- Most Enjoyable Articles from 2016's Newsletters... I asked a number of friends to review The Spirit of Fly Fishing's 2016 newsletters and select their favourite articles, images, flies, quotes, or whatever else had struck a chord with them; a thankless job, but they came up trumps. I did not influence…

With an afternoon free recently I fished a small Cape stream alone. In the first 100 metres it seemed the trout had disappeared, but eventually a few fish made a timid and tentative appearance. I was relieved to see them, given the drought we've had here in the Cape. One…

Notes from my diary Last week we fished a local stream a short step ahead of a cold front. The wind was upstream, cold and gusty, the water temperature just 10 degrees and trout were scarce. But the upstream wind brought to mind a piece I'd just read by Oliver…

You might ask why I write about Oliver Kite's dry flies in this modern era of super-specialised patterns that have evolved on the back of an almost bewildering abundance of advanced fly pattern designs. Today's dry fly trends lean to parachute, emerger, CDC and ultra-micro patterns and the addition of…

Regarding the post below for used tackle please use the address This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to contact the seller. Tom Sutcliffe

I don't have a crystal ball, but I have lived through enough bone dry, tadpole-throttling droughts in the Eastern Cape Highlands not to lose hope for the eventual full recovery of the trout fishing in this area following this last long dry spell, bad as it was. I remember a…