THE TELLER, THE LISTENER CATCHING UP WITH WOLF AVNI "I get to sit like an old yogi under a banyan tree, plotting the lines of latitude and longitude of the human navel. Turns out it is as marvellous or mundane, as inspirational, or as depressing, as fine or as futile as one chooses to experience it." I walked through to the lounge to find my father sitting on the couch holding a copy of Wolf Avni’s first book, A Mean-Mouthed, Hook-Jawed, Bad-News Son-Of-A-Fish on his lap. He was wiping tears of laughter from his eyes. “This guy”, he told me, “is clever. He can really write.” That stayed with me., the fact that we recognised the same thing from the writing - a sense that while it was entertaining it was challenging and, well, clever.
SAFFM: Hi Wolf, I need your help, or at least a little of your time. In every edition of Flyfishing we profile someone involved in the sport. We would really like to include you in this issue. We can meander where it takes us? Wolf Avni: Y o u r c o n t a c t s e t m e reminiscing. When did It start? 1954! It started in 1954. Fuck me! Never thought I’d live to be a million. Sure. Let’s weave another narrative of it. Never read one yet woven tight enough yet to keep the inside in and the outside out. Nothing but the facts. Make ’em up as we go along. Change them to protect our innocence. The teller, the listener. We travel through time in circles. Round and round and round we go.
Wolf has been a part of the South African flyfishing landscape for as long as most of us can remember. Some will know him as a newspaper columnist and others as an angler, host, photographer, writer, ecologist, trout war campaigner or breeder of quality fish. He has a mind and a wit sharper than a Minora blade and doesn’t suffer fools. We are however grateful that he made an exception and suffered this one over a conversation that lasted several days. It left me profoundly touched by his wisdom, intellect and authenticity.
Think we are up for challenge? SAFFM: I do enjoy a challenge, but let’s get one thing out of the way right up front. Have you ever put a rifle round into the bank above a chubby Greek guy who was poaching the Umzimkhulu on what he thought was a quiet weekday?
The South African flyfishing fraternity is richer for Wolf’s participation in it.
www.saflyfishingmag.co.za
Asking for a friend, you understand.
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