Barbel and the Rubber Hackle crab Ed Herbst
When Alan and Annabelle Hobson visited some outdoor tourism shows in the USA recently to promote their Wild Fly Fishing in the Karoo business they found, somewhat
to their surprise, that the Americans were most fascinated by sight fishing to barbel illustrated in this video clip which was taken fishing on dams in the Karoo and near Somerset East.
Promoting fly fishing in the Karoo – Alan and Annabelle Hobson in the USA Alan says Americans are fascinated by big freshwater predators such as Northern pike and muskies.
hook a barbel of about 10 kg on a beetle pattern in a shallow inlet furrow to the Darlington Dam near the town.
In Europe it is the Welz catfish that fills this role and I enjoyed this article about Neil Patterson fishing big streamers for this predator in the middle of Florence.
Alan has located some superb barbel dams linked to dairy farms near the town.
I was aware of the barbel potential in Somerset East after watching Al Spaeth www.saflyfishingmag.co.za
The milking sheds on these farms have to maintain high standards of hygiene and so they are hosed down each day. 78
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