STEVE BOSHOFF’S PROTOTYPE TRADITIONAL CREEL
Says Steve, ‘I have always been fascinated by the creel, perhaps because I am of the post-creel generation, but saw so many in the old photos that captured my imagination as a boy. Now, I bemoan the loss of the creel as part of our attire. I am working on a series of three: a Japanese tenkara version, a modern interpretation of the old western creel, and then one I term the “re-cy-creel”, using everyday discarded materials.
This is the first. An interpretation of one type of Japanese mountain stream “fish-basket”, used mostly by tenkari. The basket, in this case, is for storing a rain shell or lunch. Wood used includes steamed ash, Oregon pine, and walnut.
The traditional Japanese fish basket is interesting. Every region appears to have its own tradition of design … there are round ones, solid wood ones, woven ones and so on.’
TIFFINDELL SOLD
The once popular Tiffindell Ski Resort, also well known to many fly fishers for its beautiful and productive trout lake, was sadly liquidated in 2009 after a lengthy court case and has since stood empty.
Tiffindell Lake
The good news however, especially for the folk in the village of Rhodes who benefited greatly from its winter traffic of hopeful skiers, is that the resort has just been auctioned for R5.5 m. The new owner is Lew Campbell who hopes to have it up and running again by 2013.
HIGH ALTITUDE TROUT FROM ROBIN DOUGLAS
Says Robin, ‘My son and his partner were hiking in the Sierras last weekend and true to form, Ian had his trout gear along. He caught these impossibly beautiful little brook trout in a lake at around 11000ft. He thinks the lake is glacial because of the clarity of the water which he said was like fishing in air!
Rose and I are going to join him in August in California and if my legs and lungs can make it I am going to get up to that lake.’
….With a camera and a spool of 10X tippet material I hope, Robin!
THE NEW STONEFLO HACKLE PLIER
Ed Herbst who is constantly on the lookout for new fly tying tools and vises, speaks highly of the new Stoneflo hackle plier. He has tried most of those on the market over the years and, until now, has settled on the C&F rotary hackle plier.
http://www.candfdesign.com/product/127514/6-61632/_/Rotary_Hackle_Pliers
Marc Petitjean plier
However he feels that the new Stoneflo has a lot to recommend it. It is designed along the lines of the Marc Petitjean hackle plier, but it grips the feather more securely.
The round ring on the handle is not new, he points out, having been used on other hackle pliers in the past, but it does allow you to slip your finger through the ring and maintain precise tension when using rotary vises such as the J Vice and the Renzetti.
Ed got his Stoneflo from Craig Thom at the Stream-X fly shop in Milnerton at a cost of R170.
http://www.streamx.co.za/index.htm
Ed Herbst did an epic piece for my website on the evolution of the modern fly tying vise. For those who haven’t seen it follow this link:
http://www.tomsutcliffe.co.za/fly-tying/142-ed-herbst-on-the-evolution-of-the-modern-fly-tying-vise
CAPPING LAST WEEK’S STORY ON SERIOUSLY HISTORICAL FISHING BOOKS
You may recall in last week’s newsletter reading of the late Harry Middleton's book The Starlight Creek Angling Society.
Only 500 were printed and my friend Clem Booth managed to find one in the US, still in its shrink wrap and signed by the author. I mentioned that the most valuable fly fishing book I ever saw was a copy of FM Halford’s Floating Flies and How to Dress Them (1886) with ten hand coloured plates and added that these sort of books give me the literary equivalent of goose bumps.
Quick as a flash, Paul Curtis (another committed angling bibliophile), sent this response.
‘The Halford book in your last newsletter, Floating Flies and How to Dress Them (1886), was limited to just 150 copies, 50 for America and 100 for England. I see there is one for sale at the moment. In Rands at today's exchange rate it’s a snip at around R22 600!
Then Paul added, ‘But here's a South African gem that might give you some extra goose bumps. Trout Fishing in the Cape Colony (1908) is the first South African fly fishing book written and it’s pretty rare. Mine is from Skues' personal library and signed and dated when he got it. One of a kind!’
(I think it was John Gierach who said, ‘Collecting is a strange business that you begin to understand only after you’ve quit expecting it to make perfect sense.’)
BIRKHALL SNOW
My friend Basie Volsoo called today to say Birkhall, his delightful farm in the Eastern Cape Highlands, was under a blanket of snow. It promises good fishing this summer, but even better, Basie's been seeing trout of around three to four pounds rising in the newly repaired lake above his house. You can mark these fish down to become six to seven pounders by the end of this summer.
Snow capped hills, Birkhall
FLY TYING CABINETS
I had a query from Bennie Neervoort (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) looking for a fly tying bench or cabinet and asking if I knew anybody who makes them. I’ve used a table top fly tying cabinet for years. It was made to my specs by an old Scot who was the hospital carpenter where I did my first house job so it has certainly stood the test of time!
My tying cabinet
It comprises one wide bottom drawer for genetic capes and longer feathers, like pheasant and turkey tails and peacock quills. Above it are four large drawers respectively for furs, dubbing and general feathers. Above these are six small drawers for various models of hooks, beads and synthetic materials and there’s one slightly wider small drawer for my collection of CDC.
Lifting the wood flap to reveal a copiuos storage area, left, and the vise and book recess right.
Centrally there is a recess for a vice and books and alongside that there is a sloping lift up wooden flap with pegs in it to hold spools of yarns, tinsels and threads and a strip of foam to pin your flies on.
The area inside of the lift up flap is for general storage.
Detail of the inside of the right door
The inside of the right door has recesses to hold fly tying tools and the left door has three open shelves for items like head cement, hair stackers, wax, waterproofing liquids like Hydrostop or Watershed and for the larger spools, like DMC thread.
The cabinet is 35 cms deep, 56 cms wide and 65 cms high. The doors close and are lockable.
The old Scot is long since gone and the only person I know making fly tying cabinets in South Africa is a master in wood by the name of Ginger Jenkins. He’s a fly tyer himself, which helps, and he lives a stone’s throw from the Pott River outside Maclear. I called Ginger last week and he suggested that anyone wanting a cabinet made could phone him after 6.00 pm on 045 9321675.
If you know of anyone else making fly tying cabinets I would be happy to feature them on my site. Or if you use a fly tying bench or cabinet yourself please send me a picture of it to give readers ideas on what they might get made up for themselves.
AND ON THE SUBJECT OF FLY TYING…
I was given this simple tool, known as the Bobbin Wheel, some time back by Ed Herbst and find it invaluable. The reason I post it here is that it should be easy enough to make or have made. It’s just a loop of coiled spring on a circular piece of wood attached by a post to a wooden stand. The circumference of the loop is 7 cms and the pillar is 16 cms long.
Or you can order one from Feather Craft in the USA for $ 24 at http://www.feather-craft.com/wecs.php?store=feacraft&action=display&target=SA015
PIKE IN THE THAMES
From Clem Booth in London:
‘Some really great pike on the Thames today. The biggest was a 17 pounder and the smallest 12 to 13 pounds. Fabulous fun on the fly rod despite dismal weather and very high water. A really good day.’
FINALLY, A TRUISM ON RIVER GUIDES
To these guides, infinitely more than to any transient sportsman, the river is a living, sentient creature.
– Bliss Perry, Revisiting a River (As quoted in Steven J Meyers’ book San Juan River Chronicle. It’s an absolutely delightful read by the way.)
Copyright © 2012 The Spirit of Fly Fishing, All rights reserved.
The Spirit of Fly Fishing newsletter
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