtrout risk assessments apparently justi-fying the Minister’s decision to listthese species as invasive.

Ian Cox and I decided to write thisarticle as a critique of these “trout riskassessments” and in order to inform fel-low flyfishers of just how weak theseassessments are.

POLICY, LAW MAKING NEMBAAND TROUTGovernment makes policy, but its poli-cy can only be implemented if sanc-tioned by law. This requires the

approval of Parliament through legisla-tion. Parliament normally delegates thepower to make rules (regulations) deal-ing with the implementation of laws.

The National Environmental Bio-diversity Act (NEMBA) is an exceptionto this general rule as it was enactedwithout the benefit of a formally adopt-ed policy. This hugely complicated theadministration of NEMBA as there isnothing outside NEMBA and its regula-tions to guide government and the pub-lic in the implementation of the law.

This is especially so in the case ofidentifying invasive species. NEMBAdoes not say how this must be doneand there are no regulations saying howthis must be done either. This confu-sion is made worse by the fact that theinterpretation of the definition of aninvasive species is hotly disputed.

The trout value chain says that troutare not invasive as the term is definedin law. Showcasing the “trout riskassessments” is the DEA’s attempt toprove that trout are invasive.

It is interesting to note that the DEAhas only undertaken such risk assess-ments for trout, despite originally listing

some 559 species as invasive. The DEAsays it is unreasonable for the public toexpect the Minister to explain whyspecies are listed as invasive.

It is also interesting to note that theDEA has relied on the risk assessmentprocess prescribed in the 2014 AIS reg-ulations in preparing the “trout riskassessments”. This is not an appropriatetool because these risk assessments areused once a species has been listed asinvasive in order to assist the DEA indeciding if permits may be issued tolandowners authorising the possessionand/or use of listed invasive species.

This is problematic because speciescan only be listed as invasive if theypose an ecological threat and that thisalso causes harm to the economy,human health or the ecosystem ser-vices which sustain human health andwellbeing. This is according to the defi-nition of invasive contained in NEMBA.

Risk assessments, on the other hand,assume that the species has alreadybeen identified as invasive and thusonly look at the threat or potentialthreat to all or any of the above. Theresult is that the regulatory framework

DOWN THE RA critique of DEA’s tr

CONTROVERSY

that applies to risk assessments onlylooks at the downside position and onthe basis that any impact on indigenousbiodiversity by an alien species that canestablish in the wild is a threat.

This may be why the trout riskassessments do not deal with the defini-tion of invasive. However, inexplicably,they do not deal with the requirementcontained in section 89 of NEMBA thatbenefits must also be considered whendetermining whether to grant a permitto possess or use a listed invasivespecies.

The trout risk assessments thus startfrom the assumption that trout are inva-sive and then, by partially applying theframework for risk assessments, seek toestablish that this starting point issomehow valid. This is inherently illogi-cal, even irrational.

Furthermore, the trout risk assess-ments ignore subsection section threeof the risk assessment frameworkdescribed in section 14 of the 2104 AISRegulations.

These provisions require an assess-ment of, inter alia:• the severity of the risks and conse-

quences of the realisation of therisks for other species, habitats andecosystems;

• the potential costs associated withthe control of the species to min-imise harm to biodiversity; and

• options for minimising the potentialrisks.This is despite these factors being

fundamental to the enquiry whether ornot a species is invasive and whether itshould be listed as such.

Silly factual errors were also made,such as assuming that trout can estab-lish themselves permanently in the wildin areas where winter water tempera-tures are low enough to sustain trout.No consideration was given to whethertrout could survive in those waters yearround as is required for a species toestablish, or whether trout could breedin those waters. Similarly, the fact thattrout do not breed in stillwaters wasignored. The goal was clearly to suggesta much larger area where trout areestablished in the wild than is support-ed by the facts.

This inclination to play fast andloose with the facts carries through

into the examples given to suggest thattrout are invasive. These examples allspeak to alleged impacts as if an impactequates to a threat. None of them linkimpacts to harm to the economy,human health or ecosystem services.Furthermore, the research relied uponis site specific and often data deficient,yet it is being used to justify claims thattrout are invasive across the country.

So it seems that DEA did not addressthe weakness inherent in the use of aninappropriate process but insteadchose to bend the rules to suit its pre-conceived idea that trout are invasive.

But perhaps the most egregious fail-ing in the trout risk assessments lies inwho prepared them. The AIS regula-tions deal extensively with who mayprepare risk assessments. However, theregulation is problematic in that it pre-scribes separate qualification standardsfor risk assessments undertaken by theDEA and the South African NationalBiodiversity Institute (SANBI) on theone hand and everyone else on theother.

Any authorised employee of SANBIor the DEA may undertake a risk assess-


RABBIT HOLErout risk assessments

ment. Moreover, the identity of thatperson need not be disclosed in therisk assessment. Furthermore, DEA andSANBI’s risk assessment need not beindependently reviewed by an expert.

Much tougher rules apply to every-one else. Risk assessments must beundertaken by independent and suit-ably qualified Risk AssessmentFacilitators who must, as a basic mini-mum, be registered in terms of theNational Scientific Professions Act.

The tough rules that qualify RiskAssessment Facilitators are a good thingas this provides for a peer based systemthat aims to ensure independence andprofessionalism, as well as giving clientsand the public some recourse if theRisk Assessment Facilitator is negligentor operates in fields where he or she isnot qualified. Most importantly, it pro-vides the public with a reasonableassurance that registered persons areindependent, competent, ethical andprofessional.

The public has no such assurancewhen dealing with a risk assessmentprepared by DEA or SANBI.

This double standard is probablyunlawful, but it also has serious practi-cal drawbacks that go beyond the lackof integrity inherent in DEA’s internalrisk assessment processes. Peer reviewis just that. So how does a non-profes-sional “scientist” legitimately review thework of a registered professional scien-tist? Professional institutions do nottake kindly to a registered member’swork being reviewed by persons of noprofessional standing. It makes a mock-ery of the peer review system anddestroys legitimacy and functionality ofthe process itself.

DEA and SANBI do not have to dis-close who authored their risk assess-ments. This is problematic as it makes itdifficult to determine if the personundertaking the risk assessment is suit-ably qualified to do so.

However, if you delve into the metadata embedded in the electronic ver-sions of the “approved risk assess-ments”, you will find that Philip Ivey isdescribed as the author and that thedocuments were created by him on 6March 2018. This was actually threeweeks after the Draft AIS lists werepublished for comment on 16 February!Interestingly, both documents were sub-sequently modified by Dr Guy Preston

the following day.This is consistent with earlier draft

versions which were also created by MrIvey and later modified by Dr Preston.

Dr Preston is the Deputy DirectorGeneral at DEA and is the driving forcebehind DEA’s efforts to list trout as inva-sive. He is on record as saying that he isconvinced that trout are invasive. MrIvey used to work for SANBI but retiredin 2016 and was working at the Centrefor biological control, Zoology andEntomology at Rhodes University whenthe trout r isk assessments were“approved”.

Mr Ivey did not work for either DEAor SANBI when the approved trout riskassessments were finalised. Further-more, it is difficult to see how he canbe suitably qualified given that his fieldof expertise is botany.

A search in April 2018 of the SouthAfrican Council for Natural ScientificProfessions registered persons database<www.sacnasp.co.za> does not reflectMr Ivey or Dr Preston as registered pro-fessional scientists.

But it is worse than that. Both menare hopelessly conflicted. Dr Preston’sinvolvement is grotesque given his pre-conceived views regarding trout andthe role he has and is still playing to tryand get trout listed as invasive. Mr Iveywas appointed as the independent facil-itator responsible for driving the troutmapping exercise around the time thefirst version of the trout risk assess-ments were published. Yet he did notdisclose his role in preparing these riskassessments at any time during hisappointment. He was later required togive up this role after FOSAF and TroutSA lodged a formal complaint that hewas biased.

So what we have is DEA briefingpeople who are demonstrably inca-pable and even unqualified to make anindependent assessment of whethertrout are in fact invasive, applying aninappropriate process to the questionwhich is then adapted to avoid anyinconvenient facts that suggest that thisis not the case.

These “trout risk assessments” fallway short of what is legally required tojustify listing trout as invasive. The riskassessments provided are so fundamen-tally flawed on so many levels that onewonders how they were ever allowedinto the public domain let alone to be

used to justify listing trout as invasive.At one level they point to why it is

undesirable that DEA should not besubjected to the same standards as thatrequired of the public. At another it isclear is that these risk assessments are avery poor attempt to pass off whatappears to be a biased, unscientific,slapdash and perhaps even a disingenu-ous attempt to justify the belief thattrout are invasive in South Africadespite the lack of any evidence to thiseffect.

DEFENDING THE ENVIRONMENTALRIGHT (AND TROUT) IN PARLIAMENT

By Ian Cox

THE Portfolio Committee for theEnvironment held hearings inlate April on changes that theDepartment of Environmental

Affairs (DEA) wants to make to SouthAfrica’s environmental laws includingNational Environmental ManagementAct (NEMBA).

The amendments will do away withthe present legal regime that restrictsDEA to listing a species as invasive inorder to eradicate that species or takesteps to remove and contain it. InsteadDEA will be given wide discretionarypowers not only to list species as inva-sive but also to decide what must bedone with a species once it has beenlisted as invasive.

I participated in these hearings aspart of a team representing a con-stituency of 18 organisations whichincludes FOSAF and whose livelihoodsdepend on the sustainable use of bio-logical resources

We adopted a different approach tomost parties presenting to the PortfolioCommittee in that we asked thePortfolio Committee to uphold anddefend the Constitution, the rule of lawand due process rather than amendNEMBA in any particular way.

We pointed out that DEA had some-how contrived to enact NEMBA with-out completing the green and whitepaper policy-making process. We com-plained that DEA were in fact trying toimplement NEMBA by applying its draftbiodiversity white paper which waspublished for discussion in 1997. Thisis despite the fact that the nature-first


(biocentric) approach that this draftpolicy document recommended was inconflict with the people-first (anthro-pocentric) approach required in termsof the Constitution and our environ-mental law.

We suggested that one of the rea-sons that NEMBA is failing as a law isbecause DEA’s nature-first approachand the values which drives this think-ing are fundamentally misaligned withConstitutional values. This misalign-ment has resulted in material failures inlegally required due process which hasin turn resulted in laws of doubtfullegality that cannot be and are notbeing implemented.

Our presentation was well received.The Portfolio Committee was particu-larly concerned by the lack of a formal-ly adopted white paper.

DEA acknowledged that the biocen-tric focus of managing indigenous ani-mals on the basis that they were locallyalien (extra limital) outside their naturaldistribution range was harming thegame industry and needed to be recon-sidered.

Unfortunately DEA were not pre-pared to relent on the trout issue. DrPreston continued to insist that troutare invasive and must be permitted assuch. Otherwise, he said, trout anglersand farmers could do as they please.

However, insistence that trout areinvasive was blunted by DEA’s acknowl-edgment that the draft biodiversitywhite paper was never formally adopt-ed, but that it applied the draft whitepaper as if it is policy despite this fact.

DEA also acknowledged that its law-making could be interpreted in waysthat were contrary to the Constitutionand its values, but assured the PortfolioCommittee that this is not what theymeant.

The trouble is that laws should beapplied in in compliance with what thelaw says and not what the officialsmean. Another problem is that whatthe officials say they mean does notalign with what they are doing. Theeffect of making these amendments lawwill give DEA very wide discretionarypowers which will make it easier forofficials to do what they are doing atpresent which is continue making upthe law as they go along.

We asked Parliament to delay anyfurther amendments to NEMBA untilgovernment adopts a proper policydeveloped through an authentic publicparticipation process. We think thatthis is long overdue given that NEMBAwas enacted almost 14 years ago.

DEA still needs to make formal writ-ten submissions after which we will seewhat Parliament decides to do.

NOTE:On 30 April Dr BEE Molewa, Minister ofEnvironmental Affairs, wrote to theconsortium of interested and affectedparties, of which FOSAF is one suchparty, stating:

“After considering the various sub-missions made, I have decided toextend the comment period for theamendments to the Alien and InvasiveSpecies Lists and Regulations.

“These proposed amendments areimportant and there is clearly a need toallow for additional time for membersof the public to provide inputs on theproposals. I will therefore in duecourse publish a Gazette notice and anotice in a national newspaper, extend-ing thre period for a further 30 days.

“The Department will also makeavailable on its website the socio-eco-nomic impact assessment, various riskassessments and other documentswhich provide the background andrationale for the proposed amend-ments. While I am of the view that notall of this information is strictly neces-sary to enable the public to comment,much of this information has alreadybeen sent to various organisations andindividuals as per their request overthe last few weeks.”

Keep an eye on the Trout TalkFacebook page for regular updates.



COMPETITIVE

Silver medalist, Daniel Factor of WesternProvince with a good-sized brown troutcaught during a practice session.Photo by Garth Nieuwenhuis.

By David Karpul

“THAT’S a bow wave.” Isaid with a surprisingamount of calm in myvoice, having never seen

anything like it. I lifted my rod tip tothe side, on the hang, and a 6 lb mon-ster, in full breeding colours, engulfedmy biggest Zonker at point blank range— a well hung cock. I knew then Iwasn’t in Kansas anymore.

I had been brought to a secret still-water in KwaZulu-Natal to learn whatreal trout were while I prepped for the2018 Senior A National FlyfishingChampionships — Nationals for short.

This year eight provincial teams andtwo invitational teams of five anglerseach made their way to the KambergValley in the KZN Midlands. For themost part these anglers are very seriousabout their fishing; about half of themsport green blazers indicating they havefished for the country at some point.

The total economic impact of suchan event is incalculable: 50 anglers, trav-elling long distances from LimpopoProvince in the north to the WesternCape in the south, and spending moneyin small economic regions like they’vehit four balls on the Lotto. They’ve alsoprepared for the trip, buying loads ofgear — as overpriced as a R50 artisancoffee.

Most importantly they fish often, doother trips, stay in cottages, f ly onplanes, drive on roads, and imbibe redwine and whiskey while sharing fishingstories.

Keeping track of what you spend onflyfishing gear is frowned upon, espe-cially in competition circles, but I thinkif we all knew what we’ve spent it’d allfall apart pretty quickly. Flyfishing sup-ports a whole value chain, and in somecases entire towns or villages.

At Nationals everyone competesover five three-hour sessions, gettingranked in each session based on both

numbers and length of fish. This yearthere were three river sectors — oneon the Thendela section of the aptlynamed Mooi River, and two sections ofthe Bushman’s River: Snowflake andGiant’s Castle Reserve.

The river sessions require that eachangler has a controller who checks thatthe hooks are barbless, the fish ishooked fairly, landed in a net and safelyreleased. Each controller is trained towet their hands and measuring gutterbefore handling a fish and getting itback in the water efficiently. Thirtypeople from the Thendela andHlatikhulu villages surrounding theriver sectors were trained and paid tomarshal. I hope that each of them sawthe opulence of the gear and the wide-eyed obsession each angler carried, andperhaps thought: “This river of mine, ithas value, let me look after it. Its beautyand pristine nature are assets to my vil-lage, as are these trout.”

In my first session we were allowed


Competitive fishing in the Kamberg

Left: Devin Isemonger from the Eastern Cape Team with a quality Mooi River Brown from the Thendela sector. Centre: Garth Nieuwenhuis with a Mooi River brownie caught during practice. Photo by David Karpul. Right: Gerrit Redpath from the Free State Team fishing his beat on the Snowflake Sector of the Bushmans River.


An aerial view of the Thendela section.Photo by Matt Gorlei.

to select which marshal would accom-pany us to our exclusive 300-600m sec-tion of heaven for three hours. Notmissing a beat, I shouted out:“Who hasgood English?” Mvelo stuck up his handand a team was formed.

The stress a competition angler feelsprior to catching their first fish in theirfirst session is like that dream whereyou are falling out the sky, your headfloating in a pocket of blood pressureso extreme it feels like you could passout at any moment. It’s the fear thatmakes the high so good.

My indicator straightened deep in apool amongst the f ly-eating nchichitrees and the headshakes let me knowthis was not one of the small fish forwhich my team had prepared.Moments later we were resting a mon-ster Thendela cock brown trout in thecurrent before measuring it with a grinon both our faces so wide you’d thinkwe were the ones that had beenhooked.

Although Mvelo was prohibitedfrom offering me any advice during mysession, we chatted intermittently andhe told me he occasionally guides withthe Thendela project which was initiat-ed by the KZNFFA in 2011. The projectseeks to enrich the local communitythrough the resource of their amazingfishing.

Mvelo and I both had a blast as thefish got bigger and bigger over thethree hours. I hope he is as inspired togrow with flyfishing as I am to return tofish the river with him again one day.

Next was my first stillwater session.The two stillwaters proved a challengefor all the anglers; I think in April,Kamberg fish swim shallow, so havingfive mini two-man row boats on rela-tively small waters made for tough fish-ing. We started early in anticipation oflightning, and to my relief after two-and-a-half hours we were ushered off thewater by Zeus, as were the anglers of allthe other sectors around Kamberg. Myscorecard was empty, but I was in goodcompany.

My experience of the Giant’s CastleReserve was as mind blowing asThendela. How is it that I have neverbeen to these rivers before? Aftercatching 19 fish and with 14 minutes togo, my controller in the reserve,Siyanda, said, “Come, two more!”Confused, I asked how he had estab-lished that 21 fish was the right num-ber. Eventually it came out that he haddecided that we needed to win, andtwo fish in 14 minutes seemed reason-able. He too demonstrated his effectivetraining and worked with me as a teamto catch those two fish and more,returning them all safely to the water.You don’t have to count them to havefun though; the point I’m making is thatthe fishing up there is really good. Youshould go.


David Karpul with a good 19.5-inchThendela brown to finish off his

first session on the Mooi River.

Matt Gorlei sets up under the watchfuleye of his marshal/controller,Mbalenhle Precious Molefe.

Competition fishing is primarily ateam sport. On river sectors there isvariability in the quality of waterassigned to each angler, and on the still-waters in the nature of your boat part-ner. Averaging an angler’s results overfive sessions irons out some of this vari-ability. The teams result, however, is theaverage of five anglers multiplied byfive sessions = 25 sessions, and is amuch better measure.

It’s this team focus that really bringsthe value to the attendees. Everyevening the team gets together like awarren of busy meerkats and tries tomake sure each member is better pre-pared for the next day’s sessions whilecarefully balancing the equation of fliestied to sleep lost.

If you are a rank amateur, I promisethat you’ll get pulled in and have infor-mation thrown at you in a way that fish-ermen are not famous for. Contact yourprovincial chapter, I promise they’reinterested in having you.

This year’s great success story wasthe Eastern Cape team. They’d putloads of effort into workshops andtraining, and have built their provinceup into one of the best-attended provin-cial chapters. They got a well-deservedsilver medal for their efforts with twoanglers finishing in the top ten. Thehost province, KZN, grabbed bronze,with the formidable Western Provinceteam taking team gold and individualgold (Dirk Immelman), silver (DanielFactor) and bronze (Mathew Rich).

I’ve alluded above to the differentways in which trout and their pursuit incompetition offer support to the troutvalue chain and community. More andmore we realise we are not automatical-ly entitled to the waters we love somuch; the way in which flyfishing bene-fits the country will be weighed andmeasured.

For many of us fishing is more thanjust a hobby, it’s a sense of identity.How can you make a difference? Stopdelaying and pay your FOSAF annualmembership <www.fosaf.org.za>, lookfor opportunities to connect flyfishingto communities that could benefit fromprojects like Thendela and, more thananything, get out there and fish!

If you want to fish the Thendelariver contact Richard Khumalo 0732872947 via whatsapp. The Giant’sCastle Reserve section of the Bushmansis available to be fished on a day-ticketbasis but KZN rivers are closed for themonths of June, July and August.

Visit <www.f lyfishsouthafrica.co.za> for details on the SAFFA struc-ture and to contact your provincialchapter.

The younger set may be interestedto follow the 2018 SAFFA YouthNationals which are taking place at DuKloof Lodge in Worcester from 3 to 7October.


SAFFA President, Cheryl Heyns, with the winning Western Province team: KorrieBroos, Garth Nieuwenhuis, Dirk Immelman, Daniel Factor and Matt Rich.

Individual medalists at the 2018 Nationals: Matt Rich (bronze), Dirk Immelman(gold) and Daniel Factor (silver).

The marshals/controllers who assisted more than ably at the 2018 Nationals.


By Peter Brigg

IN the case of most patterns, afterdressing the hook with tyingthread you will be required tobegin the construction by attach-

ing the tail of the fly. It is important toensure that the material used is secure-ly tied to the top of the shank. If thetail is dragged down around the bendor slips to one side while being tied in,the fly will not swim properly whenfished.

To make sure that this does not hap-pen it is best to use the method knownas the “pinched loop”. This procedureis one that I urge you to master becauseit is useful in so many of the tying appli-cations.

Using the example of tying in a tail,the process goes like this:

Step 1: Strip a small bunch of fibresfrom one side of a hackle feather — notmore than, say, ten fibres. Never over-dress the fly, especially the tail, unless it

is specifically called for in the recipe.Step 2: Hold the stripped fibres

between the thumb and forefinger ofyour left hand with the butt ends facingtowards the eye of the hook.

Step 3: Place the fibres against anddirectly on top of the hook shank, asshown in diagram 1, while still holdingthem between your fingers. At thisstage grip the butt ends of the tail fibreswith the thumb and forefinger of yourright hand whilst still holding themagainst the top of the shank, and thenrelease your hold with the left hand.

You will now be able to see thelength of the tail over the end of theshank. Adjust if necessary by slidingthe fibres either to the left or rightalong the top of the shank to create thedesired tail length.

Before you begin tying on the tailyou will need to once again reverseyour grip from right to left hand so thatthe butt ends of the fibres are showing.

Step 4: With your right hand bring

the tying thread up on the side of thehook facing you and between your fin-gers and slightly back where you canpinch it. Create a small loose loop upand over the top of the shank, pinchingthe thread between your fingers as youbring the thread down on the oppositeside of the hook shank.

At this stage you will have a loop (asshown in diagram 2) between yourthumb and index finger, and over thehook shank and tail fibres.

Step 5: Pull the bobbin straightdown and tight against the tail fibresand shank. The principle here is thatthe tension is brought straight down, asopposed to a wrap of thread that willpull the material off to the side in thesame direction as you are winding itaround the shank. (See diagram 3.)

Step 6: Repeat the pinch loop a cou-ple of times before making a furthertwo to three normal wraps around theshank and tail fibres and before open-ing your fingers to complete the

FLY-TYING

Diagram 1 Diagram 2

process. (See diagram 4.) Any excessbutt end of the tail fibres should nowbe trimmed off.

Step 7:Add a length of ribbing suchas tinsel, copper wire or similar materi-al. You do this in the same way as theprevious procedure by using the pinchloop method.

The ribbing is there to perform twofunctions; it will secure the body mater-ial, and it will help to create the appear-ance of segments found on theabdomen of most of the naturals youwill be imitating.

Tie in the ribbing at the same pointwhere the tail is tied in.

Before you take the next step makesure that the length of ribbing is heldout of the way over the top of your viceand to the left. Most vices have a mate-rial spring for this purpose. Also makesure that the ribbing material is longenough to avoid the frustration of laterfinding out that it is too short to com-plete the job.

Step 8: Next you need to tie in thematerial that is to form the body of thefly. Although you will progress ontomany different types of materials, forthis example it is suggested that youpractise with chenille.

Strip a little of the chenille off thecentral thread using the nails of yourthumb and forefinger. Attach thisstripped section to the shank of thehook at the same point as the ribbing.Once again, use the pinched loop forthis.

At this stage wind the tying threadforward in loose turns to the pointwhere you will tie off the chenille. Thiswill be approximately 2-3mm behindthe eye. It is very important to keepthis space behind the eye free of mate-rials so that you have room to finish thefly with a neat head of thread at theend of the procedure. Leaving insuffi-cient space at this point is a commonmistake made by most beginners, andexperienced tyers.

Step 9: Now wind the chenille alongthe shank in touching turns backtowards the eye, stopping at the pointwhere your thread was left hanging.Lift the chenille up above the shankwith your right hand and, while keep-ing tension by pulling up gently, windthe tying thread around the shank andover the chenille with a few tight turns.Once it’s secure you can trim off theexcess chenille.

Make it a practice when trimmingany excess material that you lift itabove the shank before making the cutwith your scissors. In this way you willavoid accidentally cutting the tyingthread which will result in all your hardwork unravelling. (See diagram 5.)

Step 10:You can now wind the rib-bing forward in the opposite direction(anti-clockwise) over the chenille, fromthe tail to behind the eye, in three tofour evenly-spaced turns. Secure withtying thread and then trim off theexcess in the manner described above.


Diagram 3 Diagram 4 Diagram 5

tail fibres

hook shank

Pull straight downfirmly and repeatpinch-loop 2 to 3times.

Hold up and trim excess.

Finish by building up a neat head oftying thread just behind the eye of thehook. When building the head, ensurethat it is not bigger than the circumfer-ence of the eye, as you will find thatwraps of the thread will then tend toslip over, ruining your efforts.

These are the basic principles youwill apply to most of the flies you tie, sopractise them a few times until youhave mastered the techniques. Tryusing different types of material as youpractise, because this will help to giveyou a better feel for how to handleeach of them.

CREATING THE BODY AND ITS PARTS

NOW that you have learnt thebasics of tying a fly, you need toconsider the use of materials

other than wool or chenille. Amongtoday’s fly-tying materials you will findmany varieties of dubbing, from naturalfurs to synthetics. The choice is yoursand will depend a great deal on thetype of fly you will be tying and whatthe recipe calls for.

Below I describe a very popularmethod of constructing the body. Asyou will use this procedure often, it’s agood idea to practise and perfect itbefore you start seriously tying flies.Remember always that when imitatingthe natural you need to construct the

body of the fly in such a way as to giveit a similar body shape to that shown indiagram 6.

After you have dressed the hookwith tying thread and tied in the tailand ribbing, you are ready to start thedubbing process.

Applying small quantities of dub-bing at a time is better than too much.This is one process that allows you toadd a little more to build more bulk ifnecessary.

Take a pinch of the dubbing andtease it out to give you a thin, flat layer.Place this against the thread, startingjust below the hook shank where thethread from the bobbin will be hang-ing. Now, with the thumb and indexfinger of your right hand, twist the dub-bing around the thread in one direc-tion only (this is very important). Youwill form a tight rope with the threadas the central core.

Continue adding additional pinchesof dubbing and work your way downthe thread until you have formed ashort rope. Take the first turn of thedubbing around the shank, trapping the

beginning of the rope. Then, in touch-ing turns, work your way back towardsthe eye, slowly building up the body togive it the desired shape.

If the dubbing begins to come awayfrom the thread during this step, simplytwist it back on as you did when start-ing the procedure. If you need extrabulk, dub a further pinch of material,following the same procedure, andwind on, even if you have to go oversections you have already covered.

One of the advantages of using dub-bing material is that you can continueto add material until you are satisfiedwith the body shape.

Once you have completed thebody, tie off (remembering always toleave space behind the eye for thehead), and remove any excess dubbingfrom the thread. You can now bringthe ribbing forward in evenly-spacedturns (opposite direction to the dub-bing) and then tie off at the samepoint.

The ribbing helps to hold the dub-bing in place and, as mentioned before,also gives the body a segmented looksimilar to the natural insect. At thisstage you might find that the ribbinghas trapped and flattened the dubbing.If so, use a dubbing needle to teasesome of the fibres out so that the bodyregains its shape and buggy effect.

Bodies structured in thisway are varied and can be

used for most nymphs, wetand dry flies. Obviously, the dry

flies require only a thin layer ofdubbing to keep them as light as

possible. Creating the right form andbulk will come with practice and willdepend on the type of fly and what therecipe calls for. (See diagram 7.)

In the next part in this series I willdeal with more techniques for wingcases, various types of hackles andwings. In the meantime, keep practis-ing the processes described in this arti-cle. It will all become second nature asyou begin to master the basics.


Diagram 6

Diagram 7 Tease out the trapped fibres.

By Gordon van der Spuy

ED Truter has intrigued me for avery long time. This guy’s namecomes up whenever some crazyfishing story is told and people

say he has a sixth sense when it comes

to fish. Despite that, many people haveprobably never heard of this crazy manfrom the Eastern Cape because heprefers to fly under the radar. He isextremely charismatic and dynamic inthe way that he approaches things. Hehas a no-nonsense attitude (if you talk

kak to Ed he’ll call you on it), has a bigheart and is, to my mind, one of theunsung pioneers of South African fly-fishing.

I recently met up with him touncover the man behind the myth thatis Ed Truter.

MAN vs MYTH

PEOPLE

Getting the low down on Ed Truter

Ed Truter with a bonefish caughtin the Socotra Archipelago, Yemen.

Photo by Frederica Truc.


Who is Ed Truter?Some mid-40s oke with an Eastern

Cape accent who likes fish, fishing andchocolate a lot, probably too much.

What makes you tick? Three things on top of the list: fish,

fish, and more fish — and processing inmy mind and experiencing, as much aspossible, everything to do with all ofthose fish and the natural systems theyare part of.

What inspires you?Truly wild places. Passionate, posi-

tive people are an inspiration too, par-ticularly people who are passionateabout some element of nature. Andgood news stories, especially those thatinvolve the environment, like the ban-ning of plastic bags in Rwanda and thesuccessful creation of a network ofmarine protected areas in Gabon.

You have tied some really interestingpatterns over the years, things like theMud Monkey, Swamp Donkey, Balbyteretc. Which of your patterns have stoodout for you over the years and why?

I tie and fish a lot of typical, stan-dard style f lies but it’s the ones thathave been tweaked or designed to solveparticular problems or a specific pur-pose that stand out for me, becausethey allow one to up one’s success rate

when there are factors against fishingwith standard ties.

For example, there’s the KFC-BucketFrog that turns night fishing for rain-bows into something even a GT-pop-ping nut will enjoy. Or the Hare-ryGirdle Bug that turns cold-front, lockjawdays on a trout stream into we-caught-a-few days or allows a beginner, battlingto master a drag free drift, to still enjoythe sight and feel of a smallmouth yel-low sucking a fly off the top. But allthese f lies, like most of f ly-tying, arepart of an organic continuum, whereone pattern morphs into others andoften grows into something far fromthe original plan.

The original Swamp Donkey wascreated as a size 2/0, weedless fly to becast into reed beds and grass mats onthe Kavango for nembwe. Nowadays Imostly tie it as a #6 that was developedon the upper Gouritz River where atany one point one is faced with castingto any of seven species. If one is walk-ing the banks with one fly-rod, it’s niceto have one f ly that will have a realchance of getting bitten regardless ofwhat fish is looking at it. In short, thefly is helping to solve a specific need orproblem.

The Balbyter was just a fortuitoussequence of events and combination ofgreat materials that created an aboveaverage fly, so the only mission there, or

the problem I was trying to solve, wasto create a dry fly that got refused lessthan whatever else we were using. Ithink that’s what we aim for every timewe sit down at the vice — to createsomething that will be a more produc-tive fish-catcher, either across verybroad conditions or very specific condi-tions, and be an easier, stronger tie.

The Mud Monkey was also tied tosolve a very specific problem, usingsinking lines and a buoyant fly for fish-ing deep at the height of summer anddead of winter without fouling the bot-tom, but with something more appetis-ing and with a better profile than aBooby.

Nothing I’ve tied has been ground-breaking or new in the greater sense,but rather just some carefully consid-ered ideas and applications of materialsand patterns that are already out there.

Your flies, barring the Balbyter ofcourse, are relatively unknown to SA’sgeneral flyfishing community. Why doyou think this is, or am I talking rub-bish?

I doubt that many folks have evenheard of the Balbyter, and ja, the otherstuff probably doesn’t go much past mycircle of fishing friends and that’s justbecause I pretty much keep to myself. Iguess I don’t make any kind of effort toget the word out there. I’m not antiso-


Ed’s father and brother relax outside a mountain hut on afishing trip to Lesotho.

Ed Truter with a Lake Tanganyika perch — another of hisfavourite children. Photo by Bruce Ellender.

KFC-Bucket Frog Hare-ry Girdle Bug

cial or anti-sharing, but I think everyangler has ideas and concepts andobservations worth sharing that I feelare at the very least as newsworthy andas useful as anything I can contribute,so I prefer just cruising under the radarand hiding behind the pile of fishingtackle on my dining room table.

Also, as I said above, nothing in myfly-box is truly new, even the Balbyter isjust an amalgam of a myriad ideas andmaterial applications that was built oneveryone else’s ideas that I’ve seensomewhere and form part of my mentaldatabase.

I wouldn’t feel right pushing any ofthese ideas on others or claiming anycredit for any of these ties, in the sameway that a rugby team’s win is a creditto the team and not just to the oke whoscored the try.

What are the most important qualitiesyou think a fly pattern needs to have?

The fly needs to be a fish catcher,and I don’t mean just being able tocatch fish because every f ly can dothat, but really catch fish, as in seldomget refused and able to be fished withtotal confidence that if a fish knows thefly is there, it’s most likely going to tryand eat or attack it. The holy grail isthat silver bullet fly, that fly with realmagic. After that everything else is anadded bonus, like being quick and sim-

ple to tie, and being a robust tie thatwill stand up to a lot of fish and fishing,and being easy to cast.

Do you think there are fly-tying materi-als that contain “magic”? If so, whatare they and why do you have confi-dence in them?

Undoubtedly! And by magic I meanmaterials that have intrinsic attraction,like fish are attracted to them even ifthey are presented statically, not thatthey are attractive by virtue of sec-ondary factors like movement. Anexample here is marabou, which I thinkis overrated.

I believe there are materials that aremagic because of optical qualities thatthey exhibit that are attractive to fishdue to the fish’s biological predisposi-tion — sensory-related factors lockedinto the genes of the fish and exhibitedthrough instinctive behaviour on thepart of the fish. Then there are alsomaterials that are magic because theytrigger a positive response based onlearned environmental cues — “train-ing” and conditioning in the fish’s envi-ronment.

Every species of fish has evolvedwithin its environment to have a higherperception of, and therefore probablyreact more to, certain visual stimuli.These elements become locked into thegenes and thus inform instinctual

behaviour, for example the peak retinalsensitivity of rainbow trout to 434nanometer/blue-violet light.

Beyond that, each fish learns fromits everyday environment and experi-ence and becomes conditioned to reactto certain other visual stimuli, like thelight patterns surrounding an insecttrapped in the film, and so the footprintof CDC in the surface film which isexcellent at mimicking the optical playof light around the edges of an insect’sbody trapped in the film, becomesmagic.

However, taking all of this intoaccount one can see that there will bedifferences from species to species, andthat can only be determined throughlots of testing and trial and error.

Still, that said, there are some materi-als that seem to stand out across theboard. I think it’s common knowledgethat peacock herl, klipspringer, CDC,pheasant tail, hare’s ear/clipped-hareare all highest-tier magic materials.Then there are next-tier down magicmaterials, things like bucktail, calf tail,snowshoe hare foot, squirrel dubbing,etc. And then there are certain coloursthat fish react very positively to, likerainbow trout to fluorescent pink andfluorescent red-orange.

If you aren’t going to experiment tofind your own magic materials, justkeep your ears and eyes open and


Ed with a super-sizedbrown trout caughtin Lesotho.

Mud Monkey Swamp Donkey for smaller fish

every time you hear of a “killer” fly lookat the finer details of the materials it’stied with. You’ll soon notice commondenominators that span the globe andspecies, and those commonalitiesshould never be ignored.

If you ever had to fish for your life andwere limited to only five patterns thathad to cover anything from trout to tar-pon, what would they be and why?

In various sizes, Clouser Minnow(tied just with a front wing and no tail),Andino-Semper hybrid, a Gold RibbedHare’s Ear variant, Dahlberg Diver (forsurface and subsurface fishing), and theSwamp Donkey. And if I was allowedone more, it would be a NYAP, becauseone really should have a proper popperin the mix.

You seem to be a well rounded fisher-man (I say fisherman and not flyfisher-man on purpose as you don’t limityourself to a particular style), findingjoy in anything from bluegill to barra-mundi. Why is fishing special to you?

I’m pretty sure I have a genetic pre-disposition to be a hunter, so I’m natu-rally drawn to being outside, butbeyond that I find the stimulationgained by the observation and under-standing of nature brings me more con-tentment than anything else. We couldsay that fishing is the looking glassthrough which I study the naturalworld and the glue that binds togethereverything that I do.

Talk to me about Lesotho. Your namecrops up often when people are speak-ing about that country; what makes theplace special?

Mountain cultures are just different.I think that because mountains are diffi-cult places to live in the people thatlive there take good care of one anoth-er, so that’s something that infusesplaces like Lesotho. And then there’sthe sights and sounds and smells ofthose open spaces, the crags, the highmeadows, the summer birdsong and thewild weather too. And to make it par-adise, there are bright r ivers withsprightly fish in numbers runningthrough it all.

If you were only given a month to livewhat would you do?

I would definitely like to spendsome of that time on a perfect bonefishflat with big bonefish, some of it in pris-tine jungle setting with lots of colourfulspecies like some of the Amazon tribu-taries, and some of it in the high, openmountains with trout and dry flies.

How and when did you start tying andfishing? Who were your mentors andwhat did they pass on to you that youview as being invaluable?

My old man was a very active fisher-

man who fished artificials more thananything else, so I was literally fishingsince before I was born. I don’t remem-ber catching my first fish, but I havesome fishing memories that filterthrough from when I was about four orfive years old.

I started tying flies young too, butjust because the fly-tying stuff was lyingaround. I used to sell some saltwaterflies before I started flyfishing myself,which was only from when I was 12.

I was able to stand on my old man’sshoulders right from the beginning,especially with fishing lures as he was areal pioneer with those in saltwater, andbeyond that I have devoured angling lit-erature ravenously since before I couldread words, so we could say that every-one who has made the effort to sharetheir experiences and knowledgethrough text or film or verbally, that I’vecome across, has left me with some-thing interesting and useful.

What is your life philosophy? Number one is try your best not to

be a douche.Number two is to lend your ears

rather than your cake-hole to everyone,right from the beginning; you will oftenbe very surprised at the outcome.

Number three is focus on what’simportant to you, and make as muchtime as you can for that, but make sureit’s important for pure reasons.

Number four — always fight backyour ego unless you are in a life-threat-ening situation.

Number five — try hard not tosweat the small stuff, and it’s mostly thesmall stuff that we worry about.

Number six — be caring; be kind toyourself, everything around you and theplanet.

And let me just say that I fail horri-bly at all of these things all the time, butI try keep them on my numskull screenbecause it keeps me trying.

What is your favourite fish species?I hate being asked questions like

this because I hate choosing and fishingand nature is too dynamic to narrow itall down … But, if I had to choose, Ithink I’d say big bonefish, because ofthe environment, the challenge, howthey go when they feel the fly, and theirexquisite design which enthralls meonce they’re in hand.

But then I’m also a big fan of anysnapper species living in the mangrovesthat will eat a popper because of thefun and feistiness involved in fishing forthem. And I can fish endlessly for small-mouth bass; they seem like fish thatwere made for the f ly and my mindnever tires of whittling them out oftheir hidey-holes in the shadows. Andtrout in a stream ... I don’t think I couldget enough of that either.

So ja, fish are my favourite.


Fishing is serious business! Young EdTruter with a couple of tilapia.

Paddling on the Kouga River — one ofEd’s favourite places.

1. Lay a thread foundation on the hook shank and tie insome black crystal flash for feelers.

2. Run the thread back to the end of the shank and tie in astrip of larva lace foam. Trim off excess foam.

3. Fold the foam over itself and tie in.4. Run the thread three-quarters the length of the shank for-

ward towards the eye of the hook, then bring the foamover and tie in.

5. Fold foam over itself and tie in.6. Cut off excess foam and return thread to back of the fly.7. Tie in two white CDC feathers as a wing; cut off excess.

8. Using the split thread technique make a CDC brush.9. Wrap the CDC forward, “folding” the material with every

new wrap; this will keep things neat.10. Tie in a flat silicone rubber strand on the far side. You

want a clean, smooth tie-in area because a bump willcause the legs to sit weirdly.

11. Tie in a flat silicone rubber strand on the near side.12. Bring the thread forward and tie off behind the head of

the ant. Put head cement on all the exposed thread bits.13. The money shot — the search image of the balbyter ant

that drives fish wild!


TYING THE BALBYTER ANT1. 2. 3.

4. 5.

6. 7.

8. 9.

10. 11.

12. 13.


By Terry Babich

MOST anglers would be more than happy to boastof catching a 10 lb fish on any day’s fishing; forsome that will be the fish of a lifetime. Well, howabout getting three of those in a day? Better yet,

what about doing it with three different species?“Impossible!” you might say. Well, I have beenknown to entertain a crazy idea or three inmy time, but this isn’t one of them.

There have been articles before dis-cussing a South African freshwatergrandslam, but I’m not talking abouttrout or yellowfish. I have a list ofthree big fish that I think are realopportunities for the crazy. Afterall, every angler wants a little bitof crazy to boast about or to ele-vate their angling status amongsttheir peers.

Top of the list would have tobe the easy one to catch — thecatfish. Yes, these really are easyfish to catch. The splash techniqueI use would do just fine. Ideally oneshould start out early in the morningin a nice shallow bay to see if there areany fish still feeding from the previousnight. The small 10 lb catfish will probably justtake a few minutes to spot. They have a very charac-teristic gulping rise that is unmistakable and a few fish usuallyrise simultaneously to give away their position.

Early morning is also a good time because the normallycalm conditions and still water make it even easier to seewhere the schooling fish might be. But as with any fishing,you have to play it by ear. If there has been a cold evening

with an east wind then we just know the cats won’t be in theshallows and might only come into the bays when the condi-tions improve. Catfish don’t like an east wind or a fall in thebarometric pressure.

The plan of action, then, would be to look for cats in themorning or otherwise in the afternoon when they move intothe bays for their late afternoon/evening feed. The late after-

noon feed is my best time to target cats. This is alsonormally when the bigger fish will be caught.

By now you may have guessed my choiceof venue for this little escapade — the Vaal

Dam without a doubt. If this idea werepossible then this would pretty muchmake it a world class venue, not so?

This brings us to my secondspecies of 10 lb+ fish. This one youare going to have to work at a littleharder for because the averagegrass carp caught on fly is some-what bigger than those caught onbait. If you have plenty of patienceyou’ll probably only have to land

one or two of these fish before youget a ten-pounder; fish normally aver-

age between 7 lb and 20 lb.The hard bit isn’t landing a

10 lb fish per se, the hard bitis landing a fish fullstop.These fish normally have hard

mouths so good hook penetrationcan be difficult. They often take off liketorpedoes so the unwary angler will oftenlose a hard worked for fish right at his feetwhen it suddenly turns and speeds off todeeper water. To increase your landing ratehere I would suggest having a very large,

SPECIES HUNTING

wide net to limit the amount of time the hooked fish stays onthe end of the line.

A good pair of polaroids is a must as you want to be ableto spot tailing fish, particularly the bigger ones which are notright on the water’s edge. The smaller fish tend to congregatein large numbers on the water’s edge; these are usually small-er than 10 lb, and because they’re sitting in shallow water andin large numbers they are inclined to be very skittish. I wouldsuggest you target fish in knee deep water because you won’tbe as easily visible to them, allowing you to get closer to thefish for a well-positioned cast to smaller schools of fish. Thesuccess rate here will be far greater than in the shallowerwater.

You are also going to have to come armed with a varietyof flies, mostly homemade slow sinkers to almost negativebuoyancy flies that hang, neither floating or sinking, as well assome large caddis patterns and a few select trout flies. I gen-erally fish three flies. You will have to gauge what line to use,but the thicker the line the fewer the bites and the worseyour line detection.

This time skill counts; once-in-a-lifetime fish don’t comeevery day so you have to make sure you capitalise on theopportunity without failure.

Sometimes you’ll get lucky and fish will move into theshallows to graze early in the morning but that is only if con-ditions are really good. Generally they will move into the fish-ing zone later during the day.

You’ll probably have to spend the greater part of the daytrying to catch these fish as they can be incredibly fickle andany condition change will mean no fish. If you don’t get abite quickly it’s sometimes better to move and keep lookingfor a school of fish that are willing to take your fly.

Tailing fish often confuse anglers; you get a false sense thatthings are going your way because you have lots of fishopportunities, but before you know it the day has gone andyou haven’t landed a fish, so rather spend the time on a will-ing school.

Right, that’s two of the 10 lb fish you want, justone left — the hardest one, common carp. Sowhat’s the problem? Common carp are easy, nodoubt about it, but you’re going to find thatmost of them fall short of the 10 lb mark by afew grams.

You can use the same flies to catchcommon carp as you do for grass carp,so I would suggest you look for thosebig orange tailfins sticking out of thewater and try to catch these whilegoing for grass carp.

The best way to catch thesefish would be to hang the flyin front of the carp andwatch for any move-

ment or change of body angle and lift into the fish.Sometimes you will be able to see the fish’s mouth but withVaal Dam being as dirty as it is, this isn’t always possible.Again it normally pays to target fish in slightly deeper water.

If there are no signs of carp, then you might have to takedesperate measures and cast long lines into the deeper waterand retrieve very slowly in a stop-start pattern. Some carpwill pickup the fly and shoot off with it, but other times allyou will feel is a light tightening of the line as you retrieve it,almost like you’ve hooked up on the bottom. A strip strikewould be the call of the day for this type of bite.

This all sounds very easy, but the difficult part is actuallymanaging your time and spending the right amount of timeon the right species of fish in the right place; if you get thismix wrong you won’t get all three fish species and couldwaste a whole day just trying to get one species.

I don’t believe this is a crazy notion — come on, have a goat Vaal Dam or even Bloemhof Dam. You might just provethey are up there with some of the best freshwater venues inthe world.

The author caught these three fish —4.9kg common carp, 5.6kg grass carpand 8kg catfish — all in one day onVaal Dam.



By Ed Herbst

IN the last issue of FLYFISHING I mentioned that myfriend Dawid Rossouw takes his two sons to fish for yel-lowfish in the Richtersveld each winter and I tie flies forthem. In the April issue I described some of the stream-

ers I’d tied for them, but they needed more than that ...The Green Rockworm and its creamy/tan counterpart, the

Mustard Caddis have long been a staple in the fly-boxes of yel-lowfish anglers, so I set myself the task of developing a pat-tern that would conform to the general impression of shapeand size (GISS) formula that would sink fast and be easy to tie.

In my previous article I mentioned I’d gone to MCCoetzer, long a stalwart on the competition scene, looking forsome inspiration, and his answers surprised me.

In the Richtersveld, he said, what was important was find-ing the shoals and then getting the fly down to the right level;pattern is less important. MC said that he no longer uses cad-dis patterns because small mayfly nymph patterns with bigbeads (i.e. a 3 mm tungsten bead on a #16 hook) sank muchfaster than caddis patterns.

His caddis imitation looks very much like the OliverEdwards pattern but was tied on a Mustad circle hook.

Chris Williams, chairman of the Northvaal chapter ofFOSAF had a valuable article in the FOSAF Fly of the Monthseries <www.fosaf.org.za/read-Current-208.php> featuringthe net-spinning caseless caddis larva.

The photograph he sent me of a Green Rockworm tied on

a #14 jig hook alongside the natural was very useful. Chrissays that most anchor flies tied to imitate the free-living, net-spinning caddis larvae are too big and that #12-14 is best.

Another significant lesson was the role of the orange beadin tying flies for yellowfish.

Flytalk recently ran a survey in which members wereasked to list their most successful yellowfish patterns. Theresults were very interesting:

Anything with an orange hotspot . . . . . . .29.44%Gold Ribbed Hare’s Ear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19.29%PTN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18.27%Brassie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16.75%Mustard Caddis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15.74%Green Rock Worm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15.23%A possible reason for the success of nymphs with orange

beads is that they are coated with fluorescent paint, an effectwhich can be enhanced by coating them with LoonFluorescing UV Clear Fly Finish.

Jacques Marais, a professional yellowfish guide tied hisfavourite fly at a CPS Vice Squad evening last year — a mayflynymph pattern with a black thread body ribbed with silverwire and featuring an orange bead.

My self-imposed brief, therefore, was to create an easily-tied, heavily-weighted and durable #12-14 caddis larva patternusing an orange bead. It had to drift hook point up.

My hook choice was easy — a #8 Tiemco 2499 SP. It is 2xheavy, 2x short and has what is probably the most technologi-cally-advanced hook point available which, like most competi-

FLIES

FAT AND JUICYA Chris Williams caddislarva imitation alongsidethe insect.

tion hooks nowadays, curves slightly inwards to make it lesslikely to catch the river bed. A suitable substitute would be a#10 Hanak H550BL.

Because the TMC 2499 is 2x short, it gives you a size 12body with a size 8 gape.

Choosing a bead was interesting. Competition flyfishershave found that if they lift a slotted bead away from the hookshank and hold it in place with UV light-cured resin, it tips thefly into a hook point-up position.

The French company, Bidoz, then achieved the same resultwith what it called the Off-Bead, a teardrop-shaped bead.However, as these beads are not available locally, MorneBayman of the African Fly Angler brought in his own tungstenversion called the Jig Bead. It is available from 2.3- to 4mm inseveral colours including orange. The benefit of the orangeversion is that you can add a black eye using either nail pol-ish, which takes a while to dry, or Deer Creek black UV resinwhich cures almost instantly under UV light.

The two basic materials I chose are Veniard rubberisedtungsten sheet covered with UV Chewee Skin in caddis greenor tan because both materials stretch. This means that youcan create the elongated oval shape of the caddis larva byusing less tension in the middle of the fly to make it thicker inthat area. To add weight without bulk I used Veniard or Simanflat lead over the hook shank before adding the tungstensheet and Chewee Skin layers.

Loon Soft Head or Heritage Seal-Skin favoured by Dr Hansvan Zyl will increase the durability of the body.

If you look at a photograph of our caddis larva you willsee that its body segments are separated by indentationsrather than a ridge. If you use a soft, resilient material likeChewee Skin you can create that effect with tying thread ormono rib.

The caddis larvae have claspers at the end of the abdomenand both Oliver Edwards and John Barr (of Copper Johnfame) mimic this — Edwards with a tuft of soft feather fromthe base of a partridge hackle and Barr with Z-Lon. DavieMcPhail uses the tip of a partridge feather and CDC wouldalso work.

There are several videos available on YouTube showingcaddis larvae patterns being tied with Chewee Skin.

Another valuable article is “Thing 1 & Thing 2 — Historyof the Plaza Pupa” by Herman Botes on the Feathers & Fluorowebsite <feathersandfluoro.com/thing-1-thing-2-the-history-of-the-plaza-pupa/>.

Herman says that pupae are far more prevalent than larvaeand that a major trigger is a strong contrast between a verybright abdomen and a dull coloured thorax.

To simulate the legs and thorax of the insect, John Barruses black ostrich herl and Lucien Vasies a mixture of blackrabbit fur and seal fur.

A third useful article is “Control flies — an introduction”on the yellowfish.co.za website.

A Google Images search using the keywords“Macrostemum capense signatum” provides useful pho-tographs of this insect.


��

The author’s imitation usingChewee Skin and a jig bead.

The Mustard Caddis larva withits yellow/beige colouration.

Photo Ferdi de Moor.

The Green Rockworm.Photo courtesy Ferdi de Moor.


FESTIVAL

by Anglerfish

AFTER not being able to attend last year’s Wild TroutAssociation Festival, the fact that I was so looking for-ward to attending this year’s Festival cannot be over-stated, especially since the area had at last received

some decent rain.Having seen images of the very thin rivers during the

2017 Festival, reports of flowing rivers and good water in theweeks leading up to the 2018 Festival made it even morepoignant.

My travel plan usually involves taking off a few days earlyto meet up with another Festival guide, Miles Divett, who con-veniently lives on the Ngagwane River just outsideUnderberg. Departing from Nottingham Road Village in theNatal Midlands, I hop over the ’Berg via the lower Lotheni,stopping off at Miles’s place to fish and chill for a day or sobefore we head down to Rhodes. This time, however, Mileswas complaining bitterly about a distinct lack of fishing sincethe start of the year and decided to head down to Rhodeseven earlier, with a cheery “You’re on your own mate…seeyou down there!”

With a number of other KwaZulu-Natal-based anglers onlybeing able to make the Festival dates (Friday 16th to Tuesday20th March), I took off solo at early bells on Tuesday 13th.With no recent reports of rain for the North Eastern Cape, Iopted to forsake the tar for the dirt road across the infamousPitseng Flats and then up and over the spectacular Naude’sNek pass at 2 587m above sea level. I say infamous, becauseunder wet conditions, the Pitseng can be treacherously slip-pery due to the amount of clay under wheel.

The weather was stunning, but the pass route actuallytook me an hour longer than anticipated because every turnof the climb had me looking at the view and thinking I had abetter snapshot than the previous one.

Apart from a near case of heart failure when I stopped tofill my tank in Mount Fletcher and it appeared that my trusty“Suzie The Truck” appeared to have lost her gears, my trip wasuneventful.

Yes, it’s a long trip to reach this special place, but there’sno sense in having them right on your doorstep is there now?Where’s the adventure in that? Door-to-door fromNottingham Road to Rhodes is a mere 450km but it takes agood eight-plus hours of driving and a good quarter (or more)of the drive time is taken up over the last 75km from MountFletcher, across the Pitseng and over Naude’s.

Arriving in Rhodes in the late afternoon, I headed straightfor Walkerbouts Inn,WTA Festival Headquarters, where I wasverbally assailed by Dave Walker Festival Head Honcho and“Keeper of The Center of The Universe”. He bellowed out:“En laat net een donder kla oor die VET water…!” (“And letjust one bugger complain about this FAT water...”) as the pre-vious couple years of drought conditions had many an anglercomplaining about the “thin”waters.

Miles was already waiting, along with a few of the otherguides who had also opted to come in early and “scout” thewaters (i.e. get in some fishing before the Festival attendeesarrived). Dries Ellis, another KZN Midlands angler who con-siders Rhodes to be his second home had done the same.

After a couple of obligatory welcome “cooldrinks” we set-tled into one of the nearby guest houses to sort out tackleand setup the fly-tying table, as guides do! Then it was back


to Walkerbouts for a slap-up feed that evening, a few more“cooldrinks” over some fishing chit-chat, and then an earlynight in preparation for the next day’s fishing.

While we couldn’t have asked for a better morning on theWednesday, there was the prospect of some weather coming,so Mike McKeown and I opted to head up to the top sectionof The Bell River to fish the Ben Lawers beat just belowTenahead. We chose to fish with “glass” (as opposed to “plas-tic”…aka graphite) for this, our opening session in Rhodes.

Mike followed suit with another of our opening traditions,anointing the water with a small dram of the good AmberStuff, and a wee slug for ourselves of course to toast our goodfortune at finding ourselves on such pristine running water.The fish rose happily to a variety of dry flies, and although wecaught nothing spectacular on the day, the knowledge thatthis water has previously produced a couple of monsters wasenough to wet our appetite for the days ahead.

We called it quits late that afternoon as the clouds werepacking and the weather started to move in.

That evening saw us Festival early birds being wined anddined at the home of Head Guide Tony Kietzman and his part-ner Gail. The wine flowed freely and the rain came down just


as liberally, leaving us all wondering what the morning wouldbring.

The night was not without adventure, as guide MarkYelland and his mate George Steyn headed home after dinnerin the rain, against advice, only to end up sliding off the roadand landing their vehicle in a ditch. That necessitated an 8kmwalk back to their cottage in the dark, using mobile phones tolight their way!

Thursday morning dawned rain free, and we headed toWalkerbouts for breakfast, optimistic about the day’s scouting.Tony asked Dries and I to inspect the Vlooikraalspruit Valleyand the Willow Stream at Balloch to see if the rains hadreached the Wartrail area.

Now I have read Tom Sutcliffe waxing lyrical aboutBalloch and the fishing there, but had never been theremyself, so we headed off eagerly. The excitement was short-lived, however, as we drove up the Lundean’s Nek Road andoverlooked the stunning sandstone gorge at the valleyentrance; the river was brick red below.

As we drove further, the entire valley appeared to havebeen in full flood. The flow of water from the river havingburst its banks had smoothed the road to look like a


streambed and simultaneously “combed” the grass on theedges. Balloch as a fishing venue for the Festival was out.

When Friday, the designated day of incoming, dawned Iwondered how widespread the previous day’s rain had beenand what effect it would have on the Festival arrivals. I waslucky on Tuesday, having had a dry ride in, but Quentin Austinand son Cuan, with Peter Brigg, found heavy rain at MountFletcher and had to slip and slide their way across a wet andmuddy Pitseng and up Naude’s, only to be greeted by a cold,strong wind and thick, misty drizzle at the top.

I have it on good authority that a few wee drams (proba-bly more than a few, and probably not so wee) were raised incelebration at the top before the group made their way downinto Rhodes.

The rivers were still high from the overnight rainfall, soanother day of fly-tying lay ahead before we ambled into theWalkerbouts pub to meet the Festival anglers — many familiarfaces and some new ones. The newly extended af dak wasthe venue for the opening ceremonials, and the 2018 WTAparty soon got underway.

Saturday dawned bright and clear, perfect for the morn-ing’s tackle fair which was due to take place on the lawns ofthe Rhodes River Park (immaculately maintained by Rhodesresident Shaun de Wet) on the bank of The Bell River whichflows through the centre of Rhodes. The objective of the fairwas to showcase the wide range of tackle and accessories —both commercial and homemade — available to the fly anglertoday.

Mark Yelland, well known for his casting prowess, was onhand for instruction, and Peter Brigg opened up his fly-boxesfor inspection and discussion. With beats having beenassigned the night before, fishing was on the cards for theafternoon, and as the fair wrapped up, the groups took off totheir designated areas. Sadly it was not to be. The rivers werestill bulging from the previous night’s rainfall and, after muchdiscussion, everyone headed back to the inn for fly-tyingdemos by Peter Brigg and Jan Korrubel.

Sunday morning arrived without power, and it was a caseof breakfast by candlelight, courtesy of Eishkom. The rainstarted again during breakfast, and as the rivers were still up,it was decided to hold a series of presentations atWalkerbouts. Peter Brigg shared tactics for fishing smallstreams, and Gareth Webster (captain of the Eastern Cape fly-fishing team) gave us some insights into the world of compe-tition flyfishing, primarily focussing on leader constructionand nymphing techniques.

Of course this all just goes to show that fishing is not justabout fishing. If you can’t actually fish, then talking about itwith like-minded people is (almost) as good.

The rain stayed away that night and Monday brought withit the first real prospect of fishing. The Bokspruit was stilltouch and go, leaving the upper Bell pretty much as the riverof choice. Starting from above Tenahead, anglers were spreaddown the length of the available beats, and I was directed tolower Ben Lawers, the bottom half of the piece that Mike andI fished on Wednesday.

The water was still up, making for some interesting cross-ings for those with rubber-sole boots, and heavyweightnymphs were the order of the day, making for some interest-ing “chuck & duck” casting. As the day progressed the weath-er cleared and the water dropped, and by late afternoon con-ditions were much improved. Rudi Hiestermann was the lastangler standing in my group, and we ended the day castingfoam hoppers to rising 25cm fish for the last couple hours.

With water levels continuing to subside overnight, reportshad it that the Bokspruit was a real possibility for Tuesday.The Bok and upper Gateshead in particular, are the reasonregular Festival attendees Paul Carreira and Louis le Roux —and myself — make the annual pilgrimage.

We left Rhodes just as the sun was starting to creep abovethe horizon, wondering on the road out if we’d made theright decision. Luck was on our side, with both causeways


(Brucedell and Gateshead) only a little past ankle deep, and injust over an hour, we were parked and packed to walk outsidethe “Honeymoon Huis”. An hour later we were over TheSaddle and tackled up on the river’s edge.

After just a few casts in the very first pool, Paul was intothe first fish of the day; it was going to be a good day. Whilethe water could be considered just a tad toohigh (ek kla nie, Oom Duiff…), we had fishrising to the dry fly all day and ended up withabout 15 fish each for the day, the biggestbeing about 30cm long.

In summary, 239 fish were caught by 37 fes-tival anglers (excluding guides) over three fish-ing days, to give an average of 80 fish a day, orjust over two fish per festival angler per day.Most fish were in the 150-250mm (6-10”)range, and there were two fish reported inthe 350-450mm (13-17”) range. And no,we’re not telling where they camefrom!

While that doesn’t sound like a lotof fish, it must be pointed out thatonly 35% of the total number of catchreturns due were submitted, of which67% were incomplete (i.e. no name ordate or beat)! This event is the bestopportunity of the year to collect valu-able catch data for the area, providingan insight into the status of the fishpopulation, so it’s a real pity whencatch returnes aren’t properly filed.

As the saying goes, “the best wassaved for last”, and that eveningWalkerbouts’ pub was abuzz with talesof a fishy nature. The auction table wasloaded with some spectacular items upfor grabs, and the tone was set for a fineevent.

Books by Tom Sutcliffe, Peter Briggand Ed Herbst, along with artwork by

Peter Brigg generated a lot of interest, as did tackle fromFrontier Fly Fishing and The Fish Eagle, and fly packs fromScientific Flies. There were also a number of accommodationvouchers sponsored by well known Rhodes venues, and twomagnificent pieces of artwork by Gavin Erwin. The auctionraised a little over R30 000, of which R20 000 was donated toFOSAF for the current “Trout War”.

Special mention must go to artistJoyce Carreira who donated a breathtak-ing sculpture entitled “The Nymph”which is to be awarded annually to theperson with the most Festival spirit. The2018 winner was Nigel Vaughn who hasnot missed a Festival since inception.Another of this year’s anglers, QuentinAustin, was also at the 1992 event, butthen skipped 23 years, only returning in2016.

In closing, thanks must go to FestivalChairman, Dave Walker, for his tirelessorganising (and whip cracking), and ofcourse the event sponsors, Epson in partic-ular, Festival anglers and guides for theirsupport, along with the staff at Walkerbouts— Marie for keeping us fed and Simphiwefor keeping us watered. Most importantly,thanks must go to the WTA riparian mem-bers without whose support there wouldnot be waters to fish.

Of course, it’s never (all) about the fish… Robert Traver’s Testament of aFisherman springs to mind:

“I fish because I love to, because I lovethe environs where trout are found, whichare invariably beautiful, and hate the environswhere crowds of people are found …”

Bookings for the 2019 Festival are nowopen; anyone interested in participatingshould e-mail <[email protected]> soonerrather than later as the number of participantsis limited!

Thankshjalot and here’s to the 27th WildTrout Festival; see you there!


Nigel Vaughn was the inaugural recipientof The Nymph trophy for festival spirit.


EXPO WORKSHOP DAY

THE Expo workshop day will consist of a range ofworkshops presented by the country’s top flyfishingspecialists. These guys are specialists in their respec-tive genres and have played a major role with in pio-

neering flyfishing in this country. Welsh international flyfisherand Airflo’s sales director, Gareth Jones, will also be on handto present a workshop on the A- Z of fly-lines.

You’ll have the opportunity to attend four sessions duringthe course of the day.

Where and When?Workshops will take place on Sunday, 29 July at the AleitSchool at Lourensford Wine Estate. Workshops will start at9am sharp and end at 3pm.

How it worksThere will be four sessions during the day with eight differentworkshop topics on offer. There will only be two workshopsper topic because time, venue and staff constraints don’tallow for more. The workshops on offer are:• Smallmouth Bass — Conrad Botes and Herman Botes• Stillwater trout — Matt Rich and Dan Factor• Cape Stream 101 — Tim Rolston• Euro Nymphing — Jacques Marais• Largemouth yellows — Garth Wellman• Carp — Leonard Flemming and Platon Trakoshis• Grunter 101 — MC Coetzer and Jannie Visser• Fly line 101 — Airflo’s Gareth Jones

CostThe workshop day costs R200 perperson for the day regard-less of the number of workshops attended.

How to book You can book a maximum of four workshops for the day.There are only 200 spots available for the entire day so bookearly to avoid disappointment. Four different workshops willbe run during each session in four different venues.

To book workshops please email <[email protected]> with your name, cellphone number, the list ofyour top six workshop options and your proof of payment.

Payments can be paid to: The Feather Mechanic (Pty) Ltd FNB Gold Business account Acc no: 62646797095 Branch code: 250 655Workshop spots will be allocated on a first come first

served basis. You will get to do a minimum of three of yourtop four choices, with the final choice being a mash upbetween your last three choices.

The programme for the day is as follows:(8:00am-8:45am) Registration (9:00am-10:00am) Session 1 — Smallmouth bass; Carp

Cape Stream 101;Flylines 101 (10:30am-11:30am) Session 2 — Largemouth yellows;

Stillwater trout; Grunter 101;Euro nymphing(11:30am-12:30pm) Brunch — food, beer and coffee will

be on sale.(12:30pm-13:30pm) Session 3 — Largemouth yellows;

Stillwater trout; Grunter 101; Euro nymphing(2:00pm -3:00pm) Session 4 — Smallmouth bass;

Carp; Cape stream 101; Flylines 101For more information on the workshops email <theffftex-

[email protected]> or phone 074 113 1382.

EXPO BENEFIT DINNER BASH What is it?A benefit dinner aimed at raising funds for a few worthy caus-es like disabled flyfishing in the Western Cape and communityflyfishing development projects on the Mooi- and Bushmansrivers in KwaZulu-Natal.

Where and when?This refined jol (because ultimately that’s what it is) will takeplace at the Strand Golf Club on Friday, 27 July 2018 6.30pm.The dress code is smart casual, but if rocking up for dinner inyour waders is how you roll we won’t throw you out.

The dinner is the night before the 2018 iteration of the FlyFishing and Fly Tying Expo to be held at Lourensford.

What’s on the menu?On the grub front, the evening will consist of a delicious local-ly-inspired three-course meal. Perhaps even more appetizingis the benefit auction where you stand the chance of biddingfor some unique, high-end, once-off goodies, including:

A unique bamboo rod, the product of a collaboration bytwo of South Africa’s finest rod builders, Stephen Boshoff andStephen Dugmore <www.freestonerods.co.za>.

A freestyle salmon fly by world-renowned classic tyerRuhan Neethling.

A collection of Oliver Kite patterns tied by the doyen ofSouth African f ly fishing, Doctor Tom Sutclif fe<www.tomsutcliffe.co.za>.

A handmade net and fly-box set hand crafted by the talent-ed Shaun Futter <www.truttaangling.com>.

A bronze sculpture by world-renowned sculptor ChrisBladen <www.chrisbladen.com>.

A Freestyle Classic by that blast from the past, Barry Kent.Barry was the proprietor of High Flies in Butterworth andattended various international flyfishing shows in the UnitedStates back in the ’70s and ’80s. Barry was a household nameback in the day.

These are just some of the items on offer.Rods, flies, art, food, booze and the finest flyfishing compa-

ny in South Africa — all in all we have the ingredients and therecipe for an unforgettable evening!

CostTickets for all this fantasticness cost R400/person.

ExtrasThere will be a cash baravailable. The pub is alsocentrally located for ease ofbeverage intake.

Because mountains arealways better in the Capewe’ve ensured that the venueoverlooks the beautifulHelderberg valley.

The MC for the event isnone other than the sage andslightly feral, Fanus Visagie(right).

To book your spot email<[email protected]> orphone 074 113 1382.

EVENTS

2018 FLY FISHING AND FLY TYING EXPOEverything you need to know ...


By Peter Brigg

IN our flyfishing community thereare those individuals who are inthe limelight, and who are some-times — rightly or wrongly —

referred to as the “legends” because oftheir achievements. Then there arethose who prefer to be in the kitchen atparties but love the sport and put asmuch into it as they get out of it. They

do so quietly without asking for anyrecognition, but their participation hasadded considerably to f lyfishing inSouth Africa. They are the “stalwarts”.

Laurence Davies is one of these.He lives in Durban and has been

married to his wife Jenny for some 45years; their three children and threegrandchildren all live in England andthe Isle of Man. Although Laurence isnow retired, he continues to work as a

professional technologist on a contractbasis training graduates to professionaltechnician and engineer’s status.

Laurence fished from a young age,mainly along the Natal coast or inDurban bay, but it was only when heand Jenny went on a working holiday toEngland in 1975 that he purchased hisfirst outfit — a glass fibre rod, reel, fly-line and some indeterminate flies, all forthe princely sum of £12. Armed with a

PEOPLE

Getting to know Laurence Davies

copy of Hardy’s booklet on casting anda Penguin book on f lyfishing, helearned to cast. On that trip he alsocaught his first trout in a reservoiralongside the Snake, a road linkingManchester with Sheffield, where hewas playing rugby league. And so start-ed his flyfishing journey

Initially Laurence’s f lyfishing waslimited to the occasional camping tripto the Drakensberg, his favourite beingRoyal Natal National Park, fishing theMahai River and dam. During thoseyears Laurence would often visit thethen Kings Sports in West Street toadmire the tackle and chat to JackBlackman. On one of these visits Jackinvited Laurence to a Fly FishersAssociation (FFA) meeting.

At that time the meetings were heldat the Rugby Hotel in Sarnia. It washere around 1982 that he met RobinFick, Clarrie Blumrick and Bruce Baileywho made him feel at home.

All the clubs that he joined andserved on had an impact on his flyfish-ing, but the FFA had the biggest influ-ence of all. It was there that Laurencemet the likes of Tom Sutclif fe, EdHerbst, Keith Miller, Dean Riphagen,Jack Blackman, Roger Baert, JakeAlletson and many more. At the timethese men were breaking new groundin the development of f lyfishing inSouth Africa and freely shared theirknowledge. Laurence was subsequentlyinvited to join the committee to arrangethe guest speakers. He eventuallyended up (at various times) holdingevery committee position except trea-surer and is still on the committee tothis day as editor of the interesting andinformative newsletter.

Late in the 1980s Laurence alsojoined the Pietermaritzburg-based NatalFly Dressers Society and ended up onthe committee of its Durban Chapterwhich later became the Durban FlyTyers. In that capacity he got to rubshoulders with guest tyers like HughHuntley, Barry Kent, Neil Hodges andKeith Miller.

For his work in the promotion anddevelopment of flyfishing, in particularin the KwaZulu-Natal region, Laurencewas awarded the FFA’s special award ofFlyfisherman of the Year in 2000 andwas made an Honorary Life Member in2008. He was also awarded TheFlyfisherman’s Flyfisher of the Yearaward in 1999.

Another organisation which he hasfound inspiring is FOSAF, in particularthe education arm because of his lovefor helping people in all walks of life.Laurence was actively involved in manyflyfishing and fly-tying clinics at RoyalNatal National Park, Kamberg andColeford Nature Reserve and later hehelped Roger Baert and Derik Thomasat their five-day clinics at LakeNavarone.

Laurence enjoys flyfishing for bass,scalies and saltwater species, but hisfirst love is for the trout in our rivers.He says he doesn’t have any particularfavourite fishing spot, but he rates join-ing Andrew Fowler and friends on theirbiannual trips to Rhodes as among thebest of his river fishing, not just becauseof the fishing and beauty of the area,but also the social interaction. Hismemories of fishing our local watersand in England are most memorablebecause of the people he has met andthe places he has visited.

Fishing prime American rivers fea-tures high on Laurence’s bucket list, asdoes drifting in a boat and fishing thepockets, fishing for steelhead salmon inthe Kispiox River in Alaska and GTs atAlphonse.

When asked what he loved mostabout fishing, Laurence said “I lovebeing in my own world, wading theriver and searching pocket water — sofocused on fishing that you are lost toyour surrounds.

“What disappoints me about somany f lyfishers is that so few readbooks and magazines on flyfishing. Itry and encourage them to read atevery opportunity the likes of TomSutclif fe, Peter Brigg, and Andrew

Fowler — authors who have producedbooks of beauty and wisdom that cancompare with famous authors aroundthe world. I am a proud collector ofmany of the best local authors’ booksfrom now and the past that are achiev-ing worldwide acclaim, most of thempersonalised and signed by the authors.

“Whereas I sometimes marvel at thepower of the internet and social mediaI am getting more and more disheart-ened by the number of ‘experts’, someof whom spend their time bullying anynovice seeking advice and rubbishingany other opinion than their own. Youdaren’t show a picture of a trout keptfor the pan without getting jumped onfrom a dizzy height, with commentscoming from someone who hasn’t evenbothered to ask the circumstances orwhether it was a stocked or a wild fish.I unashamedly enjoy keeping the occa-sional trout to cook or smoke, but onlyfrom stocked waters and managed forthat purpose.

“Then there are some holier thanthou anglers who decry seeing a troutpicked out of the water for a photo-graph, not knowing the circumstancesagain. These same people will oftenprolong a fish’s release to take that per-fect photograph with the best positionfor the flyfisher, ensuring the manufac-turer’s logos are visible, and then finishwith a high five after releasing a fishwhich is likely to die anyway of stressand extended handling. I am notagainst the hero picture, but ask anglersto consider the fish first; they are pre-cious to us so learn the proper way ofhandling and photographing them.”

It has been my privilege to haveknown Laurence for many years. He isthe consummate gentleman, knowl-edgeable not just in the field of angling,but also willing always to share gener-ously his wisdom and knowledge ofyears of flyfishing experience. It is saltof the earth people like Laurence whodo so much good for our sport withoutfanfare and asking nothing in return —they are our stalwarts.


Laurence in his element, with his first yellowfish caught at Sterkfontein and behind his vice.

By Duncan Steyn

“road trip” (uk) noun: a journey madeby suitable vehicle involving a series ofsporting (fishing) fixtures played awayfrom home.

IT’S far too early for anyone who isconsidered to be a regular func-tioning human, but you wouldn’tchange a thing. You’ve hardly slept

because of the ebb and flow of all thechecklists running through your brainand the late-night cups of coffee con-sumed while tying flies. Finally youlean over and turn off the alarmlong before it’s set to go off. Asyou close the door behindyou, you hear a faint griev-ance from the bedroomas you trip over theinconsiderate cat lyingright in the path to your fish-ing gear at the front door.Searching for the flask youquietly explain to the cat in a strainedwhisper that the priest in your fishing

bag is not devoted to only one denomi-nation and works equally well for allspecies, also that it takes just a few sec-onds to harvest material for a new pat-tern. Finally you are out the door. It isearly autumn and still two hours tillsunrise, the dew on the grass coupledwith the crisp, calm air promises a per-fect day… Now where did you put thatflask of coffee?

Although some of the bestroad trips I’ve ever been on

were planned thenight before,

most takeweeks or even

months toplan. One ofthe greatestroad tr ips Iever went onwas with my

wife. Wetravel led

through five statesin the western USA up to the border ofCanada, and that took over two years to

plan and quite a few more to save for.(See Flyfishing April/May 2017 andAugust/September 2017.)

THE FISHING CAR The transport used to get you to yoursecret spots is often as important as thedestination. My earliest memories ofroad trips with my family were alwayscause for much excitement. Just beforesetting off my father would say thesame thing to me,“Got the poles? Gotthe woman?” He somehow managed toget away with comments like that; if Ihad to try that with my wife I’d proba-bly end up like the cat — being threat-ened with the priest.

Our fishing transport is an old (readdistinguished) Land Cruiser. It has trav-elled the equivalent distance of almostten times around the world yet it’s stillfull of enthusiasm for the next outingand will faithfully fire up at the drop ofa fishing hat.

It was manufactured at a time whenyou could still buy Steri Stumpie inglass bottles and there was only one

ADVENTURE


flavour of Pronutro. Occasionally a lit-tle March Brown or Connemara Blackfrom 1989 will pop out the top air ventwhen you put the fan on and remindyou of a time when life just felt simpler.

It also has a unique smell. I imagineit originates from decades of spiltgarage coffee and Yogi Sip mixed withthe unmistakable odour of forgottenwader socks. Add a dash of fly floatantand park in the sun for five to sevenhours next to a mountain stream andyou have the perfect recipe — if youchoose to replicate it.

If you keep a fishing car for longenough eventually you will get

to a stage when you bothstart serving life sen-

tences; I am

way beyond this point and would haveit no other way.

It wasn’t always like this, though; foryears our transport was a geriatric oldLand Rover in an advanced state ofdecomposition. I really loved that car; ittook my wife and I through Lesothoand Transkei on our honeymoon and oncountless adventures around our coun-try and beyond. I am convinced a clas-sic Land Rover is one of only a handfulof cars with a soul, but when I get tomy fishing spot I’m more interested ingreasing my leader than greasing myhands and face.

Most of my road trips are donealone and I get a real buzz from beingmiles from society, in the middle of

nowhere. WheneverI start feelingdown thanks to

the current state of naughtiness in ourland I remember the quiet places I’m soprivileged to be able to visit and allfeels well again. Trout really don’tappear too bothered by who’s cheatingin cricket or how much a litre of milkcosts, they are more concerned aboutthe important things in life like why thesame suspicious-looking ant keeps drift-ing over their sub-surface home.

MUSIC The enjoyment of a fishing trip is oftendirectly related to the quality of theaccompanying sound track. I enjoynice laid-back tunes when I go fishing,but not so mellow that I forget to keepa look out for potholes or f ly-tyingmaterial on barbed wire fences. It’simportant to arrive relaxed, but youdon’t ever want to risk losing that all-important hunter/gatherer instinct,after all, you didn’t travel for hours and

get all dressed up just to



stare at the river. Music is important,but listening to The Killers singingabout rattlesnakes and romance atfull volume is probably not thebest choice for drivingthrough a wilderness reservein the early hours of the morn-ing.

When I’m stuck in morningtraffic and the fourteenth car in arow has just overtaken me in theyellow lane, I listen to the samemusic that carried me through thefrosty morning the day before, upinto the high places that I yearnfor, and suddenly I’m no longerstaring at the number plate in frontof me … I’m looking for the primelie.

COFFEEThis is important. Like music, coffee isa vital ingredient for an enjoyable fish-ing trip. Just as we all have that

special pool or secret r if f le on afavourite river, so we need to search out

that all important garage cof-fee machine.

Not all coffeemachines are createdequal and once you findone that produces theperfect cup you need toguard it carefully; itbecomes almost as impor-tant as not putting unlead-ed fuel in your diesel car. Iwill happily behave like a

corrupt taxi driver andtake a massive detour

if it means a decentcup of coffee.

Not only does a good brewhelp keep you awake inthe early morn-


ing hours, but negotiating your wayaround cattle and potholes with a card-board cup of scalding coffee and an ill-fitting plastic lid between your legs,really sharpens the senses.

SWEEEETSWhenever I hear this I know I’m get-ting closer to my favourite spots. I’vealways found the further off the mainroutes you travel, preferably after thetar turns to dust, the more smiles andwaves you get.

Picture this: the sun is rising behindyou, turning the vast expanse of theDrakensberg pink and hot orange infront of you. The vivid cosmos oneither side of the road means it’sautumn and the air is bracing, but notso cold that you need more than aheavy long sleeve shirt. Driving withthe window down, the smells of break-fast fires and damp livestock fill thecab. You are getting close now —another hour or so and you should beinto your first fish. As you slow for theendless poorly marked speed bumps, agroup of barefoot school kids wavewith huge grins as you pass and call out“Sweeeets!”

ARRIVINGIf you get to your fishing spot earlyenough you are often rewarded withexperiences that the average late risermisses. Other then witnessing the firstoblique rays of the sun turning every-thing around you from dusky greys tobrilliant oranges as it refracts throughthe light spectrum, you get to see thecountryside waking up.

Shutting off the engine after parkingunder a familiar tree in anticipation ofthe mid-morning shadow, I’m alwaysshocked by the fantastic silence. Ittakes a while for my hearing to adjust,but slowly the distant sound of runningwater overtakes the groans and creaksof the car cooling down. As the valleystarts to warm up, the last remnants ofthe morning fog begin to dissipate. Thefirst stirrings of a light breeze are felt,just enough to put a ripple on thecalmer pools and give the speckled resi-dents sufficient confidence to makeyour stalking easier.

I have fished one particular secretstream so often that I can usually pre-dict which fly will be productive formost of the day. I almost always startfishing with a dry fly, and one of myfirst streamside rituals is to place my

backside bankside and just observe fora while. It’s what Isaac Walton referredto as “practicing to be quiet”. Even ifthere is zero evidence for surface activi-ty, a well drifted dry will very oftenentice a shady customer topside for alook.

LEAVINGSurprisingly, the end of the day is oftenmy favourite time of the entire fishingtrip. The pressure is off, you’ve re-estab-lished the correct predator/prey ratio,felt the strain of a day spent outdoors,perhaps haven’t eaten enough (a pack-et of sweets from the roadside tradingstore does not count), but you are trulyhappy.

Now there is no rush to get down tothe water’s edge, you can take yourtime to dig out your wader socks fromthe toe of your boots, carefully takedown your rod sections with thatsound that all owners of cane love todescribe as a “pop” when you separatethe ferrules, and check that the carremote still works after going for anunforeseen swim.

The hour has arrived; it’s time to hitthe road again. It feels impossibly longago that you were discussing matterswith the cat and getting ready to leave.There are a lot more people to look outfor on the roads on the way home, butthe same familiar sights, sounds andsmells.

I find the trip home is when mymind really wanders; I am already plan-ning how to justify the next outing:“But honey, we need to renew ourGolden Rhino Card in Underberg andthis time I’ll leave the fishing stuff athome. We can just go for a nice hike.”

Of course, over the next few weeksthings will slowly start to change:“Whatif I just bring along a small rod so I canmaybe drift a f ly for a few minuteswhile we’re having lunch?” And then,on the morning of our next road (fish-ing) tr ip: “Got the poles? Got thewoman?

JOSHUA Wibberley and his family havebeen going to Millstream in Dullstroomevery year since he was born. This year

he really wanted to try for something biggerthan the standard sized weir fish he’d caughtmany times before. With that in mind hewent to fish in one of the catch and releasedams, Solitary Reaper. This dam is notoriousfor its big, wily old trout.

Joshua’s uncle Brendan had been doingwell all week on dead drift nymphs below astrike indicator, so Joshua decided that wouldbe the best plan of attack. He set up a longleader on his dry line and used some wool asan indicator. The beaded size 14 Zak nymphwas set about 7ft below the indicator.

Nothing happened for about an hour, sohe tried the nymph at various depths. The

wind was head-on and making it difficult tocast, eventually causing an almighty tangle.Joshua had three choices — try and untangle,cut-off and start again or go home as the sunwas getting low on the horizon.

There was no way Josh was going homeso option two it was.

After setting up again he made a goodcast and not five seconds later he saw theindicator gently dip and disappear under thewater. Joshua struck and raised his rod andhe was soon fighting the biggest trout he’dever hooked. The fish put up a good fightand Joshua was relieved when the net wasslipped under her.

The hen weighed 1.7kg and swam offstrongly when released after a quick photo toshow Josh’s dadwho was at work in Jo’burg.

By Terkel Broe Christensen

THE Danish Skjern River represents a true fairytale inthe world of wild salmon. The 2017 season beat allrecords with nearly 1 700 rod-landed salmon aver-aging 13 lb (6kg). No-one would have

expected things like this from what was oncean “ugly duckling”.

The story of the Skjern River couldhave been written by Hans ChristianAndersen. For many years it sufferedmuch physical abuse from drainage,fish farming and pollution, and thefinal blow was the straightening outof the lower 26km of the river in the1960s. The gentle meanders of thislow-land river were replaced with a19km long, lifeless canal (picturedabove). The crops flourishing on the newlycreated fields came at a high price — the salmonstock was nearly wiped out.

As the years went by, the river’s stock of salmon wentfrom miserable to just bad, and in the early 1980s the catch-es of salmon had dwindled to nothing but five to ten salmonbeing caught most years.

In the mid-1980s biologists predicted that salmon wouldalmost certainly become extinct sooner rather than later. Atthe same time coastal waters gasped for air as the largequantities of fertilizer used on the fields ended up pollutingthe fjord where the river has its outflow.

All this coincided with the 1980s “greening” of the majorpolitical parties, paving the way for a new beginning. So, in1987, 25 years after the fatal canalisation, the Danish govern-ment decided to restore the Skjern.

PLACES


Based on old aerial photos the former meanders wererecreated, obstructions were removed and new spawningbeds were established. Soon the river matured not into abeautiful swan, but a wonderful salmon river, a river in itsown right. Nowadays the Skjern River beats all national catchrecords and is able to compete with some of the betterNorwegian salmon rivers too.

In the beginning of the 1990s the annual catches from theriver were around 30 salmon. In 2000, when the recreatedriver was officially opened by Prince Joachim of Denmark,some 150 salmon were caught in the river. Each year thesalmon stock recovered further, and in 2010, ten years afterthe river had been given back its meanders, a stunning 1 149salmon were caught in the river — a nearly 800% improve-ment in a decade.

This success story is the background “music” I hear everytime I head west to try my chance with the mighty Skjernsalmon. Indeed these are mighty fish. The largest salmoncaught in the river weighed 26.5kg (that’s over 58 lb!) andeach year trophy salmon up to 20kg , and sometimes more,are caught here, with many of them being taken on the fly.

RECORD SEASONTo learn more about the actual status of the river, I calledKenny Frost who is the daily leader of “The House of theSalmon”, the local angling information centre.

“This season has been truly fantastic with no less than 141storlaks (big salmon) taken,” he told me. A storlaks measuresone metre or more!

Each new season a quota, or total allowable catch, is fixedbased on scientific estimations of the actual number ofsalmon in the river. The quota is approximately 10% of thetotal number of salmon migrating up the river.

“Skjern River can now compete with the big boys in theclass,” Kenny declared. He gave an example of the world-famous Lakseelv River in northern Norway where, during the2017 season, anglers caught 1 206 salmon with an averageweight of 7.5kg (17 lb).

In the 2017 season the Skjern River produced 1 684salmon; the average length was 84cm and the average weight6kg (13 lb).


Jesper Homann preparing to release an 86cm salmon weighing ±6kg.

Many anglers release their salmon but, based on thelengths alone, it is estimated that the total catch in 2017 wasaround 10 tons. By comparison, 7 tons were caught in thefamous Norwegian Stjørdal River, 6 tons in Surna River and9 tons in Lakselv River.

44 LB SALMONIn 2017 the biggest salmon in the Skjern River was caught inMay. It measured 122cm and was estimated to weigh over20kg (44 lb). The largest salmon that was not released was a114cm specimen weighing an impressive 19kg (41 lb).

“And how is the fishing right now?” I enquired of Kenny.“Actually, the river is in spate and has been for a week or

so. New fish arrive everyday but very few anglers have beenfishing the river as it has been really high. However it is drop-ping now and has been so since yesterday.”

I desperately wanted to fish the river but feared I wouldnot be able to master it in full flood. On the other hand, wewere in the middle of October and only a few days of the sea-son remained.

I tried a final cast for the answer I wanted to hear:“What

are the prospects for the coming days do you think?”Kenny explained that he and a friend were going to have a

try the very next day, and I was welcome to tag along.Hook-up! That was an offer he needn’t repeat.

RIVER VORGODEarly the next morning, during the two hour drive from myhome to the river, the effect of the heavy rain was clear tosee. The meadows were flooded along every river I passed.

I met Kenny and his friend Jesper at The House of theSalmon. Due to the spate conditions in the main river, Kennyadvised that we should rather try one of the tributaries, theVorgod River. So, having bought a fishing license for theHerning-Ikast Angling Association (150 Danish Crowns —£18) we set off for the Vorgod.

When we arrived at the river we parked in front of a farmabout 4km upstream of Vorgod’s junction withthe Skjern. Then the only question was whichway to go. There was a 4km long stretch tofish downstream and an equal lengthupstream.


A chap who came from the section downstream of us toldus he had been fishing for three hours with spinning gear andhad lost a grilse and caught and released a bigger 90cm cocksalmon. He told us where he had not fished and where hehad lost his fish.

While I still getting dressed up for salmon fishing, tacklingup and choosing a fly, Kenny and Jesper were already workingtheir way downstream.

I took a closer look at the handful of local flies Kenny hadgenerously given me — all typical flies for the Skjern River,that is Scandi-style tube flies with foxtail wings or rabbit stripzonkers in burnt yellow and orange. I went for the yellowone, just right for the murky water, and was concentrating ontying on a small size 12 when Kenny yelled:“Laks! Laks!”

I grabbed my camera and ran as fast as I could. I havemany photos of dead fish, but this was live action and the lightwas good too!

Kenny’s 11ft fly-rod was heavily bent when I reached him.The river was only about 5-10 metres wide at that point butvery deep, and the salmon stayed down deep and out of sight.

“It came to the fly twice,” Kenny explained while holdingagainst the salmon as it started on a downstream run. “It feltlike the fly caught in the weeds for a second and then slippedagain the first time I fished over it. But then again, the water isfar too deep right here for the fly to be caught up in theweed.

“It could be a fish, I thought, without really believing in it.”Kenny explained he had given the fish a little break and

had swtiched from a small 1-inch Woollen Sock (Uldsok) tubefly to a heavy Red Devil Franc & Snaelda. The salmon hadtaken the fly very hard on the very first cast.

CATCH & RELEASEAs Kenny got the fish closer to the bank Jesper came along-side, taking the landing net and looking for a suitable place totake up position. When the fish showed at the surface for thefirst time it was really nice autumn salmon, certainly a male ofaround 8 lb. Without much ceremony Jesper gently scoopedthe net under the fish.

The quota for large salmon — longer than 70cm — had

Kenny Frost thrilled with his 75cm salmoncaught on Vorgod River at the end of the season.

long been exhausted and the fish was quickly released.Along Danish rivers catch and release has really caught on

in recent years. Anglers do their utmost to return the salmonto the water as gently and quickly as possible and barblesshooks are required.

Many anglers also use knotless landing nets with rubbermesh which are particularly gentle on the salmon’s protectiveskin. Others hand-tail the salmon, removing the barblesshooks in the water before letting the salmon go.

HEAVY STUFFInspired by Kenny’s successful fly change, I switched myoffering to something similar — something orange, red, andheavy. The water level was about 30-40cm higher than nor-mal, so we fished with short sink 5 shooting heads and sink 6polyleaders. Heavy stuff, but a set-up that effectively cutthrough the rough upper layers of the water. The shootinghead length was no more than 6.5m; perfectly suited to small-er rivers like the Vorgod.

After an hour or so my fishing had fallen into the rhythmof making a cast, taking a step or two downstream, makinganother cast and so forth. To break the monotony I was tak-ing a little photo break and was quite absorbed in focusing ona close-up of the f ly on the cork handle, when a loud“LAAAKS!” suddenly changed my agenda.

This time it was Jesper shouting. Further downstream,Kenny reeled in and rushed over.

No doubt about it, this was a bigger fish. Jesper tried tohold his ground, but even from a distance I could see how hewas slowly being dragged downstream. Jesper kept the rodhigh, but the salmon was also keeping maximum pressure onhim.

“Follow him down to the next bend and try to keep himin the pool there,”Kenny advised,“otherwise there’s a risk youwon’t be able to follow him at the willow bushes.”

Down in the next pool the salmon started to tire, andwhen it was ready for the net Kenny knelt in the water andnetted a very nice male salmon that we estimated to weigh13 lb.

A few hours later as darkness began to fall and we headed

back to the car, Kenny sighed and looked at his watch for along moment before commenting,“Now there are fivemonths, 29 days, 12 hours and 39 minutes until the seasonstarts again on 16th April.”

On the drive homewards Kenny suddenly slowed downthe car while looking out of the window. A big bend of theSkjern River had caught his attention.

“This pool usually holds fish,” he explained. “It actuallycan be fished even in high water. We could give it 15 min-utes… Yes, that’s what we’ll do!” he declared, bringing the carto a sudden stop. And before you could say “salmon” he hadgrabbed his fly-rod from the car rod holder. Jesper and I fol-lowed suit and took our final casts of the season.

Fifteen minutes isn’t much when it comes to salmon fish-ing, but you only need one cast to hook one — or so they say.I did not really believe in that chance.

Kenny started to cast and gave the line all the time it need-ed to get down in the water. When the fly was out in the mid-dle of the fastest water it suddenly stopped and I could seethe rod buckle. Seconds later a splash in the darkness gave anidea of where the fish was. It was a very lively fish andjumped another two or three times.

When it was netted we saw it was a shorter, fatter fishthan the others. “It’s a sea trout!” Kenny exclaimed.“Everyonecan catch a salmon, but sea trout are harder to get,” he saidwith a satisfied smile.

As we dismantled our rods Kenny suddenly stopped, tooka closer look at his watch and burst into song:

“We’ll meet againdon’t know wheredon’t know whenbut I knowwe’ll meet againin…somefive months29 days11 hoursand 46 minutesfrom now!”


A 60cm sea trout caught in the Skjern River.

BLAST FROM THE PAST

“Blast from the past” celebrates our local flyfishing heritage. It takes us back to a time when life — andflyfishing — were far less complicated than they are today.

Here is Bill Duckworth’s account of how he came to love using the dry fly on the stillwaters of the Dargle. This story is taken from the Autumn 1979 issue of the Journal of the Natal Fly Fishers’ Club.

DRY FLY IN THE DARGLEAll hail the DDD

upon by Tom Sutcliffe using klipspringer hair and renamedthe Dry Dargle Deerhair Fly (later renamed Duckworth’sDargle Delight) has produced a real bonanza of trout. Myexperience is that if it is cast accurately to a trout rising, itis seldom refused.

I conclude with a few points about fishing a dry fly instillwaters that I have gained through personal experience.

Firstly, the trout do not always gobble the fly downimmediately. They often seem to suck it from two or threeinches away. This means that one has to wait for the strike.If one strikes early, one will merely pull the fly away fromthe fish. One must wait until the fish has the fly and turnswith it. The sudden excitement of seeing the fish go forthe fly has often led me to strike early and lose many afish.

Dry fly fishing is most effective when the fish are ris-ing, but can still be used “blind” when no fish are to beseen. Then one merely casts in various directions andhopes. If no response occurs, then the fly can be movedand retrieved and, surprisingly, this will often induce atake.

The thickness of the leader is, I think, important.Recently I was broken off twice while using a 4 lb leader.As I had only one DDD left, I thought it prudent to changeto a stronger leader, and I attached an 8 lb tippet.Thereafter I seemed to get far fewer strikes.

There is no doubt that my returns have improved sinceusing the dry fly method. The fishing has also becomemore exciting.

By Bill Duckworth

WHEN I go fishing with Tony Biggs I am happyif I catch one fish to his three. But when helanded five in quick succession without mehaving a touch, something seemed amiss.

We were fishing a dam in the Dargle and were onlyabout 30 yards apart. I called Tony and asked him what flyhe was using.

“A dry fly,” he answered. This seemed strange, particu-larly as there was a fair wind blowing and the water sur-face was broken by six-inch waves.

Luckily for me Tony is a generous fellow, and when Ireached his side a few seconds later he produced a large,bushy dry fly and told me to cast it towards any rise.Noticing my confusion, because all I could see was dis-turbed water and waves, he explained patiently that if Ilooked carefully I would be able to see where the fishwere by a broken wave.

“When you see a break in the flow of the wave, a dis-turbance of the water surface, cast to it because it is a fish.”

Of course I did not believe him. The only breaks in thewaves seemed to me to be brought about by the force ofthe wind. Nevertheless I did my best. I stared at the waveswith concentration. Eventually I thought I saw a wave thatseemed a bit odd, with not quite the normal smooth curveit should have, and I cast my fly towards it. By chance thefly landed more or less where I had aimed. To my astonish-ment, a trout emerged from the water and swallowed thefly. Nobody — except perhaps the fish — was more sur-prised than me.

We fished for an hour or two longer that afternoonand, to my amazement, in those windy conditions we con-tinued to hook trout after trout on a dry fly.

Now I have been taught my fishing in the traditional“Natal way” — sinking line, large wet fly weighted withshot to make the fly sink quickly, and then a jerky retrieveto attract the fish. This method undoubtedly catches fish,but I now know that it is by no means the only, nor possi-bly the most effective means of catching a trout. Nor it itthe most interesting. After all, how can one compare thethrill of actually seeing the trout take the fly with the mereimpersonal jerk on the line of a fish taking a sunken fly?

Since this initial experience I have fished a floating flyfrequently on our Natal lakes. I have been amazed at howeffective the method is. A large bushy fly which floats wellseems to be very successful. I had the good fortune to askReg Maud to look for some dry flies for me on one of hisoverseas trips. Among the selection he brought back wasone, a bulky fly tied of deer hair. This fly, now improved

DIRECTORY


VENUES:Forest Creek Lodge . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Forty Winks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Giant’s Cup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Riverside Trout Cottages . . . . . . . . . 23

GENERAL:EvaCool Coolers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Flyfishing Expo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Grant Thompson Replicas. . . . . . . . . 9

J-Vice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Natal Caravans & Marine. . . . . . . . . 24

Safari Chillers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Solly’s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

The Kingfisher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

TOPS at Spar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

TOPS Corporate Challenge . . . . . . . 44

Xplorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Yamaha Explorer 465 . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Yamaha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

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