Ed’s Letter

Ilearned a few things about the author Ian Fleming recently. For starters, along with inventing the James Bond character and writing the books that spawned so many memorable films like Diamonds Are Forever, Goldfinger, Moonraker and Thunderball, did you know that in 1964 he wrote the kids’ book Chitty Chitty Bang Bang? You know, the one about a magical flying car? It feels like a complete departure, but when you consider he’d already tested out a flying car in The Man With the Golden Gun, it’s not all that far-fetched.

Perhaps more pertinent to readers of this magazine is what he wrote before he became a famous author. In 1939, Fleming is purported to have written a paper called the Trout Memo for his boss Admiral John Godfrey, the director of British Naval Intelligence (and the man who would later provide the model for the character “M” in the Bond stories). At the time, World War 2 was balanced on a knife’s edge. The Germans had the upper hand in the Mediterranean and were anticipating a massive Allied invasion either in Greece or Italy. In the Trout Memo, Fleming suggested 54 different ways one could fool the enemy, like a trout.

“The Trout Fisher casts patiently all day. He frequently changes his venue and his lures. If he has frightened a fish he may ‘give the water a rest for half-an-hour,’ but his main endeavour, viz. to attract fish by something he sends out from his boat, is incessant.”

Fleming himself owned that many of the ideas contained in the Trout Memo were fantastical, but maintained they might contain a seed or two that if properly cultivated could grow into a solid plan. He was right. One idea was used to great effect in Operation Mincemeat (now dramatized as a film on Netflix starring Colin Firth). The idea behind it was to create the human equivalent of a fly. A cadaver dressed as a British airman was to be dropped in the Med off Spain by a British submarine. When he washed ashore, he would be searched by local Spanish police who acted as informants to the Germans. In his pockets they would find a stash of incredibly convincing fake documents. The idea was that the documents and the corpse would fool the German high command into thinking the invasion was set for Greece and Sardinia. The Germans would then move troops and materiel there, when in fact the Allies were aiming for Sicily.

When the Brits decrypted German messages proving that they had fallen for the plan, Prime Minister Winston Churchill was sent a cable by someone who clearly doesn’t fly fish that read, “Mincemeat swallowed rod, line and sinker.”

The plan worked and the Allies were able to get a foot hold in Sicily, which led in turn to Mussolini being toppled and the Italians to negotiate secretly with the Allies. Mincemeat and by association Fleming and his fly angler’s mindset all played a part in eventually pushing Hitler to the back of his Berlin bunker with Eva Braun, cyanide capsules and a Walther PPK (coincidentally, James Bond’s choice of gun too).

I wonder how Fleming the fly angler would approach today’s horrendous wars that appear to be both from the beginning of last century (with human waves and trench warfare) and modern (with kamikaze drones, laser guided missiles and cyber battles). I’d like to think that he’d come up with at least 54 fantastical fly fishing-inspired ways to take out the current crop of warmongering shitheads. Perhaps a super spy to carry out an assassination (007-Weight?) or a flying car loaded with laser-guided incendiary Squirmy Wormies and Flash Clousers. At a minimum, considering how astute his advice was about frequently changing your venue and your lures, resting the water and being incessant (aka, never giving up) I wager he’d either get the job done or catch a lot of fish in the process.

As we were sending this magazine to print we received the terrible news that Gareth Reid had passed away. Not only one of South African fly fishing’s most popular characters, Gareth was a wonderful husband and father, a brilliant guide, a fantastic friend and a cherished colleague to the team at Mavungana Flyfishing. From everyone at The Mission and Feathers & Fluoro, our thoughts and condolences are with all his loved ones. Rest in peace G. Photo Peter Coetzee

The Mission Fly Fishing Magazine for Soutie Press (Pty) Ltd 25 Firth Road, Rondebosch, 7700, Cape Town, South Africa info@themissionflymag.com www.themissionflymag.com

Tudor Caradoc-Davies

Brendan Body

Conrad Botes

Gillian Caradoc-Davies

Ingrid Sinclair

tudor@themissionflymag.com

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