The Mission Fly Fishing Magazine #Issue 27

ISSUE 27

MAY/JUNE 2021

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THEMISSIONFLYMAG.COM

FLOAT TUBE KOB, MIKE FAY, LONG REEF, JESS MCGLOTHLIN, PACKING FOR POIVRE, HELL BOY, SCALIES, BEERS, BEATS & MORE

FAIL is not an AMPLITUDE WITH AST PLUS “When chasing the fish of a lifetime, we rarely get more than one shot. Day in and day out in harsh environments, all for that one opportunity. In that moment I have to trust my gear, and my fly line cannot be the weak link. That’s why I use Scientific Anglers fly line. Every cast. Every time.”

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While the Middle Fork of the Salmon River boasts some of the best cutthroat fishing in the world, its salmon populations are at less than five percent of their historic abundance, due in large part to dams on the Snake and Columbia Rivers. JEREMIAH WATT © 2021 Patagonia, Inc.

Crush barbs and pick up stream-side trash. Volunteer skills, money and time.

Fight for access and vote your conscience. Even our smallest efforts build a future for wild fish, clean water and an inclusive community. It’s not too late.

It’s never too early. It’s every day. We are all wild fish activists.

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In South Africa, visit Mavungana Flyfishing

W W W . T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M ISSUE 27 MAY/JUNE 2021

CONTENTS Cover: Conrad Botes bombs out a cast while float tubing for silver kob on the inshore reefs of False Bay. Photo Sacha Specker

32 QUICK SILVER Float tubing for silver kob in the open ocean = shark bait or smart bet? For Conrad Botes the rewards outweigh the risk with these quick metro morning sessions.

50 LONG REEF Of all the places veteran guide Richard Schumann has seen and fished, there are few that compare to this remote, unspoiled fishery off Northern Australia. He explains what you can expect if you have the balls and the bucks to get there.

62 THE ISLAND The epitome of persistence, father and son duo, Andrew and Ruari Harrison, lose themselves on the Tugela and find scaly heaven.

68 FUTURE PROOF Photographer, writer, comms director, lodge manager and consultant, there are few roles in fly fishing that Jess McGlothlin has not ticked off. We caught up with the Montana native to discuss pivoting, tiger sharks, North Korean missiles, SUPing the Amazon and more.

102 THE TITAN: MIKE FAY As modern day ecologists, conservationists and explorers go, there are very few people that compare with our Lifer Mike Fay. He chats to us about his fabled Megatransect hike, his vital work with national parks across Africa and his life-long side hustle as a fly guide.

REGULAR FEATURES 16 Chum 18 Crash Test Dummies 20 Wishlist fish 22 Beers & Beats

24 High Fives 86 Salad Bar 92 Pay Day 110 Pop Quiz

Skylar Lamont wades through reeds in search of brown trout in Southern Chile.

Photo Jess McGlothlin. Story on page 68

the next generation

T&T Ambassadors Jose and Parker Ucan spending time together in their home waters of the Yucatan Peninsula. Legendary guide Jose is patiently imparting his love of fishing to 8 year old son Parker who at such a young age has already landed a Permit on Fly. Handing down our knowledge and passion for the outdoors to the next generation is key to the survival and growth of flyfishing. At T&T we see a world of possibilities out there and believe the next generation should too.

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OLD COOT the fields heavy with sunflowers and asparagus grown by shirtless sun-baked pensioners pottering around their allotments, the air heavy with squadrons of bees. Place names like my old street address or the names of suburbs pop into my head. The smell of late night, post-boozing currywurst or doner kebabs.

I had a new one of these experiences recently. Or an old one I had forgotten. I went float tubing with some friends on a private bass dam. The whole mission was incredibly civilised. A cracking lunch on a winefarm and then we went through a few farm gates and worked our way back to the farmer’s dam, a perfect oval I’d been told was jam-packed with largemouth bass. There was lots of structure and holes to aim at from bays created by weed beds, reeds and lily pads. The bass obligingly gave themselves away when they came on the prod. Predictable and plucky, they came to the surface, smashed our flies and came to hand easily. It was around 4.30/5pm when we started and by 6:30 we lost the light and were done, but in that time I was transported back to my early teens.

PLOOP! Warwick Leslie gets acquainted with late summer Western Cape largemouth bass. Photo Platon Trakoshis.

It’s funny how in an instant a simple sensory prompt can bring back long-buried memories and nostalgia.

If I hear either Jurassic 5’s Power in Numbers, Radiohead’s Hail to the Thief, Queens of the Stone Age’s Songs for the Deaf and Faith No More’s King for a Day Fool for a Lifetime, I am instantly transported back to living in Heidelberg, Germany, on a gap year in 2003. While listening to those specific albums over and over again on my Discman,* I used to ride my bicycle daily through the outskirts of the city on my way to rugby practice (yes, Germans play rugby) or to my job as a dishwasher in a fancy restaurant which, much to my delight, was frequented by Heidi Klum. I remember a lot about that year, but nothing takes me back there quite as strongly or as quickly as music. The constant repetition of those albums probably had a lot to do with being a foreigner in a country where I knew few people and only had the basics of the language. That meant a lot of time to myself (much hanging out in record stores), fewer distractions, more focus and information retention across the board. That’s why if I hear songs from those albums now, there’s a Pavlovian association, a break from the here and now to the then and there. I can almost breath the petrichor and compost aroma radiating off the earth of those back road smallholdings,

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Back then I’d spend countless hours catching bluegill and largemouth bass in country dams with friends, arriving home on our bicycles, sopping wet but stoked out of our minds at the topwater action we were hooked on. This wine farm bass session was so familiar, my nostalgia felt like a mental muscle memory of that time. The only difference was that now, 25 years later, I had two rods rigged on a float tube instead of my youthful approach which was to wade up to my nostrils, wave a sloppy noodle fibreglass Daiwa and drop a Dahlberg Diver into a bluegill nest.

It was perfectly still as we lost the sun and darkening shades of pinks and blues crept towards an inevitable confluence with the blackness of the dam. The schlurping of the poppers, the muffled dips of deerhair sliders and the spastic blipping of my black flipper mixed with the cooing of coots in the reeds and the off-key honking of Egyptian geese flying overhead. It was perfect and in that moment I don’t think I would have swopped it for another moment in an exotic location with big, weird-ass fish. Now yes, but not then.

Whether it’s another pursuit or whether it’s fly fishing, I really hope for each and every one of you that you also get a sensory memory-poesklap from time to time, because it’s a powerful and pleasant thing. If you have family or friends to share it with it, you’re winning at life. * An ancient technology that preceded the iPod.** * An ancient technology that preceded Spotify.

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“Get in bitches. Ass, gas or grass, no one rides for free.” Photo Jess McGlothlin. Story on page 68.

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

CONTRIBUTORS #27 Nic Schwerdtfeger, Warwick Leslie, Nicholas Blixt, Luke van den Heever, Conrad Botes, Gerhard Uys, Richard Schumann, Andrew Harrison, Christiaan Pretorius, Mike Fay PHOTOGRAPHERS #27 Sacha Specker, Jess McGlothlin, Nick Bowles, Libre Genis, Nicholas Blixt, Noah Rosenthal, Peter Coetzee, Conrad Botes, Platon Trakoshis, Gerhard Uys, Richard Schumann, Andrew Harrison, Ruari Harrison, Christiaan Pretorius, Johann ‘Vossie’ Vorster

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 YOUR BEING SQUASHED INTO A SARDINE-LACED LEOTARD AND LASHED TO A BUOY IN FALSE BAY.

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

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“This is a GREAT rod with excellent finishes. It casts very well with enough backbone to land big fish but is delicate and soft enough not to bounce off small fish. At a retail price of R4,250.00 the rod is a definite winner. It competes with rods that are three to four times more expensive, but it gives you everything that you will find in the more expensive rods. I think this is the best value for money Euro-style Nymphing rod on the market now. Even better than most rods at double or three times the price.”

Korrie Broos Korrie has managed the Protea team to two World Championships and captained the SA Commonwealth team.

“Having now fished the new 10 foot 3-wt Horizon Tactical Competition rod I must say that I am very impressed. This rod firmly slots into my nymphing arsenal between a number of higher priced, better known brands and may yet replace some of them.”

Gary Glen-Young Gary is the most capped Protea angler at 13 times and has fished in ten World Championships. He is a former national champion and is currently a national selector.

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CHUM

B U S H B R E A K S & B O O M S , S K AT E R S & S A P M O K , H Y B R I D S & H O R O S C O P ES VOLCOM X DOOBIE – LOOSE TRUCKS AND TIGHT LINES Over the last couple of years, for some reason, fly fishing has been adopted as a fashion trend by several major nonfishing brands. Bentley introduced a $100,000 fly-fishing kit upgrade by their in-house custom crew Mulliner for those customers keen on upgrading their Bentayga SUVs. Small change right? Then Gucci made some fly fishing vests for a mere $2000 (AKA, a week’s tigerfishing on the Zambezi).

Stüssy, Asos, Urban Outfitters, Japanese hipsters South 2 West 8 and others have all brought out fishing-influenced ranges. Now, boardsports-titans Volcom have added their own range, ‘Loose Trucks and Tight Lines’. This feels like a decent fit, because we know a lot of skateboarders who fly fish. Hell, our art director Brendan Body was the man behind Session skateboarding magazine back in the day.

Designed in collaboration with Victor Pellegrin, aka Doobie (IG: @doobieornotdoobieee) with artwork by Pentagram Pizza (IG: @pentagram_pizza), the Volcom range features Ts, hoodies, pants and a vest that looks like it might just be useable on the water. volcom.eu

TREAT… … yo’self at Tintswalo Lapalala. How does a bit of bush and barbs sound? With coastal properties (Tintswalo Atlantic and Tintswalo at Boulders), plus bush lodges and camps in the Waterberg and Lowveld, Tintswalo know exactly how to hit those R&R bliss points with a combo of nature and luxury. Now at their Tintswalo Lapalala luxury tented camp in the Waterberg, they have added catch-and-release fishing for smallscale yellows and other species to the activity options. We’ll be sending Justin Rollinson and Milan Germishuizen to fish it stukkend and review the setup for an upcoming issue, but on paper - a luxury Big-5 bush experience WITH fly fishing AND a spa (for non-fishing partners), only + - 3 hours from Pretoria/ Johannesburg – it sounds perfectly peachy. tintswalo.com

SHOUT OUT… … to the talented merch machines at Rep Your Water who have brought out a new Hybrid shirt that looks like the lovechild of a three-way between a lumberjack, a sun hoodie and a collared shirt. We have not got our hands on one to test just yet, but we like how Norway-based South African Mark Taylor of Fly Fishing Travel (flyfishingtravel.no) managed to look like a missing member of Cypress Hill in this shot from Cosmoledo. repyourwater.com

CHECK OUT… … Safari Outdoor Fishing in Rivonia. Thanks to the pandemic which has seen more people venture outside for entertainment, fly fishing is having a moment globally, comparable (but even bigger) than the ‘A River Runs Through It’ phenomenon which saw it boom in the ‘90s.

While fly fishing’s global growth waves do not always make it to South African shores, the folks at Safari Outdoor are certainly on the up with a new fishing section added to their Rivonia store to complement the one they already have in Pretoria. They also have another store opening in Krugersdorp this May. With a wide range of tackle and gear for fly anglers (and heathens), if you are based in Gauteng you now have even more choice. safarioutdoor.co.za

WIN GREAT CLOBBER WITH SAPMOK… … who doesn’t love a giveaway comp? We have partnered with veldskoen gurus Sapmok (sapmok. com) to give away not one, not two, but three of their products. The winner will receive a pair of Sapmok’s ridiculously good-looking and comfortable High-Top vellies (a piece of hardwearing South African sartorial heritage if ever there was one), a pair of Sapmok flip-flops (made with 30% recycled rubber and featuring a cork finish), plus one of their versatile Ripcote canvas Nepal duffels. Big enough to carry all your stuff but also small enough to qualify as hand luggage, these bags can be worn as a backpack or carried in hand. You also win one of The Mission’s Yella Fella Truckers to cap off the look. To win, simply ensure you follow both @Sapmok and @themissionflymag on Instagram for one entry and share this competition on your story for an extra entry.

You’ve got to be in it to win it.

THE BABER SCOPE YOUR FISHING FUTURE ACCORDING TO YOUR STAR SIGN AS READ BY BABERMAN, THE LEGENDARY GRUMPY CATFISH Taurus (The Bull): April 20 – May 20 The most sensual of the star signs, you Taureans are all about the good life, luxury, consistency, reliability and ROI (after all you are also the symbol of Wall Street).

That means glamping over camping, stockies over reccies, a three-course lunch over a 30km trek. As for wading tranquil waters with you… well it’s like a bull in a china shop.

WHO DOESN’T LOVE A GIVEAWAY COMP?

Gemini (Twins): May 21 – June 20 Indecisive as all hell and vocal about it, (“6x or 7x bud?”

“RAB or Pineapple emerger?” “Left fork or right?”), it’s almost as if your inner twins are battling for control of your ADHD melon. You’re also the chattiest chommie to ever don a pair of waders, which means you bring valuable gees when the fishing is average, but for the love of Cthulu try STFU from time to time too.

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CRASH TEST DUMMIES – KALK AP BIKE W E L C O M E T O A N E W S EC T I O N O N A N Y T H I N G V E H I C U L A R T H AT C O U L D P O S S I B LY P E R TA I N T O F LY F I S H I N G , M A R S H A L L E D BY O U R TA M E D U M M I ES N I C S C H W E R D T F EG E R A N D WA R W I C K L E S L I E . F I R S T U P T H E Y D I S C U S S T H E K A L K A P ( A N T I - P OAC H I N G ) , A N E L EC T R I C B U S H B I K E D E V E L O P E D B Y S W E D I S H C O M PA N Y CA K E ( R I D ECA K E . C O M ) .

misleading, and the range, along with charge time will only end up in frustration and disappointment.

Nic: I was on this train of thought before, but then I drove a Tesla for two weeks.

Have you felt the instant torque of an electric motor on a bike or car? It’s actually frightening. Trust me, new E-technology is amazing.

Warrels: I’m not arguing anything from a performance perspective, just practicality and the false eco bullshit that goes with them.

Nic: 100%, but let’s get past that and look at the product for what it is, not how many trees had to fall in order to power it. I may be slightly biased because in Norway, where I spend a large portion of my time, electricity is all very clean.

Nic Schwerdtfeger: Salmon guide, cannabis enthusiast, MD of Rezlo Racing (rezlo.com). Can braai better than you.

Warwick Leslie: Camping Engineer at Alu-Cab (alu-cab.com), fisherman, man of many toys. In it for the shiny stuff.

Nic: So, the e-bike crew at CAKE have built 50 of these bikes and they have a “buy one, donate one” scheme where for each bike bought by a customer they will donate one (plus a solar power station and solar panels) to South African anti-poaching rangers at the Southern African Wildlife College. Except for the sound of the wheels on the ground and the wind as they cruise past, they are silent. Good for silently sneaking up on poachers.

Warrels: Poachers aside, I like a bit of a BRAAAP! from a bike. Funnily enough, just not on my own land. How much does it cost? If it is anything more than 150k then I’d recommend getting your fat arse

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(speaking for myself) on a fat bike and getting sweaty...

Nic: It costs many kroner bröther. $26 500 to be precise, but Cake’s other non-sponsor ones are less ranging from $9-13k. The Kalk AP has three ride modes. ‘Explore’ which they call the ultimate mode during exploration, which is limited to 45km/h with 3-4 hours battery range. ‘Excite’ which is endure or active trail riding with 1-2 hours riding time and ‘Excel’ which is track and race mode with maximal torque and speed and a riding time of up to 1 hour.

Warrels: Must be nice to have if you own tracts of land fronting on to Sterkies or Vanderkloof. Still, while the rangers will have access to charging stations in the bush, for your average Joe, the fly fishing applications would be relatively limited with that range. I have said before, and I will maintain, that e-anything’s from an environmental perspective are somewhat

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Warrels: Well, I like the pastel colors. It does looking fucking cool, and for sneaky applications it has its place. Perfect for Constantia conservationists.

Warrels: The thing is, to use the Kalk AP as an exploring machine with its available range, at 60kg you are going to have to trailer it, whereas if you bought a Specialized E-bike you can stick it on a bike rack, which is a significant difference. So in short, the Kalk AP is great for anti-poaching or to have on a wilderness property, but not really for fishos. Or at least not yet.

Nic: Agreed there, but if hypothetically I put 2 x Kalks in a container on your hypothetical farm and they just lived there, you would not (hypothetically) complain.

There are definitely some people with Franschhoek money who would buy them just because. Personally, I would love to have one and 100kms of the Orange river to dick around on. It’s still not going to beat a Yamaha Xt500 on a dirt road in any aspect any time soon, but seeing as this tech is in its infancy, the future looks very promising.

WISHLIST FISH

CALICO BASS DA R K N ES S . S U S P E N S I O N . B E AT I N G S . YO U ’ D B E FO R G I V E N FO R T H I N K I N G T H AT W E ’ R E TA L K I N G A B O U T B D S M B U T, LU R K I N G I N T H E K E L P FO R ESTS O F S O U T H E R N CA L I FO R N I A , I S A D I F F E R E N T K I N D O F D O M I N AT R I X , T H E F R EC K L E - FAC E D CA L I C O BAS S . N I C H O L A S B L I X T O F PATAG O N I A F LY F I S H I N G G I V ES U S T H E LO W- D O W N . SA F E WO R D S D O N OT A P P LY. Photos. Nicholas Blixt and Noah Rosenthal

WHAT: Calico bass derive their name from the mottled bronze colouring across their flanks. Also called kelp bass, Paralabrax clathratus is a saltwater bass that falls under the Serranidae family, making it loosely related to groupers. They grow to about 14 pounds, though a double-digit fish has never been caught on fly and, given their slow growth (a 10 pound fish might be 30 years old), it’s extremely important that they be released whenever possible.

WHERE: Calicos can be found from Central California all the way down to Baja. They are truly a prime Southern California pursuit, where they can be found in kelp forests or tight to inshore structure such as jetties and breakwalls.

“Night time is the right time”—you can catch calicos in the daytime but, to maximize your chances at a substantial fish, night or grey light is your best bet.

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HOW: For the most part, I use a 10 weight fly rod with heavy sinking lines, a short 20 lb leader, and heavy, weedless flies. Even a 1-3 pound fish will put a good bend in the 10 weight, and the strike from a larger fish will likely have you hanging on for dear life. You’re typically casting as tight to structure as possible, then stripping extremely slowly to maintain contact with the fly as it sinks. The initial hit from a calico never gets old.

WHO: A fly guide in Southern California will get you into prime calico habitat either inshore or at the local islands.

Ex-pat South African Capt. Vaughn Podmore (instagram. com/saltyflyhb), based out of Huntington Beach, is known for this in particular. For a more DIY approach, take a paddleboard out to inshore artificial reefs for the chance to get towed around by a good-sized bass. This was how I got started on calicos.

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FODDER

BEERS & BEATS A B L AC K I PA , A R O C K M I XTA P E A ND A F E W P I RAT ES WALK I NTO A BAR… ED ITOR -AT- L A R G E , C ON RA D B OT ES, WE I GHS I N WI T H ONE OF HI S GO-TO HOME B R EW R EC I PES A N D A PL AY LI ST I NS P I RE D BY HI S FAVOU RI T E F EST I VAL O N T H E I N D I A N OCE AN I S L AND OF REU NI ON.

I always thought that black IPAs were a bit gimmicky but, I must say, my current batch is excellent. If you like IPAs and are keen to try something different, you should give this one a bash. It assumes a decent level of brewing know-how so, if you are a beginner, maybe start with an easier beer and then graduate to this. The following recipe makes a 20 litre batch.

The Grain Bill The grain bill is a bit more diverse than a normal IPA, and although the speciality grains seem small in quantity, they are the real stars of this recipe. If your brew shop doesn’t have all the grains, ask them for a suitable substitute.

I couldn’t find Melanoidin and replaced it with Biscuit malt.

“Fuck the alcohol ban! I’ll brew my own.” A panel from Bitterkomix 18 by Conrad Botes and Anton Kannemeyer available from soutiepress.com

THE BEER – BRUCE’S BLACK IPA

If you are reading this from any country other than South Africa, it may surprise you to learn that every time our president addresses the nation, there’s a rush on bottle stores just before he speaks. You see, it’s not that we know the news is bad (although with the pandemic and a cratering economy, it invariably is), but rather the fact that alcohol sales in South Africa have been intermittently banned under lockdown. Depending on which COVID wave we are in and how much pressure is being put on our hospitals, word goes out that booze sales are on (or off) again and there’s a stampede.

I no longer have that problem. While some people learned to code, to bake bread or speak another language under lockdown, to avoid spending months as an involuntary teetotaller I decided to learn how to brew beer. Now, when President Ramaphosa clears his throat, the idea of a booze ban does not worry me. In fact, given the choice, I prefer my home brew over the beers I used to buy.

I recently brewed a batch of black IPA from a recipe given to me by Bruce Williamson of Chopper One Brewing (facebook.com/ChopperOneBrewing).

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2,5 kg Maris Otter 1,5 kg Two-row base malt 0,5 kg Munich light 0,35 kg Carafa II 0,15 kg Cara Munich 0,1 kg Melanoidin The mash temperature is 65 degrees Celsius for 60 minutes. Strike water volume is 16 litres and the sparge is 12 litres at 77 degrees Celsius. A key variation in your mash is that the Carafa is only added for the last 15 minutes of the mash, which will limit the harsh roast flavours, but give it lots of colour.

The Hops Schedule For your bittering hops, you are going for a first wort hop, which will allow better hops flavours and softer bitterness.

In a first wort hop addition, the hops are added to the wort during the sparge and before you start the boil. First wort: 25 gr Chinook and 25 grams Citra.

The second hops addition is 25 grams of Chinook at flameout and you’re going to do a whirlpool at 70 degrees with a 20 minute stand. The dry hop is after active fermentation is complete, and I added mine three days before bottling. This is the biggest hop addition and it’s going to give you that typical hop-forward character of an IPA. Dry hop with 25 grams Citra, 50 grams Mosaic and 50 grams Simcoe.

For yeast you can go for Fermentis safbrew us-05.

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MIIR - GROWLER What sweet drinking vessel is that you ask? That dear friends is the 1.9L Miir Vacuum Insulated Growler, fittingly pimped for The Mission with one of Conrad’s artworks by our outdoor expert friends at Just Like Papa. Sporting a buckle lid that locks in place when open and a handle for easy carrying on the walk home from the brewery or pouring a few pints for your friends, it’s built to last. With Thermo 3D ™ Double Wall Vacuum Insulation Technology, it can keep your beer (up to four pints) cold for 24+ hours or hot for up to 12 hours too. justlikepapa.com Conrad Botes drinking his own black IPA on the banks of the Breede river. Photo Platon Trakoshis.

THE ROCK À LA BOOZE PLAYLIST

The other thing that was disrupted for me under pandemic lockdown, was my annual pilgrimage to Reunion for the Rock à la Buse festival (ravinedessables.fr) named after “La Buse”, aka Olivier Levasseur, perhaps the Indian Ocean’s most famous pirate.

Rock à la Buse is a kick-ass rock concert held every March in Saint-Denis, Reunion.

It includes a comic book festival with participants from the Indian Ocean, which includes Africa. Bitterkomix (my series with fellow artist Anton Kannemeyer) gets an invite every year. I would have been there two months ago, but thanks to The Plague, this year’s edition was cancelled. This playlist is dedicated to my friends Pascale Perso (from the band Kilkil) and her husband, Gael Mallet, who both organise the festival.

It’s a great playlist for brew day, but it also gets me going when I get in my car at 3 am to hunt kob. If you don’t like it loud, this one is not for you. Crank it up metalheads!

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I’m Drunk Again - Hank Williams III Drug Train - Joe Buck Yourself Everglade - L7 A Moment Forever - Volbeat Unsung - Helmet Black Betty - Spiderbait Fell In Love With A Girl - The White Stripes Ace of Spades - Motörhead Superbeast - Rob Zombie Chop Suey! - System of a Down Kill The Emperor - Everlast Te Quiero Puta! - Rammstein The Ballad of Chasey Lain - Bloodhound Gang Explosivo - Tenacious D Y’all Motherfuckers Need Jesus - The Goddam Gallows Going Out West - Tom Waits The Dancer - PJ Harvey The Call of Ktulu - Metallica We Are The People - Iggy Pop Words of Advice for Young People - William S. Burroughs

PRESS PLAY >

SPEAKING OF PIRATES… We could not help but be intrigued by this new release from Islay distillery Ardbeg.

The Arrrrrrrdbeg Committee Exclusive release commemorates the retirement of their legendary distillery manager Mickey Heads.

The first time the distillery has used ex-rye casks for maturation, Ardbeg describes this whisky as having “aromas of gunpowder, smoked banana and pears”, an “armada of anise and toffee,” and a long finish that “leaves a salty spray with Brazil nuts and gentle smoke.” It sounds like they have both made a fitting tribute to Mickey and produced a fine bottle of grog. ardbeg.com

HIGH FIVES

LUKE VAN DEN HEEVER BOUNCING BETWEEN HIS STUDIES AT STELLENBOSCH AND HIS FAVOURED STOMPING GROUNDS IN THE ESTUARIES OF THE WESTERN CAPE’S GARDEN ROUTE, LUKE VAN DEN HEEVER IS KICKING ASS (MAINLY GRUNTER, BUT OTHER SPECIES TOO). JUDGING BY THE PHOTOS OF HAPPY CLIENTS AND THEIR FISH, HE HAS A LONG CAREER AHEAD. Photos. Luke van den Heever archive and Peter Coetzee

5 best things about where you guide?

1.The easy accessibility. As long as one is willing to put in the effort, there is some incredible water right on our doorstep.

2. The sheer diversity of the fly fishing options in the area.

3. The flats and the sight fishing opportunities. The Garden Route is riddled with incredible flats both in the estuaries and along the coast line.

4. The quantity and diversity of other aquatic life that one can encounter in these estuaries.

5. The endless possibilities of a once in a life-time catch.

As with any saltwater fishery, you never know what you will encounter.

5 fishing-connected items you don’t leave home without before making a mission?

1. Twice as much water as I think I will need.

2. Decent sun block, a cap and Maui Jim sunnies.

3. REEL flyfishing orbital vice. You never know what will happen and sometimes, on the trip you need to tie a few patterns that will get the job done.

4. Walt fishing shirts. Comfy, lightweight and effective.

5. A plan of action and two backup plans based on possible changes in conditions. Always go with a plan, even if it changes in the first ten minutes, at least you have somewhere to start.

5 bands to listen to while on a road trip?

1. Anything produced by Nico Efstratiou 2. The Palms 3. Glass Animals 4. Bon Jovi 5. Long Distance by Sam Gellaitry. This track sets the vibe for any fishing trip.

5 things you are loving right now 1. Devil’s Peak Hero beers.

2. Stellies student life. So much to do, so little time to do it. You never get bored.

3. Tex bars.

4. Good fresh food and cooking. There is nothing like

preparing a good meal. Whether it is chilli mudcrab or a simple pasta, good food always slaps.

5. Time to myself. The older I get, the more I appreciate the time I get to spend away from everything, free of distractions where I can really appreciate what surrounds me.

5 indispensable flies for Garden Route saltwater?

1. Grey over white clouser.

2. Grey over white sparkle foam crease fly.

3. Marabou soft hackle 4. Dumb Blonde baitfish 5. Flexo crabs in marsh crab or shore crab colours.

5 indispensable flies for freshwater?

1. Strawberry milkshake (thanks Lyle).

2. Cream coloured blob.

3. Black cdc bugger with a gunmetal bead.

4. Missing link. Gordon van der Spuy’s hackle-less version 5. Marabou-tailed bloodworm.

5 favourite fly fishing destinations across South Africa/ Africa?

1. The Garden Route estuaries.

2. A little river that flows south into the Vaal River.

3. The Crocodile River system above the confluence with the Jukskei River, especially the very upper regions.

4. Upper Eerste River, small stream dry fly heaven.

5. Blyde River around Pilgrims Rest. Yellows, chisels and rainbows in the thousands with the chance of the odd brown surprise.

5 favourite fly fishing destinations globally?

1. Tongariro River in New Zealand. Everything in that country is beautiful, except the weather 2. The Knysna lagoon. It deserves its place on the global circuit.

3. Any Colorado trout stream.

4. Snake River, Wyoming 5. Otava and Vlatava systems in the Czech Republic.

The country literally has brown trout and grayling in the rain gutters. So imagine the populations in these rivers.

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

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

1. So many stories of incredible places, fish and people, I wish that I could tell them all but that would be a whole other article.

2. The excitement of an incredible experience and shared memories.

3. A better appreciation of our fisheries and fish. There is nothing like hearing anglers who have fished all over the globe rave about the fishery that you have worked on figuring out for many years.

4. Experience, both on the water and from the clients, you can always learn something new.

5. The sense of happiness watching someone else land a beautiful fish and knowing that you helped him or her achieve their goal.

5 flies to pack (in the smuggler kit under your driver’s seat) to cover most species?

1. Jumbo pack of sharpie markers.

2. White rabbit bugger.

3. Strawberry milkshake.

4. White clouser minnow.

5. White flexo crab.

5 people you would like to guide or fish with?

1. My good friend Luke Leatherbarrow. No matter when last we fished together, I would drop anything I am doing for another one of our missions.

2. My Ballie (father). Never take for granted the time you get with your folks; no one lives forever.

3. Keith Rose-Innes. His reputation precedes him.

4. David Arcay. He is one of the best competitive anglers in the world, for a very good reason.

5. David Attenborough. He was my biggest childhood inspiration and really helped sculpt my love for the outdoors. Even if there was no fishing involved it would be an honour to meet him.

5 fish on your species hit list?

1. Golden dorado 2. Milkfish. It is basically a supersized mullet on steroids powered by rocket fuel. What’s not to like?

3. A kob. For all my time in the salt, I still haven’t caught one on fly.

4. Permit. I want to see how they compare to the spotty locals.

5. A grunter over 15lbs sightfished on the flats. So far they have only left me with parted tippet. But that will change soon.

6. A duckbill ray over 100lbs. I just need to even the score again. After an hour of dogging it and after getting towed a couple of kilometres, the shit hit the fan when the thing realised it was actually hooked.

5 shower thoughts that have occurred to you while fly fishing?

1. Why do raggies always look like logs until you are right

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on top of them?

2. What the hell was my client’s name again? Names are definitely not my strong point.

3. How do so many grunter go from being invisible to clearly visible when they are only three metres away?

4. What just brushed against my leg?!

5. I wonder how this place fished 200 years ago before it was seriously affected by the influence of mankind?

5 of the most underrated species in your book?

1. Largescale yellowfish. Once they reach that 35cm mark they become extremely difficult to catch. They require small flies and fine tippets yet fight hard and dirty, resulting in very few fish landed in tight, overgrown streams.

2. Smallscale yellowfish. Nothing beats swinging large baitfish flies in small streams to these chrome bars.

3. Striped and flathead mullet. These fish are not as difficult to hook as their smaller cousins but when they are hooked all hell breaks loose. Backing is often stripped along with stunning aerial displays.

4. Flatfish species, most of our flatfish are willing to eat a fly, and always give a good tussle, especially the duckbill and eagle rays.

5. Rats and mice. Sometimes conditions don’t permit for targeting larger species and you find yourself scratching around with the 1-6 weights. The diversity of species that can be caught is breath-taking and most of the little guys have striking patterns and colours.

5 things that make where you fish so special?

1. The people who you mission with. No matter how bad the fishing is, if you are with great company it can be an incredible trip.

2. The accessibility. Ten minutes out the front door and I am on turtle grass flats dodging pyltjies (sting rays) and throwing flies to whatever moves. The membership (fishing license) is cheap too at R76 per year (around $5).

3. The ever-changing conditions. As harsh as they can be, they keep the system alive and changing. There is nothing like feeling the full force of a Cape storm.

4. The marine and birdlife. The Southern African subcontinent has such a rich array of fauna and flora that it is easy to be side-tracked from your fishing.

5. The increasing numbers of fly fishermen along the Southern Cape coastline. Three years ago no one was throwing fluff at these fish. If you saw another fly fishermen on the system it was a topic of discussion on the way home. Now it is normal to see half a dozen groups on a regular outing.

5 destinations on your bucket list?

1. Oman - permit in the surf on crab flies and sleeping in the back of a bakkie (pickup truck) under desert stars.

Sounds pretty cool hey?

2. Bolivia - big flies in small streams.

3. The lower Orange River. It’s a trip that all South African fly fishers need to do at least once.

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

Rehearsals for the Robin Hood: Men in Tights revival took an odd turn when Luke insisted on bringing his emotional support fish.

“MY GOOD FRIEND LUKE LEATHERBARROW. NO MATTER WHEN LAST WE FISHED TOGETHER, I WOULD DROP ANYTHING I AM DOING FOR ANOTHER ONE OF OUR MISSIONS.”

4. A plan of action 5. Little unplanned surprises and moments that make each trip special. These cannot be planned but always make the trip.

5 flies that, to look at, make no sense but that catch fish all the time?

1. Anything out of Luke Leatherbarrow’s box.

2. Salmon flies. There are few triggers and little movement; they also imitate nothing.

3. Multi-coloured blobs.

4. Gary de Klerk’s carp and bass flies. It helps when there is a wizard behind the rod.

5. Control caddis. Why does a #6 nymph with a bright bead work so well?

4. Nepal - a wild destination with big wild cyprinids.

5. Kosi Lakes, Natal. I really want to get a big GT on fly in South Africa.

5 things you would take up if you weren’t always fly fishing?

1. Fly tying. Sometimes I enjoy the tying more than the fishing. It’s calming and helps keep my mind on a leash.

2. Artlure. I love the idea behind any form of fishing with artificials.

3. Hiking and rock climbing.

4. Cooking. There is such an art in preparing and cooking good food. I would love to gain more experience in the kitchen.

5. Day drinking. Let’s be real, a life without fly fishing would be pretty shit.

5 things you have learned about spotted grunter?

1. They are a poes (twat) fish with a shitty bipolar attitude.

2. No fishery is the same. What makes grunter so challenging to catch is that their behaviour is system specific and to a degree flat specific too. No sub population of fish behaves the same.

3. See the fish first then cast. A tail only indicates where the fish are moving. If you cannot see the fish itself and which way it is facing there is a very limited chance your presentation will be seen. The fish in Knysna lagoon also move off approximately six metres after aggressively tailing, before they start feeding again.

4. Full sun conditions are best. If you can see the fish you can present to them, even if they are a little more spooky.

5. They are truly beautiful and unique and deserve to be treated with respect. No set of spots is the same.

5 essential ingredients for an incredible mission?

1. Good food 2. Good friends 3. Enough petrol

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5 things about fly fishing that you may never understand?

1. The cost of the sport. There is no need for things to be so expensive, I don’t fish top of the range rods or reels, yet I have a blast. Rather focus on using high quality terminal tackle like leaders, tippet material and hooks as these are your weakest points. There are some exceptions to this rule though.

2. Not pulling fish properly. Always pull a fish at 75-80% of what your gear can do. You will land and successfully release more fish.

3. The politics in competitive fly fishing, I love the sport and competing but there is no need for all the nonsense.

4. Why there are not even more of us. I meet very few people who have used a fly rod and not enjoyed it.

5. The arrogance and sense of entitlement some fly fishers have. There is so much that we can learn from the conventional guys, so don’t look down on them.

5 common mistakes that most clients make?

1. All the gear but no idea. A good set up will not make you a better angler if you do not know how to use it correctly.

2. Learn to cast. This is the fundamental basis of fly fishing and there is no shame in getting lessons. If you cannot cast there is very little a guide can do to help you catch fish. You don’t need to cast a full fly line; focus on line speed and accuracy.

3. Don’t cast until your guide says so. I want you to catch fish just as much as you do but impatience will get you nowhere.

4. Don’t try make your guide move slower or faster than he is doing. If we are stalking the flats, I am conscious of three things: client safety and nasty critters; spotting fish without spooking them and covering the water most effectively during our tide gap.

5. Not getting a guide earlier. There is no shame in getting a guide. You can learn more from a guide in one day then you can going solo for one year.

Your last five casts were to….

Rainbow trout in the Smalblaar River and grunter on the Knysna turtlegrass flats.

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

Remote Richtersveld Drift - Namibia

Est. 1997

DULLSTROOM

Lake Jozini,- Pongola Mavungana Flyfishing Center

Main Road, Dullstroom, 013 245 0270

Mavungana Flyfishing JHB, Shop 3B

Illovo Square Shopping Center, 011 268 5850 travel@flyfishing.co.za

www.flyfishing.co.za

QUICK SILVER IF FLOAT-TUBING FOR SILVER KOB OFF INSHORE REEFS ON THE WESTERN CAPE COASTLINE SOUNDS LIKE AN ATTEMPT AT ENTERING THE DARWIN AWARDS, YOU’RE NOT ALONE. BUT FOR CONRAD BOTES AND THE FEW HARDY FLOAT TUBE KOB ANGLERS WHO SPECIALISE IN QUICK SESSIONS ON THESE URBAN COASTAL WATERS, THE REWARDS OUTWEIGH THE RISKS. Photos Sacha Specker.

Kob photos Contad Botes.

Cellos at Dawn

I

t’s still gloomy outside, but in the predawn darkness I take refuge under a streetlamp next to my car and start gearing up. I follow the usual routine; first inflate my float tube, then rig up my fly-rod and finally I get into my neoprene pants and splash jacket. While I’m busy doing my thing, two ‘ouens’ in a bakkie pull up behind me. They’ve got an Ark inflatable in the back, along with all manner of fishing gear. One of them walks over to me, while the other one starts getting their stuff together on the pavement next to their car. He asks me what my target species are. I reply that I’m going for kob.

‘Watse aas werk die beste hier?’ (What bait works best here?) he asks. I hadn’t rigged my rod yet, so I reply that I’m a fly-fisherman. He responds with a condescending snort and returns to his chommie.

While I finish up I can hear them laughing, probably about my fishing from a float tube, or perhaps the futility of fly-fishing for kob.

I jump across the low wall that separates the beach from the road and walk to the water’s edge. As I paddle out I can see them launching their Ark inflatable a few hundred metres behind me. At this stage, I focus on the fishing and start planning the morning’s session. I decide to hit Bermuda Triangle first. Bermuda is a spot consisting of three rocks about 30 or so metres from each other, that break the surface at low tide. There’s a nice foamy hole in the middle of Bermuda and more often than not, a kobbie or two hanging out in it. When the kob are about, you will often get a take within the first five to ten casts and, if you don’t, you can move on to the next gulley until you find them.

I launch a cast and land my fly in the sweet spot. As I start the retrieve, the line is almost jerked from my hands, and I tighten up on my first kob for the morning. It’s not often that one gets a fish on your first cast, and wanting to share my stoke, I decide to show the two ‘papgooiers’* that flyfishermen do actually catch kob out on the False Bay reefs.

I turn around to look for them. I spot them about 60 metres away from me, thrashing in the water next to their capsized inflatable boat, with moderate surf rolling over them neatly distributing their floating gear across the surface of the water. It’s a shit show. Papgooier number one is trying to turn the boat upright again, while papgooier number two is trying with all his might to climb on top of the craft, thereby nullifying his comrade’s efforts. The reason for the hysteria, of course, is their fear of sharks, something that I’m all too familiar with. Eventually, they manage to get the boat turned upright and clamber back on in a flat panic. After trying to salvage a few items, they start making their way back to shore with a single oar.

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I turn my back on them and continue fishing. It’s early dawn and the horizon has turned from dark grey to a bright pinkish hue. As a single oar floats past me in the light south easterly breeze, I ponder the phenomenon of people’s unreasonable fear of sharks. The first comment people make when I mention fly-fishing for kob from a float tube on the inshore reefs in False Bay, is the danger of shark attacks. Most people will make some dismissive joke about such a foolish pursuit, while others will express their deep concern for your safety and try to dissuade you. My buddy, MC Coetzer, who is one of the float-forkob clan, told me with much glee that one of his oldest friends and an experienced saltwater fly-fishing guide said that if there was one thing that he will never do in his life, ever, it would be to fly-fish from a float tube in the open sea.

A comment from our esteemed editor when he finally agreed to join me for a session on the float tube and went to buy a pair of neoprene longs was, ‘I tried to get them in a bright colour, because I thought black ones would leave me looking like a seal.’ I rest my case. (ed. In my defence, have you ever seen a luminous orange or green seal? I also rest my case…doos).

If you consider the number of surfers and swimmers in the water in and around Cape Town every day of the year, and the frequency of shark attacks, I really find this perpetual fear of being killed by sharks irrational. Are there sharks in the water where people surf and where we float tube? From my experience after 20 years as a spearfisherman, the answer is most certainly yes. Sharks are very aware of people’s presence in the water, they are simply not particularly interested in people as a food source. If the sharks automatically attacked people, there would be shark attacks every day.

A recent encounter with a shark out on the reefs is a good case in point. We were out on our tubes, fishing for kob around a mid-day low tide when I spotted a very large dark shape moving over the shallow, outer part of the reef we were fishing. ‘Seal’ I thought but changed my mind almost immediately. It was too big to be one of the seals we see around here and it wasn’t black like a seal, but rather dark, brownish-grey. A while later it approached me horizontally from a completely different angle, when it was about ten metres away it turned and swam directly towards me. Only then did I get a good look at it in the murky water; a bronze whaler with pectorals spread beautifully to the sides of its wide trunk, it swam straight towards me and when it was about six metres away it spooked and hauled ass into the deep, like a neurotic grunter who had a JAM fly tossed on its head on a skinny sand flat.

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

The fact is that the chances of being attacked by a shark are just too slim. By comparison, most other sporting activities seem extremely dangerous. Like mountain hiking for instance. According to the South African Mountain Accidents Database, there have been more than ten fatal hiking accidents on Table Mountain during the past 12 months.

The sad fact is, that sharks are the true victims in this scenario, considering that people kill more than one hundred million sharks per year. Go on, Google it.

“Gaan Pa in daai ou booitjie uitroei!?”

One late afternoon earlier this year, while I was gearing up for the evening session, I was approached by two bait collectors that frequent the reefs at low tide. After explaining that I don’t use bait, and therefore didn’t want to buy any, I was being scrutinised by the two, while I was pumping up the float tube on the pavement. ‘Gaan Pa op daai ou booitjie uitroei!?’ (Are you going to row out there in that little boat?) I tried to explain the virtues of a float tube as well as I could, but the pair were left shaking their heads in disbelief and confusion.

I have found that this is also the general reaction when it comes to float tubing in the surf. We are often asked why we don’t use more solid craft like inflatable boats or stand-up paddleboards. While these craft also have their place in the surf, I find that float tubes work really well for the following reasons. They are easy to carry, quick to inflate and will fit in the back of your car, even when almost fully inflated. They are steady in the surf; having your legs in the water, using proper diving fins, acts as water anchors and will keep you from capsizing. You can keep casting and fishing even while you are paddling from spot to spot. My buddy, Jannie Visser, fishes from a stand-up paddleboard (SUP) and says that because of its high wind resistance, he can’t go out when it’s too windy. A float tube on the other hand has a much smaller wind profile and I often use it in a stiff south easterly wind. Standing up on a SUP or inflatable boat gets quite tricky when the sea gets a bit choppy, but this is not a problem at all in a float tube where you have a low centre of gravity.

Silver bullets Fly-fishing for dusky kob is a blood, sweat and tears affair. The fish numbers have been depleted so much that stocks are commonly referred to as “collapsed”.

Even if we fish in the big estuaries like the Breede River system, you are very likely to blank targeting kob. If you are fortunate enough to land more than ten good duskies in one season, you can regard yourself as a decent and, no doubt, die-hard, fly fisherman.

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

“HERE’S A LITTLE SECRET. MORE OFTEN THAN NOT, THE FLY WILL OUTFISH CONVENTIONAL METHODS ON THESE REEFS BY A LARGE MARGIN.”

It was at that moment that Conrad realised he wasn’t at Lakenvlei.

When I started targetting kob off the False Bay reefs with Jannie Visser a few years ago, this all changed. Catching fish became the norm and blanking the exception. The reason for this is that the kob that are commonly caught in False Bay are a different species. Unlike Argyrosomus japonicus (dusky kob), the stocks of Argyrosomus inodorus (silver kob) are healthier, but no doubt under similar pressure as duskies. While they appear to be identical, their behaviour seems to be completely different. Unlike duskies, silver kob rarely enter estuaries but clearly congregate in healthy numbers on shallow inshore reefs. For this reason, we were stoked to discover that they can be targeted close to where we live. The schoolie size silvers also put up a better fight than duskies of a similar size.

But while we’ve been studying dusky kob behaviour for over a decade, we know very little about how silver kob behave. Every day on the water reveals something new.

A session with Mike Gradidge, another of my fishing buddies, earlier this year is a good example of how little we know. I returned to the reefs with Mike the day after a killer session with Jannie and MC. We arrived and started fishing in the same spot as the day before, but couldn’t buy a fish. After checking all my regular spots without any luck, I suggested to Mike that we try small silicone mullets for elf or garrick. After moving to an altogether different part of the reef, I had a solid pull on the silicone, stripped just under the surface. I called Mike over, yelling that I’d found some leeries, and soon we were both tight into good fish.

What we thought were leerfish, turned out to be silver kob that were evidently feeding higher in the water column, something we had never encountered over inshore reefs before. What followed was one of my most memorable sessions on the reefs, as we stayed anchored on the edge of a basin, targeting a single shoal of silver kob.

“Sorry man, we’re fly fishermen” The following scenario is very common. We’re gearing down after a session, breaking down rods and discussing the highlights. A conventional angler, who just arrived and is making his way onto the reefs where he’ll be fishing from the bricks, approaches us. As he gets closer, I see him searching our stuff for evidence of a successful mission. He doesn’t see any fish, but asks anyway; “Did you guys catch anything?” At this point, I always give the same reply; “We’re fly fishermen”. He smiles and walks away. I deliberately say nothing more, leaving him with his preconceived opinion that fly-fishermen don’t catch fish in the sea.

Here’s a little secret. More often than not, the fly will outfish conventional methods on these reefs by a large margin. I will always savour the memory of a mid-day kob session MC Coetzer and I had a few months ago. It was a Sunday, an absolute pearler of a day with not a breath of wind. Every man and his dog was out on the reefs; kayak

“SORRY MAN, WE’RE FLY FISHERMEN” fishermen in the backline and conventional rock and surf chaps on the bricks. After a few casts, I left MC at the Bermuda Triangle and decided to try a deep basin near the backline. I noticed after a while that MC was catching but, foolishly, I stuck to my spot since it had produced my biggest silver kob there the year before. After an hour I paddled back and joined MC. His reaction was, “Dude, what took you so long! I’ve already landed ten kob!”

What followed was one of the best sessions I’ve ever experienced on the reefs. We fished the long reef to the east of Bermuda, casting to the inside of it. Our casts must have overlapped with four rock and surf guys, who were fishing from the very point of the reef and casting towards

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us. It was quite ridiculous. At one point we were getting hooked up shot for shot, while papgooiers were getting no bites whatsoever. MC ended up with a final tally of 19 kob and three elf, which is the most kob I’ve ever seen landed on fly in such a short session.

At one point, with my rod bent double on a nice fish yet again, I looked over and caught the eye of one of the papgooiers. As he stared at me in disbelief, I gave him a little nod, as if to say, ‘Sorry man, we’re fly fishermen.’ * A condescending reference to baitcasters in Afrikaans. Literally, ‘pap’ is ‘cooked maize’ and ‘gooiers’ is ‘throwers’ in refence to the baitbombs carp anglers use.

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

JOIN

Platon Trakoshis and Andre van Wyk of Lucky Bastards curate brilliant, fly fishing experiences based off a simple approach - to put people in the best destinations at the best times.

YOU’RE ALREADY A BASTARD. NOW CREATE YOUR OWN LUCK. EMAIL INFO@THEMLUCKYBASTARDS.COM TO PUT YOUR NAME ON THE LIST

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HELL BOY F I S H I N G T H E N E W Z E A L A N D T O N G A R I R O R I V E R I S H E AV E N O N E A R T H A N D A D R E A M C O M E T R U E F O R F LY A N G L E R S ; E X C E P T I F Y O U A R E G E R H A R D U Y S H AV I N G A N O F F D AY. Photos. Gerhard Uys

L

et’s get this out of the way. I am a fly fishing white belt. The fishing trip I plan and the one I get is often not the same. The knots I practised while on the couch at home are suddenly impossible.

I freak out about depth and tippet length (which in New Zealand makes all the difference when catching fish) and, when there are others nearby, I become nervous and my casting becomes a sight-not-tobehold. Feeling like a loser screws up my whole day.

But there are also odd days when I slay it, and those keep bringing me back for more.

No, no, it doesn’t end there. Before a fishing trip I also always worry that I won’t get enough sleep the night before. I have had insomnia my entire life, and a good night’s sleep makes the difference between a shit day and a great one. This means I always lie awake worrying that I won’t fall asleep and worrying that I won’t hear my alarm.

So I don’t fall asleep. All days fishing therefore start out badly for me.

Oh wait, this is an article about fishing the Tongariro and the surrounding rivers in New Zealand’s North Island. In case you wondered, it is as amazing as you’ve heard. The brown and rainbow trout are massive; there is an abundance of them and the rivers are truly endless. The views of snowy peaks in the background are Instagram fodder; the river crossings are mean and, by the end of each day, you will have plenty to recount around the braai.

The drastic changes in seasons means you can hit the water with everything from nymphs, throughout the year, to dry flies in summer. If you have time and some money you can explore the backcountry and catch fish that may never even have heard rumours of the existence of humans. The deafening roar of the river stays in your head two days after you’ve left the place and, as it fades, the memories of the Tongariro remain. Yes, you should pack your bags right now and come fish for monsters. It will be worth the money you spend.

But there are provisos. Everyone knows the river is awesome and many weekends you will see full car parks

and lines of fly fisherman at the popular local pools.

One weekend I saw 14 fishermen line up on the edge of a long riffle at the popular Bridge Pool in Turangi, a bustling town that has multiple access points to the Tongariro, or “The Tong” as my buddy Cam Kriss calls it.

The Kiwi government has a thing about access and will build a carpark and access points to anything that they find is frequented by the public. This means that secret spots could suddenly become parking lots, just because someone from Fish and Game or the Department of Conservation became aware of it. At one pool you’ll even find a sign explaining what fly fishing is. If you are really lucky they will put up a sign with the pool’s name and even build a long drop close by so you don’t do a bushy should the desire overwhelm you while you’re casting for trout.

As a side note, don’t even talk about taking a bushy close to a popular tourist fishing destination in New Zealand, because somehow the words ‘open defecation’ will find its way into a local newspaper because you took a poop, covered it back up and then had the ill luck of someone’s damn dog getting the sniffs and digging a hole.

I digress. Covid lockdown first meant that no foreigners could come and fish, and the water was here for our taking. But alas, the Kiwis seemed to have had a surge of interest in fly fishing and some days the rivers are crawling with enthusiasts.

If you are like me and fly fishing is a pursuit that goes handin-hand with solitude, then a day fishing the Tongariro is often spent shouting at a full carpark, then doing a screeching U-turn, and gunning off to find a pool where there is no one around, or where access is fairly difficult and excludes everyone except the fittest or the semi adventurous.

For newbies like me, figuring out what’s potting in Turangi presents challenges. If you see a Ute (Kiwi word for bakkie, meaning utility vehicle) randomly parked next to the road in this area, you could mistake it for a sign that there is a pool nearby full of monster rainbows that someone just discovered on Google maps and is fishing it.

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In many cases however a car parked next to the road does not mean there is a spot to fish but that someone is hitting meth (New Zealand has a huge methamphetamine and gang problem) and the spot you think could be a trout gold mine is just a stop next to the road for a meth head.

Provisos aside, when I slipped my feet into my waders one cloudy day I was psyched. Cam Kriss was already in the water. He had meandered downstream from the overfished bridge pool, crossed the river and was fishing away from the crowds.

Cam had put over 20 000km on the clock in 2020 because he took the four hour ride from Auckland to the Turangi area every weekend to fish. He was turning into a real ‘Tong’ slayer. Cam moved to New Zealand from Australia during lockdown in February 2020 and spent two weeks in quarantine with a practice rod perfecting his cast. He also bought a book on fly fishing spots online and dropped pins on Google maps and has spent the past year exploring these fishing spots. In short, he is the man to fish with.

Cam, Suzie (they are not putting a name on what their relationship is yet) and I waded across rivers, bundu bashed a bit, and hit some fairly “off the radar” pools. Because I only manage to fish once a month, Cam immediately went into instructor mode, which I appreciate.

A very easy cast, often used by Kiwi fisherman when nymphing, is the use of a bomb point fly, with a foot of tippet to a light nymph that floats around freely and hangs from the point fly. Somewhere above or below the point fly a piece of split shot ensures that the fly gets down to the bottom. This is all topped off with a wool indicator. This is on at least two rod lengths of tippet, which is allowed to be taken downstream for about ten metres. Once the line is straightened out a simple water load cast gets your fly upstream. After this only mending is needed and once the drift is finished you simply repeat the effortless process. Like the Kiwi’s say, “too easy.”

I didn’t know it, but a long series of mishaps were about to start that had nothing to do with my lack of sleep or my anxiety. After only my second pass through a pool I felt a nibble and, when I struck, the weight of the fish brought the reality home quickly. I had had a rotator cuff repair four months ago before that and, despite hours of physiotherapy, I cannot get decent mobility back into my shoulder. I can barely lift my arm more than ten degrees above my shoulder.

I switched the rod to my left hand, but my reel was left hand wind. I desperately began stripping as much line as I

could with my right hand. Profanities echoed off the walls of the low valley. I switched hands again and awkwardly tried to reel in line. The fish sensed slack in the line and gunned it. I switched hands again and managed to get a tight line going. I saw a decent sized fish tip on its side.

I was psyched! I was about to catch my first brown trout (eyewitnesses confirmed it was actually a rainbow). But, consecutive yanks on the line, switching hands and my stop-start efforts meant the line broke off.

Three water loads later and I got another fish on. I knew its size was good as I could feel how solid the beast was as it tried to escape me. Again, I was psyched, but the same rod roulette happened and the fish swam to freedom as I reeled in a broken tippet.

Cam and Suzie chuckled as I howled into the valley. I was perplexed. I should have switched my reel wind direction, I should have done more physio, the shoulda-wouldacoulda went on. Did I really drive three hours for this?

After we hit a few more pools (with no luck) we promised to hook up two days later.

The next day Friedrich Fourie. Christoff Smith and I (all expat South Africans) hit the river. We tried to head out early and finally fish the bridge pool to avoid the masses but, by 6am there were already four lines in the water. As we got out of the bakkie Friedrich slapped himself on the forehead and pulled the face one reserves for times when disaster has struck. He had left his wading boots at the lodge. We all got in the bakkie again and drove off to fetch his boots.

We realised that the crowds meant that the bridge pool was not an option anymore.

After much bickering about where to go next we decided on another pool. It was 7am but Friedrich was already miffed. Forgetting his boots was a clear sign of the karma that was about to play out. He wolfed down his lunch because, he said, “I won’t get time later”.

The night before I had devised an action plan to get fish in the net. I had decided to Czech nymph. It would cut out any need for casting and give my arm a rest until needed. I should have changed my Loop Evotec G4 reel wind direction while devising the plan, but I convinced myself it would work. I tied on an olive C3 Habanero (tied

by Taupo fly guide Dustin Habaner) for a point fly, and some light weight brown jobbie to float around on top of it. We hit the water for an hour but had no luck so we hiked up river where a cold wind came up and messed with our casting. With the Czech technique the wind doesn’t bother me too much.

“I WADED ACROSS RIVERS, BUNDU BASHED A BIT, AND HIT SOME FAIRLY “OFF THE RADAR” POOLS” W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

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I saw a clear riffle, something out of a magazine or ‘how to’ fly fishing book. On my third pass I felt something and struck. My emotional well-being increased instantly as a fish jumped out of the water, my shoulder muscles didn’t give a damn about my aspirations for the weekend and after a few desperate looks at Christoff and Friedrich, who were standing closer with a net, I started dropping multiple ‘F’-bombs.

Same story. I saw the fish on his side, I switched hands, the fish was within reach, I must have yanked or something because the leader snapped. I realised I hadn’t crushed my barbs and immediately felt like crap about the nymph that might be stuck in the fish’s mouth forever.

“My fokken arm, my foookkkeen aaaarrreem, fok!”

An hour of tight lining it and all the muscles had cramped up. Friedrich and Christoff stared at me.

Pain and loss aside, I had had fish on and I was chuffed.

“What fly did you have on? What length was your tippet? “ We are all white belts here (maybe not Friedrich). But, if one of us gets a fish, there’s that immediate assumption that he must have some golden ticket that had done the job. For a moment, despite what my arm had done to me, I had the key to success. For the first time I appreciated the moment. Cold blue water, low rock cliffs, the cold wind howling and my buds.

But the next moment I was under the water. Under, really under. My waders filled up. I tried to stand but a monster pain shot through my right shoulder. I performed a weird flailing swim movement several times and finally managed to get a foothold on the riverbed.

My Redington waders were slightly leaky and I realised I hadn’t put my iPhone in a Ziplock bag. I pulled it out and saw the screen flicker. I switched it off.

The rivers here are bloody cold so, in an attempt to dry off, I semi dropped my waders and sat like I was having a blatant bushy. I found a sunny spot but the wind wasn’t helping my body temperature. I tried to fish again but I was shivering.

We fished on with no luck so decided to hit the town for some grub. While Christoff and I sat down for some food, Friedrich went off to meet up with his better half for a while.

I was still shaking. I felt dizzy. Cold. There was a shooting pain going through my left arm. It was getting worse.

This can’t be happening. I’m only 41, but work had been hellishly stressful recently.

“Dude, I am sorry to do this to you, but I think I am having a heart attack,” I said.

Christoff is a man for an emergency.

“What do we do?” he asked. He did not seem phased at all.

“I think I need an ambulance.”

Christoff scoops up our burgers in his hands with one grab as our sit down meal became a takeaway. “You just stay calm”.

Google Maps takes us to the fire station. Two hot ambulance women strap me to some electric wires, pop a heart monitor on to my index finger and ask me questions I should have considered before I clutched my left arm and went into 911 mode.

“So you fished with the arm you don’t usually fish with?

Your left one? How long were you cold for? Over an hour?

When last did you eat?”

As their questions appear to rule out a heart attack, it dawned on me that I would not have to phone my wife to tell her to please walk the dog every day when I’m six feet under, and that she wouldn’t have to send all my meagre savings to my family in South Africa, after she used some of it for a vacay.

“You’d do good to go home, take a hot shower and eat something,” hot ambulance lady number two said.

We returned to the lodge (it’s called a lodge but is a very two star house owned by our fly fishing club). I popped my iPhone into a bag of pasta to see if it would save it.

We didn’t have rice. I sat down and stuffed my face with various edible items.

“Dude take a hot shower,” Friedrich advised me.

“Nope. I’m not dead. Let’s go fish,” I said and we climbed into Christoff’s bakkie. The dudes both netted a few nice Tong rainbows and scored a bunch of likes on Instagram.

I broke off two more fish, and then I snapped my rod.

Holy hell. What a weekend.

“SO YOU FISHED WITH THE ARM YOU DON’T USUALLY FISH WITH? YOUR LEFT ONE? HOW LONG WERE YOU COLD FOR? OVER AN HOUR? 48

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AUSTRALIA

LONG REEF VETERAN GUIDE RICHARD SCHUMANN HAS SPENT THE BETTER PART OF HIS LIFE GUIDING BLUE CHIP CLIENTS IN THE WORLD’S BEST SALTWATER DESTINATIONS. HERE HE LIFTS THE SKIRT ON ONE PLACE THAT DOES NOT GET AS MUCH ATTENTION AS IT SHOULD. NOT THAT YOU ARE LIKELY TO GO THERE ANYWAY… IF THE COST AND INACCESSIBILITY DON’T GET YOU, THE CROCS, SHARKS, JELLYFISH AND CURRENTS WILL. STILL, WE CAN DREAM, RIGHT?

Photos.Richard Schumann, DDSC Library and East Coast Angling

When it comes to comparing “wildness” and inhospitable ruggedness, there are a few flats destinations that come to mind but I would say Long Reef is almost comparable to wading the flats of Aldabra. You are going to see a marine system that’s undisturbed and as intact as it can possibly be today. As one metre is the fork length for a trophy GT, so around four metres becomes the standard for the sighting of a big predator on the flats of Long Reef.

They primarily come in the form of tiger sharks, great hammerheads and saltwater crocodiles. And the lemon sharks are also among the biggest I have encountered anywhere.

We all want to fish pristine flats but not all pristine flats are truly wild, and I agree with the argument that a pristine flats destination that has been tamed, can offer better fishing than an untamed equivalent. But still, some of us can’t resist the combination of true wildness and dumb fish.

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hen it comes to flats fishing, Australia boasts an impressive amount of real estate. The exploration of these flats is only beginning but already some real gems have come to light. Stumble upon one of these and, for obvious reasons, it’s not general practice to proclaim your find from the rooftops. But Long Reef is different.

I’m happy to share this place with you as it is so remote, difficult to access and dangerous, that very few anglers will have the means, never mind the will to visit it and it will remain, for all intents and purposes, untamed.

Seasoned anglers and explorers, Ferdi Heymann and Paul Boyers were with me on the recent expeditions to Long Reef and we all agree it is, without doubt, one of the most pristine and wild venues we have been to. And that, as we all know, invariably leads to comparisons.

Lying about half way between Broome and Darwin, geographically, Long Reef is a mini version of Providence Bank in Seychelles and St Brandons on the Cargados Carajos Bank north of Mauritius. Not that Long Reef is that small. It’s about 30 km long but St Brandons dwarfs it at double that size. Providence isn’t much smaller than St Brandons and both of them have islands whereas Long Reef is completely awash at high tide. But, as with St Brandons and Providence Banks, nestling in the lee of Long Reef are sand banks and vast sand, marl and coral flats, drained by countless channels. Along the hard edge, are the typical “blue holes” one finds on reefs like this.

These holes are places where you take the unsuspecting at low tide, tie on a popper, tell them to cast in and sit back and watch the carnage. In an untouched place like Long Reef, at low water these holes are packed with big bluefin, GTs, snapper, sharks and huge grouper.

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Although the best fishing is seasonal, tides dictate the flats fishing at Long Reef in a quite forceful manner.

The spring tide range can exceed seven metres and in seconds treacherous rip currents can form that sweep across the flats. What’s more, there’s no dry land at high tide for flotsam like you to wash ashore on, should you get caught in one of those rips. But, if you don’t do anything stupid, for the wading angler, these risks are manageable; including the potentially deadly irukandji and box jellyfish that hang there from time to time.

With the risks covered, the flats of Long Reef provided us with some superb fishing. I’m a new convert so I really enjoyed the blue bastard fishing the most. They’re a fish with loads of character and are endless fun to hunt even if, at times, they can be as spooky and uncooperative as permit or triggers.

In season the queenfish are prolific and provide excellent top water action on poppers in the many channels that drain the flats, and Long Reef is the only place where I’ve seen big queenfish venture right up on to the flats, hunting in knee deep water. One of the downsides of a wild fishery is that the fish are initially, completely unaware of the danger you pose. They haven’t seen a fly in their lives and as much fun as queenfish can be on the end of a fly rod, there’s a limit. But if the permit or blue bastards are proving difficult, it’s nice to know you can stroll down to the nearest channel and go tight on a queenie.

Although it is not, by Australian standards, a prolific permit fishery, a big attraction at Long Reef is that there are both species of permit on the flats, anak and blochii.

We’ve had no luck with the anak yet but it is still very early days. Although I know which I’d choose, I can imagine life can get very stressful for an indecisive angler when both blue bastards and permit are tailing within casting distance. No one said it would be easy.

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“YOU ARE GOING TO SEE A MARINE SYSTEM THAT’S UNDISTURBED AND AS INTACT AS IT CAN POSSIBLY BE TODAY.”

With GTs, blue bastards, lemon shark bastards and myriad other species, if you can get to it Long Reef delivers.

GTs also love this place. There’s plenty of flats-tucker for them and they jump on the fly like a hungry … well, like a hungry GT! The GT fishing is comparable to Astove or Cosmo, except the Long Reef fish are still dumb.

As we know, no flats fish smarten up quicker than big GTs, but because of lack of pressure, Long Reef will most likely remain one of the last strongholds of the big, dumb flats GT. I’ve caught lemon sharks on the flats in both the Indian and Atlantic oceans but have come across none as spooky as the lemon sharks one encounters on the Aussie flats.

There are places in the Bahamas where once hooked, big lemons often turn defence into attack and really do try and bite you. On the flats of Aldabra, the big lemons don’t even need an excuse to become aggressive but, as is elsewhere in Australia, the lemons at Long Reef are spooky animals, even the big ones. In fact, in the shallow water of the flats the really big lemons will be the first to move off if they detect anything unnatural. My theory that explains this spooky behaviour is that the lemon sharks in the remote parts of Australia are hunted by crocodiles and, I have no doubt, by the numerous big tigers and

hammerheads as well. Aussie lemons may be difficult to catch on fly but I have seen more trophy fish (1,5 metres fork length plus) on the flats of Long Reef than anywhere and a quiet approach can reap rewards.

Then, in addition to the blue bastard, there are a couple of other uniquely Australian flats species available at Long Reef. The marl flats are where the tuskfish tend to hang out and this Aussie fish is another one of those flats fish with lots of character. It’s always an entertaining hunt. They will jump on a well-presented fly with alacrity and also put up a good tussle. And the other Aussie species that may be found on the flats of Long Reef is the chinaman. South African ex pat, Glanville Heydenryck, who now lives on the Gold Coast, was the first angler to alert me to the fact that these very powerful fish sometimes venture on to the flats in northern Oz. Just recently an, angler landed one on fly wading the flats off Far North Queensland, fishing with another ex-pat, Nick Milford’s operation, East Coast Angling (eastcoastangling.com.au). No one has seen any chinaman at Long Reef yet but the habitat looks perfect.

It’s going to be a lot of fun working out how to consistently catch this powerhouse.

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“GTS ALSO LOVE THIS PLACE. THERE’S PLENTY OF FLATS-TUCKER FOR THEM”

The challenge: a possible first on the flats, this Chinaman was not caught at Long Reef, but was caught on similar flats off Northern Australia.

The author believes this species will soon be targeted and caught more often at Long Reef and other spots. Photo East Coast Angling

On Australian flats, the main fallback fish when things go quiet is the golden trevally. There is usually no shortage of them and they seldom refuse a good presentation and that is also the case at Long Reef. It’s just trying to line the buggers up that can prove troublesome. Sometimes they move so fast and erratically you have to shoot quickly when you see a fish or a tail pop up and hope you don’t line it. But that’s not always the case and Long Reef has a good population of cooperative goldens. Other fallback species that can be found on the flats in good numbers are greenspotted and bluefin trevally.

Then there is the enigmatic and mighty milkfish of which, in Australia, there is no shortage, although the enigmatic label still sticks … they’re not always where they should be and they’re not always feeding when they should be. Having said that though, there is a good seasonal population of these fish at Long Reef.

There is one fish that is conspicuous by its absence on Long Reef and that’s the bonefish. Not that it’s a surprise, for there are no more than a couple of flats in Oz that I know of that have good populations of bonefish. It seems they battle to make a living on flats near the mainland and the massive tidal range at Long Reef probably isn’t much to their liking either.

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Although we hardly explored the offshore potential around Long Reef, just fishing in the vicinity of the mothership anchorage produced insane couta* fishing and at times the wahoo can be wall-to-wall as well.

During the lockdown I’ve had some time to reflect on Long Reef and the other great jewels Australia has in her flats crown and it’s comforting to know that, for now, they’re under good control and protection from poaching and overfishing. It seems that no matter how remote you may think you are on the Australian coast, the Australian Border Force air and sea patrols will find you in no time and check in with you on a regular basis.

Long Reef is, for now, a very special place and long may it remain so. Its inhospitable wildness will, I hope, keep it that way, and, for those few, especially lucky and fortunate anglers who manage to get there, I have no doubt “ineffable” will be the only adjective you’ll need to describe the experience. *narrow-barred mackerel or, Scomberomorus commerson to the unwashed.

Footnote; If you think you have the balls and the wallet to tackle Long Reef, get in touch with us at The Mission (info@themissionflymag.com) and we will send carrier pigeons out to connect you with Richard.

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“FOR THOSE FEW, ESPECIALLY LUCKY AND FORTUNATE ANGLERS WHO MANAGE TO GET THERE, I HAVE NO DOUBT “INEFFABLE” WILL BE THE ONLY ADJECTIVE YOU’LL NEED TO DESCRIBE THE EXPERIENCE.”

THE ISLAND AWAY F R OM T HE CROWD S A ND IN TO T H E B U S H, AN DR EW HAR R I SO N A N D H I S S O N RUA RI FI ND T H AT, I F YOU KNOW BOT H HOW TO PE R S E V E R E A ND WHE RE TO LOOK, T H E R E WA RD S JU ST I FY T H E E FFO RT.

By Andrew Harrison

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f God ever gives the earth an enema, he will stick the tube in at Colenso in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN).

Once a thriving, sleepy village, site of one of the famous battles of the Anglo Boer War and recently supported by a decommissioned power station, it is a shit-hole of derelict buildings where goats and cattle feed on plastic and ‘dopping’ (drinking) is the town pastime.

Fortunately, once clear of the trash heap and travelling thirty clicks down a dusty dirt road, one glimpses authentic rural KZN before you hit a ‘track’ - not for low-slung cars!

The island is only an island when the Tugela River floods and then it is inaccessible except on foot. Even in the dry months it’s a difficult passage. A boulder-strewn, dongaridden track passes for a road that traverses a nature reserve to the chalky-grey river hemmed in by towering rocky cliffs to which stunted trees, aloes and baboons cling precariously. The river is also home to the iconic Natal scaly.

After a number of forays on the Umkomaas River where the fish were feisty but of no great size, the fish of the Tugela were prize. American novelist and obsessive trout fisherman, Jim Harrison, once prospected the Yellowstone in Montana 92 days in succession. He observed; “If roosters lived in rivers, no one would ever fish for trout again.” The same can be said of this freshwater ‘bonefish’.

No matter the size, the athletic ability of a Natal scaly outstrips that of any trout, wild or fat ‘stockie’ found in local KZN waters. Add some spectacular scenery and you are in fly-fishing paradise.

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That awkward moment when the swimming pool goes brown.

The isolated camp site on the island is a circular clearing bordered by logs under the spreading branches of a haaken-steek (an acacia thorn tree whose Afrikaans name means ‘hook and prick’). It is also situated in a wild life reserve where recent sightings include a leopard. Our only visitors were a wild donkey, a tank of a black pig no doubt hunting the provisions of the unwary, and a nightly visitation from a herd of wildebeest (gnu).

My first trip to the Tugela, accompanied by my regular fishing partner, son Ruari, was more an exploratory expedition than a full-out hunt. The river at this point runs wide and deep, the long pools bookended by shallow rapids and the banks lined with reeds that made casting difficult, if not impossible.

Wading over round, slippery boulders was a risky business, resulting in numerous dunkings – not unwelcome with the temperatures in the upper thirties.

Green about the ways of these Tugela fish, we hunted up and down stretches of likely water prospecting pools and the deeper water that we were able to reach, tempted by swirling fish infected with lock-jaw. It was hard-going under a merciless sun and, mostly, a fruitless pursuit. A couple of hand-size fish were scant reward for two days effort, crosseyed from watching the strike indicator.

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On our second visit we discovered a path along a cliff face made by the local bovine population that gave access to a swift, deep run. Flipping into the rushing water under some overhanging reeds proved to be a goldmine resulting in a fish almost cast-for-cast, one heading straight up the rapid like greased lightning and an inevitable snap off.

A walk down stream looking for new water disturbed a monster croc sunning itself below a second rapid.

Suddenly standing waist deep was not such a good idea!

Round three. The rapid, so productive on the previous trip, was fishless and after a fruitless hour or so the consensus was to walk the opposite bank, where the going looked a little easier, and to head up river for new water.

Following cow trails through the thorn thickets on tribal land got us to the head of a likely looking rapid where there were some mighty swirls at the tail-out of a long, slow stretch. My first cast folded like one of those stretchy coiled-spring toy sausage-dogs as the fly came loose from the bushes behind me.

It wasn’t pretty but in a split second the line ripped through the water and I was left holding a lifeless rod and a fly-less leader.

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“BUGGER THE FANCY LEADERS, BOET. USE 12LB MONO.” Second cast missed the bushes but the result was identical and the words of a mate who had spent his formative years farming in the area rang in my mind. “Bugger the fancy leaders, Boet. Use 12lb mono.”

The tail-out proved a honey hole and once we got the hang of it, a few nice fish came to the net before the bite went dead.

Many hours later, with the sun headed for the horizon, we made for camp sporting farmer’s tans, mine red rather than brown.

There was still time to prospect a likely pool among the rocks of one rapid that we had by-passed on the way up stream. Ruari was soon into a fish that gave notice that it was not going to give up easily. It zig-zagged back and forth, not quite into the backing as the pool was not long enough, and some hefty pressure and rocks thrown into the tail end of the pool, prevented it from heading over the lip of the rapid and a certain down-stream long-line release.

After a lot of rock-hopping, obscene language and guessing on our part, the fish eventually jammed itself into a pocket of reeds. Much blind swishing with the net and wet testicles finally rendered a monster barbel. Not what we were hoping for but it got the blood pumping.

Months later, round four and winter was seemingly behind us.

The temperatures were uncommonly warm heading into August but the first night was brass monkey weather.

Tough bastards that we are, we survived and the mercury rocketed for the next three days.

“PROSPECT AND YOU SHALL FIND” Believing that we had finally unlocked the mystery, we hit all our previously productive spots. Up and down, slow water and rapids all proved fruitless. Dispensing with the obsequious ‘bobber’ surprisingly resulted in fewer hookups with ‘Africa’, but the fish were not fooled.

A disconsolate trek back to camp in the midday heat alerted us to shouts from across the river and we settled down to watch a fellow land fish after fish while his partner, prospecting a different channel but only 30 yards down the track, went fishless. “This is a honey hole. Move!” were the bellowed instructions.

Thankfully their breakfast bell was more enticing than fish not tempted by what is usually a deadly bait.

Once quiet descended, the run produced fish after fish, just as the day before. Later, working up and down other rapids and pools, nothing!

So now we face another puzzle. Just when you think you have the fish sussed, they prove even more difficult to tempt, or to find.

Practicing good manners, we continued on our journey to camp.

Fishing the gin-clear water of the uMzimkhulu later in the month, it became obvious to Ruari that many stretches of likely looking water were fishless but schools were congregating in certain pockets.

Next morning, ignoring protocol, we bolted for the same run only to find a horde of children from the lodge up-stream bombing the water with lead and worms.

I suppose the ninth law of fishing is, “Prospect and you shall find’. Who knows what the first eight are?

That’s why we love it!

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FUTURE PROOF WH I LE D I VI NG WI T H TIGER SHARKS, AVOIDING N ORTH KORE A N M I SS I LES A ND SUPIN G DOWN THE AMAZON ARE A LL PA R FO R T H E COURSE IN JESS MCGLOTHLIN’S CA RE E R, P E RH A P S THE GREATEST CHALLENGE SHE’S FACE D I S H AVI NG TO SPEN D MON THS ON EN D IN HER A PA RT M E NT I N M O NTAN A. WE CAUGHT UP WITH HER TO D I S CU SS FLY FI S HING PHOTOGRAPHY, WRITING, T RAV EL AND MORE.

Photos. Jess McGlothlin

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n praise of self-sufficiency and a diverse skill set, the late science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein famously wrote in 1973 that, “specialisation is for insects.” He went on that, “A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyse a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly.”

While I have no doubt that Montana-based photographer and writer Jess McGlothlin could probably plan an invasion, butcher a hog or pitch manure if she needed to, within the fly fishing world she already has the kind of varied skill set Heinlein coveted. That has in part made this bizarre pandemic period (aka, ‘The Great Pause’) slightly easier for her to endure. At only 33, Jess has already racked up enough experience across broad facets of the industry to put pretty much anyone to shame. She has worked in fly shops in Montana and guided for steelhead in the Pacific North West. She’s worked in comms for brands like travel specialists Yellowdog and an industry colossus like Orvis.

As her career has progressed and evolved she’s racked up impressive credits and bylines. She’s shot for major brands like Yeti, Orvis and Costa. She’s also written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Men’s Journal, Gear Junkie, Outside Online, Big Sky Journal and plenty of other titles, ticking all the boxes from mainstream news to outdoor publications. Along the way she has also been the communications director for AFFTA (the American Fly Fishing Trade Association), and she even did a season as a camp manager on the Ponoi in Russia, following in the footsteps of guys like Tim Rajeff of Echo Fly Fishing and Keith Rose-Innes of Alphonse Fishing Company.

We spoke to her about the places she has been, the things she has seen and her advice for anyone wanting to carve out their own path in fly fishing.

ADAPTATION In a normal year (remember those?), Jess spends more time on a plane or in foreign countries than she does at home. That was by design. Then the pandemic came along and fucked things up for everyone.

“I did a shoot pre-Covid for Orvis in Southern Chile. After being off the radar completely for two weeks, I showed up at the airport in Coyhaique, turned on my phone, looked at news and found that the world had essentially ended. I was on one of the last flights out of Chile to get back to the States. In the week I got back I had nine international shoots cancelled, basically my income for the year. So I came back from what had been a fantastic,

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really cool shoot and was greeted with this new reality of, ‘Ok, you don’t have anything coming in now for a year.’

12 months later we are at the year mark and the same thing is happening in 2021. I’m very lucky in that half my business is writing, half is photography so I’ve transitioned and really pushed into my hunting industry clients to do writing for them. Right now I have a company based here in Montana who have a hunting GPS app and I run all the written content for them. I’ve copywritten professionally in the past, I was with Orvis for a few years writing their content and I enjoyed it, but going back to copywriting full time is a different mindset. I have to fight to keep myself engaged in that right now. I have an almost 500 square foot apartment here in Missoula that I got because I was not going to be home very much, because I am normally travelling for six months of the year. Spending a year now, by myself, in a small box, has been enlightening.

I’m looking forward to getting back on the road, getting my normal travel schedule going and not writing hunting content 30 hours a week, but that’s allowing me to pay the bills right now so I am exceedingly grateful for it.”

CONFLUENCE There are few people who switch between shooting and writing and feel comfortable doing so. For Jess, the writing came first, while the photography came about out of necessity to partner the writing. Being able to do both has opened up a world of travel and allowed her to tackle some amazing gigs. She started young.

“My first published piece was in a kids’ magazine at age eight. I was that kid running around with two notebooks in my back pocket, so technically writing came first. I never looked at my life and said ok, I want to be a fishing writer/ photographer/photojournalist. There was a story here in Montana about a hydro-electric dam they proposed to put in at Quake Lake which is right outside of West Yellowstone. It’s a very historic, wonderful region and a great fishery and I was I think 19 at the time, living in Bozeman. Like many 19-year-olds do, I got righteously pissed off about the dam and said I am going to break this story, because I knew if people knew what was happening it would not happen. Russ Lumpkin who was then the editor of American Angler, looked at the first draft and said, ‘Yeah, this is an interesting scoop and we want it, but we won’t run it without photos.’ At that point I was working three very disparate jobs – I was selling guns in an outdoor store, I was training horses and I was selling lingerie in Victoria’s Secret. I was covering all my bases, but I was dead broke. I think I budgeted $60 a month for food so the rest of my money could go into buying a good camera. I then snuck on to this job site where they were building the dam, got the photos and American Angler ran the piece. That was a lightbulb moment for me, that these two things can go together to actually accomplish something. Two or three years after the piece ran, it was

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Jess McGlothlin takes a drone selfie on assignment in Australia.

Post-work drinks for the guides and staff at Headhunters fly shop on the Missouri River in Montana.

used in a District Court hearing to turn down the dam, which was a funny full circle moment. Now, shooting and writing often go together. I do work where it’s only shooting or only writing, but my happy place is going on a shoot and combining the two.

THE REAL MCCOY/MCGLOTHLIN Like any niche, there’s a lot of snark within the inner sanctum of the fly fishing. Social media allows us to see everyone playing in this space. That means running commentary from industry insiders about who is the real deal, who is fly-by-night, who is merely ‘a shill for Big CBD,’ and who is a free-loading trustafarian. It’s not great, but it’s perhaps an understandable reaction to the rise of thousands of overnight Instagram influencers, ambassadors and selfproclaimed ‘Public Figures,’ all scrapping to get a piece of the shrinking budgets of the brands that play in this space.

To be taken seriously, you have to have staying power, demonstrable credentials and experience, and (ideally) a little modesty. You have to be able to both walk the walk as well as talk the talk. Paying your dues is essential.

Jess says, “The way I set about my whole career was that I wanted to get in and learn the gritty side of the fishing industry. So at one point I was the assistant manager on the Ponoi up in Russia. I managed a guide team and I

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learned a shit-ton. It was fantastic. Then I worked in a fly shop job here in Montana for a season and then I worked out on the Olympic Peninsula so I could learn steelhead fishing. So I have kind of been a weird little bird running around focused on gathering skills. It’s been very valuable, because when I show up at a lodge now, I can legitimately say, “I have guided and I have helped out around a lodge.” That makes the lodge staff and the guides take a deep breath, because they know I won’t be a pain in the ass. Photographers in particular can be seen as especially painful people to deal with. I am doubly eye-balled because I am a photographer, I am a woman and I am an American. I originally wanted to be a conflict photographer and I actually contracted with the US Army for a bit so my style is very documentary. What happens happens. If something doesn’t happen, well too bad, it’s off the shot list. I very rarely pose people or tell them what to do, which makes it fun for the guides.”

HOME Montana “I live in Missoula, Montana, but there’s a town about three hours north called Columbia Falls. It’s a blue collar town, close to Glacier National Park. That’s home essentially.

I am 33 now and when I added it up, I have moved 27 times. We moved a lot as a child and I have continued to

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“YOU DON’T GET HOMESICK IF YOU DON’T HAVE A BIG FAMILIAL HOME, WHICH IS A GREAT THING IN THIS JOB, BECAUSE HOME IS WHERE I HAVE MY CAMERA AND MY NOTEBOOK. “ move as an adult, but I keep bouncing back to Montana so I keep claiming Columbia Falls as home. But honestly home is a very relevant term. You don’t get homesick if you don’t have a big familial home, which is a great thing in this job, because home is where I have my camera and my notebook.

AWAY “What I do is a business. At the end of the day the fun, glamourous shooting out in the field is 5 or 10% of my time and the rest of it is whacking out emails and invoices and doing taxes. I also spend a lot of time trying to do the research to see who might be pivoting into our industry and how I can work with them.”

Russia - “I was on the Ponoi for just one season. It was brilliantly educational in terms of the clientele of that lodge - very high-end. It draws in the Russian oligarch type and a lot of Brits come in too. It was good for me to see at a young age, that, ‘Oh this is a side of the industry we don’t see in Montana fly shops.” I met some fantastic guides too, many of whom split their time between there and the Seychelles. I helped manage the guide team and run helicopter supply schedules. In a camp like that you are a Jack of all trades. I did not get to fish much, but still got my first Atlantic salmon there which was epic.”

Samoa - “I did a trip with Jonathan Jones (aka Redbeard) which was a shoot for Yeti. It was super challenging. We were in the Apolima Strait between the two islands of Samoa. I, probably naively, hopped into the water with my underwater housing to shoot a mahi up against the boat and what turned out to be a tiger shark came up and bumped me from underneath. Then I was caught between staying there and playing dead or swimming back to the boat. What do I do? I got back to the boat fine, but that was just day one of a ten-day shoot where

Scenes from Jess’s travels both at home in Montana and Idaho and in far-flung destinations like Anaa Atoll in French Polynesia.

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each subsequent day I had to be back in the water doing the same thing. It messed with my head. That kind of set the tone for the rest of that shoot. What could go wrong, did go wrong. We had weather, I got sick, the fishing was shit and one of the guys who was meant to come over with Jonathan to be an angler and a model got stuck in New Zealand in customs. We just had to take it a day at a time. Luckily Yeti was kind enough to let me couch the story for them on the idea that ‘Hey, sometimes you travel around the world and it’s not what you think it is.’ I was really relieved about that, because it’s sometimes tough to find editors who let you tell the truth of a story. They want everything to be glorious and nice and that’s not always the case.”

Belize - “I’ve been to Belize several times. It’s marketed really well to Americans, is relatively cheap and is easy to reach from the States, although it still takes two days from Montana. If you’ve never fished salt before it’s a good place to go. The first time I went there was for a commercial shoot with Orvis in 2014. I’ve got a good relationship with El Pescador Lodge and was down there when they first reopened after lockdown. They are a good client and it’s an outstanding relationship. I know the guides and they know me so they relax. We can go do weird stuff like pushing the boat through mangroves to get a tarpon. If they are relaxed, it makes for a much more organic experience, especially with the camera. You don’t want people tight and anxious and upset. You want them relaxed, laughing, smiling and having fun because then you get those shots.”

Sweden - “This was an amazing trip up above the Arctic circle. I actually lived in Southern Sweden in my late teens working in the equestrian industry so it was interesting to go back and see the fishing side. This time I went with Swedish Lapland Tourism and we partnered with some lodges to showcase what an exceptional grayling fishery they have there. The brown trout and the pike were very good as well. Swedish Tourism were actually shooting a video about me while I was shooting my stories, which was like a creative Inception. The brilliant thing was it was mid-summer so there was no night and we would be up fishing at 2 or 3am. Ted the videographer would do all my interviews early in the morning out on the water when I was too tired to be nervous. You’re fishing, you’re outside and you just get that sort of, ‘life is good, I don’t care’ mode going on.”

Japan – “Through the Adventure Travel Trade Association, I connected with a guy who is a very passionate fly angler on Hokkaido, the northern island of Japan. I flew out there and spent a week with him, fishing and exploring and it was an epic trip. It was so fun to be out fishing and then they have the onsen, the hot saunas and baths, so every night we would come back to the lodge at like 4 or 5pm

“I WISH MORE PEOPLE WHO WANT TO GET STARTED IN THIS LOOK PAST THE COLLEGIATE BOXCHECKING AND GO GET THEIR HANDS DIRTY.”

“WE STARTED AT THE CLOUD FOREST AT 13000 FEET AND FOLLOWED THE TRIBUTARIES ALL THE WAY DOWN UNTIL THEY JOINED THE MAIN BODY OF THE AMAZON.”

and I would hit the onsen for a couple of hours before dinner. It felt very luxurious compared to a lot of these trips. It was at a time when North Korea was firing missiles over Hokkaido so we had a couple of missile alerts go out which was fascinating. Other than the missiles, we also had a typhoon pass through that week which killed fishing for a few days. I waited up and took my underwater housing around this village and shot photos in the typhoon in the rain and the wind. I am sure the locals thought I was insane, but it made for some really cool pictures. The fishing was amazing despite the typhoon. Huge rainbow trout holding in pockets in small rivers and then have char that turn a golden champagne colour because of the sediment in the lake.”

Australia – “I had a consulting gig with Tourism Australia to see how they can best market themselves to a fly fishing audience in the USA. I hit 11 airports in two weeks and still feel like I only saw a fraction of Australia. I saw the very top end for saltwater fishing and then went down to Tasmania for trout. I really want to go back and see more.

It’s a fantastic place and a definite highlight so far. It’s very first world and not exotic compared to some of the places you can go, but awesome people, awesome fishing and just a cool place.”

The Peruvian Amazon - “We were doing a stand-up paddleboard first descent of Amazon River tributaries so this was not overtly a fly fishing trip, even though I brought a couple of fly rods and got into a Pacu and a couple of other muddy water fish. The trip was amazing, but technically very challenging. We started at the cloud forest at 13000 feet and followed the tributaries all the way down until they joined the main body of the Amazon. It was me and 12 dudes and we would just shore up our rafts and paddleboards each night and sleep on the beach. The area we were going through, the Madre de Dios, is where a lot of the illegal gold mining happens in Peru, so at any given time I would be hiding the cameras and trying to cover up gear because we’d get passed on the river by dudes in a boat with AKs and a bunch of oil going to one of these camps. It was a really cool experience and a good way to see the jungle for the first time.

Chile – “I met up with a friend who had a Chevrolet Astro van - I think he bought it for $800 in an alley – that he drove from Missoula to Southern Chile over the course of a year and a half with his dog and a raft. I flew down and met him and another friend and we just camped off the grid and explored Chile for two weeks. My friends, a guy and a gal, had never guided down there before so they knew the back alleys and what rivers we could go camp on and where. It was such a fun, random trip. Really cool brown trout fishing and we just were doing the quintessential, dirt-bagging, living in tents thing. I was with folks who were anglers, just having fun so it was really authentic.”

ADVICE “The number one thing I tell people is ‘don’t be afraid of the work.” The biggest miss I see with folks coming into this industry is this mindset that, ‘ok I have a college degree in photography or creative writing and therefore I am a professional.’ I did not go to college for this. I got an academic scholarship for college, went for a week and left because I was bored as hell. I wish more people who want to get started in this look past the collegiate boxchecking and go get their hands dirty. The best thing I did for my career was the season on the Ponoi. Working in a fly shop was also invaluable. I was hustling rods and shuttling vehicles on the river and I had a camera with me all the time. I was sleeping in a cot in the corner of what was essentially a shed for eight months. It was not a glamorous thing but it was so much fun and I learned so much. Do the work so you can authentically speak to the industry. If you have done it and taken the educative steps rather than trying to parachute yourself in or taking some kind of short cut, brands recognize that honesty.”

From Montana to the Ponoi, Samoa to Peru, whether Jess knew it or not before Covid struck, she had already futureproofed her freelance career by doing the work.

From gruntwork to computer work, fieldwork and creative work behind the lens and the keyboard, no matter what the future has in store for us (save perhaps an extinction level event like a meteor), Jess will be out there pitching stories, bumping sharks and shooting epic photographs.

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SALAD BAR THOMAS & THOMAS - SEXTANT Send out the dancing monkeys, release the freedom doves and toss that confetti, because Thomas & Thomas have just released their latest premium saltwater range, the Sextant. Technically, Sextants already existed at T&T in the shape of rodmaker Troy Jacques’ bamboo Sextant rods (see the Slamboo story in issue 26).

This new carbon Sextant range of 9-foot rods is, as you might imagine, a lot quicker.

The T&T team construct the Sextants with a special reinforcement strategy that enhances the strength and recovery properties of the rod’s unidirectional fibres.

This means upgraded performance in the overall efficiency of all the rod sections, giving the angler better accuracy and distance. We’ve been testing the 7-weight on spotted grunter on the Breede river (full review to come) and have loved the rod so far. Capable of dealing with the bastard winds of the Overberg, we were able to send out long lines as well as drop accurate casts on tailing fish close-in.

It’s a looker too, with classy detailing from blue thread wraps and green accents to the deep blue primary blank colour, corrosionresistant titanium stripping guides with premium silicone nitride inserts (designed to reduce friction and improve your ability to shoot line), natural finish nickel-titanium RECoil snake guides and a matte titanium uplocking anodized reel seat. The Sextant sports a Full Wells Cork grip and fighting butt (models 9-12-weight sport a 1.25” composite reinforcement on the grip).

Available from 5-weight to 12-weight. thomasandthomas.com

“UPGRADED PERFORMANCE IN THE OVERALL EFFICIENCY OF ALL THE ROD SECTIONS, GIVING THE ANGLER BETTER ACCURACY AND DISTANCE”

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SQUIRREL NUT BUTTER – CHAFE SALVE There are a few things that can ruin a great fishing trip in no time – like typhoons, government coups and chafe. There you are, happily fishing yourself into a coma, when all of a sardine there’s a slight rubbing in the general thigh/crotch area. You’ve been wading, in and out of the water all day so your skin has that devil’s slurry of suncream, sweat, sand, salt, hair and maybe even some sunburn. You start to walk a little funny, rearranging your shorts to mitigate the chafe, but it won’t help.

That’s where the wunder-product of Squirrel Nut Butter can be an absolute lifesaver. SNB is made from all natural ingredients like coconut oil, cocoa butter, beeswax and vitamin e oil. They even have a vegan version (minus the beeswax) and a footcare salve too. Prevention is better than cure, so apply SNB to areas susceptible to chafe before fishing and you will never be bothered by chafe again. If you already have chafe, it will help make walking and wading bearable. Beloved by trailrunners and cyclists, this stuff is now our go-to chafe salve too. squirrelsnutbutterafrica.com SEMPERFLI - PREDATOR FIBERS What’s 18-inches long, comes in a range of colours and packs a lot of action? If you are pure of mind and guessed Semperfli’s Predator Fibres, you would be the proud owner of a corduroy lounge suite if this were a gameshow. Somewhere between marabou and bucktail in terms of movement, Semperfli’s Predator Fibres are brilliant hydrophobic synthetic material perfect for imitating baitfish but versatile enough to be used as winging material too. Strong and light, the hydrophobic nature of the fibres allows you to shed water on your backcast and achieve greater distance. Available in an array of colours, all you need to decide is what tone matches your local baitfish the best. semperfli.net, xplorerflyfishing.co.za

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ORVIS – CHEST-HIP PACK There’s something to be said for applying the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) principle when you know exactly what to expect from a session on the water. That’s what Orvis’s Chest/Hip Pack was designed for. At 3L it still has ample space for all the essentials and can be worn on your hip, slung over your shoulder or kept on your chest. It even snaps right on to the front straps of Orvis’s Bug-Out Backpack if you are taking on a bigger trek, but want to fish en route. Well-thought-out and versatile, its features include a ‘Tippet Whippet’ recessed docking station (with tippet bar included so you can easily access up to six spools), a large main compartment with multiple internal pockets, a top fly patch, side forceps dock and a zinger/nipper pass-through port. What more do you need? orvis.com, flyfishing.co.za

PATAGONIA – WOMEN’S SWIFT CURRENT WADERS One of the hero products of Patagonia’s spiffy new Swiftcurrent range, the women’s Swiftcurrent waders boast a female-specific design with fish-forward features, easy movement and comfort no matter the conditions. These waders are rich in features, from an innovative rear-buckle system that provides a drop-seat function for quick relief (without having to remove clothes or have your wader suspenders get in the way). Then there’s a reach-through kangaroo pocket and a horizontal zip chest pocket both to keep hands warm and give you easy access to essentials while a secure, waterproof, zippered pocket flips out for easy access to your phone or car keys. But wait, there’s more! Two drop-in pockets provide plenty of space for a fly box, tippet or gloves and two internal daisy chains keep your tools handy.

As we have come to expect from Patagonia, these waders are made with at least 70% recycled fabric. patagonia.com

“A FEMALE-SPECIFIC DESIGN WITH FISHFORWARD FEATURES, EASY MOVEMENT AND COMFORT NO MATTER THE CONDITIONS.”

“TRY TELLING A DRAGONFLY NYMPH THAT IT IS JUST ‘GREEN’ OR ‘BROWN”

SEMPERFLI - DIRTY BUG YARN You try telling a dragonfly nymph that it is just ‘green’ or ‘brown,’ because the truth is bugs often tend to be a mix of colours. Recognising these blinkers, Semperfli have developed their Dirty Bug Yarn range, which is a buggy, natural-looking 2-ply yarn incorporating the multiple colours found on insects and invertebrates, whether you are tying shrimps, baetis nymphs, caddis nymphs it does not matter. Simply use it as a dubbing rope or break it apart to make a bespoke dubbing to match your local bugs. semperfli.net, xplorerflyfishing.co.za

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SALAD BAR REDINGTON - PREDATOR SEA SPRAY FLY ROD Time and again we are impressed by the value and performance you get from Redington and with their fastaction Predator range of rods it’s no different, especially if you are looking to tackle the rough and ready conditions of the South African coastline. With a range that stretches from 5-weights to 16-weights, it’s the 9-weight that Xplorer Fly Fishing stocks in a Sea Spray colour application (where

no two rods are alike), that speaks to us as a go-to-wand for local salt. All components are saltwater ready from the anodized machined aluminium reel seat to the aluminium oxide stripping guides with ceramic inserts and hard wire anodized snake guides for durability. The rod’s powerful fast action handles big flies (hello DMAs), heavy lines and aggressive fighting fish. Did we mention the lifetime warranty? redington.com, xplorerflyfishing.co.za

LOON OUTDOORS – ROGUE SCISSOR FORCEPS Poke the eye, crimp the barbs, cut the tippet, remove that Mrs. Simpson from your ear – these large, durable hemostats from Loon Outdoors are designed to be a versatile extension of your fishing brain. At 5.5” long, they are made of surgical quality stainless steel and have a stealthy matte black rust-resistant finish. They feature a comfy grip with extra tackiness (so you don’t drop them in the drink as we have been known to do), locking handles, a sharp cutting edge and a half smooth, half serrated jaw. loonoutdoors.com, frontierflyfishing.co.za

RIO - FLUOROFLEX STRONG TIPPET We’ve all been there, agonising streamside over whether to go 4x or 5x, 5x or 6x, depending on the mood, strength, spookiness and bastard nature of the fish we are targeting. With their new Fluoroflex Strong Tippet, Rio have made our decision-making easier by giving us half-sizes for when you know that extra strength or thinner diameter will make all the difference to the fish (or your confidence). As for the tippet itself, with its high break strength to diameter ratio, Fluoroflex Strong boasts an exceptionally high tensile strength, plus it is easy to tie knots in. rioproducts.com, xplorerflyfishing.co.za

SCIENTIFIC ANGLERS – TIPPET RINGS Small, strong, lightweight and hardly there, like Manny Pacquiao in camo, tippet rings give you that easy leader to tippet connection without having to sacrifice portions of your expensive leader each time you want to adjust your rig. Light enough for use with dry flies, these tiny black nickel rings save you time on the water and money in the bank. Pre-rig the set-ups you are most likely to use that day on rigging foam and away you go. Available in 2 sizes: Small (2mm, 17lb test) and Medium (2.5mm, 26lb test). frontierflyfishing.co.za, scientificanglers.com

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

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SALAD BAR WATERWORKS LAMSON – LITESPEED F It’s simple to dismiss high-end freshwater reels as overly fancy line holders, but the moment you get into a fight with a trophy trout or yellow on light tippet, you’ll understand how essential a good reel can be, both in terms of protecting against break-offs thanks to a smooth drag and in terms of rapid line retrieval. The Litespeed F (or LSF) is the new freshwater version of Waterworks Lamson’s original Litespeed and as such it sports the same sealed conical drag system, plus a click stop drag knob, a unique spring set for even smoother torque progression and a minimalist super arbor frame architecture for rapid line drying and to reduce weight. The result of Waterworks Lamson’s constant refinement and improvement of materials and processes, the USA-made LSF is one of the lightest yet strongest large arbor freshwater reels on the market. Available in Whiskey and Fuego (yes, these are legitimate colours). frontierflyfishing.co.za, waterworks-lamson.com

ORVIS – TIPPET TOOL HOLDER Look, we would have called it the Spool Tool (wiggles eyebrows), but other than that we can’t fault the Orvis Tippet Tool. Strong, lightweight and functional this nifty spool holder is made from anodized machines aluminium and designed to organize and carry up to seven spools. It can be attached to your vest, pack or sling via a carabiner clip or rings. orvis.com, flyfishing.co.za

ORVIS - COMPLETE HY-FLOTE® FLOATANT SYSTEM If you’re the kind of angler who likes to leave nothing to chance, Orvis’s Complete Hy-Flote® Floatant System should speak to your OCD nature, because this handy kit includes everything designed to make flies float from premium gel and paste to powder and fly dryer. The gel is temperature-stable, so it won’t melt in the heat or harden in the cold, while the paste gives tippet, leaders, and your indicator more buoyancy. The powder keeps your flies floating high, has a sparkle attractor and creates a realistic air bubble effect, while the Shake-N-Flote Renew dries flies fast and reinvigorates them. If you cannot get your dries to float using these products, you might want to make sure they are not streamers. orvis.com, flyfishing.co.za

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“STRONG, LIGHTWEIGHT AND FUNCTIONAL”

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ORVIS – CARRY-IT-ALL When you travel to fish, your tackle needs to go somewhere. Sure, rods in rod tubes, reels in their pouches, flies in fly boxes etc, but then what? Does it all go into your day pack? Not enough space. In your cavernous duffel? That works, but it’s not easy to find everything as you dig through a week’s worth of old jocks and socks.

The Orvis Carry-It-All bag which was originally designed years ago by Orvis Chairman Perk Perkins to be sure his equipment stayed safe and in his possession on flights to fly-fishing destinations. Because it was so well thought out, it’s been available for almost two decades and now, with a few tweaks, it’s even better. Built from 100% recycled CORDURA® ECO, the Carry It All protects and organizes all your gear. A separate internal zippered storage compartment handles your rods while internal compartments with improved adjustable dividers allow you to customize and stash all of your other gear.

Zippered stretch-mesh compartments offer additional divided storage and the main compartment is protected by a lockable zipper. The outer corners of the bag are reinforced for extra protection and there is an external zippered pocket for quick access items like your passport. orvis.com, flyfishing.co.za

SIMMS – MERINO THERMAL OTC SOCKS Often neglected or deemed an after-thought, socks are the unsung heroes of your coldwater fishing arsenal. They don’t get any glory; the cameos in your goofy hero shots, the shot-out to nonexistent brand sponsors etc, but without quality socks you would quit early and go home blaming the elements. Made o f 81% merino wool, 18% nylon and 1% Lycra® spandex, Simms’ heavyweight, hardworking Merino wool over-the-calf (OTC) socks are naturally wicking and odour resistant, feature a reinforced midfoot support and heel and toe and stretch up over the calves to maximize warmth. You’ll forget to thank them when you land that trophy in frozen conditions, but they’ll know you meant to. simmsfishing.com, frontierflyfishing.co.za

SIMMS – FLEECE MIDLAYER BOTTOM Speaking of calves, the rest of your lower body needs protection from the cold too. The Fleece Midlayer Bottom from Simms keeps you cosy in your waders even when your rod guides are freezing up, thanks to a grid-fleece interior that traps heat next to your body without adding bulk or limiting your range of motion. A front zip offers easy access when nature calls. Tapered lower legs integrate easily with boots and waders.

You can wear them around the house too. No judgies. simmsfishing.com, frontierflyfishing.co.za

“KEEPS YOU COSY IN YOUR WADERS EVEN WHEN YOUR ROD GUIDES ARE FREEZING UP”

DEEP WANTS

PAY DAY NEW FISHING BAGS FROM THE ARCTIC CIRCLE AND A BOOK T H AT J U S T M I G H T C H A N G E YOUR GAME. THE BAGS – SANDQVIST X PODSOL

We love a collab and we love the motley crew at Podsol consisting of filmmaker Rolf Nylinder, arctic businessman Markus Lemke and musician Kristian Mattson (aka - Tallest Man On Earth). So, when we heard they had teamed up with Daniel Sandqvist and Sebastian Westin of Stockholm-based bag manufacturers Sandqvist (known for using cotton sourced directly from farmers and from recycled fabrics), we knew something brilliant was on the cards. The result is an extremely good-looking fishing pack collection consisting of the 30L Baetis backpack and the 2L Rhodani.

The Baetis is based on Sandqvist’s classic Bernt backpack, but has been modified for the needs of fly anglers. Constructed using 100% recycled heavy-duty, water-resistant ballistic polyester, a waterproof TPU coating at the bottom part and leather patch details, it features large outer zipper pockets, two bottle slip pockets and an inner laptop compartment. An expandable rolltop backpack, it’s versatile and practical with features such as compression straps on each side for rod tubes, a leather floatant holder and a leather tippet spool holder. To keep delicate items safe, it also comes with a removable dry bag with shoulder strap.

Inspired by the Douglas bag from Sandqvist’s Urban Outdoor series, the Rhodani is a water-resistant, compact bag constructed from the same materials as the Baetis. Its 2L compartment, sports practical pockets for tippet and fly boxes you need to keep close to hand. It can be worn on its own, attached to the Baetis or clipped on to your wading belt. podsolflyfishing.com

THE BOOK - GAME CHANGER Reviewed by Fred Davis of Feathers & Fluoro

Game Changer – Tying Flies That Look & Swim Like The Real Thing can only be described as an encyclopaedia of the evolution of Blane Chocklett’s fly tying, focussing on his Game Changer platform. As the esteemed Larry Dahlberg points out in his forward to Chocklett’s opus, “when it comes to fish that eat each other, what a fly does when you move it is more important than what it looks like”.

This is exactly what the flies in this book do… move.

From Chocklett’s Gummy Minnow and Flypala series, through the massive, almost gaudy T-Bone flies and on to the book’s namesake The Changer “Platform” of flies, this book is a detailed study of the work of a man who understands movement in flies. Well put together, it details the histories of each fly version. Crisp, clean photography of the flies

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complements hero shots of big fish taken on them. There’s an entire chapter devoted to choosing your hooks, shanks and tying material along with advice on how to fish the different patterns. And the easy to follow step-by-step instructions for 20 flies makes this book a must for anyone wanting to learn about articulated flies.

I used to think game changers were simply flies with brushes wrapped around shanks and a hook. That’s only the basics it seems. While I probably won’t be tying any of the Flypalas, after reading this I will be putting far more time into Chocklett’s Game Changer Platform of flies. flymenfishingcompany.com

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”On the far side of the mountain, my tent was cursed with the loud snoring of Rolf Nylinder and Markus Lemke.

I sensed people outside so I stumbled out and found Daniel and Sebastian. They seemed very happy despite the fact we were all totally lost. We fished together the day after and I’m still out here. Tell my parents I’m alright.” - Kristian Mattson, Aka. Tallest Man on Earth, one of the founders of Podsol.

Stephan Dombaj Jnr. of Fly Fishing Nation

BACK ISSUES (AND NEW CAPS) MISSING A COPY? GET YOUR BACK ISSUES OF THE MISSION AND A R A N G E O F N E W L U C K Y 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

W H AT ’ S I N M Y B A G

PACKING FOR POIVRE BASED IN NAMIBIA, BUT JUST A S L I K E LY T O B E F O U N D I N T H E JUNGLES OF BOLIVIA, RUNNING DOWN ROOSTERS IN MEXICO O R S TA L K I N G T H E S E Y C H E L L E S AT O L L S , C H R I S T I A A N P R E T O R I U S T R AV E L S A L O T A N D , A S S U C H , H A S H I S T R I P P R E PA R AT I O N D O W N T O A F I N E A R T. H E R E ’ S W H AT H E PA C K S F O R T H E P L E N T I F U L P E R M I T F L AT S O F P O I V R E .

Photos Christiaan Pretorius

F

ly fishing has become a lifestyle to me, it’s something I think of before I go to bed, it’s what I dream of and it’s the thing I think of when I start my day. Obviously it’s impossible to go fishing on a daily basis, which fact I have also come to accept.

Even though I cannot always physically get out to fish, there are many things that I can do in preparation for upcoming trips, which to me is just as enjoyable as the fishing part.

I have fallen in love with the process of preparation leading up to a trip. I have adopted the mentality that you should always try and control as much as you can, as there are so many other factors in fly fishing that one cannot control when out on location. I am referring to things like, weather, fish migrations, bait availability, temperature, pandemics etc.

When it comes to planning and preparation I look at everything I need to make it a successful trip. I start with the most important thing and that is to secure the right week in the season for the targeted species, factoring in tides, moon phases etc. This varies from species to species and, obviously, destination to destination. I try do my homework and definitely feel that social media has made that very convenient as you can get the most up to date information before a trip. You can communicate directly with guides on the destination… a big win in my honest opinion and a major tool.

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Corona virus rearranged most recreational fishing plans in 2020, so it’s been a while since I last packed my bag. I was very lucky to be able to reschedule most of my trips over to 2021 and got my first one under the belt earlier this year. It was to Poivre atoll in the Seychelles where the plan was to chase permit with well-known company Alphonse Fishing Co. (alphonsefishingco.com).

Reels I always start preparing about a week before travelling by finding a table where I can slowly start laying out everything I will need for the trip. Normally, I start with my trusty Mako reels. For this trip I decided to pack the 9500, 9550 and 9600. I would use the 9500 on my 7-weight rod

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(mainly for permit and bonefish), the 9550 on a 9-weight (permit and triggers) and then the 9600 on the 12-weight (for GTs and anything else that is BIG). If anything had to happen to the 9600 I would always have a back up in the 9550. These reels are in a class of their own when it comes to strong, reliable drag systems.

a proven recipe for me and I have a lot of confidence in this setup. I take a back up line for each weight. As a rule I always make my own loops on the 12-weight lines and my preferred way of doing this is with a Kevlar reinforced braided looping material. Again, it’s something I have used for years and have a ton of confidence in.

Lines For the 9500 I decided to go with the Cortland Bonefish line which is one of my favorite lines for flats fishing as it has a very subtle presentation and definitely spooks fish less than heavy weight forward lines. I loaded the 9550 with the All Purpose Taper line from Cortland and then on the 9600 I decided to go with the trusty 12-weight GT/Tuna line. It’s

Rods My rod of choice for this trip is “The Mission” range from Maven Rod Co, a company based in New Zealand that takes a lot of pride in producing very high end rods on some of the best blanks I have ever felt. I recently partnered up with the brand and I look forward to really pushing the rods to its limits and seeing what they are capable of.

So far I have been thoroughly impressed. Normally for a Seychelles trip, a 9-weight and 12-weight setup is perfect.

I do like to try some different techniques though and I felt that a more subtle approach with a lighter setup might be a huge advantage when fishing for the finicky Indo pacific permit.

Tippet/Leaders When it comes to tippet and leader material, I take a pretty wide range from 5lb to 130lb. You have to be able to adapt and change to any scenario. I tie all my own leaders and often think outside the box because that’s what gets you the results. Why would you still use 15-20lb fluorocarbon leader when fishing for 3-5lb permit on white sand?

Flies I have had a year to sit in front of my vice and really get creative. The majority of my tying time was put towards tying, especially Alphlexo crabs. The amount of confidence I have in these flies is just nuts. Permit eat them! The reality, unfortunately, is that many commercial tiers just don’t tie them correctly. You need to understand how they swim, how they look underwater and also where in the water column you will be fishing them and to what size fish. In my box I tried to tie something for every circumstance. That’s probably impossible, but I gave it one hell of a go.

Footwear A pair of comfortable flats sneakers is a must. Over the course of our four-year relationship I have definitely pushed my Simms flats sneakers to their limit and after they did service on this Poivre trip they were retired.

Together with the boots, a couple of pairs of wading socks and gravel guards are a must. Depending on where I go, I will often throw in a backup pair of Neoprene booties in case anything happens to my wading boots. Barefoot wading is not an option.

Kit Clothing wise, I am definitely a Howler whore. Their clothing is just epic. They have everything I want and need in clothing. They recently released their hooded loggerhead shirts, which are ideal for flats fishing. They have a great lightweight rain jacket, a bunch of lightweight work shorts as well as boardies, which are all perfect for a tropical trip.

A couple of special items worth mentioning when I prep for these trips are my straw hat, lycra long tights (the sun is not to be messed with) and Fissan paste (bum cream) for those long beach walks. Then I also pack buffs, because they save you from the glare. The more I fish and travel the more I really try and cover up; I don’t want the sun to be the reason I have to stop fishing one day.

Miscellaneous Items Knowing we would be on a mothership for ten days, I decided to throw in a couple of special items. A deck of playing cards, which we would probably not use but they

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“THE MORE I FISH AND TRAVEL THE MORE I REALLY TRY AND COVER UP; I DON’T WANT THE SUN TO BE THE REASON I HAVE TO STOP FISHING ONE DAY.” have come in very handy on many occasions. I also pack a good fish-filleting knife. We would definitely be eating fish and this can make your life much easier when filleting a big fish. Other than my fishing gear, my little hip flask is a very important part of my kit. It’s there with me to celebrate the great catches and moments, and to pick me up after epic defeats. I have not had any reason to ever leave it behind.

In the flask you can normally expect a fine aged rum, in this case a Frigate reserve 21 year old.

plastic wherever I can and this has made it much easier.

Also, I like to throw in a Yeti Rambler if weight allows. They keep ice for so much longer, often a struggle in remote locations. Last, but not least, I have a big Pelican case for all my camera gear while travelling. This is normally a really big challenge to travel with as everything electronic takes a beating out on the Indian Ocean. A Pelican case really gives you the safety of 100% dry storage for all that expensive gear.

Bags & Bottles There are a couple of items from Yeti that I cannot travel without. I use my Panga 100 duffel bag for my checked luggage. I have a waterproof backpack for using on the flats and for carrying my camera gear in while fishing. I also try and take a Yeti 64oz water bottle. I really try to avoid

My packing list for each trip is not always the same.

The one thing I will fall back on every time, is to try and do enough homework before going to these remote destinations. Leaving a certain item behind can really ruin the experience. We don’t get to do these trips every day so, when we do, it pays to be prepared.

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LIFER

THE TITAN AS MODERN DAY ECOLOGISTS, CONSERVATIONISTS AND EXPLORERS GO, THERE ARE VERY FEW PEOPLE THAT COMPARE WITH MIKE FAY. FROM HIS FABLED MEGATRANSECT (A MASSIVE JOURNEY ON FOOT ACROSS THE CONGO BASIN) WHERE HE SURVEYED THE ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECOLOGICAL IMPACTS ON THE REGION, TO HIS PIONEERING WORK ESTABLISHING AND PROTECTING NATIONAL PARKS IN GABON, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC AND ELSEWHERE, FAY’S INFLUENCE WILL BE FELT LONG AFTER HE IS GONE. Photos. Mike Fay, African Waters, Johann ‘Vossie’ Vorster

I was around 8 years old (1964), when I caught my first fish. It was about a 12-inch rainbow trout on the American River in California. Unfortunately, it was on spinning gear.

My first fly-fished fish was a brown trout on the Beaverkill River in New York.

The jobs I have had, according to age, are as follows: reptile collector (age 6-8), card pitcher, golf ball retriever and reseller, mistletoe collector, skipjack fisherman, lawn mower, house cleaner, wood worker, golf caddy, Atlantic mackerel fisherman, maintenance man, fly-fishing guide (age 15-16 Maine), Atlantic cod fisherman, waiter, plant collector, bird guide (17-18 Alaska), farm hand, honey bee researcher, plant materials specialist, lab assistant, fish culturalist, botanist, elephant researcher, gorilla researcher, park prospector, park warden, park director, country director, Special Council Presidential level, Technical Director of National Park Gabon, National Geographic Explorer, Coordinator Gabon Blue project, WCS conservationist, boat captain, pilot, fly-fishing guide (62-64).

Each day I get up at 0515, drink a cup of coffee with milk and sugar, and either keep walking, flying, or kayaking, doing conservation prospection work in northern Central African Republic, or tending to park management chores.

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Mike Fay with a Nile perch from African Waters’ Gassa camp in Cameroon.

“HOME IS USUALLY WHERE MY TENT IS PITCHED. I DON’T HAVE A HOUSE.”

I have lived in Southern California, Northern California, Tucson, Arizona, southeast and western Alaska, Tunisia, Central African Republic and Gabon. But home is usually where my tent is pitched. I don’t have a house.

Right now the rocky rivers of eastern Central African Republic, coastal Gabon and the wild salmonid waters of the Alaska Peninsula are what I would describe as my home waters.

The best advice I have ever been given was, ‘Don’t ever do anything to make money, and never take a loan.’

It is okay for an angler to lie when somebody wants to invest in conserving a fishery.

The handiest survival skill I have is to use my brain not my hand.

Something I would like to master is Sudanese Arabic.

The biggest adventure I have ever been on was The Megatransect, a 16-month deep forest trek.

The best way to face one’s fears is headlong.

What I am most proud of is the creation of 13 national parks and 20 marine reserves and parks in Gabon.

Before I die, I want to see the fauna come back in its full glory in eastern Central African Republic.

The best party trick I know is to leave as quickly as possible without it being noticed.

What I get out of fly fishing has not really changed over the years. It gets me deep into an ecosystem, makes me part of the underwater, makes me need to save it.

I have really had to work at living inside. Living outside has come naturally.

The most satisfying fish I ever caught has to be Goliath tigerfish on the Chinko River in eastern Central African Republic My go to drink is crisp creek water, and a few times a year an ice cold beer when it is super-hot and dry.

One place, never again would be Palm Beach, Florida.

One place I have to return to is Tristan da Cunha.

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If I could change one thing in fly fishing, it would be to encourage people to stop making it a sport and turn it back into a scientific endeavour that seeks to learn about and to conserve fish and waters.

Looking back on my life, there is one thing I would do differently. Not get married.

Something I have changed my mind about is so-called conservatives.

The last fish I caught were Vittatus tigerfish in Central African Republic and native steelhead in Alaska.

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“DON’T EVER DO ANYTHING TO MAKE MONEY, AND NEVER TAKE A LOAN.”

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 ARE YOU AS ABSORBENT AS AMADOU OR AS INFO REPELLENT AS JIM JORDAN FACED WITH SOME BASIC SCIENCE? TAKE OUR QUIZ TO SEE IF YOU PICKED UP ANYTHING FROM THE PAGES OF THIS ISSUE 1) What sort of BRAAAP! does the Kalk AP electronic motorbike offer riders (page 18)?

A. The subtle hiss of a wet fly line flying through the air.

B. The perineum-shaking chugga-chugga of a dentist riding a chopper.

C. None. It’s silent for sneaking up on rhino poachers.

D. About the same as a microwave with a bad attitude.

4) Which of the following species are you unlikely to find at Long Reef (page 60)?

A. Bonefish B. GTs C. Blue Bastards D. Permit E. Chinamen

2) What “leaves a salty spray with Brazil nuts and gentle smoke” (page 23)?

A. A romantic tryst with our art director Brendan Body.

B. The beach showers after fly fishing off Copacabana.

C. Editor-at-large Conrad Botes’s summer cologne.

D. The finish of the Arrrrrrrdbeg Committee Exclusive Release Whisky.

E. The bespoke range of hand sanitizer at Tintswalo Lapalala.

5) A car parked by the side of the road near a river in New Zealand means (page 45) A. Someone is taking a bushy (boskak) and it will make the nation’s front page news.

B. Someone is smoking meth.

C. Someone is catching troot nearby.

D. All of the above.

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6) According to Andrew Harrison, if the good Lord above were to give the KwaZulu-Natal town of Colenso anything, it would be (page 62)?

A. Africa’s equivalent to the Sistine Chapel.

B. A functional municipality.

C. A celestial enema.

D. Thunderbolts and lightning (very, very frightening).

E. Galileo.

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

3) ‘The Bermuda Triangle’ is (page 34)?

A. A mysterious area of the Caribbean where ships and planes go missing.

B. A productive kob spot on the inshore reefs of False Bay. C. The latest in pubic art, following on from The Hollywood, The Dorito and the Landing Strip.

D. An ancient Arawak hand signal involving putting two L-shaped ‘loser’ signals together for maximum emphasis that the person you are talking to is dumb as all hell.

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