March 2021 Fly Fishing Newsletter
This long newsletter happens to coincide my retirement at the end of this month after 50 happy and fulfilling years in medicine.\
So I begin with a quote that has been special to me, not because it's particularly relevant to my new station in life, but because it has been so relevant to my whole life, and I suspect may be in some ways to yours.
Here it is:
This house is where I take my natural rest, but my home is out there, beyond the back door.
Al McClane, 1965.
McLane's sentiments resonate in me, maybe in most fly fishers, suggesting as they do the value we put in those off the beaten track places that happen to have miles of sylvan streams. But while McClane's notion of a home beyond-the-back-door echoes this, I happen to have been blessed with a very happy home where I am perfectly content when I'm not fishing.
We know what he's getting at though; the nirvana secreted among the finest of fine blue lines way beyond where all official roads end, our several ideas, real or part-imaginary, of the perfect state. There's no harm in dreaming it. I have virtually all my life. * I did little fishing this January because the backend of the season here was dry. But we are only just shy of autumn now when the fishing picks up. I can see the season's changes already in the yellowing of the oaks and in the grapes on my Catawba vine that are nearly black with ripeness – a sure sign of autumn. If the squirrels leave them alone long enough I will yet make a few jars of good jam from this crop.
So with my fishing diary as dry as the weather, I thought rather bring you some jottings from a previous trip.
Notes from a past 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, the trout scarce.
The upstream wind brought to mind a piece by Oliver Kite where he felt blessed to have a downstream wind. I could only imagine it had something to do with the wind leaving the tippet crooked enough to allow a longer drift before drag set in. It was an interesting observation because we usually preach the reverse, the merits of an upstream breeze. You could argue that a gentle breeze doesn't matter much one way or another, but for the reasons I surmise from Kite's counterintuitive observations on wind direction, you might well be better off with a downstream zephyr if you are going to have one at all! At least for dry fly fishing. Downstream wind is a different matter.
There was a hatch of mayflies and a few mountain midges and caddisflies. The Summer Brown mayfly, Adenophlebia dislocans, showed up, a bold, darkly-variegated mayfly that you never find in great numbers but when they are about their characteristic boldness is obvious.
Adenophlebia dislocans, boldly perched.
Sand Martins flew over the water in loops so tight and so swift the eye could hardly follow. One bird suddenly appeared in my vision, a dust-grey flash swooping at my dry fly and I struck with the instinctive suddenness you strike at movement on a Cape stream. That snatched the fly from the bird, but after a steep turn, it was back, swooping in search of the bug it had mysteriously lost. The pattern – not that it's important – was one of Kite's Imperials.
Sketch of a Kite's Imperial
Or maybe it was important because I changed and never raised another Sand Martin.
How would you fish this pocket water run and what small stream lessons does it teach?
This little run is on a small Cape stream I have fished a few hundred times over many years and in all that time it has only changed marginally. You will notice the run extends upstream to the far corner of the photograph and that along its course it is divided into two long runs by a tiny waterfall mid-picture. But for today's exercise, I will stick to the obvious pocket right in front of you. It teaches some lessons. (I use the word 'pocket' and 'run' in water like this almost interchangeably.)
Lip Currents at the tail out
First off, there's a lip current (arrowed above) that runs across the middle of the tail out where the water funnels out of three little gutters stretching from left to right. This will test your high-sticking skills and will make or break your approach. Unless you keep your fly line off this lip current you will have drag, which risks startling the whole run on your first cast.
To fish the water above this lip you want a short, high-stick cast that presents little more than your leader and tippet. So get into a position as close to the lip as you can safely get, obviously crouching, keeping your movements slow (especially hand movements), your rod tip down, then wait a few minutes to look for trout before you cast. They won't be hard to find in pockets this clear and small. Look for moving shadows and then look above the shadow. This is what you might see. 
A trout hanging in the back of the pocket
For clarity I divide this pocket as shown below into '1' the sweet spot, and feeding lies '2' and '3'. 
The lies in the pocket
Note, position '1' is a holding lie, positions '2' and '3' are feeding lies. The temptation is to immediately drop your dry fly in the sweet spot '1' and often that works, but equally often it spooks any trout (as it happens, often a better fish) that might be feeding quietly at the back end at '2' or '3'. Again, spooked trout will immediately telegraph danger throughout the run.
Note the small triangle of shade and depth just under the point of the largest boulder dominating the left side, marked with an arrow in the photograph below. That's likely to be the permanent holding lie (the 'home') of the dominant fish. Hook it in anywhere in the run and that's where it will most likely make for.
Arrowed sweet spot shadow
At the time of day the photograph was taken, mid-afternoon, and with this flow, you will agree that position '2' is a little bright, shallow and exposed, while position '3' has reasonable depth, flow, and shade. '3' is where a better fish might well have moved to feed and that's where the first cast should go, then to '2' and only then to '1'.
From which we can learn something.
Trout in small streams don't hold a lie all day. They change from holding to feeding lies as changes in flow dictate, or when hatches appear (when they will take up the best position for insect drift, often just off the current seam or bubble line if there is one). But importantly in small, clear streams, trout will change lies often following the movement of light to shade and hatches.
So a small stream run of yesterday may well be very different to the same run a day later and the golden rule always applies – expect to find fish anywhere. And in a tiny clear stream like this one, they are mostly pretty obvious if you are looking for them.
How to pick up current flow and thus feeding lies:
Make a habit of watching exactly where the surface currents take your dry fly or yarn indicator on each cast so you learn about the surface features of a run. This is especially evident on slack leader casts that allow the fly to exactly follow the surface current.
As an aside, what I call shower glass water is often productive, though mainly for smaller trout. A typical piece is arrowed below and should have had a fly dropped on it before casting anywhere else. Just one or two quick, short drifts, tippet only, in-and-out presentations if you like, a brief 'dusting'. If there is a fish there it will take the fly immediately.
Pronounced shower glass, 'in-and-out' water
Ideal gear for this sort of water?
7' to 8½' 2- to 3-wt rod, DT floating line, 15' tapered leader with a tippet to 7 X mono, #16 dry flies, like RABs, Para RABs, Single Feather Midge, Elk Hair Caddis, or else #16 lightly weighted nymphs, such as Gold-ribbed Hare's Ears, Zaks or PTNs.
A note on small stream rods.
Action and loading: Many modern graphites have fast actions and are consequently great casting instruments but difficult to load close in, so fishing positions '2' and '3' becomes not impossible, but less easy. Soft- to medium-action rods are generally more forgiving and load more easily for short casts, bamboo maximally so.
Rod weight: From 2- to 3-wt is ideal on this sort of water. You can get away with rods on small streams up to 5-wt if the action is on the softer side. Throughout the 90s I fished a 4-wt Winston on this stream and occasionally I still fish my 0-wt Sage and can't fault either, unless the wind is blowing when the 0-wt is lacking.
Ideal Length: 7' to 8½'. I have no experience with modern ultra-long rods (other than Tenkara). They have some reach advantages in nymphing, but also obvious drawbacks on a close-in stream like this. Even with a 9' rod, I start slapping riverbank branches on both overhead- and side-casts.
And on the matter of flies, small-stream guru Peter Brigg has this to say about his fly pattern selection for the Eastern Cape Highlands.
All photographs per kind favour of Peter Brigg.
I have been fishing the rivers and streams of the North Eastern Cape Highlands for many years so when Tom asked if I’d put together a paragraph on my choice of three nymphs and three dry flies for wild trout country, it was a no brainer. Or so I thought until I started to think about it and realised it was easier said than done.
This is not an exhaustive list of the patterns I use there, but if I could pick only six for a trip to the North Eastern Cape, I’d be happy leaving home with nothing more than these in a range of sizes and, in the case of the nymphs, weights.
The Zak
For the nymphs I choose a lightly weighted Zak tied in the original style and with a brass bead. I have often said that if I needed to pick just a single nymph, this would be it - in my opinion together with the PTN, it’s the best imitation of the naturals found in our waterways.
Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear
Then a Gold Ribbed Hares Ear with a red thread collar, the ‘Rooinek’ and finally…
The GUN
Gary Glen-Young’s GUN, tied on a jig hook and heavily weighted with a tungsten bead, especially for the deeper pools and in fast flows when there’s a need to get down deep and quickly. I tie my nymphs mostly in the range from #14s down to #18s.
My choice of Hopper
For dries, I’d go with a hopper, like the small bullet head variant I tie, and my
Brigg's Spider
Wolf Spider, both very good searching patterns that seldom fail to attract the attention of trout.
The Para-RAB
Then Philip Meyer’s Para-RAB, not because I choose it above Tony Biggs’s traditional RAB, but because I find it covers a wider range of situations.
What’s missing in this pick is an emerger and an adult caddisfly and for these, I’d choose a Klinkhamer and an Elk Hair Caddis, but at the risk of being sent to the naughty corner, I’ll leave you with just these six as my top selection for the North Eastern Cape waters. I have settled on them because my record of recent trips to the area reflects their effectiveness and consistency – and I need all the help I can get.
Many thanks Pete. I'm sure any angler would be happy fishing Eastern Cape Highland streams with just these patterns in their fly box. I certainly would, but I must get down to tying up some of Gary Glen-Young’s GUN patterns.
The Third Edition of Hunting Trout (if still available)
The third edition of Hunting Trout has virtually sold out. I only have 7 copies left but have requested a quote to see if I can get a small print rerun. You can order directly from me by email (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. ), or from your fly shop. I use an overnight courier so I need your physical daytime address, the postal code and a cell phone contact number. I will sign and personalised copies to your wishes.
(Hunting Trout. Burnet Media. ISBN 9781990956157. 519 pages. Price R320. Overnight courier R100). Ordering is as above.
Yet More Sweet Days
I have received a few more copies of Yet More Sweet Days and can now meet orders again.
(Yet More Sweet Days. Publishers Burnet Media. ISBN 9781928230717. 471 Pages. Price R320. Overnight courier cost R100.)
The Mission Magazine now my agent for overseas orders
Tudor Caradoc-Davies, editor and publisher of this popular international magazine, has agreed to handle the distribution of overseas orders for my books. So if you live beyond the borders of South Africa and would like any copies, drop him an email at 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. .
Tony Biggs' RABs
I spoke in my last newsletter of Tony Biggs tying his iconic dry fly pattern the RAB again and I can report that his new-found enthusiasm continues. He has a limited supply on hand and sells them at R 50 a fly which I am facilitating for him. Thank you to those who have already taken up the offer and bought his flies. Let me know of you would like a few.
Then let me refer you to the Facebook page posted by PJ Jacobs, editor of the Complete Fly Fisherman, on Tony that I think is important to read,
https://www.facebook.com/thecompleteflyfishermanmag
Guest photographer - Wolf Avni – with photographs by him
My guest photographer is well-known. He is a fly fisher, trout breeder, writer, humourist, philosopher, undoubted intellectual (look, it's hard to sum him up without missing some major component of the man). He lives at Giant's Cup, high in a remote part of the Drakensberg that, as you will see in his photograph below, is one of the most beautiful trout places on earth.
Giant's Cup
I think of him as South Africa's answer to all the best fly-fishing photographers I ever saw, including Val Atkinson, Dave Lambroughton, Denver Brian, David Kleyn, Ken Takata.
Also have a look his celebrated book:
https://www.amazon.com/Mean-mouthed-Hook-jawed-Bad-news-Son-Fish/dp/0620324392
Highland Lodge – a photo-essay
This place is in the Stormberg Mountains near Molteno in the Eastern Cape, the coldest place in South Africa and we fish its 11 lakes in mid-winter, on the basis that the winter water is like glass, the trout are in spawning colours and the fishing's good. Anyway, good enough not to mind the cold, but we dress like we were getting ready for the siege of Leningrad.
It's a place of vast spaces, startling sunsets, silently passing jet trails (it's on domestic air routes) and big trout. I have fished here for 20 years and love it, as you would love any place where the fishing's this good, this remote, this silent, this bracing (minus 15° isn't an uncommon temperature at night). Over the last few years I've mainly fished here with Darryl Lampert, Chris Bladen and Gerrit Redpath, all as in love with the place as I am. Here's a short photo-essay to take in the landscapes, the jet trails, the sunsets, the fish (we call them 'busses' up here), to give you a sense of angling life here in general.
For bookings see Highland Lodge
In the next newsletter I will do an essay on Vrederus and then Gateshead Lodges.
Trout in Ceramic art
The lockdown focussed my mind on art and apart from watercolour paintings of trout I have done some ceramics – large cheese platters and salad bowls, featuring mainly wild, small stream rainbow and brown trout with mayflies, a lake brown trout and rainbow and a study of a Castskill March Brown dry fly. These are signed and dated on front or reverse side. They are twice fired at 1200 ° and glazed to last a lifetime. Here are three recent examples.
Leaping small stream rainbow trout – salad bowl 30 x 7 cms
Catskill-style March Brown platter – Cheese platter 33 cms wide
Lake brown trout in profile – Cheese platter 33 cms
Leaping small stream brown trout – cheese platter 33 cms
Brown trout rising – salad bowl 30 cms x 7 cms
Lake rainbow in profile – cheese platter 33 cms
Readers interested in buying one can email me.
And on art, my Catskill dry flies in pastel
I am doing pastel sketches of the Catskill flies slowly getting through those I have reliable references for, mainly using Mike Valla's book Tying Catskill Style Dry Flies. Here are a couple of examples:
The Abel Mabel as designed and tied by Ed Van Put. From Mike Valla's collection-
Sketch 24 x 24 cms
Catskill Red Quill after the style of Art Flick
Sketch 24 x 24 cms
Adams dry fly pure Catskill style
Sketch 20 x 15 cms
An intriguing side to the life of Isaak Walton
Angling is somewhat like poetry; men are to be born so …
Isaak Walton
My personal characterisation of Walton was of a gentle, country-loving angler who led a quiet bucolic life, though I must admit to not being a great scholar of the man, or his book, The Compleat Angler. I just dip into its pages from time to time, rather than ever read it properly, cover to cover. But a chapter in Roderick Haig-Brown’s book, Writings and Reflections, about Izaak Walton nearly shot me out of my socks.
Firstly, Walton did not live in the country, but in the heart of London, where he was an ironmonger, a fierce Royalist and confidant of many highly-placed clerics, poets, philosophers and politicians at a time when that was very dangerous. As Haig-Brown puts it, ‘It was a harsh time in which to think vigorously, but Walton had standards of religious faith and earthly loyalty that seemed to grow stronger through his life’. And the times became more troubled still, with revolution and religious persecution. His king, Charles I, was beheaded in 1649, following a death sentence passed down in Cromwell’s house not a block from where Walton lived!
I knew of course of his long association with Charles Cotton, the River Dove and The Fishing Temple Cotton built on the banks of the Dove to commemorate their friendship, an aspect of Walton’s history that probably forged my impression of his whole life.
The Fishing Temple courtesy of the Orvis Company
But what I didn’t know, and must thank Haig-Brown for revealing, was that just two years before The Compleat Angler was published, Walton visited an imprisoned Royalist friend who handed him a ring known as the Lesser George that had belonged to King Charles 1, and asked him to smuggle it to one Colonel Thomas Blagge who at the time was imprisoned in the Tower of London. Walton did exactly that! Blagge escaped from the tower shortly after and returned the ring to the young King of France, Louis XIV. A little confusing, but that's the history as I have it. The Lesser George I am unable to confirm with any certainty, but that Issak Walton was a political activist and pro-royalist is undoubted.
This is sometimes referred to as the only known adventure in Walton’s long life. Yet clearly it was not. Having the friends he had and holding the beliefs he held, he must often have been in constant danger, at least in the latter part of his life. It also strikes me that we are lucky that Walton’s book ever saw the light of day! It was first published in 1653, a while after these risky friendships and escapades, by when he was already 60 years old.
Silk Lines and Small Streams
Ed Herbst writes:
In the spring of 1974 an article appeared in Piscator, journal of the Cape Piscatorial Society, which fired my imagination when I joined the CPS four years later and started fishing the trout streams near Cape Town.
‘Lilliput Water’ by Peter Turnbull Kemp spoke of his fishing with the original ‘Whisper Rod’ the six foot, 1 ounce Leonard Baby Catskill 37 L.
The first ultra-light line of the synthetic rod era was the Orvis Ultrafine 2-weight introduced in 1983 and I quickly ordered one through the Orvis agents in South Africa, The Flyfisherman in Pietermaritzburg.
I ordered a silk line for it from Phoenix and was told that it was only the second 2 –weight they had made – an earlier one having been sold to an Ultrafine owner in Italy.
It smelt wonderful, and cast well into the wind being 30% thinner in diameter than the two-weight plastic line. Greased with Mucilin it floated well and the pickup from the water was delicate.
I cut this double taper in half and loaded it onto my Orvis CFO 2 reel.
Cleaning it was easy and I tied a loop in the dacron backing on my fly reel and attached a similar loop to the line. I carried the second half in a ziplock bag and, halfway through the day, I would change to the second section of double taper line.
It took another 15 years before Sage introduced its ‘Ought’ series and I then acquired one of the silk lines – illustrated below – made in Italy by Terenzio Zandri.
It was a delight to use and had the advantage that you could use one of his furled leaders with a loop-to-loop connection.
Not everyone likes furled leaders, but I felt they enhanced delicate presentation.
Illness curtailed my fly fishing a decade ago but, if I was still fishing, I would love to try the silk lines of Kaji Yano who also sells furled leaders.
I am also intrigued by the micro-thin Sunray fly lines which would probably combine well with the new generation of short, light-line fiberglass rods which are finding increasing acceptance with small stream enthusiasts.
The author’s Terenzio Zandri silk line shown with a ‘Palm Grip’ Sage ‘Ought Weight’ rod and an Orvis CFO 2 reel
This should be compulsory reading for all state presidents...
Statesmen feature in a few notable fly-fishing references my favourite being Robert Traver's (John D Voelker) who was an American Supreme Court Judge. When asked why he wanted to serve in this high office, Voelker apparently replied, "Because I have spent my life on fiction and fishing, and I need the money." In 1959, after the success of his novel Anatomy of a Murder, Voelker retired from law to write and fish and never practiced again. I corresponded with him in the 1980s and got a lengthy hand-written reply penned in green ballpoint ink. But back to his fly fishers and diplomats:
The amount of Machiavellian subtlety, guile, and sly deception that ultimately becomes wrapped up in the person of an experienced trout fisherman is faintly horrifying to contemplate. Thus fiendishly qualified for a brilliant diplomatic career he instead has time only to fish. So lesser diplomats continue to grope and bumble and their countries continue to fall into war. The only hope for it all, I am afraid, is for the Lord to drive the trout fishermen into diplomacy or else drive the diplomats to trout fishing. My guess is that either way we'd be more apt to have peace: the fishermen turned diplomats would hurriedly resolve their differences on the trout stream so that they might return to their fishing, while the diplomat-turned- fishermen would shortly become so absorbed in their new passion they'd never again find time for war.
I hope you enjoyed the read.
Tom Sutcliffe
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