By David Weaver
I
Driekloof Dam.
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WAS exceptionally lucky to grow up in a fishing family. Every holiday was planned around flyfishing and fishing destinations. Even our mid-winter hunting trip to Kimberley saw us boys casting flies to yellows on the Vaal. The second piece of good fortune was that my father was a birder. We always had the birds shown to us during time spent on the water with him, whether fishing the streams of the Cape, the municipal dam at Dullstroom or casting spoons for tail (yellowtail) from the slopes. We learnt the names and we learnt the signs. I will share these secrets with you in this article and shed some light on how being aware of the behaviour of birds might help you find more fish. Fishing and birding complement one another and each takes you to places where you can do one or the other. The difference between the two is that anglers just go fishing, but as a birder you are always birding. I always take a rod with me when I go on birding holidays and I am always birding when I go fishing. When we went to the Victoria Falls to get the bat hawk, palm thrush and rock pratincole I caught some great feisty tigers in the rapids above the Falls and even got to meet Steve, the local flyfishing dude. On a trip to St Brandon’s I got to see one of my “bucketlist” birds, the fairy tern, while doing battle with bonefish on the flats and endlessly stalking permit. At Popa Falls, on the Kavango River, we ticked brown firefinch, wwamp boubous and the elusive sharp-tailed starling for my Southern African List and caught some great purple largemouths and nembwe. On a trip to the Caprivi and drifting down the Zambezi we got up close and personal with swarms of spectacular carmine beeeaters and watched in awe as African skimmers drew perfect lines on mirrored surfaces. I can link many lifers (the first time one sees a species) with fishing trips; they add colour and song to a good day on the water. Return to contents • 39
