EDITORIAL

SOUTHERN AFRICAN FLYFISHING: • Available free of charge online at www.issuu.com; • Published bi-monthly; • The official magazine of the Federation of Southern African Flyfishers (FOSAF); • Africa’s original flyfishing magazine

LAYOUT AND PUBLISHER: Southern African Flyfishing Magazine (Pty) Ltd Registration No. 2018/356867/07 www.saflyfishingmag.co.za editor@saflyfishing.co.za

EDITORS: Ian Cox (082 574 3722) Andrew Mather (083 309 0233) Andrew Savides (081 046 9107)

CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE: Terry Babich, Simon Hunter Bunn Peter Brigg, , Ian Cox, Andrew Harrison, Ed Herbst, Warren Koch, Ilan Lax, Andrew Savs, Bridgette Stegen and Gareth Webster.

COPYRIGHT Copyright in the magazine reposes in the Publisher. Articles and photographs are published with the permission of the authors, who retain copyright. The magazine and content may be hyperlinked and downloaded for private use but may not be otherwise hyperlinked or reproduced in part or whole without the written permission of the publishers.

DISCLAIMER While every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the contents of this magazine, the publishers do not accept responsibility for omissions or errors or their consequences. The views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the publishers, the editors or the editorial staff.

Cover photo: Gareth Webster.

It’s high summer in the southern hemisphere. Days are long and the sun is relentless. As I write to you the fearsome heat and Durban humidity has resulted in little pools of water forming on the desk where my arms rest. The air conditioner is doing its best to gain some territory in its seasonal battle against the elements, but it’s taking a hiding.

What Toto didn’t tell you about the rains down in Africa is that they no longer seem to come, as they should, in spring and that when they do they’re pretty sketchy at best. Little pop-up windows in the corner of my screen are allowing me to follow a conversation on the Natal Fly Fishers Club group chat and all I see is warnings of dangerously warm water and cries for rain. Depressingly, this is starting to feel quite familiar and at the advice of Robin Fick I’m starting to consider bass and salt species as my summer targets. Our annual few days at Sterkfontein is also now overdue as not just an alternative to trout, but as a world-class experience in itself.

On the subject of seasonal cycles, my snail-paced commute to work the last two days has reminded me that the new school year has commenced. This fact almost passed me by as yesterday marked the first time in sixteen years that we did not have to drop off our children for their first days of the new academic year. Times like these are bittersweet for a parent, but they are not all bad.

The upside of your children growing up, leaving home and requiring less actual hands-on parenting is that it frees up some time for you to spend more time doing the other things that you love. The downside of it is that it reminds you that you’re getting older and that if you want to tick experiences off your list you can’t sit around waiting for it to happen. In this issue we give even the most jaded angler plenty of options for a refreshed bucket list.

We are once again humbled by the people who have so generously contributed to this issue. They have all written authentically and honestly and show us once again what all flyfishers already know - whether it’s the pond down the street, a tropical atoll or an exotic river on the other side of the earth the experience of flyfishing brings us closer to nature, to those who share the experience with us and to ourselves.

In this issue of the most content rich magazine of its type in the country we bring you a wide cross-section of people, places and experiences. We go to Europe, South America the Indian Ocean Islands and places closer to home. We talk to legends, read books and manhandle some gear. It’s hard to step away from the editing of an edition of this magazine without having spent much of the time leaning back in your chair and dreaming of places, people and fish to add to your bucket list.

The editors of Southern African Flyfishing Magazine wish you everything of the best for 2020. May it be the year where your dreams become your reality.