My Resolutions for 2015 …
To never cast before taking a long careful look at the water
To always fish the tail-end of pools and runs first
To get into a position to throw the shortest cast possible
To never false-cast over the water I’m fishing
To never crease the water lifting the fly off to cast again
To do more fishing, painting and writing and less real work!
Click in images to enlarge them
I managed a couple of outings during the last few days of 2014, one with incident, one without, though both were enjoyable trips in their own ways.
On Monday the 29th of December I took my London-based friend, Frederick Mostert, on a hike up a Cape mountain stream. We walked for half an hour on a windy, hot day to get there and I picked a shady spot to set up the only rod we’d brought along. This is a tiny stream where carrying an extra rod just adds clutter and we mostly just fish it turn and turn about using the same stick. But when I pulled the tip section from the rod bag I noticed it was badly fractured just an inch short of the tip. How that happened only the gods know.
But there we were, rodless in a river that looked splendid, but instead of heading back we slowly and carefully stalked upstream, made a game of spotting trout – we found many – lifted stones to check the bugs, photographed the intriguing colour patterns of the pebbled stream bed, watched the birdlife that included a low flying African Harrier-Hawk – once known, more attractively I think, as the Gymnogene.
The intriguing colour patterns of the pebbled stream bed
So what began as an embarrassingly poor start, turned out well enough in the end.
Then on the last day of 2014 Robin Renwick, also a London-based friend, and I fished the upper Lourens River above Somerset West. The southeast wind of the last few days had worsened and was blowing directly downstream, the water was low and absurdly clear and we thought twice about giving the conditions best. But between lulls in the wind we hooked a few trout on small Klinkhåmer dry flies and on Ed Herbst’s latest simulid nymph.
Robin Renwick on a low and clear Lourens
The trout in this stream seem to get prettier each year; or else I’m just appreciating them more as I get older. To me they’re all little Cézanne landscapes.
Trout as John Gierach said, prettier than they need to be
Ed Herbst’s simulid nymph
I posted a piece by Ed on the promising progress this pattern is making in streams around the country. See http://www.tomsutcliffe.co.za/fly-fishing/friend-s-articles/item/980-testing-the-simulid-nymph-%E2%80%93-by-ed-herbst.html
Boarman’s Chase
Boarman’s Chase is an iconic piece of water on the upper Bell River in the Eastern Cape Highlands, not far from the summit of the Naude’s Nek Pass at 2800 metres. Gavin Urquhart took these images of his wife Sharland fishing this section last week. It looks in perfect condition to me and I would love to be there right now.
Two Limited Edition copies of ‘The Elements of Fly Tying’
I offered two Limited Edition copies of The Elements of Fly Tying for sale and both went within an hour of the newsletter going out. They are numbers 85 and 89 of an edition limited to 100 books only. The endpapers (inside front and back covers) are of a leaping trout that was specially scanned and separately printed and illustrated below for interest in ‘printer ready’ format.
From Robin Douglas in Somerset West
As always, your final newsletter for 2014 was a fabulous read. On reviewing my fishing diary for the year, I see that I was lucky enough to share your company on the river 14 times and thank you again for each one of those. My river technique as well as my appreciation for everything in the river – and on the river banks – has improved dramatically as a result of the time we have spent together. You are really a very good teacher!
It has really been a fabulous fly fishing year for me and I am pretty sure that 2015 is going to be even better.
We had 12 mm of rain on Thursday evening so my son Keith and I thought we would go and have a look at the Lourens. It is probably short-lived but what an incredible change a little rain can bring. The water temp was back down to 16 deg and the river was flowing quite nicely. We never saw much in the way of fish. I raised and missed a good trout on a Para-RAB and Keith got a really nice fish on a #20 Brassie.
Keith’s fish on the Brassie.
Book review
Presentation Fly-Fishing – The Definitive Guide to Advanced Techniques by Jeremy Lucas
In this book Lucas argues persuasively, and convincingly, for an ultra-minimalist approach to fly fishing and he’s well qualified to argue the points that he makes (he had a long and illustrious history in completion fly fishing).
In a nutshell, Lucas, in an endeavour to perfect presentations, uses methods that hover midway between Tenkara (which he uses at times) and conventional western fly fishing the way we know it – very long, soft action, light line-weight fly rods, ultra-long leaders with level monofilament as the fly line, sometimes with a section of three stranded horse hair between the two for floatability and as a visual reference. He almost limits himself to dry fly fishing on fragile streams, and then to just about one dry fly pattern at that, his heron herl plume tip, a simple but extremely effective fly tied shuttlecock-style with CDC tips pointing out front.
Image from the book
I found the book well written, informative and interesting. It is an approach that no doubt will improve your presentation – and with that, your catch rate – but I suspect it will need plenty of practice to perfect. But in the end I was not convinced to alter much of what I presently do in South African streams and stillwaters. Part of the reason is that I love using bamboo rods and those are simply not suited to these techniques. And then, frankly put, I just plain enjoy casting fly lines.
(Robert Hale, London, 2014. 220 pages, soft cover, many colour photographs and diagrams. Available from NetBooks at R450. http://www.netbooks.co.za )
From Victor Janssen
Victor owned and ran the Le Chalet restaurant in Pietermaritzburg during the 70’s and 80’s when it was outstanding and by a long way still is the best restaurant I have eaten in. He has two sons, Yuri and Marcus, both keen fly fishers as is Victor himself. Regarding an invoice I posted in my previous newsletter he comments:
Invoice from Shuter and Shooter
Great to receive your Fly-Fishing Newsletter which I thoroughly enjoy reading! I noticed your invoice from Shuter & Shooter for fishing books dating back to 1976. This brings back found memories. I looked up one of Le Chalet’s menus from 1972: French onion soup R0.55, Escargots a la "Victor" 1/2 doz R0,95 Tournedos ‘Le Chalet’ R1.75. Grilled Langoustines (six) R2.25. Crepes Suzette two for R1.50.
Are we getting older or are the things we enjoy getting more expensive?
Lovely sentiment from ace fly fishing photographer David Lambroughton
Yesterday I was walking down a country road in New Zealand to get to my car after a splendid day of fishing and I noticed these two mailboxes.
As I was walking I was thinking about all the wonderful people I have met while travelling the world who have taught me so much. Some taught me about rivers and fish, others taught me about the capacity to love, dogs included, and others taught me how to hit straighter golf balls, or how to sometimes squeeze some magic out of my cameras. But they all, in their own way taught me the same thing; that Life and each and every day is a gift and when the new year arrives I will enter it with a thankfulness that is beyond words.
From my good friend Clem Booth in London
Says Clem:
I recently had a day on the Avon, not for trout as the season has closed, but for pike. As guide Mark Anderson calls them, ‘Stretch limo version of largemouth bass but with lots of teeth’!
It was hard-going. Just two fish risen, one landed, pretty as a picture, in Edward Barder's exquisite landing net and, yes, that is a Barder bamboo rod!
Could Father Christmas bring something more special than a pike on bamboo? Such a pretty little river pike and this one from one of the hallowed chalk streams of England.
Quotes of the week
Although the years will bring their Anodyne,
But I shall never quite forget
The fish that I had counted mine
And lost before they reached the net.
Colin Ellis, The Devout Angler, 1963
Secretly I lament the hundreds of fish we never caught because we forever persisted in fishing only the likeliest holding water.
From my book Reflections on Fly Fishing (1990).
KZN Report from Jan Korrubel
I am pleased to report that the streams are now also moving nicely. The Bushman’s River had received a 100mm injection of water over Xmas when Mungo Poore took a visit and reported that the river was full and ‘freighting down’, but he took some good fish on weighted nymph patterns.
The Bushman’s courtesy of Mungo Poore
Barely a week later I was on the Bushman’s guiding Larsen and Nicola, a young couple new to small stream fishing and the dry fly. The water level had dropped surprisingly quickly in the intervening period, and was running crystal and as near perfect as one might hope for.
The Bushman’s running near perfect
The fish were willing and Larsen managed to bring a couple to hand on the dry fly after missing the initial few. I had warned him that these little buggers are quick!
Larsen with a young brown trout from the Bushman’s
After showing supreme spousal dedication to the cause, Nicola called it a day after the fourth shower came through, and we made our way out of the valley.
The Mooi River, while slightly coloured, is also looking good reports Greg Zeiler. See photo below by Greg.
With Roger Baert in the country, today we held a book signing at WildFly Fly Fishing Outfitters in Nottingham Road, for his newly released ‘Meandering Steams’. The signing was very well attended; good to see familiar faces from as far afield as Durban.
Roger signing copies of his book at WildFly
Final sentiment from Dorrien Tissiman
Would you be so kind as to please pass on my appreciation and New Year greetings to all those knowledgeable scribes who contribute to your wonderful newsletter.
Tom Sutcliffe
