3 MARCH 2013 NEWSLETTER

RANDOM PARAGRAPH FROM MY ANGLING LIBRARY

(Click to enlarge images)

The Henry’s Fork. Picture per Dean Riphagen.

We all get too focussed on the fishing sometimes and miss some of the real nice things that fly fishing has to offer. If you spend eight hours a day just looking at your fly on the water you miss a lot of things – like an osprey diving into the river to catch a fish, some deer on the bank or maybe some songbirds in the bushes. I think people need to learn to relax and not approach fishing like it’s a matter of life or death.

Mike Lawson of Henry’s Fork Anglers as quoted in Wisdom of the Guides by Paul Arnold. (Frank Amato Publications 1998).

PASCAL COGNARD THREE TIMES WORLD FLY FISHING CHAMPION LECTURES WESTERN CAPE FLY FISHERS

Representing the French fly fishing team, Pascal Cognard is a three times individual world fly fishing champion. He was partnered this weekend by Said Yahiaoui, a member of the French team from 1991 to 1993 and its current manager. It was a three day seminar that included on-stream demonstrations on the Smalblaar River arranged by local fly fisher, Korrie Broos.

I guess there is still plenty of heat when it comes to angler’s opinions on the merits of competitive fly fishing, many arguing that the sport should remain a recreation and not a rivalry. But wherever you stand, there is little doubt that competitive fly fishing has brought many invaluable tackle and technique refinements over the last 20 years, not to mention a few landmark developments in fly patterns.

Pascal Gognard

I found Pascal’s presentation riveting, and Said’s animated inputs running parallel to Pascal’s were equally insightful and very entertaining.

Said Yahiaoui

What did I learn? Plenty, but some of it can’t be published at the request of the presenters, because there is the matter of intellectual property rights. Pascal did not want his leader design formulae on the internet and I am happy to respect that. But what can I tell you? Highlights for me were obviously Pascal’s revelations on leader dynamics. (Sitting a row behind me, my good friend Darryl Lampert made the observation that for or the first time he now really understood leader dynamics!)

Pascal Cognard’s mastery of the river was quickly apparent

Then Pascal’s demonstration of the correct approach to sight nymphing was an absolute eye-opener.

Here are six other things you might find interesting, all in the context of low, clear water, fussy trout conditions:

1. You very likely don’t wade carefully enough. To watch Pascal wade is to watch a heron stalk. I thought I was fussy about bow waves in streams (and lakes) and about silent wading. I wade with cavalier recklessness compared to Pascal!  Wade like you are on eggs; like you are robbing a bank at night and desperately trying not to set the alarm off!

2.  Take your time. Again something I do, and something many people have commented on in my fly fishing, but Pascal added new meaning to the dictum, ‘Take time to watch the water.’ He spent long minutes searching a run that I would have fished in a few minutes max. He took two trout from it, the first of which he spooked and announced he would wait for its return! It did come back some 10 minutes later. He dropped a # 20 PTN into the run and landed the fish. He then spent more long minutes staying dead still, searching the run, found the second fish and took it first cast. This was sight nymphing at its best and it was simply lovely to watch.

Taken on a size 20 PTN

3. We don’t use long enough leaders on clear rivers and streams. Four metres plus is where we need to be, all the leader sections pre-boiled except for the tippet.

4. Never join fluorocarbon and nylon. The fluoro will cut into your nylon.

5. Take the greatest care to create an ultra-smooth leader to fly line connection. Pascal uses a glued needle knot that is beautifully tapered, layered with wraps of 8/0 red fly tying thread and coated as smooth and neat as the wraps on a fine bamboo fly rod. The result is the knot slips through the rod’s eyes smoothly and soundlessly.

6. The strongest tippet to leader knot in Pascal’s experience is the Surgeon’s Knot, where the tippet section passing through the loop is simply doubled. All the knots he uses to join the main, heavier segments of his leader are Blood Knots strengthened with super glue.

I could go on for another half an hour. This was a really worthwhile way to spend ‘fishing ’time and I congratulate Korrie Broos for getting these two great anglers, and delightful gentlemen, to our country.

MORE FROM GREG CARSTENS IN RHODES THIS PAST WEEK

Says Greg

We fished the Sterkspruit yesterday, the water still a little milky, but the flow was decent, very similar to when we were here in spring.

The Sterkspruit River (Tom Sutcliffe photo)

There is a very good head of fish in the Sterkspruit and the average size is bigger than in the Bell.

We managed some very nice fish, one of 16 inches and Gary got one of 18 inches, the rest ranged in size from 4 inches to around 14 inches,  all taken on nymph. There have been a lot of stonefly hatches taking place as evident by the shucks on the rocks, so larger nymphs with a lift worked well in the off-colour water.

Today we are going to try the Riflespruit with a dry fly. The weather has been clear and very warm and up to 35°C so the shade of the willows is a godsend.

Here is a picture of the Riflespruit, taken on one of the few pools. The rest of the stream is mainly pocket water and typically mountain staircase stuff with tiny riffles and runs, bearing in mind we fished Mt Mourne and lower down the stream is similar to the Bokspruit.

What a delightful little mountain stream this is on the Mt. Mourne farm. I could have spent the whole day working my way up to the source, very tight and challenging fishing and I found a #20 parachute did the trick. We managed a number of fish up to 10-12 inches and saw a few that might have gone 15, but they were beyond our skill level, and it took a wee while to find the patient rhythm required to stalk spooky fish in gin clear water.

 ‘BOOKAZINE ‘: FROM MARCUS JANSEN AT FIELDSPORTS

The Fieldsports Guide to the World’s Ultimate Fly Fishing Destinations is a beautifully crafted 148-page bookazine featuring 22 freshwater and saltwater destinations around the globe that really ought to be on every fly fisherman’s bucket list. From trophy trout in New Zealand to enormous GTs in the Seychelles, this Guide t has it all...

Here is the URL: http://www.fieldsportsmagazine.com/fly-fishing 

STEVE BOSHOFF ON CHEST BOXES

I have long believed that the chest box (as opposed to “pack”) provides to best solution for small stream fly and stream-accessory storage. A rich history of chest box making exists, primarily focused on the Richardson chest box in aluminium. Here, finally, is a wooden version (significantly lighter than a similar sized aluminium box). It is not routed from a block of wood, but veneered, one layer at a time in beech and walnut.

It provides space for RABs (most commercial box compartments are too small to provide sufficient leg-room for these flies), reading glasses, some nymphs and float yarn, and, under the lid, tippet material.

(It strikes me so often that in Steve Boshoff this country has a master at work. My hope is that he is recognised as such in his time.)

Steve can be contacted on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

‘A frank resumption to the Palaeolithic life without the spur of hunger.’ So Mr Graham Wallas in his good book on ‘Human Nature in Politics’ describes hunting and fishing.

This is the opening sentence of a chapter titled ‘Back to the Stone Age’ from Arthur Ransome’s celebrated book of angling essays, Rod and Line. (Oxford University Press 1980.)

As a gentle, entertaining and often hilarious bedside read, I cannot recommend this gem of a book highly enough. It well deserves its unofficial listing of one of the great classics of angling literature.

See http://www.netbooks.co.za/Main.asp?D=%7B78742C3A-D0F7-43E5-9815-36313006FB51%7D&PageType=Product&SKU=UROLR

Tom Sutcliffe