Blog - Wild Fly Fishing in the Karoo

Weekend walkabout

Annabelle Hobson — Sat, 27 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Alan hates doing maintenance over the weekend. Not because he wants to rest or fish, but because there is always something you need from the hardware store, and they're not open! Except Bismilah's, they're always open, but they don't always have the variety that you need. So, when the water pump to the guesthouse packed up at 10pm on Saturday evening, after fiddling with it for 2 hours, I eventually convinced him to leave it till Sunday morning. At least if would be light, and you could see what you were doing! But, alas, after a further 3 frustrating hours on Sunday morning, we eventually decided that fishing was a much better idea.

We packed something to eat and a little liquid refreshment and set off to see how one of the trout waters was doing. Twenty minutes before lightning chased us off the water, with three bumps and one fish, we have high hopes. The rainy season is almost here, the weed has died down a bit, so when the water level rises, the trout will thrive!

The smile on Alan's face says it all. The latest stocking was successful. Holding thumbs for the Spring and Summer rains to fall before the farmer needs to empty the dam even more.

Wild spawned trout

Wed, 24 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0200

We have some amazing river sections in the Karoo, some as far away as Cradock, and some closer to our home base in KwaNojoli (formerly Somerset East). Although the trout don't usually breed in our area, we have had a couple of seasons here and there, where the conditions were just perfect, with enough snow melt for them to breed, but it's not a regular occurrence. It does mean, however, that one of the fish you catch in the river may very well have bred there. But, alas, most of them are stocked.

What you do need to take into account though, is that this is not a normal hatchery fish stocking. These trout are wild spawned. What does that mean? Well, the eggs are harvested from trout in a natural lake; they are not fed, or molly coddled, they live wild. During the winter months, when the eggs are ripe, the fish are caught on fly and in nets, and eggs and milt are stripped. The process of selecting the best possible characteristics from the trout, both hens and cock fish, is quite the art. It's like stud breeding, but trout. This takes the best part of three days, in really harsh conditions. Freezing cold, standing in the water for hours on end, cold hands, cold feet, and totally exhausted! It is a process that we have been intimately involved with for many years, and every now and then, a new bunch of youngsters helps out!

Once the eggs are packed, they're taken to the hatchery. Now the process of waiting to see how successful the harvesting was begins. Once they reach the eyed egg stage, you start to breathe a little easier. Now the eggs are more resilient and you know that they may, very possibly hatch. This stage lasts about 2 - 3 weeks. If the eggs do not reach this stage, or not enough eggs reach this stage, it's back to the waters. Catch more fish, harvest more eggs, fertilize the eggs, wait...

Quite the process...and all you have to do now, is keep them alive until the little fish are big enough to stock into the waters, so that they don't get eaten by dragonflies, frogs, crabs, birds and bigger trout!

And then? Well, then you leave them. They are as wild as is possible without actually breeding in the rivers. They're not fed, they have to work it out for themselves. The most amazing thing, when you put these little fry and fingerlings into the waters, is to see how they immediately start to feed, and explore their new home.

Surviving the drought

Mon, 01 May 2023 00:00:00 +0200

We hesitate to say that we are completely out of the woods when it comes to rain, but it should be noted that we are in the Karoo, an arid part of South Africa, and rain is very unpredictable. Having said that, the last major drought broke in about February 2022, with some stunning rains, and dams that we hadn't stocked since 2014 becoming viable again. It was incredible to be able to stock the trout again in May 2022, and this year we went on an exploratory trip to see how they were doing.

Several of the Bankberg Trout Fisher's Club dams and river sections produced some exciting results, with both Rainbow and Brown trout doing exceptionally well. Some of them were only around 38cm long (around 1 kg), but we managed to land one of 64cm long, a whopping 3.4kg! The average is around 50cm long. These fish were stocked at 9cm, a year ago. Yes, one year ago!

But that is not what this story is about. This story, is about the beauty that managed to survive the drought. She was a staggering 69cm, weighing in at 4kg! This beauty was not stocked in May 2022. She must have survived the drought, in a little pool in the river, which makes her an absolute super hero. Can you imagine, with no water running into the pools, that she managed to survive, and continue to grow to this beautiful specimen? Alan really does not like using a glove to hold a trout as he has found that it removes slime from the fish, but she was so strong that he couldn't hold onto her without it. He wet the glove thoroughly before holding the fish.

The photos really don't do her justice. She must be one of the most beautiful Rainbow trout that we have ever seen, with deep red, and stunning pink colouring in her fins. What a privilege to have seen this amazing fish, and even more so, to release her to fight another day.

We will be back, and hopefully, we'll catch a glimpse of her again.

One last fishing trip

Tue, 30 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0200

Grant and Jess decided to do one last fishing trip before they emigrated, and we were just too happy to be able to do a check up on one of the waters that are further afield.

The Kareerbosch dam is quite amazing; it grows trophy sized trout in two years. Yes, you read that right, from fingerlings to trophies in just two short years. They grow at around 200 grams per month! The food in this dam is just incredible, and the growth in the fish is testament to that. They only problem is, this water is in the Karoo, and the Karoo, is a semi desert. In a desert, when the rains stay away for a couple of years, the farmers have to use the water they have to irrigate lands to feed the livestock, so sometimes the fish lose out. But when there are good rains, and the dams remain full, man, you can really have some fun.

On this particular occasion, we took a chance and stocked the dam in 2020, despite the drought not really being broken. You never know though, it's always a gamble. You have to take the chance and stock, so that the fish have a chance to grow in the waters if the rains do come. The waters were quite low, but it was an amazing day!

Both Grant and Jess managed to catch quite a few, but the best part was that it was a complete family outing, with no-one else around, you get to really enjoy the surroundings, do a little bit of birding, or just relax and rejuvenate, ready to tackle the rest of the year, and the big move that they had ahead of them.

*Some of the pictures were supplied by Jess, she's an incredible photographer!

South African Fishing Flies

Fri, 07 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0200

Two of the best known names in South African Fly Fishing circles, Peter Brigg and Ed Herbst collaborated on a fantastic book, showcasing South African Fishing Flies. This is a celebration of fly tying artistry, of the innovation and talents of the originators and their vision. It is by no means an exhaustive reference of South African flies, but is a list of innovation, in both techniques and materials, and flies that have changed the way we think about fly tying.

Alan was asked to contribute some of his flies to the project, and here is a link to the chapter on his African Clawed frog imitation, as well as the iconic HOT fly - the tadpole imitation that has become more than a few fisher's go-to fly.

Link to South African Fishing Flies - African Clawed frog chapter

Exploring new waters

Annabelle Hobson — Thu, 02 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0200

Can you believe it? Three years since we've had proper rain. Unfortunately after those 80mm in three days, there was not much follow-up rain, so the waters in the Cradock and Swaershoek areas filled up briefly, but were empty again two months later.

Now here comes the interesting part...

With so many of the trout waters struggling through the drought, we've been exploring other fishing options in the area. One of those, is barbel fishing. The barbel (Clarias gariepinus) is also known as a Sharptooth Catfish or African Catfish. These guys grow between 1.4m and 2m long and can weigh up to 60kg. Most South African fly fishers are not too keen to target these fish, face it, they're not the prettiest creatures around, but they are apex predators, and are great fun to catch.

Don't think that they are not clever! You stalk them, and they carry on feeding, but always seem to be a meter or two out of casting reach. It takes a bit of skill to sneak up on them, but they readily take a fly if you use the right one, and put it in the right spot. This is a really strong fish, so make sure you have lots of backing, and with their mouths being as tough as they are, its always good to use a fly tied on a strong, sharp hook. They're not called Sharptooth Catfish for nothing, once you've caught one, you'll see that your leader looks as if it's been scraped along rocks, and would most definitely need to be replaced.

These new waters are accessible only with Alan as your guide, so give him a call to come and enjoy the heart pumping pull!

Another one bites the dust!

Annabelle Hobson — Wed, 04 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0200

Large parts of South Africa are currently experiencing a severe drought, but South Africans, as they can be at times, are optimistic, and expecting rain any day now. Well, another day of drought is another day closer to rain, isn't it? We've been promised that we should start seeing our Spring rains in December, so, fingers crossed.

In the meantime, the dams that still have water in are fishing extremely well. We have also been exploring other options both close to our base of Somerset East, and slightly further afield, to keep our fly fishing options open. We have discovered great waters for barbel (catfish) close to our base, and are enjoying exploring them as often as we can! Alan really isn't complaining...any excuse to pick up a rod! More on these waters to follow.

Besides the new waters, we still have our waters where the large mouth Florida bass are quietly minding their own business, and growing to trophy size. It's such an amazing experience, driving to the waters, and experiencing an impromptu game drive along the way. Our record, driving to the bass waters, is 19 species of antelope! On our last visit, to get our picture for the banner backdrop which we will be using for our exhibition in the USA early in 2020, the Big Horn Sheep posed beautifully for their photograph.

Ah well, as they say, another tough day in Africa...enjoying game viewing whist travelling to world class fly fishing waters...man, aren't we lucky?

The year flies by...

Sun, 18 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0200

It's been a busy year, what with two trips to Sterkfontein dam and another to Vanderkloof, and that's just the yellowfishing trips. Then we also had a number of day trips, surveying the waters in desperate need of rains.

We do know that we are located in a semi-desert, and most of South Africa is still in the grips of a terrible drought, but some of our waters have been lucky enough to get just enough rain to keep them going. The trophy trout waters to the west of town, have not been so lucky, and if we don't get rain in the next couple of weeks, we're probably going to lose those fish. It will be a sad day, but a farmer will tell you, that every day of drought is a day closer to rain! Once the rains come, and the Little Fish River is flowing again, and filling the farm dams along the way, we'll be able to stock again, and the abundance of food that makes the fishery so amazing, will ensure that we have trophy trout again very soon.

In the mean time, Mountain Dam in the Somerset East area is showing it's summer madness again, with prolific caenis hatches in the evenings. They're not called the fisherman's curse for nothing! The other day, Alan had to have strong words with a client that was suffering from fish fever! The fish were rising so frantically, that he couldn't decide which one to cast to, so tried to cast to each rising fish...focus!

It's the perfect time of the year again to target yellowfish, bass and barbel. Alan has developed a stunning spot on the Little Fish River for yellows, and made a lovely "afdakkie" so that you can get out of the sun in the heat of the day. The bass dam is on the western side of town, and not in good shape. Fortunately it is a large piece of water, and should survive this drought as it has all the previous ones. But...have you ever caught a barbel on fly? Now that is a proper "pull fish"! They can really be great fun to catch, and readily take a fly...if you get the right fly in the right place!

We're excited about the upcoming season and the diverse fly fishing opportunities that it presents.

Snail Trail

Alan Hobson — Thu, 13 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0200

They are not a seasonal food sources, as their life cycle is only 60 days long, so they are prevalent in our water systems all year round.

Snails - some 4000 species of them - are gastropod molluscs living in freshwater that feed on algae, diatoms and detritus, including dead plant material. They generally attach themselves to rocks, gravel beds or solid submerged substrate or aquatic vegetation. The colour pigments found in the protective layer that covers their shell accounts for their camouflage, adapting their colour to their aquatic environment. I always try to match the colour of my snail imitation to the colour of the water.

The snail is one of those out-of-sight out-of-mind food sources that fishermen don't really talk about. This situation is exacerbated by the fact that the imitative fly patterns are about as non-descript as the creature itself and the fishing techniques are synonymous with their perceived lack of movement.

Furthermore, fish feeding behaviour is not always easy to distinguish, so one does not always have confidence fishing snail imitations.

So why fish them at all?

Well, if the stomach contents of fish is anything to guide your knowledge on what the fish actually eat and what fly you should be fishing, and if the age-old saying of "find the food, find the fish" holds true, then you should be paying attention to the fact that snails are very prevalent in the stomach contents of fish!

But if they are mostly attached to vegetation and substrate below the surface and fish gorge themselves on snails underwater, how do we know when to imitate them? There are some subtle signs to look out for. Snails have developed lungs, comb-like gills, allowing them to breathe by coming up to the surface for oxygen, and that is our moment of opportunity.

Once they have detached themselves from the substrate, they slowly rise up to the surface, floating, suspended in the meniscus, whilst literally sucking in oxygen. This makes them very easy targets for fish. As snails cannot swim per se, they get blown by the wind or drift in the currents. The confusion is that you might see the odd fish boiling in the ripples or head and tailing along a wind lane, and you would be forgiven for thinking they are feeding on midge pupae.

Once the snails have refilled with oxygen, they then drop back down to attach themselves to the substrate. This is another "tell", as very often your fly is taken on the drop - a good time to switch to a snail imitation.

How and where do we fish snail imitations? Whilst the focus has, in the past, been to fish snail imitations for trout, they are equally successful for yellowfish. It's best to use a floating line with a long leader - 12-15 feet - with your snail imitation as your point fly.

Present your fly near structure, next to weed beds or over rocky areas - typical places where snails could attach themselves underwater. This is much like prospecting with a dry fly, and you fish the snail in the same way - let it drift and then hold on for the take as fish usually commit when taking a snail imitation.

The method I enjoy most is presenting the snail on the edge of a ripple lane and allowing the wind to provide the necessary drift and bounce in the ripples. This area also proves productive when rigging a blood worm, and epoxy buzzer or daphnia imitation New Zealand-style, hanging about 40-60cm off the drifting snail. It is a good idea to twitch the fly every now and again to ensure you are in touch with the fly and there is no slack line caused by the wind.

I have taken this method to our rivers, targeting yellowfish very successfully. There I present the floating snail/dropper combination upstream and across, allowing the snail to bob on the surface through the current, while the dropper bounces just off the bottom. If the water is flowing too quickly and you cannot see the snail, place a strike indicator about a metre above the snail so you have some idea of how your presentation is drifting and you will be able to detect the take.

VARIATIONS

I have developed several snail imitations, all of which work well.

Floating snail: This is made by using a combination of shaped foam that is painted and sealed with Seal Skin, or foam dressed with dubbing, and securing a bead at the bend of the hook to ensure the snail floats vertically. This imitates the snail lying in the meniscus and is usually fished on its own, dead drift.

Dropper snail: For this snail I use foam, shaped and painted, then sealed with Seal Skin and finished off with peacock herl and saddle hackle bound at the eye of the hook This fly lies horizontally and is tied specifically on a barbed hook to secure your dropper fly which will then pull the snail pattern vertically when presented.

Weighted snails: These variations of your traditional Coch-y-Bonddu or Peacock and Spider, tied with a bead and tapered to suggest the shape of the snail. Use a floating line when you fish one of these flies, and position it as the point fly to pull down a team of unweighted nymphs. It should be fished using a very slow retrieve.

Fishing snail patterns requires extra patience, and while slowing down brings you in tune with your surroundings, the commitment of the take will bring you back to reality!

This article was first published in Africa's Original FLY FISHING Magazine.

Thinking outside the box - A fresh look at aquatic beetles

Alan Hobson — Tue, 05 Jun 2018 00:00:00 +0200

How many times have you been skunked by fish and retreated home with your tail between your legs, conducting a mental post mortem of the day and wondering what you could have done differently? That for me is the intrigue of the sport — complete fascination that the fish understand and predict insect behaviour. They have to in order to survive, but it is something we know very little about. Challenge accepted Oncorhynchus mykiss and Labeobarbus aeneus!

Here are some interesting thoughts on fly patterns and fishing techniques I have evolved that will hopefully get you thinking next time you are outwitted by fish. The development of a series of aquatic beetles that float but which can be fished on the surface as dry flies or down deep as wet flies has raised a few eyebrows in the fly fishing community. Let me take you on my journey of thinking outside the box.

Having spent a day of complete frustration at the Glen Avon waterfall in Somerset East, where the trout simply refused every dry fly in my box, I took this humiliation very badly. The trout would simply drift in the current below the fly, come up and bump it every now and then, but never take it. My conclusion was that nothing I offered was realistic enough.

How often have you fished a dry fly that is only buoyant for a very short period, drowning too quickly, despite your endeavours with floatants or absorbent patches? All too often when fishing a dry fly, achieving a drag-free drift seems impossible, resulting in an unsuccessful day. Furthermore, as we are driven by conservation and practise catch and release, we seldom keep a fish. Only once in a while when we have hooked a fish deep in the stomach do we take it home and then, upon examining the stomach contents, we suddenly enjoy a light bulb moment when we have evidence of the actual diet of a fish. This evidence shows that a large proportion of the fish’s diet is made up of a variety of aquatic beetles.

My thinking is that dry flies are seen by the fish as terrestrials and are blown onto the surface and are recognised as such by trout or yellowfish. Seems simple enough. The fish instinctively expect these goggas to behave in a certain way, and when they don’t, they approach them with sceptism, scrutinising your presentation. Anything suspicious results in refusal.

Likewise, aquatic beetles and insects whose life cycles occur predominantly in the water have certain behavioural characteristics in the water. They live in the same environment as the fish, after all, and the fish expect them to behave in a certain way. For the fly fisherman that means not only that movement in the water is expected by the fish, but also that it needs to be accepted as authentic. This is the million dollar secret. When these aquatic beetles or realistic imitations move, the fish are immediately less sceptical.

The “good doctor’s beetle” created by Doctor Hans van Zyl has revolutionised how one can fabricate flies that float with the use of scrap booking materials and techniques using acrylic or craft paints with seal skin to create an extremely realistic, durable and buoyant fly. With references like Freshwater Life written by Charles Griffiths, Jenny Day and Mike Picker, and Aquatic Invertebrates of South African Rivers by A Gerber and MHM Gabriel confirming the shape, size and colour of the real life goggas we see in our dams and rivers, creating realistic imitations becomes a whole lot easier. Seeing beautiful photographs of aquatic insects posted on social media by the likes of Wolf Avni also inspires the development of aquatic insects.

The next question is, why go to the trouble of making the floating flies? Through many hours of observation one can appreciate the haphazard movements of aquatic insects which leads to fishing these flies in tandem, both in the water as a double fly rig and on the surface as a dry and dropper.

Bear in mind that many of these insects come up to the surface to get oxygen, behaviour that’s not viewed as unusual by the fish.

To fish the floating flies one needs to rig one’s leader a little differently to the way you might normally. I would suggest fishing these flies using a floating line, although you could fish them booby-style on a sinking line.

To fish your floating fly as a wet fly, the length of your leader is determined by the depth you would like to fish. To make casting easier it is best to have your point fly weighted, as this will also pull the floating fly down so it can be fished as a dropper. Using a nine foot leader about 2x (ten pounds), add six inches / 15 cm only of 12 pound or 1x, (I use a blood knot to join them) and then add 50cm of 3x (eight pound) as tippet. The six-inch piece you have built in to your leader is where you will attach your running dropper for the floating fly. (See Figure 1) Remember, your dropper should always be two pounds lighter/less breaking strain than the leader it is running on and should not be longer than six inches. I have found this reduces the leader tangling because you are casting two flies.

When you retrieve using erratic strips or slow pulls, the weighted point fly comes up and the floating fly also moves up. As the weighted fly drops, so the floating fly dives, creating the bobbing/darting/diving action that’s typical of water beetles. The movement of the floating fly dropper runs up and down between the two knots on the six-inch piece of your leader. Floating dragonfly nymphs are fished very successfully this way.

To create the dry-dropper set up use a nine foot leader and attach your floating fly as the point fly. Then tie a 50cm piece of two feet of monofilament of the same strength breaking strain as your leader. You can go lighter if you prefer. Attach your dropper as a New Zealand rig secured around the bend of the hook of the floating fly. (See Figure 2) Your dropper can be a bloodworm, tiny nymph, sunken ant or buzzer depending on what you are imitating. The relief here is that you do want to twitch your flies every now and again for two reasons – a) to be in touch with your flies and b) because it is normal behaviour for them to show some life.

This set up is forgiving of drag when fishing rivers or when the wind catches your floating line on a stillwater.

Tying these floating flies is very time consuming, but the reward is well worth it as catching two fish at the same time happens quite often. Essentially it’s something different that works!

This article was published in the SA Flyfishing Magazine, December 2016 edition. To view more of their content, follow this link

What we did last Summer

Annabelle Hobson — Mon, 26 Mar 2018 00:00:00 +0200

FLY OF THE SEASON

Instead of showing you a fly that was very effective over the Summer season, we've decided to give you an Autumn fly to try out in the coming months.

This time of the year, the wind action on the side of the water, causes a lot of grasshoppers and other terrestrials to blow onto the water. The trout are fattening up for the spawning season over the next two months, and gorge themselves on the abundance of food.

WHAT WE DID LAST SUMMER

The last couple of months have been quite eventful, with anglers able to target bass, trout and yellowfish in the hotter months. Alan has developed a fantastic dam for bass and yellowfish, so the trout fishing is supplemented with that in the heat of the day. The advantage we have here, is that it only gets dark quite late, and this means that you can target the evening rise for trout sight fishing dry flies, getting to the dam around 4pm and very often fishing until past 9pm, when it gets dark!

Toward the end of the year we were getting really worried about the levels of the dams, as the rains had been very patchy, with the dams around the town filling up nicely, but the trophy waters in serious trouble. Alan's rain dance must have worked though, as we received some wonderful rains in February, and the Little Fish River is now running again, with the some trophy waters having filled up. Hopefully there are still some monsters that survived the low water levels!

SEARCHING FOR SLABS OF GOLD

This season we were privileged enough to be able to experience Sterkfontein dam twice! This is an amazing dam, and searching for yellowfish in the crystal clear waters just doesn't get any better! With the fluctuations in the dam levels over the last couple of years, as well as the increase in rod pressure, the fishing has really become tough, but the combination of Alan's flies and experience produced some beautiful yellowfish on both of the trips. Watch this space, as A&A Adventures will be looking at hosting guided trips to Sterkfontein dam in the future.

WHAT'S TO COME IN WINTER

Our winter newsletter will be after the Fly Fishing and Fly Tying Expo, so just a mention here. If you're in and around Cape Town at the end of July, don't miss this annual event! Have a look at their Facebook Page for more information.

Stunning rains in the Karoo

Annabelle Hobson — Wed, 11 Oct 2017 00:00:00 +0200

FLY OF THE SEASON

The fly of the Spring season is the Floating Snail. This is an extremely effective pattern this time of the year. This pattern has been developed over many years, and imitates an aquatic snail. The fly floats as shown in the picture, just below the meniscus, and is deadly this time of the year. Alan's special processes produce this awesome fly that does not sink. Fish this fly static but keep a good watch on the fly, or you'll miss the take!

AMAZING EXPERIENCES

We meet some amazing people at the Angler & Antelope Guesthouse in Somerset East. The latest person that made an incredible impression on us was Richard. He arrived on our doorstep one Saturday afternoon, having ridden his bicycle all the way from Cradock! His original idea was to follow the Swaershoek road, which is the gravel road between Somerset East and Cradock, a mere 98 km! Unfortunately he missed the turning, and ended up travelling the longer and less scenic route, which was well over 100 km. He spent the night with us, really deserving the comfortable bed and Karoo Lamb chops. Up bright and early again the next morning, this time with the correct directions, all the way back to Cradock! He is doing 8600 km of cycling, at 85 km per day. Hats off to him, this is an incredible achievement!

SPRING RAINS

Over the last 3 days, the town of Somerset East received over 80 mm of rain! We're extremely grateful for the rain, and hope that this is the start of good things for our rainy season. Unfortunately, higher up in the mountains where some of our fishing waters are, they were not as fortunate. However, the fountains have had a little bit of a boost, and with some follow up rain, we hope that the rivers and dams will be out of danger.

Alan Hobson shares his latest fly inspiration

Annabelle Hobson — Sat, 29 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0200

FLY OF THE SEASON

The fly of the season is a floating dragonfly (aeshnidae). These flies, or variations of them, were displayed at our stand at the Expo, so obviously, fishermen saw them and wanted them. This is where the sucker part comes in... One of the visitors at the Expo was planning a trip to Thrift dam just up the road from us, so ordered a couple of these flies. Well, having made these masterpieces, Alan has decided that they are really not commercially viable. The bodies take three days to prepare, and then the prepping and tying of the fly takes anything from one to two hours. Count yourself very fortunate Andrew, these are going to become collectors items!

SA FLY FISHING AND FLY TYING EXPO

The SA Fly Fishing and Fly Tying Expo held at Toadbury Hall in Mulderdrift was well supported by the Joburg fly fishers. Thanks to all who visited our stand, and thank you for the patience required when making card payments. For us country bumpkins, it was shocking to find that you could have such terrible cell signal in what we consider to be the middle of Joburg! Gordon and his team did a fantastic job organising and running the Expo, and the fact that it was over two days this year, instead of one day last year, ensured that there was a little time for the people in the industry to mingle. Now we just need to find a way to let Alan attend the workshops and man the stand...

The winner of our Expo competition is Carryn Ford. Congratulations Carryn, you've won a 3 night self-catering break for 2 people at the Angler and Antelope in Somerset East, together with a day's guided Wild Fly Fishing in the Karoo with Alan!

FOSAF National AGM - April 2017

Annabelle Hobson — Mon, 17 Apr 2017 00:00:00 +0200

For the first time in 30 years, the FOSAF National AGM will be held outside of Johannesburg. The FOSAF East Cape Chapter are very excited to be hosting the FOSAF National AGM at the Angler and Antelope Guesthouse in Somerset East in conjunction with Bankberg Trout Fisher’s Club.

It is going to be an “EPIC” fly fishing festival over the long weekend, the last weekend of April, starting on Thursday 27th April through to the Monday 1st of May. Bankberg Trout Fisher’s Club will be opening ALL of its waters, to the public to fish over the five days.

Take up the challenge of achieving “Hobson’s Choice”- catch a Trout, Yellow fish and Bass over 30cm on fly on the same day. The exclusive Angler and Antelope waters will also be open to fish over this festival.

Registration for the weekend is R 300 per person. This entitles you to fish for ALL five days (R20 daily gate fees are payable to fish Glen Avon dams and the Glen Avon waterfall), and also gives you access to ALL the Bankberg waters AND automatic membership to FOSAF National for 2017 and a free goodie bag. Please check the itinerary for registration times, at which times beats will be allocated. All fishermen must register for this long weekend. When you register you can also confirm which of the evening festivities you will be attending, costs included on the Itinerary.

There is more! A fun filled weekend of friendship and fly fishing!! Come and chat to Jay Smit creator of the world famous J-Vice and Edward Truter the adventure fisherman, who will be doing presentations.

For the Itinerary of the weekend, click on this link: Itinerary

Operation: Rescue Trout

Annabelle Hobson — Sat, 29 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0200

Four vehicles in convoy, 9 of us went off to Cradock to try to catch as many fish as we could, and relocate them to a dam closer to Somerset East, where the rain had fallen, just a little. We were worried, the farmer said that the dam was just a puddle of water, and we could get there, and it would be literally just a puddle of mud with all our fish dead. Fortunately, the farmer has been very considerate with his management of what little water he has, and there was enough of a puddle to keep the fish alive.

Before the fishing could start, everyone had to tuck in and help fill the 200L drums so that all would be ready when the fish were caught, and we could keep the babies alive for transportation. We’d literally just finished filling the drums, and got to our tackle ready, when we saw Eric walking back to the bakkie with his bucket. The first fish, already!

We hoped that this would be the indication that it would be a very productive day. The fish were relatively co-operative, but if you thought that it was easy to catch trout, just because there is less water and still the same number of fish, you were mistaken. They don’t survive by being stupid. Almost everyone managed to catch a fish, I think if Peter wasn’t running around helping everyone else net and move their fish, he would also have been rewarded with a feisty trout. But alas, the point was not so much catching just for the fun of it, but catching so that we could save some of the trout before the water dried up completely. By 4 pm the South-Easter had come up and the fish had gone down, so we called it a day and started the trek back to Somerset East with 13 fish in tow.

Now bear in mind that the oxygen had been pumping into the drums for a good 5 hours, but we had enough to keep the fish alive until we got home. Murphy…always has to have the last say… The bumpy dirt road from the dam to the tar just outside Cradock, caused the regulator to move just a tad and super-oxygenate the water, and just before we got to the end of the dirt road, we had a flat tyre. With half an hour wasted changing the tyre (don’t even ask about the broken lever of the jack!) we now had to rush to get to Somerset East before the oxygen ran out.

Just a little bit faster than usual, we managed to get to the dam with at least some oxygen left in the tank, and, in darkness, transferred 12 happy trout into their new home. Unfortunately, with these rescue missions, you don’t always have a 100% success rate, but only one pan sized trout didn't make it. I rate that as a very successful mission!

It was a great day, and with wonderful people to help, it was just so incredibly rewarding to know that you’ve rescued some of the trout from a muddy pool in the middle of the Karoo.

Next weekend, same drill, different wonderful people to help!

With a fly rod in "Karoo"

Soren Rygaard Lenschow — Mon, 13 Jun 2016 00:00:00 +0200

What does one do when invited by ones hunting “happy” family over Easter to the Eastern Cape Province in South Africa? I could of course have started my hunting career, but instead, I packed a suitcase full of flies, reels and fly rods, from 2 – 10 weight.

While the family were sighting in their rifles on the first day, I took to the small Naudes River in a wooded valley, with fishing guide Alan Hobson. It was a few km walk from the car to the stream. Some days earlier there had been heavy rain, so the water was brown and a bit unclear.

Upstream nymphing was the best method of fishing. The fishing was primarily in some deep pools, which was interrupted by a small waterfall and ironstone. On the way up the river, I landed several small rainbow trout. I still had to get used to the help of the fishing guide, who insisted on tying both leaders and flies on for me, and to net the relatively small trout, which of course had to be photographed. I am usually expected to serve my wife and children in the same way, so I accepted that it was probably just my turn to experience a little luxury!

We ended up at the Waterfall pool, where the stream is fed by a 90m waterfall that drops down between a gorge of red sandstone cliffs. Certainly one of the most charismatic pools I have fished in my lifetime. Lunch was taken with a view to the great scenery. In between we saw the black eagle, with a wingspan of 1 ½ m, patrolling the surrounding mountains, and we heard baboons scream. After lunch we tested the pool. Alan warned me that the fish would be right against the tail of pool. I accurately presented my nymph at the edge of the pool and began to retrieve the fly a little faster than the speed of the water.

A good fish took the fly on the first cast. The fish gave a good fight with long runs and several jumps before the fish was landed in Alan’s net. An incredibly beautiful and well-conditioned rainbow of about 50cm. The fish had the finest red flanks and a golden belly – a fish which will be in memory. After a few photos the fish was released, which is fair, since Alan stocked the small trout in the pool. The fish are carried into the valley in 20 litre buckets.

After a short break I resumed fishing in the pool from scratch. After a dozen or so throws, there was another rainbow that took my nymph which my fishing guide himself had stocked. We estimated it a few centimetres shorter than the first, but it was also released. It would certainly have been possible to catch more rainbows in the pool, which had not yet been fished through, but satisfied with the day’s experiences we packed up and walked out of the valley.

Karoo

Karoo is the name of South Africa’s high altitude semi desert characterised by veldt, cacti and thorn trees. Despite the dry climate, the Karoo is full of wildlife, where you often see different monkeys, wildebeest, zebra, springboks, impala, kudu and several other antelope. Also rich in birds, including eagles, falcons, geese, ibis and the country’s national bird – the blue crane. But how can you fly fish in a semi-desert? The secret lies in the fact that there are four types of eco systems in this part of South Africa. In addition to the Karoo, there are lowlands (300 – 400 meters above sea level) with savannah, where the trees are larger. There is Grassveld on top of the mountains (1500 above sea level), in which as a consequence of greater precipitation there are lush grass meadows and trees of up to 10m. Just the opposite of the Scandinavian world! Furthermore, there are forests in some of the valleys and it is here that the fish tale began.

Fishing in the area occurs most in ponds and lakes and some streams. Generally these are located on private property, so not accessible to the public. I had previously contacted the local fishing guide Alan Hobson, who has access to a variety of waters, and he can also arrange for you to pay rod fees if you want to fish on your own. Along with his wife Annabelle, he operates the Angler and Antelope in the town of Somerset East – a bed and breakfast, where the former Catholic Church has been transformed into a dining room and whisky bar. In addition, the church has probably the world’s smallest “fly shop” located in the old confessional! I now have a small collection of blessed flies!

In addition to being a skilled fishing guide, Alan has a huge knowledge of the area’s flora and fauna, so while fishing one will hear about animal tracks, insects, spiders, butterflies, plants etc., which provides an extended dimension that will not be obtained by fishing on your own. Guided fishing is inclusive of fishing tackle, waders, etc., if you don’t bring your own gear, which, however, I would recommend.

Alan manages and stocks the waters in Somerset East. As in Patagonia and New Zealand, trout are stocked and do not occur naturally. The first trout were introduced to South Africa by the British in 1867, so there are rich traditions of fly fishing in the country. As trout do not spawn in dams and most streams, they must be stocked and catch and release is encouraged. Stocking is mostly done with rainbow trout as they are more heat tolerant than brown trout. They are stocked as fingerlings, and grown out to beautiful healthy fish. In the waters of Somerset East, they are very fast growing reaching sizes of more than 45cm in just 3 years. Every now and then big trout are caught up to 6kg. The good growth is due to the freshwater crabs, similar to our domestic shore crab. Trout eat small crabs. In addition, there are various mayflies, caddis flies, mosquitoes, etc. and dragonfly nymphs and damselfly nymphs in the water are also important food items. In Africa there are the coolest insects.

My dream is to experience fly fishing during a termite / flying ant hatch.

American largemouth bass have been introduced into some of the waters and they thrive in the warm water. Alan has access to waters with 10 lb bass who willingly grab a popper so it may need to be tested next time I come on a trip (several family hunters have developed a powerful kudu fever!)

Then there is Bass

The family’s younger children also had to be entertained, and we took turns between hunting and fishing trips. We stayed at the Danish owned Malpepo farm and the farm swimming pool helped with keeping the kids occupied. One day we did a walk in the bush and another afternoon we drove to Glen Avon Farm, where fishing is easily accessible in a few dams previously used for the milling operation. We elected to pay rod fees for the bottom dam where there were many small bass so the young people caught their first fish on fly. They were also invited to the local farmer’s sheep shearing, so it was a very eventful day. The small bass came home and we found that they had crabs in the stomach. The Danish Copper darling can now be said to be a crab imitation and bass fly. We ate bass which is an experience at the level of a perch.

Trout Bum lessons

Along for the ride was my niece Anna, 17 years old. Anna had no hunting ambitions, but wanted to try fly fishing, so she was apprenticed as “Trout Bum”. We paid rod fees for a number of smaller dams on the mountain where we had to drive up a steep mountain road in very poor condition. When we almost reached the dams we realised that we had a puncture. Lesson 1 was how to change the spare wheel, which was like a large moped wheel. Since we had already passed the worst part of the mountain road, we chose to continue up to the 5 dams which we would be fishing. There were three dams created on a small stream which was completely dry. There were dams to collect rainwater for the cattle and sheep. We trudged up to the top pond, where there are trout.

The first hour passed with a little instruction in casting and fishing technique (lesson 2), while we saw a few rises. We tried both nymphs and dry flies without success. When I saw the remains of crabs on the banks, I tied on a “bugger fly” with bold red rubber legs on the tippet. On the first cast I caught a small trout right next to the bank. Anna now had a similar woolly bugger on her line and with a little help she caught her first trout on fly (lesson 3). We got several takes and another small trout before we stopped at noon, when we went down the mountain on the small spare wheel. The day was over. I decided to have a few casts in the bottom dam. I saw a small shoal of bass which willingly followed the fly, but without any bites. This occurred several times. Then I tried to let the fly fall right down to the bottom and lifted it again, like a fleeing crab. It worked! In fifteen minutes I had another bass, so it was a little reluctantly that we packed up and drove down to the town of Somerset East to fix the tyre.

Mountain dam

A few days later we were on tour with Alan Hobson again. It started with Anna and also my oldest son Valdemar, 15 years. Valdemar had shot his allocation of both Impala and Blue Wildebeest, so now had time to fish. Today we drove further up the mountain. This dam used to be a water reservoir, and is fed cold water from several springs. We saw some crab shells lying along the bank – remnants of an otter meal. In one place a bush pig had dug a hole for a refreshing mud bath. I told Alan to use his energy to help the young people and that I could easily cope by myself. While we rigged rods, we saw fish rising along the reed edge. I considered both a crab-like fly and a nymph, but chose to put a small dry caddisfly at the tip. When the first fish took I was too slow and missed the take, but I found the timing and caught a series of beautiful and strong rainbows primarily in the range of 35 – 45 cm. The young people also caught fish. Lunch was excellent grilled Karoo lamb and other meat. After lunch we fished again, and we caught a few more good fish. We brought home a handful of fish – mainly caught by the youngsters, which was served as a delicious starter on the farm the next night.

Barbel

On the last fishing day we tried something different. We went on a trip with Alan to a large dam north of the town of Cradock. My wife and other son Kristian also came along for the ride. The dam is fed by water pumped through a tunnel from the Vaal River, which is located about 1500 km away. The lake and tunnel is a prestigious project built under the former apartheid regime, in order to supply water to white farmers in the south of the country. With the water came more species of fish that were not previously in this part of South Africa. One of these is the catfish (Sharp toothed Barbel), which was our goal. The fish can grow up to 40 kg, so out came the heavy equipment. The water in the dam was very clear with a reddish colour and the possibility of sight fishing, where the catfish feed in the reeds. The flies must be thrown hard on the surface, as catfish pick up the sounds and vibrations. In order to lure and attract additional attention from the weak sighted eyes, we added a popper head to the leader about one meter above the streamer flies. As with many other things fishing, we should have been there the day before. Overnight, the water level in the dam had risen to 2 feet above normal, so the catfish were not in the shallow water. We saw some eyes which were on the surface further out, and once there was a fish that cruised leisurely in the reeds just between Valdemar and I. On the way home we tried small stream where we fished in a pool at a railway bridge. The target was yellow fish, although it was not really seasonal and the water was green with algae. Yellow fish is a strong indigenous African fish, which is similar to a gold-coloured carp and is most often caught on dry flies and nymphs. My son Kristian had a few bumps on a small nymph, but otherwise nothing happened. Thus, without fish on land, but it was almost worse for our fishing guide than for us fishermen.

Republic of South Africa:

Easter 2015 was a memorable experience for the whole family in South Africa, where my mother (to be lucky!) had invited the husbands, daughters-in-law and grandchildren on the holiday of a lifetime. The trip went to Malpepo Safari, which is a Danish-owned farm near the town of Somerset East about 200 km north of the port city of Port Elizabeth. The farm operates hunting tourism of mainly antelope. South Africa is an exciting holiday destination. South Africa has, inter alia, a number of national parks, which are obvious excursion destinations, and when not hunting, the animals are easy to see and experience at close quarters. The country has many good accommodation and good restaurants. The exchange rate of the South African Rand is currently low so is a cheap option for the Danish visitor. It is also recommended that you hire a 4-WD as the roads in the country are extremely rigorous. South Africa is in the Southern Hemisphere and travel can be organised when Denmark is cold and dark. If trout fishing is your target, avoid the hottest summer months – December to February. There are many fishing opportunities in South Africa. In the southern provinces – West and East Cape and in Kwa Zulu Natal and in the small kingdom of Lesotho (enclave to South Africa) there is good trout fishing with many options. In the northern parts of the country there are yellow fish and catfish in the Orange-Vaal river system and in Limpopo. Sterkfontein dam has world class fishing for yellow fish. There are many places for bass fishing as well as fishing for queen fish, lady fish, etc. and fishing off shore for tuna, marlin etc. The new South Africa was created in 1993 when the country put the apartheid regime behind it, and the people elected Nelson Mandela as the republic’s first president. South Africa is multi-cultural and many languages are spoken. In the area around Somerset East, in addition to English, Xhosa (original Black Africans) and Afrikaans (a language originating from the Dutch Settlers) are spoken. You often hear about high crime in South Africa, but on our trip we experienced no unpleasant things and we felt confident in the streets, though by Danish standards you meet many poor people, primarily in the cities.

Fly patterns:

The blessed flies

The South African fishing guide Alan Hobson is a skilled and creative fly tier, and has developed a number of flies for local conditions in South Africa. The flies will certainly be able to be used for Nordic trout in rivers in lakes.

Mountain Dam Madness - Fly Fishing in Somerset East

Alan Hobson — Wed, 10 Jun 2015 00:00:00 +0200

This seasonal transformation provokes an awakening in trout behaviour, due to the insects responding to these climatic changes. For the fisherman, this means more productive fly fishing opportunities and for the fish, an aquatic entomology menu that offers more variety than at any other time of the year.

Mountain Dam, on top of Boschberg Mountain in Somerset East, in the Eastern Cape, is one such location that boasts the full package of insects and trout. Standing waist deep in the crystal clear fountain water, with the sun on your back and fish rising all around you throughout the day, is very close to fly-fishing heaven. Mountain Dam lies 1,500 metres above sea level, whilst the town lies some 800 metres below, and provides a dramatic drop off for its own micro climate. As the wind changes direction, it incites a variety of insect species to hatch throughout the day. These gusts also create thermo clines; layers of water at different temperatures, which trap different insects, at different stages of their life cycles, and at different levels within the water column.

So how do you entice a fish when everything to tempt its palate is available and just waiting to be plucked from the menu? Observation! Look around you and see what insects are in the fringes at the water's edge or which insects are in the air or on the water's surface. Match the hatch. Also remember to keep an eye out for aquatic moths, which are referred to as sedge or caddis, as one often disturbs them in the grass while walking to the water. Look at their size and colour and if you see and hear splashy rises, then chances are good that the trout are feeding on sedge. Often, when you look at a dam you will notice a wind lane. This is the lane where the water is as smooth as a mirror and then meets choppy water. It is in this lane where hatching insects are trapped, offering the full autumn smorgasbord of insects.

Guiding Wes and Bill, visitors from the States, we headed for Mountain Dam on a blustery but sunny autumn day, to see if we could put all this theory into practice. Setting up a #5 weight outfit with a floating line and an 11-foot leader with 4X/8 lb tippet, we all pulled on waders and boots and headed for the weed beds. The odd fish was showing itself, indicating that the fish were scrutinising the weed beds for their main course. We tried a 'Jin Nymph', an olive interpretation of a GRHE (Gold Ribbed Hare’s Ear), and allowed it to sink before retrieving it just above the weeds. Wes produced the first fish, which we kept to evaluate its stomach contents and found several cased caddis, dragonfly nymphs, damselfly nymphs, many caseless caddis and a crab claw. We changed our flies to imitate what we'd seen from the stomach contents and to good effect too, as Wes and Bill caught and released another nine fish between them that morning before we retired to enjoy a
typical South African braai of Karoo lamb chops and a cold beer or two. During our break, the wind picked up significantly and the few fish that were moving around disappeared.

After a power nap, we lazily sauntered back to the water to tackle the afternoon rise. The Gods, Zeus and Poseidon, must have brokered peace with the Goddess Gaia, as the wind dropped to a very light south westerly and a wind lane developed off the weed beds, about 7 metres in from the grass banks. It was as if
the peace treaty had flicked a switch and one suddenly became aware of caddis, caenis, mayfly, and midge buzzing around. The evidence of purposeful rises in the wind lane took little convincing that we were on the money. We quickly replaced our flies with a DDD (Duckworth’s Dargle Delight), a South African fly developed
to imitate insects on the surface in general, but specifically caddis. The level of excitement shown by both Bill and Wes was evident in the number of rushed casts thrown at the moving fish. If fish fever sets in you are doomed for failure because with so many fish rising, you won't know which rise you should cast to. The excitement can be compounded further when your line is in midair, whilst making a false cast, and you change your mind in the middle of the casting stroke as to which is the biggest rise you should be presenting to. The result, your line collapses in a pitiful heap between the rising fish.

To show BMT (big match temperament), it is best to pick one fish, identify what direction it is moving in and present about two feet in front of it. Seldom will a fish refuse such a great presentation. The reward of a perfect presentation was lost in the babble of both anglers' success as they brought several fish to the net. The visual
rush of seeing the fish rise and take your offering is an experience you will never forget. Certainly, Bill and Wes will have fond memories of their Mountain Dam madness.

Warm Weather and Water Bugs - Fly fishing in Somerset East

Alan Hobson — Tue, 03 Feb 2015 00:00:00 +0200

The insect menu for trout strongly features the Order Coleoptera, water beetles, diving beetles, whirligigs and the Order Hemiptera; true bugs that include water boatmen and backswimmers. The psyche of the fly fisher man also changes, much like a chameleon, as one now moves from the comfort of your fire place and fly tying
vice, to the window of the great outdoors. So how do we cope with beetle mania to become more successful fly fishermen?

Beetles tend to dart around haphazardly, often tumbling through the water. That is exactly how one should retrieve. By designing an all-purpose beetle pattern, the common thread amongst beetles is not only their movement, but also their colouring. They tend to have common colouring; purple blue as the bulk of their body and a very strong representation of yellow either at the head, tail or on their flanks. Some of these beetles also have well developed legs for swimming. Our attractor fly pattern features all of these characteristics and we have added a tungsten bead at the head of the fly, as well as a variegated marabou tail to accentuate its movement. There are many commercial patterns available that are general imitations of water beetles, such as very small woolly buggers, marabou nymphs, Coch-y-Bundu, Black and Partridge, Corixia, water boatmen, woolly worms and so on. It is all in the retrieve, so the trick is to execute short, sharp controlled jerks, almost like the art lure fishermen do when jigging. These jerks create a bobbing movement that simulates the beetle tumbling, the weight of the tungsten bead darts upwards as you execute your jerky retrieve and then falls
down quickly as you release, with the marabou tail waving vigorously. Aquatic beetles tend to hover in and around weed beds, as they offer both food and protection and this is exactly where you should be plying your trade. The added bonus of fishing beetle imitations is that they are found occupying all levels of the water column, so you don’t have to spend hours prospecting to find out what depth the fish are feeding at.

The dynamics of nature seem to be greater during summer, as the temperature range is greater, with cool mornings building up to a sweltering midday and the evenings usually being soothed by a cool breeze. This tends to provide more changes, thus layering the water columns, which is why it’s important that you retrieve your fly through a variety of depths. The fish find the layer in which insects are trapped or moving through, which means that there might not be any visual surface activity, but rather frenetic feeding taking place in the layers below. Often a light breeze will suddenly stir up from nowhere and a successful tactic is to position
yourself facing directly into the wind and then cast your floating line into the wind using a nine to 12 foot leader.

Most anglers have a mental block when casting into the wind. The trick is not to force the cast, as the harder you try the worse it gets. Use your rod to deliver the line into the wind by changing the plane of your cast from horizontal to downwards on the forward cast and upwards on the back cast. Effectively you are presenting the line just above the water in front of you and downwards, where the effects of the wind are minimal, and at 45 degrees upwards behind you. By doing this you use the wind to keep the line up in the air behind you on the back cast and the flex in the rod to punch the line cutting into the wind on the forward cast, without slapping the water in front of you. The secret is to only release the line on the forward cast when the line has forward momentum and is almost fully extended, that way it cuts into the wind.

Daphnia, commonly known as water fleas, drift in clouds between the water columns. Often a good idea is to have a bead head beetle imitation as your point fly and position a Daphnia fly pattern as a dropper about four feet above the point fly. As all of these insects rise and fall thr ough the water columns, using one increases your odds of having a successful day. By presenting your menu into the wind using a floating line, the wind pushes your flies in a natural way straight back to you.

While you take up the slack in your line, to keep in touch with the flies, make sure you are doing a short, sharp jerk at the end of the retrieve to bounce the flies. In other words you are doing an active retrieve, the speed of which is determined by the strength of the wind, with a short, sharp controlled jerk at the end.

The take is usually quite vigorous so it is critical that you are always in touch with your fly, otherwise the take will simply pick up the slack for you and you won’t set the hook. Tight lines!

Fly Fishing in Somerset East - Quality or Quantity

Alan Hobson — Thu, 21 Aug 2014 00:00:00 +0200

The exhilaration of several emotions takes you on a rollercoaster ride during the time it takes you to land the fish. A huge dollop of success soon melts into panic as pisces and angler grapple for dominance, physically and mentally. The scale is tipped in our favour physically as we have the benefit of science in the construction of our equipment, but the fish has home-ground advantage. We expose the nerve ends of our character as we question our abilities, whilst the fish is hell-bent on survival. Once we’ve sized each other up, there is the calm before the storm; the angler composes himself whilst figuring out how to land the fish, and the fish offers its last resistance. Your sense of being and achievement are immeasurably gratifying when you see the fish, tail frantically waving, before it disappears into the safety of the deep. You often hear fly fisherman say that a catch is a bonus as it’s actually the day’s outing that soothes the soul. Undoubtedly it’s a combination of both, for one needs fuel to keep the passion burning.

In the modern day and age where bigger, better and faster appear to be the criteria for judging success, this is not the case with fly fishing. The therapy of participation is to expose patience and tenacity, and engage one mentally by becoming one with Mother Nature. Only by feeling the pulse of all her elements does one
ultimately connect. The anomaly of man is that connection for each of us is unique, both in experience and meaning.

It is this allure that saw Rob, Geoff and I heading for the mountainous pools at the source of the Little Fish River, which holds monster trout in the Karoo. The excited chatter as we passed through the Swaershoek Pass was stimulated by the contrasting terrain, variety of game and habitat of the kudu. As we pulled off the gravel road and parked next to a concrete causeway, Geoff sceptically asked if this was the river we are going to fish. He was looking at a maze of thorn trees that revealed only the smallest trickle of water from the Little Fish River. After tugging on waders over our breathable clothing, lacing our boots and lining up the eyes of our rods, we gathered our rucksacks and marched single file in silence to the edge of the thorn trees. Getting through this barbed barrier unscathed required a fair amount of skill as we weaved torso and fly rods under, between and through the thorns.

Finally free and on the move again I suddenly froze, eyes focused intently on a bold paw print in the path in front of me. “What’s that?” asked Rob huskily. “It looks like the spoor of a huge lynx,” I whispered. “Nonsense,” barked Geoff, “it looks like a leopard spoor.” After much debate about the possibility of leopard in the area, we eventually shrugged off the idea as unlikely. On edge, we continued walking downstream, stopping every time we heard a noise or scuffle in the bush; needless to say our conversation dried up, much like the river bed.

Soon after we heard the gurgling of water as a bank of rocks burst out between the thorn trees. I dismounted my rucksack, which holds some 1,500 fly patterns, and explained that the trout were stocked annually in the pool to sustain a succession of fish. The pool was no more than twenty-five square metres in size. After planning our assault, we set up our leaders. Geoff and I took cover next to a Willow tree that languidly lay at the edge of the pool and as there was only place for one person to fish, Geoff had the first session. Rob then leopard crawled his way, gear and all, to the opposite side of the pool.

Geoff false cast over the rocks until he had sufficient line out to present his fly into the throat of bubbling white water, coming from a small waterfall that cascaded over a rocky ledge. By casting over the rocks and not the water, he wouldn’t spook the fish quite as easily. The trick was to have enough slack in the line to allow the current to churn the fly, letting it sink to the bottom before being washed to the edge, just as a natural insect would be. Where there’s bubbles and foam, there’s usually trapped insects, and where the current and slack water meet is the prime lie that holds fish. With Rob in position at the tail of the pool, he cast up into the waterfall’s throat, whilst staying in touch with his fly as it washed back towards him. Both Geoff and Rob used a strike indicator to gauge the depth and flow of the water, which helped them to manage the slack in the line and see the take.

At the end of the day, the session belonged to Geoff who landed two absolute beauties, both over 55cm and weighing in excess of 2,5kg. When you consider the pool’s location and that it’s stocked annually with 30 fish ranging from 10-gramme growers to yearling trout, of which maybe five grow to trophy size in their lifespan, it was indeed an exhilarating afternoon that produced quality fly fishing. Although Rob and I didn’t catch anything, we enjoyed the outing as much as Geoff.

We are fortunate to experience many things in our lifetime, but the chronicles of certain experiences, such as this one, remain etched in our minds as clearly as the day it happened.

Published in Do it Now

Pursuing moments of Perfection - Fly Fishing in Somerset East

Alan Hobson — Wed, 04 Jun 2014 00:00:00 +0200

Fly fishing provides the tools to examine your character whilst pursuing moments of perfection. It’s like a personal CSI investigation that combines the constantly changing clues offered by nature with your character traits, so that you can reflect on them.

Fly fishing is many things, but one thing it is not about is just standing on the edge of a stretch of water going through the motions of trying to fling a fly that weighs almost nothing and hook that fish of your dreams. Regrettably it is not instant gratification and hence does not necessarily appeal to everybody.

In life we constantly strive to improve as individuals and fly fishing offers us the opportunity to do just that. Let me explain. The art of fly fishing requires that you master many skills. For the men reading this article it doesn’t necessarily mean multi asking, but rather that you execute each element competently.

Fly fishing is a personal challenge as we attempt to outwit our opponent. In the case of our fishy foe, this means eliminating one of its strongest attributes for survival, the sense of smell. We generally use flies made from fur and feathers that hardly smell to fool the fish. It is also an active sport where your success depends on your ability to make things make. If you consider that Salmon in Canada for example, breed naturally in the rivers, swim out thousands of kilometres to sea to grow into those monster fish people travel the world to catch, and then come back to that exact same spot where they were born to spawn purely through their sense of smell, one can appreciate the challenge. Add to this the fact that flies weigh next to nothing and should be presented as naturally as possible to the fish cruising by, and the challenge becomes even more difficult.

Understanding the principals of physics to use your rod to transfer energy to the line and propel the fly, and acquiring the perfect timing to achieve this successfully, is an art in itself. This is where your personality is tested. The frustration with yourself at not being able to achieve the hand to eye coordination and sense of timing to keep your fly out of the bush behind you or whipping the water to a foam in front of you that will send any fish in the area skeltering for cover. It requires tenacity, an understanding of your own capabilities, your willingness to adapt and learn and an avenue for success through feeling the presentation. The precision of presenting the fly on the proverbial tickey, taking into consideration the wind, vegetation and fact that your line must be in the air for the shortest time possible at a moment’s notice, at any given distance and direction where a fish has just moved, is a skill that requires hours of practice. But once mastered, will boost your self-confidence tremendously.

The life cycle of an insect generally transforms within twenty four hours to twelve months. It progresses from an egg, which has been laid by an adult and is attached to a structure under the water, to a crawling nymph, a swimming nymph and then an emerging nymph where it starts to develop wings and legs just below the water’s surface or in the meniscus, before hatching into an adult, mating and starting the cycle all over again. Although man has landed on the moon, we have yet to discover nature’s trigger that causes insects to hatch. At each stage of its life cycle, the insect is vulnerable to fish. It is these hatches that induce certain behavioural patterns in the fish. Find the food and you’ll find the fish!

Owning one of the many off-road vehicles that promise a lifestyle of taking you to the ends of the earth on the road less travelled is definitely an advantage. However, it is the areas where the fish live that transport you to the outdoor corridor of nature’s bounty. This is exactly where one can break free from the exoskeleton of everyday life.

When one looks at a stretch of water, where do you start fishing and with what fly? Well, the way a fish feeds will tell you what insect the fish is eating and at what stage of its life cycle it is in. This knowledge will help you to select the most appropriate fly, in other words match the hatch and you will increase your chances of being consistently successful. Whilst many people say that catching a fish is not that important but rather a bonus as you are always in magnificent surroundings, this is true. However, catching fish consistently is very gratifying. By becoming totally absorbed in the immediate environment and observing insect behaviour both in and out of the water, you arm yourself with ammunition to strategise the fish’s demise. If you aspire to become a more knowledgeable entomologist by slowing yourself down to the pace of the bugs and seducing your soul into feeling your surroundings, your physiology pulsing to the beat of Mother Nature, you do walk away rejuvenated.

The dynamics of the environment are constantly changing, so to succeed you too need to change your fishing tactics. By understanding what to do, elevates your fishing to the next level. This in turn determines your strategy as to whether you are going to fish a floating line, at what depth should your fly be and what shape, size and colour it should be? How does the insect move? Can you piece together the evidence before you to solve the mystery? This is what makes you think and stimulates such a fascinating challenge around fly fishing; the dynamics of the environment surrounding you, the flowers and plants, the beauty of the water reflecting your mood, the setting sun and the sound of the birds coming to roost. Whilst you connect your soul with Mother Nature you notice mosquitoes hovering closer now that they have picked up your scent, so you tie on a suspender buzzer. It’s as if you’ve turned nature’s key as a fish breaks the mirror reflection of the mauve water as it porpoises at one o’ clock, just 10 metres in front of you. Calmly, you pick up your line, majestically moving it through the air, stopping your rod it straightens with purpose, presenting your buzzer gently. The fish hears the fly land, turns and devours your offering. Piecing together nature’s clues, choosing the correct fly, which is even more rewarding if you have tied the fly yourself, casting and presenting the fly precisely on the spot, the fish fooled into taking your fly, THAT is a moment of perfection!

That is why we fly fish. The more you fish, the more frequently you achieve those moments of perfection and the more addicted you become as the sense of achievement in the success of that moment is enormously satisfying.

Published in Do It Now