THE LIFER
THE MATRIARCH EXPERIENCED KWAZULU-NATAL COMP ANGLER, LINDA GORLEI, ON HER FISHING FAMILY, WHY THE EVENING RISE IS BETTER WITH WINE AND THAT BUCKET LIST TRIP TO ARGENTINA. Photos. Matt Gorlei
The first fish I can remember catching was a trout – on a spinner rod . I was about seven years old on a farm in the Matatiele area. I had no idea how to reel it in so I ran backward up the bank with the rod till it came out of the water. Happy to say I’ve come a long way since then. My home waters are the rivers and lakes of the KwaZuluNatal Midlands. I’ve only really called two places home, Durban and Mbona. Durban is where I have lived all my life but, despite amazing memories, abodes, friends, family, it no longer captivates me. Mbona is my happy place. Nestled in the Karkloof valley in the Midlands, it is one of the first privatised farm reserves in the country. Unpretentious natural beauty, peace, quiet… and a few pretty, stocked, fly fishing lakes. Career-wise, I’ve worked in the clothing trade in manufacture and in the wine trade in sales and marketing. I think I preferred the latter! The best advice I have ever been given was, “Here is a book for you my darling, it’s called, ‘The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*CK’…Read it.” Truth be told, I’m still struggling to take the book’s advice enough – that’s just me. Something I have had to work at in life is letting go of stuff. And following the advice as above… I really have to work at using the word NO more often. Something that came naturally to me has been mothering – strange as that may sound. What am I most proud of? There’ve been a good few achievements among my tribe these past few years. Two of us have represented at national level and the third at provincial level in our various codes of interest. I represented South Africa at national level for fly fishing, then hombre (my husband, Rich) came along and topped it all by becoming the World Champ in 2019 at
the Masters competition held in South Africa. But all that aside, the pride is not in the medals and blazers worn, but the humans my family have become and are. It comes from a random comment of praise made from someone I don’t even know regarding an experience they’ve shared with them. With the kids, it’s about watching them grow beyond their years of being moulded by a parent into making their own life decisions and learning to suck up the consequences thereof, both good and bad. I’m simply proud of us as a family; how we pull together in crisis; how we love and support unconditionally. We are a family of diverse independent individuals on one level, but I’m mostly proud that we are a unit that still looks forward to hanging out together when we can. The most satisfying fish I ever caught was a brook trout on the Roaring Fork River in Colorado back in 2010. It was literally one of the last cast opportunities of that trip and I had so wanted a brook. Plenty of other trout, even mountain white fish had been landed, but no brooks for me. It made coming off the water and packing up at the end of a trip on foreign waters just that much easier. It was also one of the prettiest fish I’ve landed too. My go to drink for the morning rise is a hot chocolate. I am the queen of a good hot chocolate, so don’t come with any watery sachet shit. For the evening, I absolutely love fishing the sundowner session for any species with a good chardonnay! One place, never again would be trying to outrun an electric storm on Sterkies in a boat with faulty motors – a terrifying experience! The destination (Sterkfontein Dam), I’d be back to in a heartbeat, but boy, will I be like a live weather station when I do go. One place I have to return to is the Zambezi River to actually land a tiger. And that after a waaaaay too close encounter with a hippo the last time. Thank heavens the surrounding beauty, the insane sunsets (with chardonnay) and good company made up for the lost fish.
“OOPS, SORRY, CAN’T MAKE IT TO DINNER ON TIME…HAD A FLAT ON THE WAY BACK [MEANWHILE SMASHING FISH ON THE EVENING RISE WHILE SIPPING ON CHARDONNAY].” 96
W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M
