While researching my recent article on the chronology of convex leaders I came across a few paragraphs in a book by Al McClane that I thought made a worthwhile contribution to the debate on whether tippets should float or sink. When I could still fish, I visited the small mountain…

Convex leaders came to mind after a recent discussion with Mike McKeown of Frontier Fly Fishing in Johannesburg which organises trips to Lake Strobel (aka ‘Jurassic Lake’). Gales are routine there and I wondered if convex leaders might be of some use in such conditions Here is a chronology of…

- I grew up in the Natal midlands and from an early age I was fascinated by angling. My home river was the Tugela and the first fish I caught as a six-year-old was a Natal Yellowfish (Leobarbus natalensis) or, to give it its colloquial name, the scalie. In comparison…

The Cape Piscatorial Society plans to place on its website all the scientific studies done over the decades relating to what trout in Africa eat. Having all the bound copies of its journal Piscator from the first issue published in 1948, I realised that there was a lot of useful…

Stefan Ooshuizen is a South African geologist working in western Africa. As with professionals of this ilk, he works for a few weeks non- stop and then gets a useable amount of leave. Often on these occasions he comes up to Rhodes to spend a few days with me on…

- A layman's view. Competitive fly fishing has always been a bit of foreign concept for me. I’ve always thought the idea behind fly fishing was to relax; the idea of doing it competitively sort of negated  that for me. So imagine my surprise when I was asked to come…