Editorial

How time flies...here we are bringing you our fifth edition since taking over the publication from Angler Productions. It has certainly been a learning curve for the three of us. In this edition we bring you another content packed edition. Andrew Savs breaks the ice with his wacky views on "lunch".

Clem Booth takes us on an exotic journey to Patagonia; a place many of us dream of visiting. Clem heads for the Rio Barrancoso, the breeding grounds of Lake Strobel in search of gaint chromers. Armed with his eight foot six weight bamboo wand he recounts the joys of fishing this fantastic resource.

Staying true to our intention to provide to a wider readership by publishing in languages other than English, we have Hennie Viljoen writing about our beloved "Sterkies". Sterkies is a well known destination and is one of the jewels in our Yellowfish fishery. Hennie describes Sterkies as "legendary"...we cannot argue with that! And then we have Mac and his "herinneringe."

Common carp feature as a flyfishing species in a story by Terence Babich. While some see this a species they would rather not catch, they are clearly underrated quarry. Terence gives the reader a good start on how to approach these fish and even goes so far as sharing his secret fly.

In this edition we give two report backs on the Dirt Road Wild Trout Association flyfishing festival held in Rhodes and the successful series of flyfishing clinics held by Daniel Factor of XFA. The catch rates at the Dirt Road festival are increasing in leaps and bounds as the fish recover from the devastating drought over the last few years. If you have fished at the centre of the Universe then best you prepare for the 2020 festival. Daniel Factor ran a series of specialist river clinics which went off very well I"m told. I was down to go but couldn't make it in the end. I'm told that the participants learnt and lot and many are considering selling their beloved shorter rods as they have seen the light with 10ft rods!

The Heritage Flies series by Peter Brigg aka "the doyen of KZN flyfishing" takes us back to our roots and reintroduces us to the Mountain Swallow and perhaps the better remembered Walker's Killer. Also on the flytying front Gordon van der Spuy serve up his "buffet fly" of CDC and Elk hair...a winner on rivers for trout and yellows.

Heading down under Arno Crous shares a small stream in the pristine upper portion of the Murray River. In habitat very like Rhodes he succesfully targets wild trout with bright yellow hoppers.

Our ladies feature in the Woman in Waders regaling tales of their antics. Safety is always a consideration while flyfishing and we introduce a three part series starting with wading safety.

Into the tail end of this edition, we review Duncan Brown new book Wilder Lives, feature, the gen on the Transvaal Fly Tyers Club and the latest news from FOSAF.

EnjoyAndrew Mather