The River
of Dreams
The line draws up smartly through my
fingers and a colossal salmon bursts up
through the glassy surface, climbing into
the late golden light of the afternoon.
“It’s gone,” Toby said with a melancholy look on his face. We had been well and truly defeated. “Did we make the wrong call on which way to go around the coral head?” I asked. The answer was there in the expression on his face. Toby had just hooked and, thirty minutes later, lost his first milkfish.
13 min read
Yokanga: The River of Dreams
The line draws up smartly through my fingers and a colossal salmon bursts up through the glassy surface, climbing into the late golden light of the afternoon.
6 min read
Destination: South Africa on the Fly, Bru!
When the average angler thinks about South Africa, tiger fish or tropical saltwater destinations are generally the direction that most conversations go. When guiding at international destinations, it’s always really exciting to be able to describe, and chat about the various fish species, and varieties of fly fishing that can be done down there on the tip of Africa. We’ve been lucky enough to sample quite a bit of this, and can assure you, that there are some very cool fish in these waters.
10 min read
Operation GT: Searching the Flats of Kiribati
I’d never caught a bonefish before I went to Kiribati. Of course I’ve always wanted to and I knew it was about to happen, I was on my way to the world famous Kiritimati Island after all. In the Kiribati language a ti is pronounced as an s so the word “Kiritimati” (a respelling of the English word “Christmas”) has a pronunciation far less exotic than it appears. Kiritimati is one of the most prolific bonefish fisheries on the planet. My first afternoon on the flats quashed any suspicion that the hype around the fishery was at all disproportionate.
3 min read
New Zealand: Spring Creek Salvation
A season that seems to already have peaked is what awaits us this year. Weeks-on-end with high temperatures and hardly any rain have taken their toll on many of the local New Zealand trout streams. The small rivers are too warm and its inhabitants not too keen on feeding. We learn this on the first day. The decision to move south-west to a colder climate is taken already before we explore the last pool in an almost dried out mountain river…
4 min read
Profile of a Fly Fisherman: Oliver White
Oliver White is a jack of all trades: A former guide turned lodge owner who fishes all over the world and is heavily engaged in conservation work and the transformation of local fisheries into sustainable and environmentally sound economies that empower indigenous people. We've had a chat with Oliver about his life-long obsession with fly fishing and how he's come to be such an integral part of contemporary fly fishing culture.
4 min read
Paul Vecsei: Artistic Skills Down to a Science
Paul Vecsei is a Canadian fisheries biologist and fly fisherman, who has turned his passion for wild fish species into a way of life – both as a professional in the field and as an avid artist. Having specialized in scientific illustrations of fish species, Paul has documented fish in painstaking detail for more than two decades, and over the years he’s illustrated hundreds of different endemic fish species, sub-species and variations. To put things in perspective, Paul has done more than 100 illustrations of brown trout alone.
6 min read
Orange N Grizzly Pike Floater: Floating Winter Flies for Pike
Floating pike flies are normally used for explosive surface fishing during the summer months, but floating flies are, sometimes, just the right medicine for lethargic winter pike that cling to the bottom. Fly tyer, Søren Flarup, has designed a special floating pike fly for the winter months ahead.
8 min read
Destination Angling: Unpredictable and Uncertain Times
10 November 2019, Remembrance Sunday. I am in the USA, and when I woke up this morning, I checked the BBC headlines: Woman dies and dozens evacuated as floods hit. When I returned from lunch the headlines had changed: Sydney area faces ‘catastrophic’ bushfire threat.
9 min read
The Fight for Europe’s Last Wild Rivers Continues
The Dam Tsunami in the Balkan region, which involves more than 3000 projected dam constructions, is still set to lay a vast number of pristine rivers in ruin. It has, however, lost a bit of momentum. NGO’s such as RiverWatch, EuroNatur and Balkan River Defence have mobilized against the EU, the banks, the entrepreneurs and other profiteers involved in the hydropower-axis, and with the aid of charities, donations, crowd funding and the unyielding help of passionate volunteers and activists, some progress has been made. But is it too late and too little?
15 min read
Milkfish Mayhem: Targeting the Fork-Tailed Devil
“It’s gone,” Toby said with a melancholy look on his face. We had been well and truly defeated. “Did we make the wrong call on which way to go around the coral head?” I asked. The answer was there in the expression on his face. Toby had just hooked and, thirty minutes later, lost his first milkfish.
13 min read
Yokanga: The River of Dreams
The line draws up smartly through my fingers and a colossal salmon bursts up through the glassy surface, climbing into the late golden light of the afternoon.
6 min read
Destination: South Africa on the Fly, Bru!
When the average angler thinks about South Africa, tiger fish or tropical saltwater destinations are generally the direction that most conversations go. When guiding at international destinations, it’s always really exciting to be able to describe, and chat about the various fish species, and varieties of fly fishing that can be done down there on the tip of Africa. We’ve been lucky enough to sample quite a bit of this, and can assure you, that there are some very cool fish in these waters.
10 min read
Operation GT: Searching the Flats of Kiribati
I’d never caught a bonefish before I went to Kiribati. Of course I’ve always wanted to and I knew it was about to happen, I was on my way to the world famous Kiritimati Island after all. In the Kiribati language a ti is pronounced as an s so the word “Kiritimati” (a respelling of the English word “Christmas”) has a pronunciation far less exotic than it appears. Kiritimati is one of the most prolific bonefish fisheries on the planet. My first afternoon on the flats quashed any suspicion that the hype around the fishery was at all disproportionate.
3 min read
New Zealand: Spring Creek Salvation
A season that seems to already have peaked is what awaits us this year. Weeks-on-end with high temperatures and hardly any rain have taken their toll on many of the local New Zealand trout streams. The small rivers are too warm and its inhabitants not too keen on feeding. We learn this on the first day. The decision to move south-west to a colder climate is taken already before we explore the last pool in an almost dried out mountain river…
4 min read
Profile of a Fly Fisherman: Oliver White
Oliver White is a jack of all trades: A former guide turned lodge owner who fishes all over the world and is heavily engaged in conservation work and the transformation of local fisheries into sustainable and environmentally sound economies that empower indigenous people. We've had a chat with Oliver about his life-long obsession with fly fishing and how he's come to be such an integral part of contemporary fly fishing culture.
4 min read
Paul Vecsei: Artistic Skills Down to a Science
Paul Vecsei is a Canadian fisheries biologist and fly fisherman, who has turned his passion for wild fish species into a way of life – both as a professional in the field and as an avid artist. Having specialized in scientific illustrations of fish species, Paul has documented fish in painstaking detail for more than two decades, and over the years he’s illustrated hundreds of different endemic fish species, sub-species and variations. To put things in perspective, Paul has done more than 100 illustrations of brown trout alone.
6 min read
Orange N Grizzly Pike Floater: Floating Winter Flies for Pike
Floating pike flies are normally used for explosive surface fishing during the summer months, but floating flies are, sometimes, just the right medicine for lethargic winter pike that cling to the bottom. Fly tyer, Søren Flarup, has designed a special floating pike fly for the winter months ahead.
8 min read
Destination Angling: Unpredictable and Uncertain Times
10 November 2019, Remembrance Sunday. I am in the USA, and when I woke up this morning, I checked the BBC headlines: Woman dies and dozens evacuated as floods hit. When I returned from lunch the headlines had changed: Sydney area faces ‘catastrophic’ bushfire threat.
9 min read
The Fight for Europe’s Last Wild Rivers Continues
The Dam Tsunami in the Balkan region, which involves more than 3000 projected dam constructions, is still set to lay a vast number of pristine rivers in ruin. It has, however, lost a bit of momentum. NGO’s such as RiverWatch, EuroNatur and Balkan River Defence have mobilized against the EU, the banks, the entrepreneurs and other profiteers involved in the hydropower-axis, and with the aid of charities, donations, crowd funding and the unyielding help of passionate volunteers and activists, some progress has been made. But is it too late and too little?
