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LOOKING

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MIKE AND THE MECHANICS SANG ABOUT LOOKING BACK, OVER MY SHOULDER. GARETH GEORGE ALSO CAST A GLANCE OR TWO – OVER THE PAST YEAR AND HIS EXPLOITS WITH ROD AND REEL.

It’s the realisation of another year passing you by that drives home the simple truth: that time is one commodity you just can’t buy, so you better spend it wisely.

MAIN IMAGE: A traditional sailing dhow appears miniscule when viewed against the magnificent azure backdrop of the low tide shallows and sea grass meadows of Mozambique’s Bazaruto marine reserve

Reflecting on a fishing year can be an exercise in frustration, when you weigh up the hours actually spent fishing versus the time you anticipated doing so at the beginning of the season.

Excuses are plentiful, most validated by the need to bring home the bacon and lacking the time to indulge yourself. It’s the realisation of another year passing you by that drives home the simple truth: that time is one commodity you just can’t buy, so you better spend it wisely.

I get to fish more than most folk but then I live in the heart of trout country and am also fortunate enough that my passion for fly fishing is also how I earn a crust. Yet pictures and programmes rarely tell the timeline of any journey and 2019 has seen our intrepid bunch of anglers sweat bullets for any result.

An Angolan tarpon adventure kicked off my year, but with rains not falling in the highland it meant an absence of fish in the Kwanza estuary. An utterly frustrating six days without a single finned creature! This was immediately followed by a road trip across the boerewors curtain to Ghuki Ghuki and a chance to hone dry fly skills. On the day of our arrival, Van Der Kloof dam further upstream, decided to release water. The net result was that our flies stayed dry … very dry! Four days and not a rod even assembled.

En route back home, an attempt to recover the tour at Sterkies saw an initial run on the sight fishing that this beautiful lake is renowned for. Sadly, a kidney stone had other ideas, giving me a few days in hospital to sulk about the sad state of affairs.

Fortunately March kept me at home base and the onset of autumn restored my spirits with some productive sessions on the brown trout rivers and trophy rainbow lakes that WildFly has nurtured since the turn of the century.

ABOVE: From leaving a rippling wake while gently motoring up a tree-lined inland waterway, to coral atolls in clear, azure blue seas, creating content for a fishing-focussed television series has Gareth George (below) living the dream... and landing the odd finned critter. OPPOSITE PAGE: From a bucket list Giant Trevally in the tropics of Seychelles (top left), a nice sized yellow on the Orange river (top right), the familiar fly waters of the KwaZulu-Natal midlands (centre) and the convivial festivities of the annual TOPS at SPAR Corporate Challenge at Notties, 2019 was quite a year!

With a new Four Seasons hotel opening, Desroches in the Seychelles was next on the cards and I can honestly say that I didn’t sleep the week before, such was my overwhelming excitement … until we got there! Weather has scuppered many a fishing excursion, but to have nothing but rain for the next four days and a sea that no skipper would attempt to fish in, witnessed the dampened spirit go demented.

Fortunately a brief day’s break in the storm got us onto St Joseph’s and I revelled in the acceleration of the bonefish and wallowed in being able to land the holy grail of the IndoPacific permit. My mojo was back and the wheel really turned in April with an invite to the legendary atolls of Farquhar and Alphonse, with Fly Castaway and the Alphonse Fishing Company respectively.

Fishing is measured by many scales, but in the two decades that I have been filming with a fly, never have I experienced such an incredible salt water fishery. There was scarcely a species that wasn’t ticked off the bucket list, and witnessing the GT’s around the feeding frenzy of birds off Goelette island was as humbling as it gets.

It is worth noting that during the 18 days that these three unbelievable destinations were available to explore, only eight were fishable due to the torrid climatic conditions.

A trip to Mozambique, hosting prize winners, was squeezed in during May, forcing me to polish my guiding skills and getting a fresh appreciation for the marine life off the coast of Bazaruto island.

June/July was the TOPS at SPAR Corporate Challenge, now in its 18th year, and once again set a festivity benchmark that keeps Notties legendary. As host, I don’t fish, but vicariously reliving the fly fishing exploits with every entrant after each day is immensely satisfying, knowing that the trout have thrived despite being in a drought cycle in South Africa.

And it is always the weather gods which have the last say; the August and September winds and unsettling pressure systems destroyed a lot of chances to tour, but we forced a “Kalahari Outventure” down the mighty Orange. Words cannot do that experience justice. Majestic scenery, translucent water teeming with large and small mouth yellows is only surpassed by the lack of digital interference and the unique camaraderie that a rafting adventure embodies.

Early October took us back to my favourite wilderness area on the planet, the lower Zambezi at Bains River Camp … but the wind was relentless. It might have given us respite from the 40 degree heat, but it was enough to give you ingrown hairs.

A trip to IFTD in Colorado, the greatest fishing trade show in the world, followed. It was just a stone’s throw from the Rockies but that, and some time in chalk stream territory in the UK, was not long enough for me to strap on waders or gear up for a few hours of casting a fly in the waters.

Being deprived of meaningful fly time by November, the Koi in the pond started to look appealing … but again thankfully I’m in the trout belt and many know that this is the most underrated lake fishing month of the year. So with a bunch of reprobates I enjoyed the finest weekend of trout fishing that I can recall, ending my year on a complete high.

I can never say that I don’t get the opportunity to fish, but I can safely say that last year we literally bled for those that we landed.

I’ve often wondered how many casts it takes to catch a fish, but compound fractions just aren’t my forte. Fortunately on our fishing journeys it’s the “Royal We” that captures the memories and I’m lucky enough to have Brad, Jeremy and Rhuan to enjoy some unforgettable expeditions with.

When it comes to your fishing year, remember it’s only with good mates that you’ll savour any experience. And, above all, time doesn’t stand still, so don’t let any opportunity go begging.