Editorial - Ian Cox The usual editorial guff and a little more

This is our first edition of the magazine to feature someone on the cover. And there can be no better person for this than Gordon Van Der Spuy. Not only has he written a brilliant book (see my review) but it is also wonderful to acknowledge one of the younger ouens (blokes for the non-RSA people) who have given so much to this passion we call flyfishing.

And one of the wonderful; things about the way we make this magazine happen is that while we are enormously grateful for our advertisers to whom we think give good value, we are also able to promote people and products in what we perceive to be the interests of flyfishing rather than in pursuit of revenue.

I know it may not look like the smartest business model but judging by the terrific readership for the last edition in which we promote South Africa’s flyfishing guides, it seems to work. So, this time we are giving a huge plug to Gordon. Buy his book when it is launched next month.

The other news that is hot off the press is DEFF’s latest attempt to list trout as invasive. It is difficult to understate the extent of this catastrophe. Trout aquaculture and the sale transportation or stocking of live trout will all become criminal offences if this law is not stopped. But the Minister DEFF does not seem to care. Minister Creecy declined to meet a high-level delegation from Aquaculture SA. The DEFF officials who did meet with them said that they are going ahead anyway and are opposing FOSAF’s urgent application. If FOSAF fails on this expect other value chains to be treated the same way. FOSAF cannot be allowed to fail.

But, back to happier topics. This edition has some very good stuff in it. And it is pretty varied too. So, there is one of Andrew Allman’s travelogues for those of us who like destination fishing. The environmental theme is extended with an article of the Marine Protected Areas that were proclaimed last year. Gary Glen Young will blow your mind with his article on what a fly box should look like. There is a great deal of synergy between what Gary says and what Gordon has written in his book. But for those who just like tying flies Peter Brigg gives us another in his heritage flies collection as well as an article on fishing small streams. And then for something completely different we have Ari Serlis writing about flyfishing while disabled. And then Gehard Delport goes for a Macnab in Afrikaans. And much, much more.

Enjoy

Ian