The Mission Fly Fishing Magazine Issue #24

ISSUE 24 NOV/DEC 2020

FREE

THEMISSIONFLYMAG.COM

RIDERS ON THE STORM, ESCAPE FROM SOCOTRA, THE DODO FISH, JOZINI, THE FEATHER MECHANIC, BEERS, BEATS & MORE

W W W . T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M ISSUE 24 NOV / DEC 2020

CONTENTS Cover: “Fok voort,” Kyle Scott lets rips in the Tankwa Karoo as we get on our bikes and ride through a storm in search of Clanwilliam yellows and smallmouth bass. Page 30

30 RIDERS ON THE STORM 1 x massive storm, 2 x riders and 2 x target species - we teamed up with BMW Motorrad for a mission into the Tankwa Karoo.

48 THE LONG WAY HOME When Peter Coezee went to Socotra in March, he was hoping to connect with giant GTs and other species. What he did not count on was getting stuck there as the coronavirus changed the world.

64 HOMEGROWN HONEYS Chunky tigerfish and game viewing without having to cross South Africa’s borders? Yes please. Jazz Kuschke reports on a recent trip to Lake Jozini.

78 THE DODO FISH Found in just a couple of Cederberg rivers these days, the Sandfish is in serious trouble. Leonard Flemming runs us through what is being done to save them and how you can help.

86 THE FEATHER MECHANIC Actor, fly tying instructor, MC, madman and now, author, Gordon van der Spuy is a man of many talents and irrepressible enthusiasm. Under-estimate him at your peril.

120 THE DESERT PRISONER Steve McGown spent just under six years as a prisoner of Al Qaeda in the Sahara desert in Northern Mali. As this issue’s Lifer, he shares some hard-earned pearls of wisdom.

REGULAR FEATURES 10 Ed’s Letter 16 Wish List Fish 18 The Little Guy 20 Beers, Beats & Whisky 22 High Fives

94 Pay Day 96 Salad Bar 104 Wands 110 Fluff 128 Pop Quiz

Kyle Scott on the left on the R nineT Urban G/S and Gareth Tate on the right on the F 850 GS Adventure deep in the Tankwa Karoo.

40% stronger than the premium competition.

29% stronger than our previous material.

Independent 3rd party lab tested.

Proven wet knot strength.

Trust the facts.

The Results Speak for Themselves.

7.0lb 6.0lb

3.0lb 2.0lb 1.0lb

WET KNOT STRENGTH

4.0lb

STRAIGHT TENSILE STRENGTH

5.0lb

0.0lb ________________________________________________________________________________________________ SA Absolute Trout 5X

SA Freshwater 5X

Competitor 1*

Competitor 2*

Competitor 3*

Competitor 4*

Competitor 5*

*Competitive materials in no particular order: Rio Powerflex+, Rio Powerflex, Umpqua, Trouthunter, Trouthunter EVO

Introducing Scientific Angler’s Absolute Leader and Tippet.

scientificanglers.com

It’s All Home Water.

On our home waters, change is the only constant.

As anglers, dealing with that change is what we do.

Off the water, change can be more complicated. It takes community, resources and action. It takes your voice and your passion. Together, our commitment to the things we love—wild fish and clean water— is one thing that will never change.

We Stand for the Waters We Stand In

Passion. Purpose. Progress. Hilary Hutcheson and Ebon Robinson keep moving forward, one step at a time. Flathead River, Montana. ANDREW BURR Š 2020 Patagonia, Inc.

Photo. Simon Pocock WHAT’S YOUR NAME?.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................Ezekiel!

T U D O R CA R A D O C - DAV I ES

I

ARE WE THERE YET?

f ever an issue epitomized the name of this magazine, this our bumper 24th issue, which also marks our 4th birthday, is it. It’s jam-packed not only with the usual spread of wonderful species, aweinspiring destinations, incredible personalities, gear and other gems, but it also features many stories of trial and tribulation, blood, sweat and tears, the interminable ball-ache of geo-political stasis and the sweet release that freedom of movement and immersion in the outdoors bring. Stories that, in a way, sum up the general vibe of 2020, because let’s be blunt, this year has been a mission.

We’ve got Peter Coetzee, the quintessential DIY leathertramp who went to Socotra (a tiny archipelago between Somalia and Yemen) to chase giant GTs, triggers, perms and parrots. When the pandemic hit back in March, he got stuck there and had a helluva journey to get home.

We’ve got the sandfish (aka The Dodo Fish), which as Leonard Flemming reports, is hanging on by a thread in the last few streams it has left. With the help of some brilliant scientists, sandfish are trying to mount a comeback.

We’ve got Gordon van der Spuy who as an actor, fly tying instructor and general enthusiast has been missioning, against both conventional career odds and establishment thinking, most of his life. Like Sinatra, he’s done things

08

his way and with his latest contribution to the fly fishing world – a cracking new fly tying book called The Feather Mechanic – Gordon has raised the bar in the genre.

We’ve got our Clanwilliam yellowfish / smallmouth bass mission into the Tankwa Karoo with BMW Motorrad.

‘Fokking voort,’ through gale force winds, sand storms, thunder storms and more, it was a transformative trip in more ways than one.

And then, just in case you were feeling sorry for yourself, we’ve got the ultimate perspective check in our Lifer, Steve McGown. Steve was abducted in 2011 by Al Qaeda in Northern Mali and spent the better part of six years in the Sahara desert as their prisoner. Now, safely back home and free to fish his homewaters of the Vaal again, Steve’s a motivational speaker with plenty of hard-earned pearls of wisdom to share with the world.

In each of these features, there are common threads of effort, endurance and the ecstasy that comes either from the reward for a job well done, the confidence that comes with picking up new skills or the relief of a shit situation that was survived.

Again, much like what many of us have experienced in 2020 to varying degrees.

Enjoy. We’ll see you out there next year.

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

Back to The Flats

SEYCHELLES Alphonse Island | Astove Atoll | Cosmoledo Atoll | Amirante Islands

PRISTINE LOCATIONS | UNRIVALED EXPERTISE | DIVERSE TROPHY SPECIES

+27 82 748 7290

[GMT+02:00]

+248 422 9700

[GMT+04:00]

reservations@alphonsefishingco.com www.alphonsefishingco.com | www.bluesafari.com

TH E M I SSI O N F LYM AG. C O M

“It’s like you gave a toddler a paw paw, and asked them to create a jungle fish with it. You said jungle, so they put on a beak, and gave it a tail like a macaw. The colours? Neon everything.” Peter Coetzee on Socotran parrots, page 48

EDITOR Tudor Caradoc-Davies ART DIRECTOR Brendan Body CONTACT THE MISSION The Mission Fly Fishing Mag (PTY) Ltd 25 Firth Road, Rondebosch, 7700, Cape Town, South Africa info@themissionflymag.com www.themissionflymag.com

EDITOR AT LARGE Conrad Botes COPY EDITOR Gillian Caradoc-Davies ADVERTISING SALES tudor@themissionflymag.com

THE MISSION IS PUBLISHED 6 TIMES A YEAR. THE MISSION WILL WELCOME CONTENT AND PHOTOS. WE WILL REVIEW THE CONTRIBUTION AND ASSESS WHETHER OR NOT IT CAN BE USED AS PRINT OR ONLINE CONTENT. THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED IN THIS MAGAZINE ARE NOT NECESSARILY THOSE OF THE MAGAZINE OR ITS OWNERS. THE MISSION IS THE COPYRIGHT OF THE MISSION FLY MAG (PTY) LTD. ANY DUPLICATION OF THIS MAGAZINE, FOR MEDIA OR SALE ACTIVITY, WILL RESULT IN LEGAL ACTION AND THE CULPRIT WILL BE GIVEN AN ALL EXPENSES PAID SIX-YEAR HOLIDAY WITH AL QAEDA IN NORTHERN MALI.

12

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

CONTRIBUTORS #24 Leonard Flemming, Peter Coetzee, Brendan Bekker, Jazz Kuschke, Conrad Botes, Herman Botes, Richard Chennells PHOTOGRAPHERS #24 Simon Pocock, John Travis, Travis Owen, Sean Gibson, Peter Coetzee, Leonard Flemming, Tim Leppan, FlyCastaway, Nic Isabelle, Caroline Brouckaert, Gareth Tate, Conrad Botes, Pierre Joubert, Jazz Kuschke, Herman Botes, Chris Walley, Ben Bergh, Ray Montoya, Al Qaeda

@THEMISSIONFLYMAG MEMBER OF THE ABC (AUDIT BUREAU OF CIRCULATION)

Fresh, Fast &

UNFILTERED.

The new benchmark in high-performance, handcrafted fly rods from Scott.

Scott Fly Rod Company | Handcrafted at 2355 Air Park Way, Montrose, Colorado 81401 | 970.249.3180 | www.scottflyrod.com

WISHLIST FISH

BLUE KURPER A FAV O U R I T E O F FA R M D A M S A N D L O C A L P O N D S , T H I S A G G R O B R I D G E T R O L L D E S E R V E S Y O U R AT T E N T I O N A S L E O N A R D F L E M M I N G R E P O R T S .

Photo. Leonard Flemming

WHAT: The blue kurper, aka Mozambique tilapia or Oreochromis mossambicus as the scientists know it is a fairly large, deep-bodied, mouthbrooding and very robust cichlid that thrives in southern African waters.

National and IGFA angling records are over 3 kg and plenty around that size have been caught on bait, lure and fly in South Africa. It is an aggressive fish that eats minnows, nymphs and annelids, but at times they become extremely tricky to catch and may even focus on green algae as main diet and especially to fatten up before the cold winter months.

WHERE: It has a wide natural distribution from the lower Zambezi southwards along the coast in rivers and pans to the Brak River in the Eastern Cape; and it also occurs in the Limpopo system. Blue kurper were spread to many other waters, including the mighty Orange River, in southern Africa as a food fish for humans and also because of its popular angling status. Currently, most urban waters and especially municipal dams have healthy stocks of these fish in South Africa.

16

HOW: Although they can be picky eaters and may sometimes seem near impossible to fool on lure and fly, many have been caught on smaller nymph, buzzer and midge larvae imitations. The odd big fish has come out on large Woolly Buggers, damsel and dragon fly nymph patterns; but I’ve had by far the best success catching them in all sizes on #12 red Squirmy Wormies and white Falloons.

I’d recommend a 5-6-weight rod with a floating line and 4X fluorocarbon tippet in general, but do carry some 5X and 3X with you to either step down for smaller or spooky fish, or to step up for when you encounter big, dirty fighters (they love diving into weeds).

WHO: You and your dag; grab a handful of abovementioned flies and take your dog for a midday stroll to the nearest park with a dam in your neighbourhood on a hot December day. The odds of finding blue kurper basking on the surface in summer are high and once you’ve caught a few I’m sure you’ll return for more (warning: catching fish-afterfish of these hardy cichlids is extremely addictive).

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

BLUE OVER GOLD

GOLD BEATS SILVER

PIMP YOUR RIDE! WITH OVER 23 MODELS, SEVEN COLOURS AND SIX COMPONENTS TO MIX AND MATCH WITH, SHILTON REELS STOP FISH, IN STYLE.

RED OVER SILVER

PHOTOS. ALPHONSE FISHING CO.

WE STOP FISH S H I LT O N R E E L S . C O M C O N TA C T N U M B E R : + 2 7 7 9 8 8 2 8 2 8 6 D E A L E R I N Q U I R I E S : S A L E S @ F LY Z I N C . C O . Z A

THE LITTLE GUY

WALT GEAR L O C A L LY D E S I G N E D A N D M A N U FA C T U R E D WAT E R P R O O F B A G S A N D S U N H O O D I E S F R O M T H E P R E T O R I A + C A P E T O W N S TA R T - U P, W A LT G E A R ( WA LT G E A R . C O . Z A ) Photo. Tim Leppan

WHO ARE YOU?

We are a South African family-run business that channels a passion for fly fishing and the outdoors into making quality outdoor gear. Two of our founders, Petrus and Roelof van der Walt are passionate fly fishermen and the other two, Vaughn and Zara Sander do a variety of outdoor activities from climbing to scuba. Petrus and Roelof live in Gauteng where Petrus works a 9-5 and Roelof is a hurdles athlete and marketing student. Vaughn and Zara are both Cape Town-based engineers. With the skills that the four of us bring on board, we came up with the idea of designing and producing high quality fly fishing gear in 2017. We wanted to focus on making gear that we need, but couldn’t get our hands on. Our philosophy is not just to make products for the sake of it, but rather to make functional, durable and high quality gear that competes with the best in the field. We produce and manufacture all our gear in South Africa. This ensures that we support local manufacturers.

We oversee every step of our manufacturing process and every single item is made to the highest standards.

WHAT DO YOU SPECIALIZE IN?

Walt was launched with the dream of designing and manufacturing our own specialized waterproof and airtight backpack. We have been researching and developing the

18

backpack with help of professionals such as Johann du Preez and Tim Leppan since 2017, with R&D nearing a close. Developing the bag over an extended period of time has enabled us to make sure every small detail is correct and thoroughly tested, so that we have an exceptional bag once it launches. While Vaughn and Zara have been busy with the bag’s machining, Roelof and Petrus have been developing the Walt OmniWeather hooded shirt.

It’s a comfortable and durable solution to many outdoorwear problems. During development it’s been through multiple tests from the Yokanga in Russia to the Breede river in South Africa. This shirt boasts extreme sun protection, functional design details and best of all, it is 100% made in South Africa. We are really proud of it and wear it almost constantly ourselves.

WHAT SHOULD WE LOOK OUT FOR?

In the near future we are going to launch a range of clothing products, such as button up shirts, wind breakers, rain jackets, caps, fleece tops and of course the backpack that sparked this whole adventure. But for now, take a look at our Walt OmniWeather long sleeve shirt at waltgear.co.za or in selected outlets (a list of which can be found on our website).

Also keep an eye on our Instagram (instagram.com/ waltgear) and Facebook (facebook.com/waltgear) pages.

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

www.safarioutdoor.co.za

AT

experience SOUTH AFRICA’S

PREMIUM FLY FISHING SHOP, NOW OPEN in Pretoria

Safari Fishing is the latest addition to South Africa’s largest Hunting and Safari related shop, Safari Outdoor.

Catering for every type of fisherman’s needs, including a wide range of fly fishing gear and apparel.

LOCATED AT SAFARI OUTDOOR PRETORIA • Lynnwood Bridge, c/o Daventry & Lynnwood Rd • Tel: 0861 22 22 69 follow us on social media

or visit safarioutdoor.co.za

FODDER

BEERS, BEATS A P L A C E I N T H E K A R O O T O W O R S H I P B O T H W H O P P E R S A N D W H I S K Y.

BASS & BEER Win a case of Zulu Blonde beer and a Bass and Beer Weekend for two worth R2500 per person sharing (including two days guided bass fishing, two nights’ accommodation, all meals and all the beer you can drink). Simply follow both The Mission and Zulu Blonde (facebook. com/zulublonde) on Facebook or Instagram and keep an eye out for competition details.

THE BEER – ZULU BLONDE

Before craft breweries started popping up all over South Africa, way back in 1997 The Zululand Brewing Company (zululandbrewco.co.za) made its first beer, the multiaward-winning Zulu Blonde, which is available in the UK and Europe these days. Since then this microbrewery, which is part of The George Hotel in Eshowe, KwaZulu-Natal (both of which are run by the Chennells family) has gone from strength to strength. We caught up with brewmaster Richard Chennells to chat about both beer and bass.

What’s the genesis story of Zulu Blonde?

The main objective for starting a brewery and creating the Zulu Blonde brand was purely to put our town Eshowe on the map.

And the name? Ex girlfriend?

Blonde Ale, Zululand Brewery. On the Brew Sheet we literally just wrote, ‘Zulu Blonde’ and ‘boom’, there it was.

I developed the brand after.

What’s the brewing philosophy or for want of a less wanky word - approach?

It’s a passion I guess. The love of making great beer.

20

Brewing is hard work and people don’t understand that.

There are so many variables and loads of things can go wrong, especially with smaller brewing machines. That’s why I will always take my hat off to anyone who makes beer.

Run us through the core range. Any seasonals or collaborations?

Zulu Blonde is our main brand followed by Zululand Pale Ale. We have a rare seasonal beer called Ninja Inja and also an EscoBar IPA. In Eshowe, Zululand where we are based we have some of the best bird watching in South Africa. I always thought we could do a Two Tits Lager. I don’t get too bogged down with pairing but the most popular meals at The George that go with our beers are our Mutton Curry Bunny Chow and our Zulu Sushi (thin strips of fillet with wasabi).

Where do people fish around Eshowe?

There are over 10 private dams in and around Eshowe and also 15 min out of town is Phobane Lake which is home to some record breaking bass. Often we have people coming up and doing our Bass and Beer Weekend Package. Also, 30 min down the road to the sea is the Amatikulu Ski Boat club who fish up and down the coast.

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

& WHISKY

THE ‘1 BARBEL, 1 SCOTCH, 1 BEER,’ PLAYLIST When he’s not getting stuck on the Yemeni archipelago of Socotra in the middle of a pandemic, you will find Peter Coetzee bluelining unpressured waters around Gauteng wherever he can, accompanied by his trusty canine sidekick, Rocky. For this issue they assembled a suitably blues-driven playlist. Enjoy.

Mannish Boy - Muddy Waters Highway 13 - John Lee Hooker Try A Little Tenderness Take 1 - Otis Redding Boys Don’t Cry - The Cure All Right Now - Free Icky Thump - The White Stripes Smokestack Lightnin’ - Howlin’ Wolf Birds - Shane Eagle, J-Tek Red Lights - Lydia, Lauren Ruth Ward Bam Bam - Sister Nancy The Cover of The Rolling Stone - Dr. Hook Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes - Paul Simon 6 Summers - Anderson .Paak Fire Away - Chris Stapleton Fantastic Voyage - Coolio Ain’t Too Proud To Beg - The Temptations House of Pain - The White Buffalo

LISTEN HERE

THE SCOTCH – THE MACALLAN EDITION NO.6 The Macallan distillery has almost two miles of the famous River Spey (as in the origin of ‘Spey casting’) running through their estate. For this, the final whisky of their Edition collection, whisky maker Steve Bremner was inspired by the river, by the stories of their own ghillie, Robert Mitchell, and by legendary tackle manufacturers, Hardy of Alnwick.

Expect an aroma of rich fresh fruits, nutmeg, ginger, chocolate, toffee, vanilla, and oak; a palate of plum and sweet orange, cinnamon, nutmeg, balanced oak, toffee, and oats. And a long finish with fruity, spicy and chocolate notes. themacallan.com

HIGH FIVES

BRENDAN BECKER FROM EXOTIC BUCKET L I S T L O C AT I O N S L I K E PROVIDENCE TO HOMEB A S E D H E AV E N L I K E L A K E JOZINI AND STERKFONTEIN D A M , F LY C A S TA W AY G U I D E BRENDAN BECKER LEADS A PRETTY SHWEET LIFE. WE CAUGHT UP WITH HIM FOR THIS ISSUE’S HIGH FIVES. Photos. Brendan Becker Archive, Flycastaway

5 best things about where you guide?

1. Mayas Dugong. It’s a massive fishing uber for Providence atoll, allowing us to unlock the full fishing potential of the place.

2. Tapered banks. There’s nothing quite like a massive turtle grass flat with a rising gradient funnelling the fish in one direction.

3. Fusion boats (fusionpowerboats.com). Guiding Sterkies on a platform that keeps your feet dry and the beers ice cold. It is the way to fish for high riding still water yellowfish.

4. The team. Wherever you guide, you’re only as strong as the team. The guides, crew, caterers are all connected by the grind.

5. Red meat. No tigerfish experience is complete without a quota of venison in all its beautiful, tasty forms.

5 fishing connected items you don’t leave home without?

1. Anything that plays media. A movie or a series can be really good, but on location or on a fishing trip it can be life changing.

2. Headlamp. I am injury prone and partial to a beer or two. Add darkness to the equation and it’s a recipe for a trip ender.

3. Imodium. You’re not always going to need it but, when you do…

4. Ziploc bags. A million different uses and many days saved. Don’t use them as a fly boxes and submerge them in saltwater though. Please.

5. Back brace. If you experience the never ending suffering of lower back pain, this thing will save the day.

22

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

Smallmouth slabs at Sterkies

5 bands to listen to on a road trip?

1. As I Lay Dying 2. Parkway Drive 3. Excision 4. Bring me the Horizon (including the new stuff).

5. Zeds dead. Fish angry or very chilled, no in-between.

5 things you are loving right now?

1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The build up to Call of Duty: Blacks Ops Cold War 3. I recently found some books from Raymond. E. Feist that get me closer to finishing off the 15-book series.

4. My cats. Got my first cats after a lifetime of dogs and I am amazed. Really great little animals.

5. Baking. My girlfriend is teaching me the dark arts of confectionaries.

5 indispensable flies for saltwater?

1. Clouser minnow. It’s a given.

2. Merkin Crab. One of the best crab patterns that has stood the test of time. (Please tie on a good hook.

Please.)

3. Spawning Shrimp. Bonefish destroyer.

4. Semper. Like its Latin translation you always need a few of these.

5. Tan Brush Fly. Big Geets kryptonite. I’ve witnessed so many big Geets commit to this fly knowing they shouldn’t.

5 indispensable flies for freshwater?

1. Clouser. Same as the salt, it’s a given.

2. Speedkop. Ye old faithful. It has to have to have the right blue flash though.

3. PTN (Pheasant Tail Nymph). Tie them how you want, but make sure you have many.

4. GRHE (Gold Ribbed Hare’s Ear). Like the PTN, make sure you have many of them.

5. Stimulator. It catches fish in so many different places and environments.

5 favourite fishing destinations?

1. Sterkfontein. The great teacher. It sucks when you start fishing it, but seldom does a fishery increase your angling ability as drastically as it can.

2. St Brandon’s. Of all the atolls I’ve guided, this one is in the soul. It has an unmatched energy that, once one tunes into it, fades the rest of the world away.

3. Providence Atoll. The oceanic jungle. An incredibly complex ecosystem that makes everything on it ruthless in its behaviour. The only place where I’ve been left utterly speechless.

4. Jozini/Pongola River. Fishing for the southernmost distribution of tigerfish in South Africa in a properly African setting does not get any better!

5. Kebrabassa. Wildcard. The potential of this part of the Zambezi is unbelievable as you stand on volcanic rock,

24

casting into the relentless and violent Zambezi with the chance of catching the biggest Hydrocynus vittatus on the continent. All with unfiltered Africa as the backdrop.

5 fish species on your hit list 1. South Island Brown Trout.

2. Atlantic Permit.

3. Peacock Bass.

4. Barramundi (watch Pelagic Pursuit for where it’s at).

5. Tarpon.

5 things you wish clients understood?

1. They are not your fish. Sometimes fish are meant for you, sometimes they’re meant for somebody else. You must swallow your pride.

2. The start of the day on the water does not determine how it’s going to finish.

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

A golden mahseer (Tor putitora), Brendan Becker and a handlebar moustache Thor would be proud of.

3. You cannot control the weather.

4. You cannot control the fishing.

5. A day does not define you. It’s always about the bigger picture.

5 of the worst things you have picked up from guiding?

1. Cynicism. Rather half full then half empty.

2. Arrogance. Guiding makes you think you can catch all the fish all of the time. You cannot.

3. Do not judge people on their angling ability.

4. You are not always going to be shit hot.

5. I drive a boat like I stole it. Haha.

5 people you would like to guide/fish with?

1. Lefty Kreh. RIP. 2. Matt Scholz (Pelagic Pursuit on Youtube).

3. Eric Ratliff (@catfishric).

4. Dre Van Wyk. A role model in the offline and online world. Fly fishing guide pioneer come fishtagrammer/ fishing influencer.

5. Jon B. I’m a bass fishing Youtube groupie.

5 shower thoughts 1. Fly fishing is eternal chaos mixed in with moments of very nice.

2. Is there another lateral dimension that we are missing in fly fishing? Get three beers in me and I’ll explain this.

It also breaks my brain.

3. Do the fish miss me too?

4. Why do I gravitate towards drop offs?

5. If English is my only language, why can’t I speak it all at times?

“A DAY DOES NOT DEFINE YOU. IT’S ALWAYS ABOUT THE BIGGER PICTURE.” 5 of the most underrated species?

1. Natal Scaly. It’s good to see the guys in KwaZulu Natal putting long hours into these fish because they have been slept on.

2. Largescale Yellowfish. A smallmouth yellowfish with a PhD. 3. Boxfish. They are ridiculous but they eat flies and get many likes on Instagram.

4. Jozini Tigers.

5. Golden Mahseer. Worth every bit of effort you put in.

5 essential Ingredients for an incredible mission?

1. Food. Lots of it and good quality.

2. If you drink, cold beers are a must.

3. Semi decent accommodation. Ja, we can all rough it as we know but, after a long hard slog on the water a comfortable little space for yourself goes miles.

4. Information. We live in the age of information so make sure you use it to your advantage and cut out some of the guesswork.

5. An open mind. Things will be what they are going to be; you have to be flexible enough to go with the flow.

5 destinations on your bucket list?

1. New Zealand.

2. Florida Keys.

3. Henry’s Fork.

26

4. North Western Australia.

5. Kamchatka.

5 flies that make no sense but catch fish all the time?

1. Gummy Minnow. Glorified dropshot, but put it in front of a bluefin trevally and it will inhale it like a 2-minute noodle.

2. Pellet flies. Matching the hatch a bit too literally.

3. Pancora Woolly Bugger. What on earth is red, orange and yellow in the water?

4. Most carp flies. You can’t fool me. That looks nothing like a crayfish.

5. Blob. No idea what they are but it will not stop me using them religiously.

5 things about flyfishing you may never understand 1. Does my fly line know when I’m frustrated?

2. Are lines and propellers magnetically attracted to each other?

3. Why are hangovers so bad when fishing but fishing is the best way to get rid of a hangover?

4. Why do people get G.Loomis tattoos and use a Sage?

5. Proportionately speaking, why do more bad casts catch fish then good casts?

Your last 5 casts were to?

Tigerfish on Lake Jozini.

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

WE’VE GOT ISSUES (AND CAPS) MISSING A COPY? GET YOUR BACK ISSUES OF THE MISSION A N D A R A N G E O F N E W C A P S AT T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

WE SHIP WORLDWIDE

BMW MOTORRAD X THE MISSION

RIDERS ON THE STORM

WE TEAMED UP WITH BMW MOTORRAD FOR A MISSION I N T O T H E TA N K WA K A R O O . I N T H E M I X W E R E T W O RIDERS ON THE URBAN G/S AND THE F 850 GS BIKES, T W O TA R G E T S P E C I E S I N C L A N W I L L I A M Y E L L O W F I S H AND SMALLMOUTH BASS AND ONE GIANT STORM.

By Tudor Caradoc-Davies Photos Simon Pocock, Sean Gibson, Caroline Brouckaert

WAT C H T H E F I L M

THE EAGLE

& THE WOLF

The Rider: Gareth Tate It’s actually Dr. Gareth Tate to you, peasant, but he’s not the kind of guy to insist on honorifics. Plus, Gareth’s not the kind of doctor you’d get to check your prostate or swab your shnoz for the rona. He’s got a PhD from the Fitzpatrick Institute of Ornithology and he works for the Endangered Wildlife Trust (ewt.org.za) managing the Birds of Prey Programme. He can also fish like a fish eagle armed with dynamite. As we drove deeper into the desert of the Tankwa Karoo, we actually entered one corner of Gareth’s vast office – the southern tip of the Martial eagle range. These birds, Africa’s largest eagle, nest in the power line supports that traverse South Africa. Part of Gareth’s job is to criss-cross dirt tracks in the middle of nowhere checking on the nests.

The Rider: Kyle Scott Kyle’s the man behind Wolf Moto (wolfmotomotorcycles.com) a Cape Town motorbike rental company based out of The House of Machines where we started our trip. Want to ride any of BMW Motorrad’s Heritage collection bikes or take a day tour around the Western Cape? He’s your man. Kyle’s also BMW Motorrad’s pro rider, meaning he gets to ride bikes for a living and he’s got the tattoos to prove it. He’s even got a tattoo of a tooth that went septic when he was touring around the Himalayas. Who has a tattoo of a septic tooth? A road wolf, that’s who.

The Bike: F 850 GS Adventure BMW Motorrad’s tag line for the F 850 GS is ‘the world becomes the adventure,’ which makes complete sense when you see what this bike, with its 4-stroke twin-cylinder inline engine (70 kW / 95 hp) can do and where its 23-litre fuel tank with its surprisingly moderate consumption of 4.2 l per 100 km can take you (hint: far). The more we got nailed on this trip by wind, rain, dust, sand, mud, climbs, corrugations, potholes and what seemed like impossibly rocky terrain, the more the F 850 GS came into its own (and the more stoked Gareth became). It’s as if this bike was made for bluelining untouched waters and checking on eagles’ nests.

The Bike: R nineT Urban G/S Part of BMW Motorrad’s Heritage range, the Urban G/S is a looker with vintage stylistic chops reminiscent of the original R80 G/S from 1980.

It looked as cool parked in the inner city as it did pimped with off-road tires rounding mountain passes or navigating rocky terrain deep in the Karoo. With an air/oil-cooled, four-stroke twin-cylinder boxer engine, it fucks off appropriately (especially with a pro like Kyle gunning it into the bends). Compared to the go-anywhere eagle vibes of the F 850 GS, the Urban G/S is more of a Zoolander-esque ‘ambi-turner’, a domesticated wolf if you will, as at home in the wild as it is in the city.

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

33

I

did not sleep well. I never do before a fishing trip. The wind woke me up first. A proper Cape Town howling gale, accompanied by the occasional squall of sideways rain, then a weird five or so minutes of calm leading you to think it was over before it would start up again. It’s the kind of unhinged Western Cape weather that, unless you’re driving away from it, suggests a rethink of your outdoor plans. So, when the first WhatsApp group messages started coming through at around 5am, I wasn’t that surprised that a few people were suggesting that ‘maybe’ the timing and conditions for this weekend away were not ideal.

I admit, I bullied them a bit, saying that as anglers we never write off a day entirely; that it’s the very nature of fly fishing to take a “look see” and that, at the very least, we should meet as agreed for a coffee, do a gear check, get the bikes and back-up vehicles packed and make a call from there.

I knew that once we were all together, with some caffeine in our systems, our warm beds just a faint memory, there was a very good chance we would hit the road, weather be damned.

The thing is, gale or no gale, hurricane or no hurricane, pandemic or no pandemic, we had to do this trip. Right from the start of the year we had been chatting to BMW Motorrad about the idea of doing something cool to combine what we do with their GS bikes. It was a nobrainer. Fly fishing in remote areas + bikes that can take you to those areas = a match made in heaven. Then the year went to shit. As we sat at home contemplating the plague, months passed, winter flew by and fishing seasons (both official and hypothetical) closed and opened again.

As South Africa’s national lockdown eased to just the right level for us to disappear into the deserts and mountains of the Tankwa Karoo for a long weekend (in time to create something for this our last issue of the year), the bloody storm started to roll in.

If ever there was a time to invoke the Afrikaans idiom of, ‘fok voort,’ this was it. In fact, it’s a saying that the world should adopt. It’s got a literal translation of ‘fuck forward,’ but a working usage of, ‘keep carrying on.’ Internally I was adamant that we could do this thing. If 2020 has taught us anything on an individual or personal level, it’s that you have to keep going no matter what’s dished up. Nothing ventured, nothing gained and all that. Plus, the name on this rag is The Mission and like GS riders, we’re ok with a little discomfort and effort to get that outdoor high.

Pandemic aside, 2020 has been a serious milestone year for BMW Motorrad, because it is the 40th anniversary of their iconic GS range. Four decades of adventure racing, rallying and technical innovation. In case you were wondering, G is for Gelande (terrain) and S is for Strasse (roads) and when BMW Motorrad launched the first model, the R 80 G/S N 1980, the idea of an on-road/off-road motorbike was pretty revolutionary. Here were bikes that could take you to places previously inaccessible to most riders, bikes that could satisfy anyone’s wanderlust and sense of adventure.

Want to cross the Mongolian steppe, do the Cape-to-Cairo route, mud-wrestle in the Congo or tackle the mountain passes of Lesotho? There was nothing stopping you from doing so. Outside of adventure biking, the GS range have also proven themselves in off-road racing, winning the Paris-Dakar rally on numerous occasions.

Something I didn’t know was that South Africa has made a pretty special contribution to the GS story in that one of the most unique bikes to ever come out of the stable was, in a way, a South African thing. I shit you not. If your old man or gramps has an old BMW motorcycle in the garage with a R 80 / G/S Kalahari decal on it, you or your family might be in possession of a valuable piece of motorcycle history. In 1997, 50-odd R 80 G/S Basic bikes were shipped to South Africa. The team that worked on converting them from Euro specs to South African specifications, also modified them for South African riders with larger fuel tanks, a wind deflector and a white instrument panel. Because BMW’s RS1100 GS bikes were launched around the same time and were selling well, the R80 GS Kalaharis and their retro styling did not initially take off in South Africa.

Meanwhile, back in Europe, the GS Basic models were selling well so the decision was made to crate up all unsold GS Kalaharis and ship them back to Germany.

As they got snapped up by European buyers, back in South Africa the penny dropped that these were in fact incredible, iconic bikes and the market for those secondhand ones that remained in South Africa shot through the roof. Today the world over, the R 80 G/S Kalahari and it’s ‘boer maak ‘n plan’ local modifications for long distance, off-road African adventure are rarer than hen’s teeth and worth a pretty penny. From Elon Musk, to Charlize Theron, the Kreepy Krawly and Roger Federer’s mum, I love a South African success story so to hear that this the unicorn of GS bikes has South African DNA was brilliant.

“I DID NOT SLEEP WELL. I NEVER DO BEFORE A FISHING TRIP. THE WIND WOKE ME UP FIRST. A PROPER CAPE TOWN HOWLING GALE, ACCOMPANIED BY THE OCCASIONAL SQUALL OF SIDEWAYS RAIN” 34

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

I was right about the effect of coffee. Once we met up, analysed our weather apps, checked and re-checked the bikes and other equipment, the mood had changed. We were going to do this.

45 minutes later we were standing on the side of the road past Wellington, surrounded by bright yellow fields of canola and the mantle of the Witzenberg and Groot Winterhoek mountains folding off in layers to the north.

I was feeling smug because the sky above us was blue and there was only a gentle breeze at play, so I started dropping blunt, ‘I told you so’ comments at the rest of the crew. Both Kyle, the pro-rider from BMW and Gareth, our eagle-taming fly fishing nature boi looked stoked as all hell with the bikes. Kyle’s a speed-freak so he just looked like he wanted to race the Urban G/S into the mountains, while Gareth who has been riding bikes for years was wide-eyed, marvelling at the beast he’d been riding. He kept saying,

38

“This thing is incredible. It just motors. It wants to go. Plus, it’s got hand-warmers.”

There was a palpable sense of relief from everyone, not just about the shoot and the story happening, but from our own personal points of view. We had all been talking about and planning this trip for so bloody long while under lockdown, for the literal and metaphorical wheels to be turning was amazing. It was as if this storm had manifested solely to blow us out of the city and away from all the stress and anxiety of the strangest year any of us has ever had. Three mountain passes later we left the tar roads and hit the Tankwa Karoo, the desolate semi-desert area where AfrikaBurn, South Africa’s version of Burning Man, happens every year. I was no longer thinking about unicorns, but rather camels, because as we rumbled up the R355 between Ceres and Calvinia, one of the longest straight dirt roads in the country, we got hit by a sandstorm

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

of Biblical proportions. It’s a dangerous road at the best of times, but now with sheets of sand and dust flying in from the south-east, we could not see more than ten metres in front of us. Tumbleweeds rolled past faster than the bikes or cars could crawl and the riders ate enough dirt to provide them with swarthy boogers for days. All of a sudden I was not so smug, because it felt like my missplaced weather confidence had crash-landed us on Mars.

When we eventually rolled into the shelter of our campsite, there was a palpable sense not only of relief for all of us, but also achievement for both Gareth and Kyle and an understanding that they had survived something not altogether pleasant or that they would choose to ride in again, but it was also something that they will always remember.

“Remember that time we got poesed by a sandstorm in the Karoo?”

“Ja, swaer.”

As the sandstorm turned into a thunderstorm, for all my fok voort bravado when we left town, I was stressing that the whole trip might be a blow-out. I’ve never bothered to fully get to grips with the nuances of what high or low pressure systems do to various species of fish, because I find if you are always watching the weather you can always find a reason not to go fishing, plus I’ve fished in crap weather and good weather and had both salad days and famine.

What I did know was that the conditions were strange for where we were. This river often dries up, with the bass and yellows surviving in the deeper pools until it rains and the flow starts again. Usually, it’s hot as hell and while there is often a fair amount of wind, in the river valleys it’s sheltered enough to make your way

“WE FOUND AND FISHED MEDIUM-PACED RAPIDS, NAILING THE SMALLIES ON CLOUSERS AND JOHN BARR’S MEAT WHISTLES.”

down to some likely looking water and get into some fish. Between thunder storms, sand storms, a howling gale, a sandy desert turned to mud and a river that rose rapidly, linking long isolated pools and runs, this was all new. In a way, that was perfect because it forced us to explore more, open more farm gates, crest more ridges and follow more faint tracks to find good water.

All that effort was worth it. As the rain tapered off and water levels subsided, we found and fished mediumpaced rapids, nailing the smallies on Clousers and John Barr’s Meat Whistles. In the slower pools and runs, Gareth brought a few Clannies to hand, which fell for the irresistible segmented body movement of white, mini foam versions of Kelly Galloup’s Sex Dungeons.

I guess the overall theme for riders and crew alike was a dual one of both exploration and skills exchange.

42

Kyle went from never having cast a rod a week earlier (save for some lessons I gave him on the Hamilton’s rugby club fields) to belting out a respectable 20m cast. Like anyone who experiences a near miss, he also almost lost his mind watching a smallmouth bass follow his yellow and orange Clouser to the rod tip. Gareth got to grips with a bike that superseded anything he had ever ridden before and which probably has him thinking about selling a kidney or at least his car. He also played out of his boots with the rod in hand, racking up more smallmouth bass and coveted, indigenous Clannies than anyone else and in far less time on the water.

As for the crew behind the shoot and the video… technically we were working, but it didn’t feel like it as the days were punctuated by the kind of stuff that you never forget.

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

The tug of a chunky smallmouth bass on the end of your line.

The sensation of being at the mercy of a monumental sandstorm in a desert.

The sound of wings as a pair of blue cranes flew low overhead.

Getting to watch a herd of Springbok sprint and pronk across the road while wild ostriches put foot on the horizon.

The realization that Brendan Body, The Mission’s art director, is quite literally the ginger Karoo version of Seinfeld’s Kramer.

The slow-tease aroma and mouth-gasm delivery of a sixhour lamb potjiekos.

The shroom-level trippiness of the crisp, crepuscular orange and pink light that follows a late afternoon desert thunderstorm combined with a rainbow as the wind switched off and the fishing switched on.

Watching on-screen as the drone tracked the F 850 GS and the Urban G/S splashing through muddy puddles in the dawn light, beams of sunlight shooting down from the clouds. Coming back into the city, mud-spattered, dogtired and grinning from ear-to-ear to find that, while we were riding the storm hundreds of kilometres away, trees and cars were blown over and houses were damaged.

Whether you’re a biker like Kyle or a fly angler, or both like Gareth, that’s the kind of stuff that reminds you, the next time a 5am WhatsApp comes through questioning the plan, that it is almost always worthwhile getting up and getting out there to go have a “look see”.

B M W TA N K WA

SHOP THE MISSION RIDE

Rallye Gloves bmw-motorrad.co.za Vidda Pro Trousers arcticfoxafrica.com Easy Tube Logo bmw-motorrad.co.za Cover Jacket Red bmw-motorrad.co.za

FISH

Fjallraven Splitpack arcticfoxafrica.com Shilton Reels shiltonreels.com Rio Lines rioproducts.com Echo BAG Rod echoflyfishing.com Loop Evotec flyfishing.co.za

44

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

Abisko View 2 arcticfoxafrica.com

Stealth Hip Pack 6L patagonia.com

F 850 GS Adventure bmw-motorrad.co.za

R nineT Urban G/S bmw-motorrad.co.za

Venture Grip Boots bmw-motorrad.co.za

Primus Gravity III justlikepapa.com Bialetti Moka Express justlikepapa.com

CAMP

And Union Beer Andunion.com Yeti Cooler upstreamflyfishing.co.za GSI Outdoors Boulder Orange, 295ml justlikepapa.com Gränsfors Bruks Axe arcticfoxafrica.com

GET BACK ON THE WATER Africa • Alaska • Argentina • Bahamas • Belize • Bolivia • Brazil • Canada • Chile • Cuba • Christmas Island • Cook Islands • Costa Rica • Guatemala

E

D

TH

ADVENTURES

L

F

H

F IS Y L

W OR

AS THE WORLD REOPENS, YELLOW DOG ANTICIPATES HIGH DEMAND FOR BEING THE FIRST TO FISH UNTOUCHED WATERS. GET THE LATEST, UP-TO-DATE NEWS ON OPENINGS AND FIND OUT HOW WE ARE HERE TO ENSURE YOUR SAFETY AND YOUR INVESTMENT IN YOUR TRIP. WWW.YELLOWDOGFLYFISHING.COM • Toll free: 888.777.5060 Dubai • Guyana • Iceland • India • Kamchatka • Mongolia • New Zealand • Seychelles • St. Brandon’s • Tanzania • Yucatan • United States & More!

SOCOTRA

THE LONG WAY HOME WHEN PETER COETZEE WENT TO THE YEMENI ARCHIPELAGO OF S O C O T R A , H E H A D T W O W E E K S S P E N T C H A S I N G G I A N T T R E VA L LY O N T H E C A R D S . T H E N T H E PA N D E M I C S H U T T H E W O R L D S H U T D O W N . S T U C K B E T W E E N A C I V I L WA R I N Y E M E N , P I R AT E S A N D T E R R O R I S T S I N S O M A L I A A N D T H E PA L L O R O F A N E W P L A G U E G R I P P I N G T H E W O R L D , P E T E A N D H I S F E L L O W T R AV E L L E R S F O U N D T H E M S E LV E S I N T H E S H I T. Photos. Peter Coetzee, Ray Montoya

I

was deposited on the Eastern shores of Abd al Kuri by the SS Hell-on-Earth, by way of Turkey, Cairo, Habidoh and Qalansiya (Socotra’s two main ports). The previous evening’s entertainment had involved hanging on for dear life on a vessel with one motor, no life jackets or flares and a rudder steered by way of two rusted pulleys on either end of myself and Martin, one of the British anglers. He nervously filled the air with tobacco smoke, which, added to the smell of oil and sweet tea provided a hell of a cocktail.

I woke to the sound of water hitting the hull over unpleasantly pitchy Arabic. Still wet from sea spray and smelling not to unlike the Socotran goat we’d brought along and tied to the deck, I stumbled to my feet, greeted by the sight of the commercial bay that was chosen to be our campsite. It looked like a depressing version of Mars, if Mars had beaches and litter and Chinese motorbikes and graveyards. Why the Yemenis discard flesh on land when they’re on the coast remains a mystery to me.

I stared up at the underside of the platform that held Ray Montoya, my long-time fishing friend who lives in Oman and the other members of our party, convinced we’d lose a man overboard that night. Before I lay down I made a gobag that would double as my pillow. My emergency locator beacon, GPS, cell phone and camera were tied to my torso with paracord. The dhow surfed down the massive rolling swells in the blackness, and as it attempted to cavitate left at the base of each swell, the captain would jerk the wheel right. Those pulleys and ropes beside Martin and myself being the only thing stopping the boat from succeeding in its attempt to capsize at the bottom of each large swell.

After breakfast we climbed over the high gunnels of the panga-like boats and laced up for the morning’s fishing.

The run was five minutes around the point of the bay to the second set of beaches, that, had it not been for a single rock pile, would be visible from camp. Ray and I laughed at the logistics around what could have been a 10-minute walk, especially for two leather tramps, but we would learn in the coming days that every mile further away from camp was met with increasing resistance. We constantly had to fight against the boat operators, it was as if an elastic band was tied to home base. The resistance was of concern to me, as the outboards looked about as badly maintained as anything I’d seen in the 3rd world. And, although life jackets were missing (as usual), it was the absence of a tool, radio or piece of rope that worried me most.

I would drift off to sleep but wake to the sounds of panic and scuffling on deck above. It took us 10 hours to put the massive seas behind us. As we entered the lee of Abd Al Kuri (the furthest islet of the Socotran Archipelago, closer to Somalia than it is the Arabian Peninsula), the swell abated. With the fear of losing a friend in the ocean half way between Socotra and this island now behind me, and I finally drifted off to sleep.

We hit the beach on what would be our calmest day on Abd Al Kuri, and as we pushed the boat away I immediately noticed a shape materialize around the point, coming to inspect the commotion. “Trevally!” I quickly managed to get a cast out behind us into the deep, the others having just waded out onto the sand. The fish, a great size bluefin, turned and ate immediately. I thought, ‘First cast and first fish before first land, we’re in for a treat here.’

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

49

“I SET OFF TOWARDS A VERTICAL FISSURE OF ROCK THAT PROTRUDES LIKE THE SPIKES ON GODZILLA’S SPINE.”

made landing a boat on any stretch of beach nearly impossible. We tried the next day. As we rounded the enormous current line, I looked back at one of the other Brits Niell and Johann the German and asked them if we should risk a long run. “What are you afraid of?” Johann remarked with a cheeky smile. An hour later, I watched as the colour drained from the inexperienced seaman’s face.

Our skipper had not been taught to throttle down over a large crest, and in the 3m seas which were white horse after white horse, we went airborne over every crest, trying to not land on our rods as we came down each time. The skipper’s distrust in his equipment meant that he would hug every piece of land, putting us immediately in the largest and most dangerous surf zone. We hit land, all of us ready to kiss the ground. Johann and Niell stumbled away as I set off towards a vertical fissure of rock that protrudes like the spikes on Godzilla’s spine.

The remainder of the day produced more bluefin and other odds and ends, but I focused on pushing further and further away, looking for the GTs I’d come this far to find. Parrotfish were abundant, mostly the same Dhofar/Swallowtail that haunted me on the Hallaniyat islands off Oman, but also a new species that was far prettier, with a far more impressive set of dentures. I did not pay them any attention, because I thought of every moment as a chance to find my quarry, the GTs. With the second day came the winds out of the North, and we would be confined to the same stretches as the day before. It was an unpleasant thought for me, as I had not realized we were probably in the most productive part of the island, so I continued to push further and further away from camp. Beach gave way to rocky overhangs not unlike what you’d see in photos of Sudan, and soon these viewpoints would give me my first glimpse of living Socotran GTs. I gave myself a visual limit, which was a large rocky headland on the horizon. A few hours later I would get to it, finding a lone GT hanging in the current a few fly line lengths away. It was impossibly big, and while a teaser would have probably opened the possibility, it would have hollowed the victory.

It was however in the bay before the headland where one of the most remarkably powerful sights I’ve ever seen in shallow salt water materialized. I knew immediately that the massive black shapes I was seeing were too fast to be GTs. The porpoising of one of the lead fish answered the question. It was a shoal of almost a hundred yellowfin tuna, in no less than 2m of water. The sand was churned up and the contrast in the milky water was phenomenal. I could spot them from a serious distance, and, with a wade, they would be within range. I waded out deep and managed to present the fly, but my single shot was not seen. The shoal was gone. Being predominantly sand, the potential impact of landing a 40kg plus yellowfin tuna on a tropical beach on foot was not lost on me, and had me weak with adrenalin.

I had now spotted a few permit as well, but they moved incredibly unpredictably in the rough shore break that

52

You will hear many stories of Socotra’s Djinns (demons or spirits), from men far too sensible to believe such things, but for some reason these mountains have you constantly checking your back. It’s an unsettling feeling that Nicola the Italian had spoken of. Although it’s said the Djinns only haunt the herders, it would be a fear that Valerian, the geologist we met a few weeks later in our group, would confirm. I told myself to not be foolish or superstitious and switched focus to my footing on the loose shale and granite, looking for visual clues.

Every calm bay I rounded had the small rock sheds typical of the Socotri commercial fishermen, and, almost immediately thereafter, a graveyard of sharks, GTs and other fish, piles of discarded tackle, nets, Chinese Rapala rip offs and heavy wire traces. I would begin to develop a hypothesis as to why, “the GTs hadn’t arrived yet”, as our popping hosts had told us. The 50 strike a day norm seemed to be closer to 4 or 5 now on a good day. Like Oman, but without the safety.

I wondered about Yemen’s civil war and its impact on an unmonitored fishery.

The previous day had produced a single GT shot, two fish sighted, but still no cigar. Calmer seas meant we could run far again and I continued my quest. The Godzilla hills from the day before hid behind them a phenomenal looking bay that had the makings of a predation site in the right conditions. I used the rocky point as a hide, and would, unusually, stay put and wait. Two large bluefin entered the bay and I stupidly had a shot. I immediately hooked up and the large fish rounded the point. In a move that would haunt me later, the fish pulled my fly line around the smooth rock of the point, but I assumed no damage was done and was happy to land it. An hour or so later I would get my GT shot, not at a large fish (sub 1 metre), but as it ate and shot immediately down below me, the fly line parted on the rock shelf. On inspection, the bluefin had managed to damage almost the entire first 20 metres of the Leviathan floater. “Pete, you fool,” I castigated myself.

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

“THE FISH, A GREAT SIZE BLUEFIN, TURNED AND ATE IMMEDIATELY. I THOUGHT, ‘FIRST CAST AND FIRST FISH BEFORE FIRST LAND, WE’RE IN FOR A TREAT HERE.” My hikes proved fruitless other than finding more parrotfish and snapper, and so I decided to do the same the next day, which presented only a single opportunity. It was a bigger GT that would come calling this time, but I would spot it too late in the gloomy conditions and it was out of reach before my fly line lay down on the water. With pressure building, we would arrive back to concerning news that night.

When we arrived in Socotra, the pandemic had been gathering momentum worldwide, but air travel was still allowed and most of the world did not know what ‘lockdown’ meant. Now, all of a sudden, countries were closing their borders, airports and airlines were calling last orders and we were in the middle of the Guardafui Channel of the

Arabian Sea with Somalia (pirates and Al Shabaab) to the South and Yemen and its civil war to the North). Nicola had made contact with Socotra via Sat phone and we were told the flight due to leave in a few days’ time would be moved forward. It would be the last flight for some time. After covering all of this distance and enduring everything we had, the next day would be our last day to fish. No second week, no Socotra, just Abd Al Kuri. With reliable shots at GTs seeming increasingly unlikely, I would have to dedicate the last day to my beaked friends that I’d ignored thus far.

Parrotfish are ridiculous looking animals. It’s like you gave a toddler a paw paw, and asked them to create a jungle fish with it. You said jungle, so they put on a beak, and gave it a tail like a macaw. The colours? Neon everything.

My first successful experience with these fish was in Oman, where Dhofar parrots are the dirty fighting reef eaters who immediately dive for the cartoon-like cheese holes in the Halliyanat shelves. So, on hearing Ray’s strike rate in Abd Al Kuri I was immediately shocked.

“Four hooked and two landed!?”

Five lost parrots later, I was cursing my luck. It’s different to losing another fish in that you’re dealing with some strange elements. They are nitrous on the first run, often leader shy, and have, well, a beak for a mouth that can somehow chew up coral like it’s made of apples. Every lost fish induces some post blasphemy head-scratching.

Did I pull too hard? Did I not pull enough? How is the hook open? I’d been pulling really hard. By this point I had figured out that they only have a single run, like their Omani counterparts. So, my new strategy was to fatigue them right out the blocks, then to go easy, because somehow it seemed I’d pulled the hook out of the beaks of the first bunch…well, the two that didn’t bite straight through the Gamakatsu SL12.

This strategy worked. I had my first parrot to hand and I was elated. A parrot in another country. I looked at my watch, 10am. The tide was pushing hard, but maybe I could try get more.

The shoals are tricky once spooked, and having pinned a bunch in the shoals I had found, I figured to try the fish at the back of the shoal in deep water. I lost the first new hookup, but the pace was aggressive with all the fish tailing hard and returning to tailing quite quickly after spooking.

Four or five fish came towards me, and, in the deep water I patiently counted to 8 to let the two 3mm tungsten beads do their job. As luck would have it, the shoal must have been right in the vicinity, and the first movement of the fly drew a fish. It followed and tailed slowly on the fly. I tightened and felt the hook set.

With one in the bag I experimented some more, and my new hookup and fight trick seemed to do the trick Two in the bag. 11:45am.

Four fish appeared in very deep water and I dropped a Hail Mary right on top of them. They were in well over 1 metre of water, so I let the fly sink for a long time. The wash wouldn’t allow me to strip or draw. It would be a good old fashioned Mexican permit stand-off. Using my best fish body language decoding skills (honed by many uncomfortable looking hooked carp), I decided the lead fish had spent a bit too much time on its head, and I tightened up to feel it hooked. This last fish had eaten something else for breakfast, but somehow I managed to

56

keep it on through three runs. These parrots are luckily not as dirty as their Omani cousins and the fish came to hand.

Three in the bag, 2:30pm. It was just one of those days where I could do no wrong and it left me enough time to head back to camp to pack before another horrendous Dhow ride back to Socotra.

We traveled back to Qalansiya still full of the optimism.

That was a sentiment that would slowly be bled out of us over the next month.

“More planes will come, I’m sure.”

“An extra few weeks of fishing!”

“Let’s just stay and fish it for a few weeks until the world goes back to normal and this is all over.”

My concern was mainly for the others. I had travel insurance from Global Rescue, including the expensive extraction option. ‘They’ll come pick me up in the next day or so,’ I thought. The realization that I’d spent a fortune on what was in essence a concierge service with no real ability, would come as quickly as the excuses after I formally requested extraction. I count myself lucky for learning about their true abilities outside of a medical emergency.

There was still hope. There were boats to Oman and flights from Oman, but most importantly, we believed that common human sense would prevail. We were of course massively wrong, and soon the butterfly effect of an oil futures delivery failure would remind us of the commercial nature of Middle Eastern politics.

Socotra’s is a coalition government run by the official states - Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Yemen, and then the unofficial influences of the Royal families in these states. The collapse in the oil price ,which was now headline news, had emptied the Saudis’ war chest considerably. With that collapse, the first few pawns were moved in what would become a full on proxy war by the UAE to regain control of this strategic territory. These were triggered in part by a shoot out at the port on the island involving one of the Khalifa ships, our first option to vanish.

In hindsight it is obvious that that was the beginning of a military strategy, but at the time this just all appeared to us as confused chaos. It coincided with a few distinct moves on the island - a ban on sea travel, a restriction in payments to anyone other than Saudi or UAE military, and, as a final reminder of Saudi governing power, the ceremonious public burning of goods by the Governor that were offloaded before the prescribed sea port quarantine period.

We would get to know the Saudi governor’s ways well. He would pretend to be our ally while using us for political leverage and public relations, none more ridiculous than a blood test that made it into Socotri news faster than a Kardashian Instagram story. I was the cover model with a

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

male nurse holding an infrared gun to my head execution style. We knew there were no Covid-19 test kits on the island so these blood tests were all just for show, but as world news permeated every inch of the island, it was starting to seem like we would be blamed for any impending outbreak. Maybe our fake tests would be our saving grace. I was a Socotori Online celebrity after all.

Almost inevitably Xenophobia began to creep in, as Covid began to be interpreted as a disease spread by foreigners. It began with some shops refusing us service, but soon manifested into other aggressions. We eventually became numb to fingers pointed at us and shouts of, “Corona, go away!” It was a first-hand education in how frightening Xenophobia can be. I attempted to engage strategically when this happened to stop it becoming a trend, but an incident with a fruit stall featuring a cucumber filled with bleach called for an increase in effort. There was now a human risk element too, in a populace being poked with a stick whose vices and finances were being purposefully removed. The accelerated tensions became palpable in the capital.

The group didn’t all deal with this the same. Some shot off to the north. Ray went and lived at Detwah lagoon down south, even though the call from the Foreign Office was to not move. We’d teamed up with a Valerian, a French artificial intelligence architect for oil and gas drilling. Together he and I were now formally running the group extraction, so could not move or risk being out of contact. Valerian had two sick parents to get home to whose status looked increasingly worse as the days rolled on, and so my support became more important. At the time the logistics of having to run north and south when any paper or news had to be passed to others, was as infuriating as the lopsided effort at times, but, we also understood where the effectiveness lay. I convinced Valerian that I woul d manage it, and that whatever would keep the others’ mental state healthy was probably better than being holed down in Hadiboh with us.

With relentless abandon, the two of us ran multiple parallel strategies. At the risk of the most confusing series of paragraphs you’ve ever read, I feel a timeline may do the series of events leading up to extraction better justice;

58

17 March Contact with Diplomat airways, Execujet and Phoenix aviation is made, request for charters.

18 March Diplomat runs operation in airspace to confirm they can operate.

18 March Yemeni airspace is closed.

19 March Contact is made with Royal Jet. 19 March We get word from aviation contact Hamad that they are, “talking to customs to approve our travel on board.”

19 March Addis cautionary release, private option blocked.

19 March Diplomat option out of Somalia.

19 March Options out of Johannesburg blocked on Kenya route.

19 March All flight ops blocked (Royal Jet).

21 March Charter agreement received via Johannesburg.

Kenyan closure denies this option.

22 March Request with Saudi Royal family denied.

22 March UAE borders close.

22 March Blood tests.

23rd March News of flight on 28th 23rd March News from Khalifa that doctors will be sent with test kits to test us.

23rd March Both parents in ICU (Valerian).

24th March Given news that Royal Jet flight on 28th march, departing 16:00 (would be cancelled).

24th March 10pm - Abu Dhabi transit is cancelled.

Above flight is cancelled.

25th March Phoenix aviation denied clearance to land out of Kenya and Ethiopia.

25 March Call from the British Foreign Office to prioritize resources and set up safe houses.

25 March Stuck on way to Hersel.

27 March Attempt to board cement boat (Nicola) – disallowed.

29 March US$ restrictions.

30 March Restrictions on withdrawals of US$ - French incident.

30 March Western Union, stockpile money.

31 March Visas expire. I visit minister of tourism’s office and have them renewed.

02 April French Embassy’s attempt to extract us to Djibouti is cancelled (approval not granted by Yemen).

04 April Hamad makes contact again, emergency flight is arranged to extract UAE residents.

04 April Letters etc.

05 April Permits Denied, etc.

Our opportunity came by way of a Whatsapp from a contact on the 4th of April. “Peter, there is an emergency flight to Socotra to collect the remaining UAE nationals. It will not be allowed to carry anyone else, but see if you can pull any strings to get on board.”

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

On the night of the 4th of April I left Valerian early and headed to my room to draft a letter stating our situation, with a plea for assistance. I would have to call in a favour that I had hoped to reserve for personal gain down the line to get it delivered and acted on, but I instinctively knew this was it. At 19:08 the letter was presented to our country’s highest office, and, in a remarkable bit of creative thinking and brainstorming, they had realized that a friend and former business associate held a board seat alongside the Sheikh. In an outside bit of luck the friend happened to be a degree of separation away, and had met me previously. At 21:48 Yemeni time that evening, he made the call to Sheikh Khalifa of the UAE requesting his consideration and assistance. At 22:04 triangulated confirmation was received by way of the Embassies. The flight would now only be for us, the UAE residents would need to remain.

Having averaged a failed option a day until this point, I did not inform anyone, other than my assistant back in South Africa, of this last hope. I did not want to risk disappointing everyone yet again. As we got in the vehicles the next morning Valerian looked at me and asked, “You’re SURE they have clearance?”

“Yes of course Val, I’m sure.”

I was not sure, but figured that the royal families’ aircraft would never be denied, and, as no further contact had been made by the ops crew, I assumed no news was good news. We had a further complication ahead. The airport was completely closed, guarded by an anti-tank gun Land Cruiser behind a locked gate. We arrived and had to bluff our way into the facility, relying on the group’s certainty that we were going, that they would have to open for us. Valerian’s genius had the building opened, with staff appearing in the parking lot with every passing hour, sparking the once empty terminal into life, for us 12 people. Once inside and through security, a delayed WhatsApp appeared. “Peter we have an issue, there is no clearance.”

My heart sank. I didn’t know how to even broach it with Valerian, or face having to let the group down again, having called all the staff in from temporary retirement. There was a last option, an incredibly effective

60

resource in the British embassy who would ultimately be our guardian for the next three weeks. I’m unsure if I am allowed to use his full name, but I put Simon in touch with the royals ops team and he immediately engaged with the Saudi-led coalition for clearance.

“Peter, we’re going to fly without clearance. You guys and Simon have two hours.” It was an incredible show of faith and humanity, and, having seen enough charter agreements I understood this to be a US $230 000 roll of the dice in the private 737. We all watched the flight depart the UAE on a flight tracker, which, other than a handful of cargo flights was an almost completely empty rendered map. And, although hope filled the room, Valerian and I now knew if Simon didn’t pull this off it was over and the aircraft would be turned back.

A call came back from Simon, and with it a relief on Valerian’s face that I had yet to see since knowing him. Simon had pulled it off. I sat and watched the media interview Valerian, in what would probably be published as a victory of the interim Saudi government repatriating foreign nationals, when ironically, they could not have done more to not make it happen. As we boarded the plane a few seats removed from each other we finally felt safe. We had pulled off quite possibly the most remarkable thing I have ever achieved considering the circumstances.

The chief of crew walked down the aisle asking for, “Peter” as the group turned and looked at me one by one. “Oh no,” I thought, “That trip to Israel is going to repeat on you.”

The chief of crew said, “I have been told to welcome you on board, I trust your ordeal is now over.”

The next few hours were a blur. We would land and taxi to the private terminal at Abu Dhabi where we would be Covid tested and handed PPE. The speech before disembarkation was humbling.

“This flight, was a personal favour by his Highness Sheikh Khalifa, and it was his honour to be able to assist in getting you back to Abu Dhabi. For the period of your quarantine you will be well taken care of. Hamdullah (“All praise is due to Allah”).”

After some paperwork we were put on an empty bus and escorted by Royal Police into this new world as we made our way to the Centro Al Manhal. We would be afforded the quarantine usually only reserved for UAE nationals. My heart was full from the humanity shown by the Emirates over these last few days.

Pete’s journey home was far from over - what lay ahead were many days of quarantine and stasis, camped out in airports and hospitals in various cities from the UAE, to Frankfurt in Germany and then finally his home in Johannesburg (but not without more quarantine in South Africa. For the full unabridged version of his story, go to themissionflymag.com/feathersandfluoro

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

“THIS FLIGHT, WAS A PERSONAL FAVOUR

BY HIS HIGHNESS SHEIKH KHALIFA, AND IT WAS HIS HONOUR TO BE ABLE TO ASSIST IN GETTING YOU BACK TO ABU DHABI.”

64

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

PONGOLA TIGERS

HOMEGROWN HONEYS TWO WEEKS INTO LOCKDOWN LEVEL 2, WITH INTERNATIONAL BORDERS STILL CLOSED, JAZZ KUSCHKE GOES IN SEARCH OF A LOCAL ADVENTURE TO WASH AWAY THE CABIN FEVER Photos. Jazz Kuschke, Nathan Pahl, Gareth Reid

T

igers, again. This time was different though. I’d not stamped a passport to get here; I wasn’t sucking on a Mosi Lager while tackling up and, instead of 9-weights loaded with Di7’s, I was rigging my sevens with intermediates.

Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and, if we’re going to get technical with lines on a map, then Namibia too. I’d landed tigers in all of those, it was time to tick the Saffa Hydrocynus vittatus box.

Now, South African tigers are limited to a few special waterways. Most are in the Lowveld and flow in, through or out of the Kruger National Park. Arguably the most accessible homegrown tigerfish water however, is the Pongola River system. Parts of the top section of the river are fishable and the section below the dam wall is a beautiful tailwater fishery, but it is the dam itself, previously called Pongolapoort and today more widely known as Lake Jozini, where I’d come with Mavungana Flyfishing to target the revered striped water dogs.

At approximately 30km long and 5km wide, Lake Jozini is a serious piece of water. Completed in 1973 in the gorge separating the Lebombo and Ubombo mountain ranges, it was constructed in an area that formed part of the first proclaimed wildlife reserve in South Africa. Its water level remained low until it was filled, almost overnight, by cyclone Domoina on 31 January 1984.

It remains a wild place today, surrounded by reserves where rhino, buffalo and elephant cruise the banks, and crocs, hippos and tigerfish guard the bays. When the wind gets up (which is fairly often) it gets even wilder and there have been various incidents over the years of boats getting into serious trouble and worse.

After four years of bad drought which saw the water level drop all the way down to 21% capacity, the dam has made a good recovery. While not quite up to 100% again, it is now settled and stable and the annual cycle seems to be back in motion. This sees the summer rains from October through January fill it up, with around 20 percent of the water released during October to help flood the Makatini flats downstream, where locals rely on it to irrigate their subsistence crops.

The early season rains are also a fertile time in the dam.

This, and an increase in water temperature, triggers the bigger female tigers to run for flowing water upriver to a protected section, to spawn. The vegetation which grows on the exposed banks during the dry season gets flooded, offering structure for small fish to hide. The hydrilla weed beds are lush, making the margins even more alive.

It’s all about the margins and for Mavungana’s Jonathan Boulton, who has fished and guided all over the world, this is the ultimate in fishing. He’s been targeting tigers in the dam since the 90s and knows it better than most.

He says, “Flooded mud banks and shallow reed beds are alive with baitfish, juvenile tigers and, of course, the area is frequented by those that eat them both. What is not to love?”

He continues, “Seeing a long, closed-off weed bed against the shoreline with just a single opening, and knowing tigers will be there to ambush baitfish and then landing a small polar fibre baitfish through the corridor and stripping it back, guarantees a take and an extraordinary level of satisfaction.”

After months of lockdown, some satisfaction I could do with.

Here are a few snapshots of what went down:

“LANDING A SMALL POLAR FIBRE BAITFISH THROUGH THE CORRIDOR AND STRIPPING IT BACK, GUARANTEES A TAKE”

SNAPSHOT #1: BACK TO (COLD) FRONT Silence.

The symphony assaults me as I half-stumble down the wooden steps of my log cabin at Inkwazi River Lodge.

Last night’s wine is foggy behind my eyes so it’s possible I could be mistaken. But no, my ears are good. As I take a moment, there it is.

Deafening silence.

It is windless for the first time in four days.

Set elevated in the foothills of the Lebombo Mountains on the last river bend before the train bridge, Inkwazi offers a spectacular vista over the Pongola Game Reserve and ‘estuary’ section that is the 5km long wider part of the river before it mouths into the main body of Lake Jozini.

It’s dark, but not.

Low in the Western sky the setting full moon paints the Pongola River in silver. Sunrise is still some way off, but there is enough moonlight for me to stumble (without

68

a headlamp) the 60 steps to the main lodge for coffee.

It also possible to make out the very distinct tree line way across to the north, where this section of the dam’s original highwater mark is. Venus is still smiling.

Ah, cloudless too, for the first time in four days.

It’s the final morning, of course it is.

One last session in perfect conditions awaits. This is on the back of having shuddered through the last big front of the winter in September, that dusted much of the high ground in snow. That front did not spare us. It did not spare Lake Jozini, and wasn’t too kind to our fishing.

“The one thing that can really screw you over up here is a front,” Jonathan muses over his coffee. “But there are still fish, if you’re willing to take on the elements and work for it.” Indeed, Jono got his biggest fish to date, a 13,5-pounder some years back, during a torrential downpour in the middle of a cold front.

Not just that, the largest fish of our week (the second biggest Mavungana knows of that has ever been taken on fly in the dam, behind a late-90s 15-pounder) came out during a particularly foul-weather session.

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

SNAPSHOT #2: TANK IN THE BANK “Yeeeeuw!” The hoot from the next bay sparks everyone in our boat’s attention. We’d been fishing the river section, right near the mouth of the main lake, working tight in the bays to find some protection from the wind.

That was a proper howl to have been heard through the wind.

Without a word Tim Andrews and I reel up as Jono hastily hoists the trolling motor and starts the engine.

“Jono. Jono…Jonooo.” Charged, in a blend of confidence and ecstasy, guide Rowan Black’s voice blasts through the radio.

“It’s a tank,” he exclaims.

“We’ll be right there,” says Jono, the boat already on a plane. You can just sense this is a special fish.

“Thirteen-and-a-half, at least. Fourteen maybe,” Rowan crackles back over the radio.

72

My pulse is pumping with that raw mix of elation for whoever landed the beauty, combined with slight pangs of honest envy. We run the 100 metres around the corner bracing against the wind and chop. It’s a bone-chiller of a day with jackets and longs all-round, not exactly what you would expect from midday at the base of the Lebombo Mountain range in early September. But then, this fish didn’t seem to mind.

“I bet you it’s Owens,” Tim snickers, referring to Johnno Owens, one of his best mates and the guy who (with an eight-pounder on the first session of the trip and good numbers since) had been the hot rod for most of the week. “Sounded like him.” I can see Tim, with whom I’d shared a boat for much of the week, was as chuffed and jealous of his mate as I was.

We motor around the corner. It’s not Owens, he’s not even on the boat. Instead we’re met by an absolutely beaming crew. In the net rests as chunky a female tiger as you’d ever hope to see within South African borders. ot long, but girthy, colourful and healthy.

I’m fumbling with the camera and shoot a few shots with

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

the long lens as we get closer. On board Rowan, Craig Smith (one of Mavungana’s oldest clients) and Neels Heyneke are all a-grin.

It is Neels, an experienced fisherman, but the most unassuming guy on the trip with the biggest smile.

Between the boats we quickly weigh her in the net using two different Boga grips to gauge the weight via the net. Rowan had called it. Fourteen pounds of beautiful mating female. She poses for a few frantic images before she powers off to make sure the fishery continues its cycle.

In the afterglow, the boys retell the story: Apparently Rowan had advised full trace and fly changes as they came into the spot. He’d just had that hunch. Neels had put a long cast out toward the mouth of the bay and went tight on the second strip, the fish running itself onto the reel almost immediately. A few blistering runs and a brace of jumps were followed by a nervy end-game just before the net.

Then that elation.

“I’m done,” says the banker from Johannesburg. It’s a special moment, even for someone who has caught notable fish all over the world, like he has. One of those you lock to memory, but don’t realise you did until you return to the photos later.

Right then I decide to dedicate the rest of the trip to pure trophy hunting. It’s a marginal call, of course.

But, not before some early morning top water action.

SNAPSHOT #3: LIKE THEM LEERFISH OF HOME It’s just after sunrise and we’re holding on the trolling motor in a spot known as ‘Stop Dogs,’ for reasons the guides alone can explain. It’s on the north-easterly bank and offers a bit of a wind shadow this morning. There is just enough chop on the water to make surface feeders gung ho. It looks like the type of water I’d confidently throw a NYAP at, were I in one of the estuaries back home on the Garden Route hunting garrick (leerfish).

The average tigerfish caught on Lake Jozini is around 40cm long and goes to about 2lbs. (Not unlike the average juvenile leeries you’re likely to encounter up a tidal river). When conditions are right and your casting is pin-point, you can easily jump 10 fish in the 2-3 pound range from out of the margins in a session.

The majority of those are feisty males, and, while they might be built like the scrum-halves of the team, they tackle like centres and brawl like front-rankers. Anything over 5 pounds is a good fish. Almost, dare I say it, the

equivalent of a double-figure fish in the Zambezi. The difference here, is that targeting those smaller fish on lighter rods, on the surface, and in technical situations is a helluva lot of fun.

From the bow I put a cast into the shallows where I can make out a mix of soccer ball-sized rocks and mud, interspersed by weeds. It’s less than a foot deep where the fly lands.

Plop. Strip, strip. Hit! Strip. Strip. Again…

Short strike!

“Ease off on that retrieve just a bit,” says Nathan Pahl.

“Not quite bass and not quite leerie.” The young Mavungana guide is experienced beyond his years and talking my kind of surface-fishing language.

Next cast three casts, I get two more small enquiries right at the drop, but there’s no commitment. Then my fishing partner goes tight off the back of the boat fishing a clouser. It’s a better fish, around 4-pounds denting my confidence in the surface game and sending me back to fishing Tuscan bunnies, brush flies and good ol’ clousers.

SNAPSHOT #4: SWIMMING IN THAT POND IN HEAVEN We’re tucked up tight in an inlet on the eastern shore of the main lake. This part of the dam is characterised by bays lined with sunken trees, dramatic drop-offs and shallow weed beds similar to the river mouth area.

Behind us the Lebombo Mountains seem to rise right out of the lake. The name of the mountains is derived from the Zulu word ubombo meaning ‘big nose’ perhaps in reference to how the Jurassic age volcanic rock juts across the landscape as it forms the border of Swaziland here. It’s not a high mountain range but, in the mist, it feels kind of mysterious.

“TARGETING THOSE SMALLER FISH ON LIGHTER RODS, ON THE SURFACE, AND IN TECHNICAL SITUATIONS IS A HELLUVA LOT OF FUN.”

PONGOLA TIGERS

SHOP THE MISSION And fishy AF. It feels bigger-fish, fishy. Each cast is one of intent, that inkling that at any moment you could get a cut burned into your stripping finger, à la a Zambezi double-figure.

We’ve already had a fairly productive morning through some upside-down weather. What started out as a warm, misty and windless morning, morphed through into rain squalls and gusty gales, punctuated by some far-off rolling thunder.

Johnno Owens is on the bow hitting the tight pockets right up on the shoreline, while I work the drop-off in the mouth of the bay with a sink tip. I put out a longish cast, throwing one mend to aid with the sink rate, always keeping touch.

On the other end of the 15lb tippet, via a #2 piano wire trace, is a blurple (black and purple) brush fly. Unlike the river systems tigers frequent, where there is inevitably a bit of colour, on Pongola one can be fishing tigers in almost gin clear water. The lack of current also means the fish gets a much better look at the fly as it stays in its kill zone for much longer, aiding the theory that imitative baitfish patterns in the right sizes and colours are most effective.

As the line straightens I begin the retrieve. I’ve got the line gripped on the rod handle between index and middle finger, with a slow deliberate strip on the other.

On the third strip the line stops solid. The take is more Beast Mtawarira than Siya Kolisi. All power and grit.

Annoyance even, but not speed. There is no blistering first run, no straight-to-air. Just brute downward force, an eat unlike any I’d experienced from a tiger before. Two more solid strips and the hook is set. I lift the rod into a solid bend. It continues to power down and slightly across. For precious seconds I’m attached, 30 perhaps. Then nothing.

The leader had parted as though it didn’t exist. Submerged branch? Rock shelf? Smaller tiger?

Wind knot?

I experience a stunned, inconsolable loss.

LOOP - 7X

When the fishing is on in Lake Jozini you’re working at about three casts a minute. That’s 120-180 casts per hour. In a four-hour session you’re at 480-720 casts.

Morning and evening session and you’re somewhere between 960 and 1440 casts a day. The Loop 7X with its revolutionary heptagonal blank design, offers superfast recovery speeds and improves tight-loop energy efficiency. I recommend the 7-weight. flyfishing.co.za

ROYAL WULFF - LOST TIP

The combination of a clear intermediate tip and floating running line, allows one to fish into the shallows and pull an unweighted brush fly (or a Tuscan bunny) just under the surface. And, mend the floating line over a weed bed, if need be. flyfishing.co.za

SPOT - X BLUETOOTH

SPOT X is a super useful little piece of kit that can save you when out of cellular range (such as on parts of main-Lake Jozini).

It provides 2-way satellite messaging and can also connect to your smartphone via Bluetooth to access your contacts and communicate. findmespot.com

“Those are the ones waiting in the pond in heaven,” Rowan would offer over beers at the dock later.

Tigers, again. And again.

76

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

THE BEST GEAR, CLINICS, LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL TRIPS X-FACTOR ANGLING HAS IT ALL.

Experience the best fishing in South Africa with our bespoke, luxury trips to the Orange River, Drakensberg and other destinations.

Wise-up and become a better angler with our on-the-water clinics ranging in focus from river trout to Stillwater and Euro nymphing.

Go global with our international trips fro the Bolivian jungle to the white sand flats of the Seychelles.

Gear-up in our online shop with the best gear as fished by our team of competitive anglers and guides.

BOOK YOUR TRIP, JOIN A CLINIC OR CHECK OUT ALL THE GEAR NOW AT XFACTORANGLING.CO.ZA OR EMAIL ADMIN@XFACTORANGLING.CO.ZA

SPECIES

THE DODO FISH I N I T S L A S T C E D E R B E R G R I V E R S Y S T E M R E D O U B T, S O U T H A F R I C A’ S R E M A I N I N G C L A N W I L L I A M S A N D F I S H P O P U L AT I O N I S F I G H T I N G F O R S U R V I VA L . A TA N TA L I S I N G LY, C H A L L E N G I N G TA R G E T O N F LY, L E O N A R D F L E M M I N G R U N S U S T H R O U G H W H AT I S B E I N G D O N E T O S AV E T H E M A N D H O W Y O U A N D Y O U R F LY R O D C O U L D H E L P.

Photos. Leonard Flemming

80

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

R

ather than blaming humans for clubbing and eating dodos, science suggested that rats and other ‘alien’ predators that accompanied sailors to Mauritius in the 1500s were likely the undoing of these flightless birds. Within a century from the day the Dutch colonised the tropical island the dodo went extinct. Since then, it is said, that the dodo has been lost twice more. It ‘died out’ a second time when all complete dodo skeletons kept in museums were lost, and finally again when they found two near complete skeletons in a Mauritian’s private collection, but lost the information regarding where exactly the bones were found. Eish, talk about a complicated history.

Ironically, the dodo’s story reminded me of a rebellious farmer in the Cederberg who urged his workers to club to death spawning sandfish (exposed in shallow rapids) and to stock freezers with endangered fish meat every year. How dare he! However, similar to dodo-science, the daft clubbers didn’t cause the first extinction of this animal; it was the alien sunfishes (bass and bluegills) that colonists brought to southern Africa that caused extinction of the Olifants River sandfish population within a century.

Since 2002 scientists have not recorded any sandfish in net surveys from the Olifants River. That’s when our dodo fish was lost for the first time.

Later, two segregated spawning populations were confirmed in the Doring River system. However, in recent net surveys, only a few adult sandfish were found in the Doring River, indicating a dramatic decline in fish numbers compared to previous research trips. A lack of juvenile fish basically marked the start of the second extinction. And illegal clubbing of the last adult sandfish obviously doesn’t help.

I’ve been on the look-out for these fish since I was a teenager, but I only encountered a living dodo-fish in my late 30s and trust me when I say I searched deep and wide for these living fossils. I still don’t know much about them besides that they are related to our ‘onderbek’ fishes (undermouth fish, i.e., Labeo species), and more specifically the Orange River moggel (mud mullet). They are scarcer than middle-aged dads that don’t consume alcohol and I have desperately wanted to catch one on fly for a very long time!

My insatiable (and somewhat eccentric) hunger to catch a sandfish, drove me across countless Cederberg mountain peaks. It was only after I got in touch with the mad scientists that were studying sandfish in this vast, arid terrain that I finally found the real deal.

It was in a crystal clear Biedouw River pool, unexpectedly high up in prime rock- climbing country, that I spotted a handful of adult sandfish grubbing along a bedrock

“SANDFISH FIGHT DIRTY. EVERY BIG FISH I HOOKED RAN STRAIGHT INTO WEEDS AND LILY PADS.” bottom. After spending a few hours presenting flies at the sandfish without luck – but countless sawfin and Clanwilliam yellowfish later – I gave up trying. I had to visit this pool twice more over a period of two years before I finally hooked and landed a juvenile sandfish. I showed the photo to the scientists and they went ape shit about it.

The fish I landed was evidence that some of the two-inchlong baby sandfish that were stocked in this bass-free section of the river in a rescue effort five years earlier, had survived and grown bigger. This prompted the excited scientists to take on a formal sandfish rehabilitation project in that area.

Enter Saving Sandfish. This project was pioneered by Doctors Jeremy Shelton (Jem), Bruce Paxton and Otto Whitehead. Jem (working with Bruce at the Freshwater Research Centre) was the main catalyst in starting the project after he successfully secured funding from the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund in 2019, which got the ball rolling. The project also received funds and/or support from the Endangered Wildlife Trust, CapeNature (Western Cape), Department of Environment and Nature Conservation (Northern Cape), the Federation of Southern African Flyfishers (FOSAF) and National

82

Geographic. In other words, more than a mouthful of conservation-orientated organisations were sold on this project, proving its merit.

Jem and his team also approached all the landowners in the Biedouw River valley and most jumped on the Saving Sandfish bandwagon, helping with accommodation for research teams and providing extra dams that could be used as sandfish sanctuaries to save and grow baby sandfish to a bass-proof size. It’s a start, but far from over.

As an added bonus, I finally got a few adult sandfish to eat my flies as well. It was very technical fishing on fairly light fly tackle. Accurate placement of a small nymph in front of a tailing fish seems to be the key. I certainly underestimated these creatures. They are smart and beautiful and they fight dirtier than your mother-in-law. Oh, and did I mention they go fully airborne when hooked? Like salmon or trout they are the full value package on fly.

Many more years of intimate ground work with the dodo-fish will be needed to prevent that second and third extinction and secure its future. However, I can say with some certainty that, unlike the dodo and thanks to wiser and caring humans, the sandfish will live to see another century.

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

SAVE THE SANDFISH

FIND OUT more about the project at fishwaterfilms.com/project/saving-sandfish CHECK OUT the web series at youtube.com/c/fishwaterfilms DONATE TO the project here givengain.com/cc/saving-sandfish

SHOP THE MISSION

Podsol Tajga 9’ 5-weight, podsolflyfishing.com

5X Scientific Anglers Fluorocarbon scientificanglers.com

Rio Gold Floating Line rioproducts.com

Shilton SL4 Reel shiltonreels.com

SAVING SAN C O N S E R V I N G S O U T H A F R I C A’ S M O S

WEB SERIES

SPONSOR A

NDFISH

T THREATENED MIGRATORY FRESHWATER FISH

A SANDFISH

Photo: Jeremy Shelton Co-founder Fishwater Films

LEARN MORE

PROFILE

THE FEATHER MECHANIC A C T O R , E X P E R T F LY -T I E R , E X P O O R G A N I S E R A N D G E N E R A L E N T H U S I A S T, G O R D O N VA N D E R S P U Y I S T H E E N E R G E T I C M A D M A N O F S O U T H A F R I C A N F LY F I S H I N G . C A L L H I M W H AT Y O U L I K E , B U T W H AT E V E R Y O U D O , D O N ’ T T E L L H I M H E C A N N O T D O S O M E T H I N G , B E C A U S E H E W I L L A LWAY S F I N D A WAY. H I S WAY.

By Tudor Caradoc-Davies Photos. Pierre Joubert

T

here is a saying in Afrikaans, ‘ou doos.’ Literally, it means ‘old box,’ but it’s ruder than that and the metaphorical translation would be closer to ‘old dickhead.’ Ou doos is a description often levied at the established, conservative fly fishing crowd, both here at home in South Africa and abroad. They are the purists who feel they have a right to decree what is or is not fly fishing, who partakes in it and how one (always the disembodied third person) should carry oneself. Classist wankers essentially.

the walking talking (he talks a lot) antithesis of that ou doos mentality. A professional actor, who has also run fly tying courses, fly fishing expos and a myriad other side hustles; adapting, surviving and ‘pivoting’ (that overused word for 2020) is Gordon’s natural state. For the last decade at least, Gordon has been a beacon of positivity and possibility when all around him are establishment dead-ends and ooze institutional negativity. Plus, if there are two things he knows how to do, they are how to tie amazing flies and how to hold a crowd’s attention. Events at the CPS were made for him.

I encountered this mindset, years before The Mission came into being, when I first approached the Cape Piscatorial Society (CPS) about running fly tying evenings in the club house. I had been running these ‘Vice Squad’ fly tying evenings in my apartment but, with upwards of 20-30 people in attendance, along with a lot of beer and pizza flying around, it made domestic sense to try to move them elsewhere.

He says, “Fly tying has always been a thing for me. I never had money as a student. There were one or two professors at the University of Pretoria. I would take my fly tying kit on a Friday and teach them how to tie in their lunch break and they would give me R50. Then I had money for smokes and Chelsea buns. When I started acting professionally, I thought I was going to be destitute so I started tying flies to sell to fly fishing shops. For the first couple of months I survived doing that. Luckily I got an acting job and from there things took off.”

While well-meaning, the ou doos contingent at the CPS were skeptical, even negative about the idea. Until then, the record for event attendance was about 12 people, so my conservative guesstimate that we would have at least 30 people in the clubhouse was met with suspicion.

Plus… four guys doing tying demonstrations? Freshwater and saltwater? Craft beer for sale? Music blaring in the background? No library level silence? What the hell were we thinking? In the end, over 45 people attended the first evening and a new regular event was born.

One of the few people who got the idea immediately was Gordon van der Spuy. Gordon got it, because he is

Since the Vice Squad days, I’ve got to know Gordon well and watched him work on various projects. I’ve seen him invent Fanie Visagie (the Leon Schuster-esque fly tying character), attended one of his workshops, two of his expos and watched him breathe life into numerous other fly fishing events as an MC or instigator-in-chief.

Here are a few snapshots from the last few years that both give a little insight into the weird and wonderful workings of his brain and the man’s positive nature as a can-do dynamo.

“AS I SAT DOWN, I THOUGHT TO MYSELF, ‘RIGHT MOTHER#@KERS, PREPARE YOURSELVES. AFRICA IS HERE!’” W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

87

62

SCENE 1 - POSITIONING When my wife and I got married Gordon was a wedding guest. He arrived two hours early for some reason, so he gatecrashed the groom’s party. You know, that contrived theatre where you and your close buddies go and get dressed for what’s about to happen a few hours later, drink a few whiskies, smoke cigars and try to remember not to inhale? That vibe. So, in rolls Gordon with his wedding gift in tow; a hand-dyed, half-used Klipspringer pelt. Not whole, not gift-wrapped, not of use to my wife, but 100% Gordon thinking with his heart about what an epic wedding gift half a dead animal skin, that he had dyed himself, would be. To this day Gordon swears he gave us a casserole dish too, but I don’t remember it and I don’t care. He will always be burned into my memory as the guy who gave us the most memorable present. Apply your business brain to it and right there he already had a USP (Unique Selling Proposition) for eternity.

SCENE 2 - METHOD In 2016, Gordon both launched the South Africa Fly Fishing and Fly Tying Expo, and also put out a fly tying DVD, Fundamentals of Fly Tying with his long-time creative collaborator Tim Wege. To both market their work and pick up ideas and contacts for his own expo, he went to the International Fly Tying Symposium in New Jersey. While there, as tends to happen in the USA, a whole host of connections and opportunities popped up.

As a phenomenal fly tier, initially Gordon had tried to get onto the featured tier showcase. But there wasn’t space. Then, as luck would have it, salty legend Bob Popovics had too many engagements on his plate and could not take his slot. Organiser Chuck Furminsky (possibly harangued by Gordon for months) gave Gordon a chance to be one of the demo tiers.

He describes his mentality as he took his turn that day: “As I sat down, I thought to myself, ‘Right mother#@ kers, prepare yourselves. Africa is here!’”

Having watched a number of fly tying demos over the years, I’d say the vast majority of fly tiers are not exhibitionists. For starters, fly tying is generally (but not always) the domain of nerdy introverts. Then there are the mechanics of what you are doing, which requires focus on a relatively small space right in front of you and doesn’t lend itself to theatrics. When demoing in front of a crowd, many tiers struggle to hold court. Not Gordon.

He proceeded to demo a series of classic South African patterns and, using his attention-grabbing thespian skills (numerous accents, singing etc), he attracted a crowd of curious on-lookers and made numerous connections, including convincing French guru Marc Petitjean to attend his expo the following year. Mission accomplished.

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

89

“I DON’T MIND TAKING RISKS. MY WHOLE LIFE HAS BEEN ONE BIG RISK”

SCENE 3 - PREPARATION Before he launched his own Fly Fishing and Fly Tying Expo in South Africa, Gordon was told he was mad, that it would never work, that he should not even try. As always, Gordon ignored the haters and went ahead and did it anyway.

What the rest of us did not realise was that, over several years, he had already laid the groundwork with his fly tying workshops.

“As an actor, I was often broke so I started doing the fly tying workshops. I took them all over the country and the cool thing was that because of that I met everyone. So when the time came for me to do an expo, I had all the connections. I knew every fishing club, who ran them, who was on the committee. I knew who was behind every shop so I had already built up a base.”

SCENE 4 - IMPROV In 2017, The Fly Fishing Film Tour came to South Africa for its second iteration and held three screenings in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg. A highlight on the fly fishing calendar and about as ritzy an event as the country’s fly fishing community had ever seen, it was hosted by local

92

boys who had gone global - Keith Rose-Innes of Alphonse Fishing Company and Jako Lucas (aka, Capt Jack) and sponsored by all the big names from Thomas & Thomas to Yeti, Cortland etc. As branded caps, Yeti ramblers and other goodies were thrown into the crowd, hundreds of grown men leapt like seals at the freebies. Then, out of nowhere, Gordon hijacked the Cape Town show, standing up at the interval to punt his nascent expo. Think Kanye vs Taylor Swift at the MTV Awards circa 2009. It was pure, unadulterated guerilla marketing in a pay-to-play game, but it was also so South African and so Gordon.

As it was, the expo ran for three years, alternating between Cape Town and Johannesburg and bringing so many punters, retailers and brands (big and small) together, that it pumped new life into the South African fly fishing scene. Ultimately it closed down, probably due to general economic conditions but, for a one-man gig, it was a remarkable achievement at the time.

SCENE 5 - EXECUTION Gordon says, “I wanted to write a book for a while. I just didn’t think I could do it. I kind of forgot about it while

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

developing the expo, but then I had a bit of free time and someone on one of the forums was asking for advice. The best way to explain it to him was to draw a picture, so I did it, took a photo and sent it to him, saying, ‘There, that’s your problem. This is how you need to do it.’ Then someone else asked another fly tying question and I drew another picture. And another. Eventually someone said, ‘If you wrote a book with all these little drawings like this, I’d buy it, because these have helped me tremendously.’”

About three years ago at a coffee shop in Cape Town, Gordon told me about his book idea. Writing books is what I do for a living so, while trying not to dampen his enthusiasm and fall into the pitfalls of ou doos-ism, I ran him through some of the challenges he was likely to face. There were numerous challenges. The fact is, that most people don’t really read these days (our brains are being rewired in real time to consume social media snippets), to the fact that for fly tying instruction, the vast majority of people get their fly tying instruction from YouTube or elsewhere online. Then there is the cost of production of putting out a book, the effort involved in writing it and to top it off, Gordon also wanted to hand draw all the illustrations.

My reasons for warning him were varied. Writing books is not for everyone. There are a lot of crap books out there.

Some people have great stories, others don’t. Some can write, others can’t. Some want to make money off their books (which is rarely achieved), others accept that it’s more a legacy thing or a marketing tool. But most of all, I wanted to save him from disappointment and wasted effort.

I hoped that, if he was not truly committed to the process, I had scared him off.

He was committed.

Gordon says, “I’m not a particularly clever person academically, but the one thing I am is a bit of a gambler.

I don’t mind taking risks. My whole life has been one big risk, but I am not scared of the risk. Acting, the thing I do for living, is a risk. You don’t have any stability. Nothing. I cannot tell you what I am doing next month. I don’t have a clue. But I can tell you that something will happen.”

illustration was hand-drawn by him and that this book is likely to change the way you approach fly tying altogether.

No, the most remarkable thing about this book is that it’s the culmination of years of people, including myself, telling Gordon that it (anything from making it as an actor, to fly tying courses, to a fly fishing and fly tying expo and now a book) could not be done. Despite all advice to the contrary, he’s proven everyone wrong and done it all, his way.

That lack of fear is evident in everything Gordon has done in South African fly fishing over the last five to ten years.

Courses, DVDs, an expo, and now, two years, multiple iterations and many ou doos naysayers like myself later, Gordon has done it. He’s written a brilliant, one-of-akind fly tying book, The Feather Mechanic – A fly tying philosophy.

Gordon is weird, there’s no denying that. He does everything in a slightly off-kilter, uniquely Van der Spuy way but, after years of watching and weighing in on occasion with his various endeavours, I have come to the conclusion that he knows exactly what he is doing. With multiple USPs, unparalleled networking skills, a natural at improvisation and the grit to follow through – it feels like all along, there has been a business plan at play, a method to his madness.

Part manual, part story, part treatise on fly tying, I am wholly convinced that The Feather Mechanic will become a modern classic. But the most remarkable thing about this book is neither the content (which is fantastic), nor the fact that Gordon wrote it over the last two years, through a pandemic and lockdowns. Nor is it that every brilliant

Like Paul ‘Gogga’ Adams and his ‘frog in a blender’ bowling action, Drunken Master Kung-Fu, or why bacon and peanut butter go so well together, it is not for the rest of us to understand Gordon or try change him. Our role is to leave him be to create, to make and to wake the rest of us up.

M U S T H AV ES

PAY DAY T H E B E S T F LY T Y I N G B O O K T O C O M E O U T I N R E C E N T Y E A R S A N D A G R I P P I N G D E E P D I V E I N T O T H E P U R S U I T O F R E C O R D TA R P O N

THE FEATHER MECHANIC – GORDON VAN DER SPUY Fly fishing and fly tying books tend to either be practical how-to manuals or anecdotal memoirs about the author’s life. In The Feather Mechanic - A Fly-tying Philosophy, Gordon van der Spuy’s first book with long-time creative collaborator Tim Wege, Gordon hits that sweet spot between the ‘how to’ aspect, his own accomplished storytelling, his remarkable drawings and brilliant macro images from freshwater ecologist Christian Fry. As a result, there are layers to this book. If you’re a basic bitch, you can just treat it as a manual and tie some of the patterns in a step-by-step fashion, but that would be defeating the point of Gordon’s overall message which is to think about what you are doing rather than just following a pattern. Reading The Feather Mechanic will make you think twice about how you approach your fly tying, that’s for sure. Through his stories, Gordon guides the reader on his own journey of discovery, one that began with his first fly, tied from fur from his first dog Goldie and his mom’s pearl necklace (da-dum-tish). From tools, to materials, techniques (including a chapter on roadkill), in his unique Mad Hatter way Gordon lifts the skirt on some of the most famous flies in South Africa, revealing both how to tie them and why they work. In short, if you want to improve your fly tying, fish for trout and yellowfish or like the idea of a good story told by a maverick, The Feather Mechanic is a must-buy.

South Africa: The Feather Mechanic is available from most good fly fishing stores and themissionflymag.com UK and Europe: Cochy-Bonduu Books, anglebooks.com USA: Evan D Brant, sidelinghillhackle@gmail.com Australia, New Zealand: FlyLife magazine, flylife.com.au

LORDS OF THE FLY – MONTE BURKE The sub-title on Lords of the Fly - Madness, Obsession, And The Hunt For The World Record Tarpon - tells you all you need to know to make this your read of the festive season. Covering the pioneering heyday of tarpon fishing in the late 70s and early 80s in and around the town of Homosassa, Florida, Forbes and Garden & Gun writer Burke weaves together the stories of giant fish and hedonism involving both the legendary anglers (Lefty Kreh, Flip Pallot, Stu Apte, Billy Pate etc) and personalities (Tom McGuane, Jim Harrison) who were there in that golden time. monteburke.com, amazon.com

“COVERING THE PIONEERING HEYDAY OF TARPON FISHING IN THE LATE 70S AND EARLY 80S IN AND AROUND THE TOWN OF HOMOSASSA, FLORIDA”

94

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

SHOP ONLINE

@upstream_flyfishing

• Rods, Reels & Lines • Apparel & Gear • Fly Tying Materials • Custom Tied Flies

@UpstreamFly

E: fish@upstreamflyfishing.co.za

www.upstreamflyfishing.co.za

Visit the shop: 274 Main Road, Kenilworth, Cape Town, South Africa, 7708

T: +27 (0) 21 762 8007

L AT ES T R E L E A S ES

SALAD BAR THE MISSION - FOKKIN BESIG TARPON T-SHIRT The Mission’s editor-at-large/spirit animal Conrad Botes also happens to be a grande fromage artist and one half of the Bitterkomix duo (soutiepress.com). This new T-shirt for The Mission features a panel from Bitterkomix no. 16. A perfect Christmas gift to yourself. themissionflymag.com

ORVIS - PRO SALTWATER TROPIC FLY LINE - TEXTURED We’re hearing good things about these new Orvis PRO Saltwater Tropic Textured lines that are built on a stiff monofilament core to retain optimum performance in hot weather and warmer water. With increased surface area, the line sits higher in the water, offering less drag, easier mending, less water spray and easier pickups. The micro-textured surface traps air to provide increases in both shootability and floatation while decreasing friction. A stout head cuts through the wind and gives you distance in your cast, yet the carefully engineered advanced, convex compound front taper is fine-tuned to improve presentation to spooky fish. orvis.com, flyfishing.co.za

“THE MICRO-TEXTURED SURFACE TRAPS AIR TO PROVIDE INCREASES IN BOTH SHOOTABILITY AND FLOATATION WHILE DECREASING FRICTION.”

SCIENTIFIC ANGLERS - HEAD WALLET Sure, you may get a kick out of opening your legavaan skin wallet and flashing your Investec and/or Amex black cards, but it would be waaaaaay cooler if you flipped open a leader wallet like this bad boy from Scientific Anglers and showed off your stash. Holding 12 fly lines or shooting heads, it can be laid flat for full visibility or opened like an accordion in hand (in which case please play Killing In The Name with your nose trumpet). scientificanglers.com, frontierflyfishing.co.za

96

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

VISION - NAHKA WADING BOOTS It’s not that these boots were named after former Springbok and Cheetahs hooker Naka Drotske (a stalwart in the ‘90s), but with the rugged build and solid support, the Vision Nahka might as well have been. The upper is a combo of watertreated nubuck leather, microfibre and nylon mesh. The seams are double and triple-stitched.

There’s a long lace system for perfect tightening and a strong rubber bumper on the outsole.

We feel like Naka would approve. visionflyfishing.com, xfactorangling.co.za

SIMMS - WADING STAFF It’s funny how you never need a wading staff, until suddenly (through age or the depth, trickery and volume of water you face), you do. And when you have it, you cannot help but congratulate yourself on your life choices. Made from lightweight yet highly durable 7075 aluminium tubing with coated stainless steel cable and ribbed closed-cell foam handle, this Simms Wading Staff opens and closes in seconds, has multiple grab heights, a built-in wrist strap, retractor and a compression moulded sheath. But perhaps the best part is that it has printed inches on it as a ‘depth gauge,’ which if you’re honest, you think you’ll be measuring fish on, right? simmsfishing.com, frontierflyfishing.co.za

“YOU NEVER NEED A WADING STAFF, UNTIL SUDDENLY (THROUGH AGE OR THE DEPTH, TRICKERY AND VOLUME OF WATER YOU FACE), YOU DO.”

XPLORER - EXO FLY REEL Times are tough, so if you are tighter than a tiger you need to spend carefully.

If you’re on the hunt for an affordable reel that will not fail you for years to come, take a gander at Xplorer’s EXO range. Made from Die Cast aluminium and then precision CNC machine cut for a minimalist lightweight design, it has a large arbor spool for maximum line retrieval with a covered disc drag and smooth brake system. Available in in 3/4 -weight, 5/7 -weight and 8/9-weight. xplorerflyfishing.co.za

“IF YOU’RE ON THE HUNT FOR AN AFFORDABLE REEL THAT WILL NOT FAIL YOU FOR YEARS TO COME.”

L AT ES T R E L E A S ES

SALAD BAR RENZETTI - PRESENTATION 4000 Looking for the Jacques Kallis of vices, the one that can do it all? With unmatched versatility, the Presentation True Rotary 4000 Vise is perfect if your tying needs require a variety of hook styles and sizes. With two rotary tension adjustments, you can use one adjustment to preset a desired level of tension for your basic tying needs.

The second adjustment is used for adding tension or holding the rotary shaft in a particular desired position. renzetti.com, xplorerflyfishing.co.za

“THE JACQUES KALLIS OF VICES” A YETI FEST Upstream Fly Fishing, as the agents in South Africa for Yeti, have a smorgasbord of Yeti clobber and gear on offer at the moment. From the neat coral and tan Low Profile Badge Trucker, the cool blue Spring Badge T, and some of the last few limited edition coral-coloured Hopper Flip 12 and 30 coolers still available worldwide. We suggest you flatten this page out and leave it in strategic places for your better half to find. yeti.com, upstreamflyfishing.co.za

PATAGONIA - LONG SLEEVED CAPILENE COOL DAILY GRAPHIC SHIRT The long-sleeved version of Patagonia’s popular capilene T, this wardrobe staple is good for anything from long days on the water to braai-side schmoozing. Made from 50-100% recycled content, it sports 50+ UPF sun protection and HeiQ® Fresh durable odour control. patagonia.com, flyfishing.co.za

“GOOD FOR ANYTHING FROM LONG DAYS ON THE WATER TO BRAAI-SIDE SCHMOOZIN”

98

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

ORVIS - CLEARWATER ROD (6-PIECE) If you’re in the market for a smuggler, you would be hard-pressed to find a better option than this 9-foot, 5-weight, 6-piece Orvis Clearwater rod. Packing the Helios technology and profiles of Orvis’s fancier, more pricey sister, the Clearwater is designed to handle anything from bigger rivers to smaller streams and stillwaters. It gets the balance between strength and precision, allowing you to cast heavy streamers or lay down tiny dry flies. Plus, with a 25-year guarantee, you are covered for quite a while. orvis.com, flyfishing.co.za

XFA - SPECIALISED FLY RANGE X-Factor head honcho Dan Factor is one of SA’s top competitive fly anglers and along with his team of professional guides and comp anglers, he has developed a range of hand-selected fly patterns for trout and yellowfish that will give you an advantage on the water. All X-Factor flies are tied on top of the range hooks using premium materials. xfactorangling.co.za

“A RANGE OF HAND-SELECTED FLY PATTERNS FOR TROUT AND YELLOWFISH THAT WILL GIVE YOU AN ADVANTAGE”

JMC - KAMOUFIL Comp angler crack alert! This JMC® Kamoufil (camouflage + filament in French) is the multi-use go-to for many competitive anglers as tippet and leader material because it does not lead the light, has very little memory (like us after a bender) and can be used for everything from fishing dries to emergers, nymphing and swinging streamers. xfactorangling.co.za

VENIARD - BOOBY EYES Perhaps the only thing we are trying to achieve here, is to not go for the joke. It’s too easy, too basic, even for us. So this product is what it says it is. 5mm foam eye material for boobies from venerable fly tying material purveyors, Veniard. From what we understand, it’s the tits.

Now available in South Africa at Frontier Fly Fishing. veniard.com, frontierflyfishing.co.za

L AT ES T R E L E A S ES

SALAD BAR RENZETTI - PAT EHLERS’ BULLET HEAD TOOLS If you are a fan of bullet head hoppers or Thunder Creek Streamers, you might want to get your hands on this nifty tool collab from Renzetti and Pat Ehlers of Rainy’s Flies.

Slip it over the hook and it cinches back all the materials allowing you to finish the fly unhindered. Available in small (#14-#12), medium (#10-#6) and large (#4-1/0). renzetti.com, frontierflyfishing.co.za

SEMPERFLI - PERDIGON BODY If you want Perdigons that sink faster than the South African economy, you need a slim profile and weight. Semperfli’s R&D team have created a 1/69”/0.37mm body material in a range of deadly colours and triggers that make the perfect Perdigon body material. semperfli.net, xplorerflyfishing.co.za

“PERDIGONS THAT SINK FASTER THAN THE SOUTH AFRICAN ECONOMY” BUFF - UVX Mask “Ah, the humble Buff” says Jazz Kuschke, “AKA ‘the most versatile piece of cloth in the world.’”

“I got my first one somewhere in the early 2000s and have since used them for everything from keeping the dust off a camera while in places like Angola on assignment for Getaway magazine, as ear warmer/ beanie under my bike helmet on a chilly start at the Absa Cape Epic, to a sweat band, eyewear lens cleaner and scarf. Once my girlfriend (now wife) wore it as a bikini top, Survivor-style, just to prove that wasn’t just a Hollywood hoax.

“As a neck gaiter and sun protection device it has obviously seen the most consistent use since and I have a drawer full, a few with some nostalgia attached to them (such as the Cape Epic items, and remember Red Bull X-Fighters in Pretoria!). Others purchased purely for their looks and design elements.

“Most recently myself and JD Filmalter got to put the evolution of the species – the UVX Mask – through its paces. It features ultralightweight UPF 50+ fabric and contouring 2-way stretch, as well as laser-cut breathing holes. It also has a shoulder gusset that is designed to keep the mask tucked under a shirt collar.

“JD found the new contoured head shape more comfortable than the ‘regular’ gaiter cut and is a fan of the material. For me, on Lake Jozini it was ideal for the warmer days.” adventureinc.co.za Full review at themissionflymag.com

100

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

Distributed by Xplorer fly fishing www.xplorerflyfishing.co.za contact 031-5647368

Stockists: Mavungana - JHB & Dullstroom, Fishing Pro Shop - PTA, Safari and Outdoor - PTA, Xplorer Fly shop - DBN, Kingfisher - PMB, Stream-X - Cape Town

IN THE HEART OF THE CAPE STREAMS Based at the top of Bain’s Kloof pass, right on the fabled Witte river, McBains is the perfect place to escape to. Whether you want to chill or get active, at McBains you have options:

- Kick back with mountain views - Swim in cool river pools - Wallow in the hot tubs with a beer - Have a digital detox - Chase after the Witte’s elusive brown trout - Or, head out on a day trip to the nearby Smalblaar, Elandspad and Holsloot rivers for rainbow trout.

mcbains.co.za

104

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

WANDS

SKY HIGH THERE’S BEEN QUITE A HULL ABALOO ABOUT DOUGL AS OUTDOORS’ NEW SKY G ROD, SO WE ASKED LOCAL A G E N T S WA D I N G WAT E R S ( WA D I N G WAT E R S . C O M ) F O R O N E T O T E S T. W E PA I R E D I T W I T H HERMAN BOTES, ONE OF THE COUNTRY’S HARDEST WORKING F LY A N G L E R S W H O W E K N E W WOULD PUT IT THROUGH ITS PA C E S , A N D T H E N S O M E .

Photos. Pierre Joubert, Chris Walley

9-FOOT, 5-WEIGHT DOUGLAS SKY G Test areas: Gauteng bass lakes, Vaal River (including Lower Vaal) and tributaries, trout ponds around Bronkhorstspruit and Delmas Species caught: Carp, largemouth bass, rainbow trout, brown trout, golden trout, smallmouth yellowfish, largemouth yellowfish.

W

hen fly fishing, you get rods that do certain jobs remarkably well and they are the tools you reach for in specific areas. I’m sure these specialised demands are the reason we have so many rods -well for me, at least. And then there are the fun allrounder rods. A sweet, fast action 9 ft 5-weight or a softer medium actioned 9ft 6-weight is what I think of when I think of a fun all-rounder.

It’s the rod you reach for when you’re not sure how your outing might turn out. Maybe it’s delicate and accurate dry fly fishing, or some serious and sensitive nymphing, or tossing topwater bugs for bass, or searching the water with streamers, or prospecting for small saltwater species...you get the idea. It’s the one rod that you can stash in the car. For me fishing it is like wearing your favourite pair of worn-in jeans.

So when I was asked to test drive the new DOUGLAS SKY G for some varied spring fishing, I naturally gave it a go.

I’m familiar with the wand-like weights and swing weights of modern top-end rods, but I swear that when I assembled this rod I had to check to make sure I wasn’t given a 4-weight.

I even swapped out my reels and stuck on my SAGE 4230 to balance it perfectly. Now I had this 5-weight perfectly disguised as my 9 ft 3-weight (really, it’s that light), ready for some small stream yellow fishing.

I think that the way some rod reviewers carry on about the look of the reviewed rod totally sucks so I was going to drop this bit. But then I thought that, if you contemplate dropping 15 K on a rod, you’d like to know this sort of thing. Straight up, your buddies won’t go WOW when you pull this stick from its sock. However, the reel seat is an eye catcher and you will have to pry it from their clenched fists after they’ve flicked it around a bit. I do have to admit that I liked the look of this rod. Firstly and most importantly for me, its matt charcoal blank is just how I prefer my rods. No bling sports car colours or rod flash.

Then it’s got all the latest niceties like line up dots with rod ID on each of the four sections, very neat epoxy work, Cerecoil stripping guide & REC nickel titanium flexible one-foot guides. Good cork finish on its cigar handle (my favourite shape) with cork/rubber rings on the top and bottom to protect it should you, like me, stick your flies in the rod handle because you are lazy. It also sports a grey anodized double up-locking skeleton reel seat with ny-

106

lon washers so you don’t get that skin-crawling grit grind when you loosen or fasten your reel. The burled blackwood insert is as sexy as hell. The overall look is that of a stealth weapon without it being overly obvious. It comes with a cloth bag made out of a cushioned material that’s breathable so the stashed rod can dry real smart and it has a generous, aluminium rod tube. These things may be important but, after a month of fishing, I’m sure they become secondary as it’s the rod performance that you concern yourself with.

My first impression of this rod in action was its light weight and sensitivity which are more in line with a 3-weight than a 5-weight. It’s dampening is incredibly fast - not in the broomstick fast kinda way but more like a quicksilver super hero way. A fly shop buddy of mine pegged it perfectly, “Fast with feel and accuracy”. Apparently that’s what modern rod builders strive for. Well the dude who designed this rod got that right and then some.

The sensitive casting power from close in to full line distance ( fly fishers just can’t resist that parking lot test) is going to make you imagine you’re not far off the standard of Joan Wulff or Tim Rajeff. It is so sensitive that even small fish are going to make you ride by the seat of your pants with excitement. But the thing that really sets it apart is

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

its accuracy and I’m not talking about the parking lot test.

In real life fishing situations with wind (the curse) and obstacles and space limitations, this rod delivered and took my fishing to the next level. My friend Gary Glen-Young, used to carry on about a little 8 ft 2-weight G.Loomis Trilogy (the only 2-weight Loomis ever made) that was so accurate that wherever he pointed it that was where the fly landed, except in strong wind. I feel the same way about this stick and you can throw in some wind.

So how does it fish? Sadistically I fished it the first time from my float tube casting an overloaded 5-weight line, super-fast sink polyleader , long 3X tippet, and a Muishond with lead dumbbells. It’s what’s required for deep staging bass in winter. I was sure this light stick was not gonna handle and ugly Belgium casts morphed with dwarf-tossing was going to be the outcome. Lo and behold I actually cast this set up ....not beautifully but still a fair distance.

The tactic worked and when my fly stopped dead during the retrieve on a 16-inch bass I was again impressed by the butt power of such a light rod while I horsed the fish from the depths. So I really started with this rod’s Achilles heel. For serious power and out far it drops the ball a bit - I’m being super critical here. So if you intend to play in the zoo slugging Half-Chickens, Double Bunnys, Muishonds and Snakes into the great unknown, you’re going to wish for one of those power tool rods to make life easier. However, if you up load with a loaded 5-weight - or a 6-weight line, the rod’s got the butt power to make it happen. In my case it just wasn’t pretty or effortless.

tiny jig buggers. These skittish little bastards didn’t tolerate false casting all over the pool so you had to pick up and shoot a single cast or, at most, one measured false cast to drop the fly in front of a cruiser or in the ring of a riser. The wand worked its magic.

If you want to push out solid casts with bigger flies, the progressive midsection and powerful butt come through in spades. One of my small tributary spring outings took a turn when, after spending some time picking off yellows on a dry and dropper set-up during a sparse midday BWO hatch, I bumped into the motherlode of carp spawning on a wide flat in the river. The spawners were not game but the cruisers further out the back were suckers for a slow sinking olive rubberlegs. That’s relative, as carp are never that easy. It required long accurate casts dropping the fly in the path of the cruising fish and then sticking it as hard as I could to those fish to prevent them steamrolling through the weed and popping 3X. The rod was effortless in both the casting and fighting department.

But, during early spring on the Highveld your fishing days can take on interesting twists. You can set out to fish for trout with the standard searching tactics then bump into an afternoon caenis hatch with its tactical fishing which demands # 18 and smaller nymphs and spinners on gossamer tippets and then end the evening throwing topwater bugs to active bass in the margins. Or you can set out to fish dry flies for yellows rising to BWOs (Blue Wing Olives) during the early afternoon but then bump into loads of spawning carp which creates a different challenge and then finish off the day targeting single active yellows with small buggers. And this is where this rod came through with flying colours. The versatility required from a rod for fishing days like these is right up the SKY G’s alley.

I finally got to appreciate fully modern rod technology and design when I took the rod along on a much anticipated Northern Cape trip to fish the Lower Vaal. Due to the low water level and crystal clear water I decided from the outset to fish my 10 ft 3-weight rod. I could get better reach on the bigger water to reduce drag and more direct contact fishing dry and dropper with long leaders. All was good on day one but then, as Murphy’s Law would dictate, a big front started moving in with serious wind that never let up for the remaining days. Fishing the SKY G made perfect sense as the 10 ft 5-weight just felt flat out heavy and trying to high stick would have resulted in the flies wafting in the wind. I was down to technical casting with a long leader placing flies in specific drifts with aerial mends and applying on water mends to obtain longer drag free drifts or putting flies in front of sighted cruising fish with quick-fire casts, and all this in heavy windy conditions. This rod delivered and then some. Not that my fishing was perfect, but I got the support from the rod to make it all achievable and effortless to some degree. Fishing a standard trout taper 5-weight Iine, at times made me feel like I was in the driver seat and taking scalps.

Close in this rod can cast even a leader with good accuracy. I set up a standard trout taper and loaded 5-weight lines to play around with, but unknowingly I accidentally loaded a 3-weight trout taper. I fished this line dry and droppering and long distance indicator nymphing on yellow streams on typical windy, late winter days and at the time thought this rod was real fast. I had to power the strokes to put the flies on point but was never suspicious of the line. This rod loads off the tip with ease. One afternoon, when I finally fished the correct line, the fun factor blasted through the roof as I targeted cruising yellows on

The fish went all snooty too. They’d have some orange in the nymphs, but “not too much please,” or dull natural nymphs would be preferred, but “keep it small please”.

Also the hoppers had to be just right and the smaller dries got a good look over before making commitments.

As if this was not enough, the takes just came that much better on 6x. And we all know 6x, long leaders, small tungsten beads and wind is a recipe for disaster. I was convinced that this challenging scenario was what the dude had in mind when he designed this rod as time-consuming operator errors were at a minimum.

108

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

“THE SENSITIVE CASTING POWER FROM CLOSE IN TO FULL LINE DISTANCE ( FLY FISHERS JUST CAN’T RESIST THAT PARKING LOT TEST) IS GOING TO MAKE YOU IMAGINE YOU’RE NOT FAR OFF THE STANDARD OF JOAN WULFF OR TIM RAJEFF.” At some point I came across a couple of fish in a side channel. They were holding in a hole the size of two big dining room tables. The rest of the water was occupied by thick weed wafting in the current. When the dry dipped under I set on a fish that went six pounds. My immediate thought was that the fish was a goner for sure, given the weed and the 6x tippet. But I was astounded at the amount of pressure I could exercise to control that fish in that small piece of open water without popping the tippet. The rod tip just kept on sucking it up even when I was stuffing it up. In the end after a long slug out, the dropper knot parted when I thought I had the fish beaten . The following day I had a slugfest with another solid fish in the head of a strong run.

This time the 6x held after I was convinced we were going to part ways. The amount of cushioning and tippet protection I got from this 5-weight was like that of a 3-weight plus I still

had serious pulling power in the butt. I was super impressed and that is pretty much my take on the rod too.

I know DOUGLAS is not a household fly fishing rod brand like SAGE, ORVIS, HARDY or SCOTT ....yet. To some degree that’s going to play against anglers making the choice for this rod. But I’d bet that if this rod carried any of those wellknown labels it would be hailed. The dudes at Yellowstone Angler did just that when they awarded this rod the winner in their now internationally infamous 2020 rod shootouts.

Would I like to own this rod? HELL YEAH! Would I drop the cash to own it? Mmmm, not when my wife threatens to play pick-up sticks with the broken parts of my rod collection every time I disappear off the radar unannounced for a quick and sneaky fishing session.

FLUFF

THE RELUCTANT FLUFFER IN THE HIDDEN BULKHEAD HOLLOW FLEYE, CONRAD BOTES DISCOVERS THE FLY OF HIS SALTY DREAMS. HERE’S WHY. Photos. Conrad Botes, John Travis, Travys Owen

W

hen it comes to fly tying, I’m a bit old school in the sense that I try to resist new fads and tying styles for as long as I can.

One could argue that the reason for this is that I don’t see the need to replace a pattern that has already proven successful. Or maybe I’m just lazy.

Mostly I succeed with this approach, but every now and again the temptation is just too big and I give in.

Case in point…a while ago, Bob Popovics’ Beast fly became quite a popular fly to tie. It was my friend Dre Van Wyk in particular who caused the hype and gave the fly a bit of a cult status in our fly tying circle.

It’s not called a Beast for nothing. It’s a gigantic fly and to even attempt tying it must take considerable balls. But the thing that caught my eye in the many videos that Dre posted to our fly tying groups was not the size of this pattern, but the magnificent action it has. Not to mention shape and volume.

It was hard to believe that a pattern tied so sparsely did not collapse in the water. Yet, there were a few things that were still putting me off. I like to tie with a specific trip in mind, and I could not foresee needing this pattern in the near future. The size also put me off. Most of my streamers for the Western Cape salt are 10-12 cm at most and even the flies we tie for West African tarpon are relatively small. Did I mention I’m also lazy?

Fast forward a few months to the moment when Dre and Warwick Leslie landed a shipment of bespoke bucktails from their connection in the States (a guy with a gun and a bathtub full of dye for all I know). It’s the kind of stuff you don’t see at your local fly fishing shop - long fibres with a slight kink in them. Definitely no straight hairs. In a word, beautiful.

When we unpacked the bucktails on my studio floor one morning for a photoshoot with Dre and the bucktails (ed; cue American Beauty re-enactments but with bucktail not roses), I was so excited it felt like a bunch of sparrows flew out of my arse.

I then realised there was another bonus regarding this pattern: you can tie it beautifully, using only one tying material. Bucktail. Sure, one can add flash and all sorts of other materials, but the original Popovics Beast is tied with bucktail only. Bucktail must rank as one of my favourite tying materials. It’s the most basic, yet versatile material for streamers and just looks fantastic in water. Any colour can be achieved if you blend different hairs together and you have a choice of different hues when choosing a specific colour.

I like to collect as many different shades of a single colour bucktail as possible in order to give me the ability to blend whatever colour I want. Take olive bucktail for instance.

Some are golden olive, some almost green, while some are more grey than olive.

Of course, Dre didn’t stop at just tying a beast and then moved on to something else. He kept evaluating the pattern and the potential of introducing different materials. The beauty of this pattern is that it’s a style of tying and not a set in stone pattern. The next thing that caught my attention was the introduction of hackles to his beasts. Hackles are my second favourite material for tying streamers. But Dre didn’t use any old hackle, he got hold of quality capes with long wispy hackles, the kind of things that make dry fly nuts weak at the knees. These hackles accentuated the movement and added a linear aspect that was unlike anything I have ever seen. Dre’s Beasts did the rounds in Seychelles, got the nod from geets and guides alike and I was seriously interested.

Yet still I resisted.

“VOLUME IS WHAT YOU WANT AT MIDNIGHT IN THE DARK TANNIN-STAINED WATERS WHEN FISHING THE WEST AFRICAN SURF.” W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

111

BREEDE RIVER Two months later I was on the banks of the Breede River pursuing big dusky kob on fly. There’s a bunch of us that have been doing this for a couple of years and when the bell tolls for kob, we answer. Our patterns have developed quite a lot over the years. Mine started with the humble flat nose silicone, then moved on to the SpongeBob (a favourite) and eventually to the NoseJob (a surface pattern). But on this particular weekend MC Coetzer walked over and dropped a fly into my box. “I guarantee that this fly will change the way you fish for kob.” He explained that the fly, only about 12 centimetres long, was inspired by Gunnar Brammer’s Hidden Bulkhead fly, which in turn is a variation of Bob Popovics’ Beast and other hollow tie patterns. “The best part is the use of ostrich here in the tail of the fly,” he said, “You won’t believe how much movement it has!”

The fly is tied with a short mono extension that takes the first bit of bucktail with ostrich dressed over it, followed by the first reverse tie. Then two more reverse ties on the shank give you lots of bulk, but it’s easily collapsible bulk so that the loss of hook gape by the bulk will not be a problem when hooking up. I immediately realised the potential of this pattern in the dark waters of my home away from home - the beaches of West Africa. I duly fished the pattern that weekend and must admit, I was very impressed. Perhaps I was a bit more impressed with the ostrich here than the bulkhead and I spent the rest of the season tying all my regular kob patterns with some ostrich.

Yet I still resisted tying the damn Beast.

WEST AFRICA Then another bell started tolling. It was The Call of Cthulu; time to prepare for the trip to the hallowed fishing grounds of West Africa and the silver king that rules supreme in my piscatorial universe. Tarpon. It was time to start tying black and purple streamers.

I realised then that I had arrived at the point where I had to do it. The hollow tie just made so much sense for this type of fishing that I could no longer ignore it. It’s a light pattern, creating a lot of bulk with very little material. It has a lot of volume and volume is what you want at midnight in the dark tannin-stained waters when fishing the West African surf.

Where does one start when tying a new pattern? You learn from the best. I invited myself over to Dre’s house and, over a couple of beers that evening, he gave me a tutorial.

Thanks to Dre, I could eliminate a few weeks of trial and error tying where I would invariably have got it wrong. I also had a look at Gunnar Brammer’s YouTube tutorials and, armed with this newfound knowledge, I spent a fair amount of time tying what one could call the Mini

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

112

“THE BLACK AND PURPLE JOBS WERE NEXT IN LINE, GETTING THE NOD FROM AFRICAN THREADFIN IN THE HOURS OF DARKNESS”

“EVENTUALLY THE SILVER KING ENTERED CENTRE STAGE AND TIPPED HIS HAT. BUT LIKE MOST FAIRY TALES, THIS ONE ENDED IN TEARS WITH JOHN LOSING THE BIGGEST TARPON I HAVE EVER SEEN.” BULKhead hollow tie. I tied a lot of Bulkheads and then I tied some more. I tied them in purple with black heads, I tied them in blended purple and black bucktail and most were tied using ostrich in the tail.

Would it swim the way I wanted it to? Hell, I had no idea!

But I was determined to find out.

Before we left, John Travis, who was joining me on the trip and at that point was equally fixated on tying hollow tie flies, suggested that we take our fly tying kits. At first I thought it unnecessary, because I had a box full of fresh flies but, luckily, John convinced me to pack the tying kit.

Look, it’s not easy tying flies in windy conditions under a tarpaulin on a beach, but it proved to be a life saver, as I’m the kind of tier that wants to change or improve my pattern every time I come off the water. John and I spent a few hours every day perfecting our mini Bulkheads and the West African surf line-up certainly approved. Cubera snapper were the first to crash the party and laid claim

116

to the hot pink Bulkheads like there was no tomorrow.

The black and purple jobs were next in line, getting the nod from African threadfin in the hours of darkness and, later when the sun was out, the jack crevalle nailed them in the shore break. Eventually the silver king entered centre stage and tipped his hat. But like most fairy tales, this one ended in tears with John losing the biggest tarpon I have ever seen.

Because of its versatility the Bulkhead is now firmly part of my fly tying repertoire. It can be tied in virtually any size and any colour you can think of. You can introduce a number of materials, such as flash and hackles, to make the pattern more intricate. Or you can keep it super simple and use one colour of bucktail only. Whatever you do, don’t be a reluctant fluffer. Get your game on and tie some today.

For Andre van Wyk’s Step-By-Step for tying the Bulkhead Hollow Fleye, visit THEMISSIONFLYMAG.COM

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

WANT MORE ABSORBENT READING MATERIAL? For the finest stories, profiles, destinations, adventures, gear, beer and more...

THE LIFER

THE DESERT PRISONER THINK YOU’VE GONE LONG PERIODS WITHOUT FISHING BEFORE? IN 2011, A FEW WEEKS INTO A SIX-MONTH MOTORBIKE RIDE THROUGH AFRICA, FROM LONDON BACK HOME TO JOHANNESBURG, S T E V E M C G O W N WA S A B D U C T E D B Y A L Q A E D A I N N O R T H E R N MALI. MOST PEOPLE WHO ENCOUNTER TERRORISTS DO NOT S U R V I V E T H E O R D E A L , B U T S T E V E N O T O N LY E N D U R E D J U S T UNDER SIX YEARS IN THE SAHARA DESERT AS A PRISONER (A W O R L D R EC O R D N O B O DY WA N T S T O H O L D ) , H E A L S O E M E R G E D A S O N E O F T H E F E W P E O P L E T O G E T T O K N O W A N D U N D E R S TA N D A L Q A E D A O N B O T H A N I N D I V I D U A L A N D O R G A N I S AT I O N A L L E V E L .

Photos. Steve McGown and Al Qaeda

The first fish I remember catching was a stumpie caught at Treneries in the Transkei. I was 5, we were on a family holiday with my parents’ mates. For the three weeks we were there it rained non-stop, but that did not stop my mom from teaching me how to fish. She loved fishing and she learned it from her dad.

I have lived long enough in Johannesburg, London and the Sahara desert in Northern Mali to have thought of each of them as home.

My home waters used to be on a cherry farm we owned near Fouriesburg in the eastern Free State. It was stocked with large mouth Florida bass when I was 7-years-old, which was awesome. My current stomping ground would be the Vaal, fishing for yellows.

I’ve had a lot of different jobs, from being a sport shoe salesman at Edgars, to house sitter, dog sitter, I worked in banking for years and then in the desert I was a general dogs body for Al Qaeda (mechanic, goat slaughterer, cook, hut builder, teacher and prisoner). Since I got back home, I am now an inspirational speaker, author and entrepreneur.

A typical day usually involves me going for a cycle with friends and then sitting outdoors drinking coffee and chatting. I then go home and shower, head past the office, reply to emails and WhatsApp, remove an item from my ToDo list and add three items, work on some spreadsheets, some Jojoba oil sales and farm issues, I reply to requests for speaking events, do a Zoom presentation for an event and finish off the day by taking the dogs for a walk in the park with my wife and then relax.

120

I am involved in a few businesses, but my main activity at the moment is speaking at events for corporates, forums and schools both locally and abroad. My largest on stage audience has been just over 700 people, and my largest Zoom call has been a couple of thousand. In addition, we are getting involved in a rehabilitation centre on our farm in the Karoo, 16km west of Ladismith. This is something I am very excited and passionate about. After all, we are all human and we all need a bit of help sometimes.

The best advice I have ever been given came from Al Qaeda surprisingly enough. They taught me something which is relevant in all worlds - that we must learn to be patient in life. Something else less philosophical they taught me - when you are milking a goat you must stuff its head into a bush so it can’t throw its head around and try stab you with its horns. You must also wedge its hind leg into the crook of your knee and hold on tight. I did not do this on two occasions and my cup of milk ended up being kicked over a sand dune.

I am most proud of having an amazing wife and marriage, and a family (father, sister and my late mom) who I could/can always rely on. That and I also had the Emir of Al Qaeda in Mali make me tea this one time.

The best party trick I have ever seen was probably someone lighting a fire in the desert using the lens cone of a torch. I did not believe it was possible so I waged a bet against Al Qaeda that if it did work, I would make everybody in that camp tea from that fire. I lost. A close second was how guys would use three camels to pull start a Land Cruiser bakkie with a tired battery.

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

“I WANT TO GO TO ANY WILD PLACE (NORTH OF SOUTH AFRICA AND SOUTH OF THE SAHARA) WHERE THERE ARE NO TARRED ROADS AND BIG TOWNS.”

Steve McGown (kneeling far right) with Dutch hostage Sjaak Rijke and Swede Johan Gustafsson. Mujahideen from AQMI (Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb) in the background.

I have really had to work at overcoming my fear of public speaking. There is a history of stuttering in my family.

Although I could talk the hind leg off a donkey with Joe Public, speaking at any formal event would always terrify me and I would usually seek to slip out the door and vanish.

Something that came naturally to me was that I have always enjoyed and found it very easy to get along with people.

The most satisfying fish I ever caught was the first time I tried my hand at deep sea fishing. I caught five large tuna off the coast of northern Mozambique while on honeymoon.

We would look for the seagulls and terns diving into the water and turn our boat in their direction. As we arrived in the spot where the birds were hitting the water, all the reels began screaming.

A day must start with a cup of coffee. A bush braai must start with a whiskey and a party must start with a tequila. I did however have a tequila party shortly after my release and I think it almost killed me.

Skills I would like to learn are how to build a house, become a water diviner and work with green energy.

The best way to face one’s fears is to identify the fear, find the reason for the fear, spend time preparing to take on the fear (with a few get out of jail strategies that you can fall back on in case things really hit the fan) and then throw yourself into the situation. The anticipation of the event is usually worse than the actual event.

I am pretty much at peace with all my great adventures, but I would however love a new off-road motorbike to get me to some amazing places off the beaten track.

Something else that would be amazing, however probably only a dream, is that I would love to see the earth from space.

What I get out of fly fishing has not changed over the years. I love the peace, the far-away places and the strategy involved to figure out each fish.

One place, I never want to go to again is the hell of a 9-to-5 job. I would rather become a terrorist!

If I could change one thing in fly fishing, I would make it more accessible.

In terms of travel I still want to do, I’m not too fussed.

I want to go to any wild place (north of South Africa and south of the Sahara) where there are no tarred roads and big towns. I would like to sit next to a big river under a sausage tree listening to the birds and the bugs with trees and grass to the horizon in every direction. It is the outdoors that makes my heart sing and where I feel most at peace.

Something I have realised is that for the most part, we are all far too judgemental about other people.

Only once we fully understand somebody else’s path and what they have experienced, can we actually understand why they behave like they do. We should be less critical.

However, integrity and character are uncompromisable.

It is okay for an angler to lie when the fish are beginning to come on and your wife wants you home.

I have a lot of survival skills now, from making rope from grass, slaughtering and preparing meat from an animal, making bread in desert sand, building a grass hut, learning how to communicate with terrorists, making a trap for birds and rabbits and making a fire using camel dung.

124

The last fish I caught was probably a tin of sardines from my cupboard. Unfortunately I am having a bit of a bad run, I lost two bass and a few trout on my last two trips. I blame the desert because when I am in the zone, I think more like a camel than a fish. I need more fishing rehab!

Steve’s new book, Six Years With Al Qaeda: The Stephen McGown Story, is available from dailymaverick.co.za

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

Six Years With Al Qaeda The Stephen McGown Story

Available now for PRE-ORDER. Releasing November 2020 Order your copy now have it delivered for free on launch day.

Scan here to find out more and pre-order or go to https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/six-years-with-al-qaeda/

PROTECTING YOUR FLY F

FISHING FOR THE FUTURE From headwaters to court rooms, fighting the pollution of our rivers or challenging the disproportionate legislation of the authorities, FOSAF works for you. For just R300* for a year’s membership you can do your bit and support FOSAF.

Please join at www.fosaf.org.za Ask your club to enter the scheme whereby your annual subscription Is reduced from R300 to R150”

POP QUIZ

Photo. Sean Gibson

ALL BODY NO HE AD? STOCKY THRASHER OR BUN DU BASHER ?

A D VA N C E D G A M E O R L I M P A N D L A M E ? TA K E O U R Q U I Z T O S E E I F YOU LEARNED ANYTHING FROM THIS ISSUE.

2. What is Gordon van der Spuy not afraid of (page 86)?

A. The puffadders on the Upper Molenaars river.

B. Fear itself.

C. Public speaking.

D. Tying classic salmon flies.

E. Taking risks.

3. What does the iconic BMW R80 GS Kalahari have in common with Roger Federer’s mum and a Kreepy Krawly (page 30)?

A. Speed around the court.

B. Hatred of dust.

C. Identical colour schemes.

D. South African DNA.

128

4. As Peter Coetzee describes them, parrotfish look like they were designed by (page 48) A. A committee wielding a cucumber injected with bleach.

B. A toddler armed with a paw-paw.

C. A humble LSD salesman at AfrikaBurn.

D. The United Colors of Benetton designer.

5. According to Brendan Becker, what does a bluefin trevally inhale, “like a 2-minute noodle” (page 22)?

A. Spaghetti Crab-o-nara.

B. White bait.

C. My Octopus Teacher.

D. My Gummy Minnow.

6. If you are shoving a goat’s head in a bush in the Sahara desert, you are probably (page 120) A. Teaching it how to scrum.

B. Slaughtering it.

C. Milking it.

D. Whispering sweet nothings in its ear.

Answers: 1. B, 2. E, 3. D, 4. B, 5. D, 6. C

1. According to Leonard Flemming, who or what fights dirtier than your mother-in-law (page 78)?

A. Republican senators when it comes to Supreme Court appointments.

B. The rare and elusive sandfish of the Cederberg mountains.

C. Ronda Rousey on bath salts.

D. Hulk Hogan on defamation charges.

E. Siamese Fighting Fish.

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

REMOTE

RICHTERSVELD DRIFT

WHERE: Lower Orange River

WHEN: Aug-Nov & Feb-March

THE EXPERIENCE:

Drift a remote section of the Orange River in custombuilt inflatable rafts. An experienced flyfishing guide will row as you fish, while a logistics team heads downstream with all provisions to setup a high-end camp complete with hot showers and gourmet meals served with wine and craft gin. With a staff to guest ratio of 1:1 you can be assured an experience both on and off the water like no other..

THE FISHING:

Targeting both Smallmouth and Largemouth Yellowfish with a focus on sight-fishing the riffles, pocket water, boulder gardens and structure-loaded pools while on the drift. Then walking and stalking the banks or wading the often gin-clear waters of this world class fishery.

WWW.FLYFISHING.CO.ZA

For more trip details and to book: travel@flyfishing.co.za Mavungana Flyfishing Centre, Main Road, Dullstroom, 013 254 0270 Mavungana Flyfishing JHB, Shop 3B, Illovo Square Shopping Centre, 011 268 5850