The Mission Fly Fishing Magazine Issue #18

ISSUE 18 NOV | DEC 2019

FREE

THEMISSIONFLYMAG.COM

TIGERS ON FOOT, ORANGE-TYSER, BOB POPOVICS, TROUT IN KENYA, FOOTLOOSE IN FIJI, JUNGLE SPIT BEATS, BEERS & MORE

®

WANT MORE ABSORBENT READING MATERIAL? For the finest stories, profiles, destinations, adventures, gear, beer and more...

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M ISSUE 18 NOV / DEC 2019

CONTENTS Cover: Drifting in the desert, two Kalahari Outventures boats head off in search of yellowfish. Story on page 64

22 HIGH 5s

Born to fish and fast becoming a pro fly guide, Thembane William Tatse only know one way. Up. 28 A PLACE CALLED POSSIBILITY

At Sioma Falls on the Zambezi, Jazz Kuschke and Ewan Naude chase double figure tigers and upper Zambezi yellowfish on foot.

42 THE TRAIL BLAZERS

Following ancient elephant trails deep into the mountains, Kieran Avery loses himself in the trout streams of Kenya.

58 FOOTLOOSE IN FIJI

Fulfilling a childhood dream, Fred Davis and his better half Dan Nortje found great fishing, famous waves and something even more special.

76 POP

The man, the myth, the legend, Bob Popovics sits down with Brent Flack-Davidson to talk flies, fish, roses and pizza.

84 A TALE OF TWO FISHERIES

As a Joburger accustomed to fishing the Vaal, Jeff Tyser knows yellowfish. A trip to the Orange river showed him how pristine a fishery can be.

REGULAR FEATURES 14 Feathers 16 Wish List Fish 18 Beers, Beats & Munchies

100 Salad Bar 110 Lifer 116 Pop Quiz

Rugged Ethan “Ewan” Naude and guide Brett Manton cool their nads in the water below Sioma Falls on the Zambezi.

T U D O R CA R A D O C - DAV I ES

SHOULDA, WOULDA, COULDA EDITOR’S COLUMN

The older I get, the more I realise how many fishing opportunities I have already missed.

Of course, life is a wide and varied ride of experiences and fly fishing is only one part of that, but I cannot get away from new information. The more time I spend in this game, the more it dawns on me just how many potentially brilliant missions I never even gave myself a shot at.

In my early twenties in Germany, I washed dishes and played rugby, (2003 Bundesliga champs...yes, Germans play rugby) when I could have been going after the native browns. From what I have seen of the fish caught by the Fly Fishing Nation crew around Cologne, the size of their fish rivals almost anywhere on earth. Germany!

Who knew?

After living in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania for a year I left to return home to South Africa. Three months later my housemates were the ones who opened up the Tanzanian tigerfish scene in the Selous. Regrets, I’ve had a few, but that cruel twist of fate and timing is paramount.

Then there was the time I went to India with a friend for a month as a 20-something. Sure, we saw the sights, chased girls in Goa, partied hard with all the former IDF soldiers, stared deep into the eyes of the ubiquitous tie-dye alien face artwork of each backpackers’ chill lounge and

10

analysed Manu Chao’s albums over a bhang lassi*. It was great, a time we reminisce over to this day. But, knowing what I now know, that I could have been chasing mahseer, somehow that month of hungover jolling seems like a bit of a waste. A month of mahseer AND hungover jolling…now we’re talking.

In a summer working stint spent with the US version of Men’s Health magazine where my time was divided between Pennsylvania and New York, I rode bikes, drank beer and ate scrapple (don’t ask). Again – friends and memories were made, but I can’t help myself now from looking at how much water I missed. Pennsylvania brookies, stripers along the East Coast, redfish further south...

There’s definitely some revisionist history at play in my brain. Perhaps the hunger to always fish wasn’t there.

The resources and connections definitely weren’t. Still, while I’m not old enough to impart too much wisdom to others, I’m definitely old enough to have learnt a few lessons for myself.

The most important one I have learnt so far and that now I apply all the time?

Always pack a rod. *Not a scared collie dog

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

“I swam across, I jumped across for you, oh what a thing to do, cause you were all yellow.” True or False?

Coldplay’s 2000 hit ‘Yellow’ was written on the Orange river. Photo Matt Gorlei

EDITOR Tudor Caradoc-Davies ART DIRECTOR Brendan Body CONTACT THE MISSION The Mission Fly Fishing Mag (PTY) Ltd 20 Malleson Rd, Mowbray, 7700, Cape Town, South Africa Info@themissionflymag.com www.themissionflymag.com

EDITOR AT LARGE Conrad Botes COPY EDITOR Gillian Caradoc-Davies ADVERTISING SALES tudor@themissionflymag.com

THE MISSION IS PUBLISHED 6 TIMES A YEAR. THE MISSION WILL WELCOME CONTENT AND PHOTOS. WE WILL REVIEW THE CONTRIBUTION AND ASSESS WHETHER OR NOT IT CAN BE USED AS PRINT OR ONLINE CONTENT. THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED IN THIS MAGAZINE ARE NOT NECESSARILY THOSE OF THE MAGAZINE OR ITS OWNERS. THE MISSION IS THE COPYRIGHT OF THE MISSION FLY MAG (PTY) LTD. ANY DUPLICATION OF THIS MAGAZINE, FOR MEDIA OR SALE ACTIVITY, WILL RESULT IN LEGAL ACTION AND BEING TIED TO EWAN NAUDE’S BALLBAG AS SIOMA FALLS CROC-BAIT.

12

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

CONTRIBUTORS #18 Conrad Botes (Undercurrents artwork), Fred Davis, Jono Shales, Alex McLeod, Thembane William Tatse, Travys Owen, Kieran Avery, Jazz Kuschke, Jeff Tyser, Brent Flack-Davison, Henkie Altena.

PHOTOGRAPHERS #18 Jeff Tyser, Fred Davis, Matt Gorlei, Luke Pannell, Paul Cunningham, Bjorn Losper, Brent Flack-Davison, Bob Popovics Archive, Fred Davis, Dan Nortje, Peter McLeod, Jazz Kuschke, Ewan Naude, Conrad Botes, Chad kockott

@THEMISSIONFLYMAG

CAPT. SHANE SMITH

The all new

A whole new level of high performance handcrafted fly rods.

Scott Sector series fly rods are packed with innovative new technologies, and are crafted with the most cutting-edge components to ever grace a fly rod.

To see more of the Sector Series, or learn about our new Carbon Web and Ceracoil, visit scottflyrod.com or your nearest authorized Scott fly shop.

Colorado, USA | 970-249-3180 | scottflyrod.com

FEATHERS T R I P S , T R I C K S , H I G H LY A C A D E M I C D E B AT E S … H E R E ’ S W H AT T H E I N T R E P I D F E AT H E R S A N D F L U O R O C R E W A R E U P T O

THE GREAT DEBATE

(of the last five minutes): Crab flies For Yellowfish Leonard Flemming: “while it’s great that swinging flies like the Alphlexo is proving effective, it’s not like this is new (tell that to Instagram…ed). Several SAFFAs were already using crab patterns for many freshwater species, like tigerfish and yellowfish, in the 90s - there are good examples in the Favoured Flies series.”

Fred Davis: “Len and I have agreed to disagree on crabs and swinging. Although we’re both pretty sure it’s uncool to swing if you have crabs.”

Skinny Pete Coetzee: “Crabs? Pffft. When you catch a largie on a JAM fly, then you’ve arrived.”

Andre van Wyk: “As a renowned guide, I prefer to focus on flies that work all the time.”

HORIZON’S NEW TSS AND TFS RODS:

WHAT WE ARE TESTING:

Scientific Anglers’ new range of Absolute Fluoro, Absolute Clear tippet and leader material: 4x Absolute Fluoro– Jazz Kuschke (aka Jazzhands) on Garden Route troot.

5x Absolute Trout Stealth – Tudor Caradoc-Davies on the resident species of Yellowstone National Park.

12lb Absolute Fluoro – Conrad Botes chasing grunter on the Breede.

20lb Absolute Clear – Fred Davis targeting queenfish in Qatar.

14

Conrad Botes: “I’ve been putting the 7-weight TSS through its paces on the Breede river targeting grunter. So far so good!”

Jazzhands: “After sparring with Zambezi tigers on the Horizon 990-4 TSS, the plan is to put it to proper saltwater use at a few out-of-the-way Garden Route spots over summer. Kob and leeries off the beach. That’s the goal.”

Leonard Flemming: “I’ve been testing the 10-foot 6-weight nymphing on the Orange river and the 1-weight for my Redfin Minnow Grandslam Challenge. I’ve also been testing the Ripple fly box.”

Coming soon to the Test Lab… Airflo Superflo lines in #3, #5 and #7, new sunnies from Smith, fly tying tools from Loon Outdoors, line management systems from Omnispool, a Dakine Waterproof pack and more.

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

WHERE TO NOW, MY CHINA?

Rugged Ethan (aka Ewan Naude) and Jazzhands just got back from Sioma Barotse where they were targeting both tigers as one would expect, but also those lustworthy Upper Zambezi yellows.

- Conrad has taken vows of silence, abstinence and chastity till he gets a 1m plus kob again. Godspeed, good Sir Knight.

- Tudor just attended IFTD in Denver, Colorado via a road trip through Montana. His goals included catching brooks, bows and browns as well as not getting eaten by a bear. He appears to have returned with the last goal ticked.

- Andre: “I don’t have much fishing going on.

Having busted Achilles my lucrative guiding career has been put on hold for the next 6 months. I’ve fixed a tracking device to Len’s car, so I too can try one day catch a Clannie. What that does mean is I’m behind the vice more, tying flies for the bastards who are actually going fishing. The Bucktail obsession continues. Contact me at eatadick@gmail.com for orders.

ON FEATHERS:

The Hardy Fortuna Deconstruction - renowned reel disassembler Peter Coetzee takes apart the best reel he’s ever owned.

FAME

Jim Klug of Yellowdog Fly Fishing Adventures has launched ‘Waypoints, The Podcast Of Adventure Angling,’ and it’s a goodie. As you might expect, he’s interviewed a fair few South Africans, from legendary guide Arno ‘The Milkman’ Matthee, to Devan van der Merwe of Alphonse Fishing Co, Nick Bowles of Ocean Active in Dubai and the duo from African Waters (the artists formerly known as Tourette Fishing), Keith Clover and Rob Scott. yellowdogflyfishing.com/waypoints-podcast

[SHAME]

The high court of Zambia, plus all the politicians, mining magnates and other tosspots undoubtedly getting backhanders for greenlighting mining in the heart of Lower Zambezi National Park. Short-sighted idiocy at its worst. When the environmental fallout occurs, everyone will be sorry.

themissionflymag.com/feathersandfluoro

WISH LIST FISH

TUSK FISH M O R E T O O T H Y A N D C O L O U R F U L T H A N A L O N D O N G AY P R I D E P A R A D E , T U S K F I S H A R E S O M E O F T H E M O S T F L A M B O YA N T F I S H I N T H E S E A . E X M O U T H F LY F I S H I N G ’ S J O N O S H A L E S W E I G H S I N O N H O W T O TA R G E T T H E M .

Ladies, get ‘yo self a man who looks at your butt the way Jono Shales looks at this tusk fish’s tail. Photo Paul Cunningham.

What: Blue bone, black spot tusk fish or ‘Choerodon schoenleinii’ (if you speak Julius Caesar’s tongue). Part of the wrasse family, with a distinct black spot on its back, the tusk fish looks like it’s been charged by neon blue lights. It has a mouth full of protruding ‘tusks’ or teeth, used to destroy crabs, crustaceans, sea urchins, fingers and fly rods. Their feeding technique is not subtle.

They’ll swim straight up to their prey and literally start chewing on it.

Where: Found feeding in the shallows around flat rocky and weedy bottoms, around reefs and coral

16

outcrops all across the top half of Australia, Indonesia and across the Indian Ocean to Mauritius. They love structure and will slowly rummage around between crevices and holes in the reef looking for food.

Extremely territorial, they are very visual and easy to spot in clear water.

How: Carefully and quietly. Their territorial nature means they know their neighbourhood better than you do. They can be caught by wading and stalking them with a 9 or 10-weight and floating line, sight-casting crabs to them as they feed in the shallows.

The cast should present the fly without

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

spooking the fish. The crab needs to be drifted towards the fish and, once he sees it and comes to it, then the slow strip starts. Read that part again - it takes some practice. Do not cast and start stripping immediately as if it were a dumb trevally. You’ll spook it if that happens. You’re fishing a crab, not a fleeing bait fish. Fish it slowly.

They’re not easy and I’ve had more anglers catch permit than blue bone.

Although they’re a 5-star eating fish, we release them all.

Who: Duh. Exmouth Fly Fishing in Australia with Jono Shales (exmouthflyfishing.com.au)

YETI® NOW AVAILABLE IN SOUTH AFRICA

GABON - TROPHY TARPON

SEYCHELLES - ALPHONSE ISLAND

CAPE STREAMS - WILD TROUT

FODDER

BEERS, BEATS & MUNCHIES THE BEER – JUNGLE PARADISE One of the pioneers in the Cape Town bar scene, Banana Jam Café was pushing the idea of craft beer (and a rum selection as long as an orangutan’s arms) long before the rash of hipster bars and micro-breweries you now find across Cape Town. As the OG craft bar, Banana Jam have also branched into brewing with their own upstairs brewery, the Afro-Caribbean Brewing Company.

As expected, they are good.

Their Jungle Paradise IPA just scooped the pot at the South African National Beer Trophy competition, winning both the “Best Hoppy Beer” and “Beer of the Year” awards. Rochelle Dunlop, the award-winning brewer at ACBC (who used to waitress downstairs at Banana Jam) says, “We really love our IPAs; we love the bitterness, the aroma and everything else that comes with it and we just wanted to show that you can make good beer, incredibly simply. Minimal numbers of ingredients, minimal amounts of hops; it was just for us to do the research and figure out when would be the best time to get the most out of the least ingredients.”

Simple it may be, but this beer is not meek. Bold, with fruity tones balanced out by brilliant skanky hops and malt, it’ll have you swingin’ from the trees. acbc.co.za

THE WINE – ALPHABETICAL ROSÉ Yes, real men (and women) drink pink drinks and this rosé from Alphabetical should be on your hit list for the heat of summer. It is made by David Cope (the brains behind wine bar and wine seller, Publik), who says, “To test our theory that rosé doesn’t have to be simple, we threw top quality Cinsault in with Mourvedre, aged it for a year in old barrels and then gave it some more time in the bottle before release.

The result is a light and fresh yet textured and complex wine that, at the same time, happens to be a proper delicious rosé.

We were right! Drink up and celebrate!” publik.co.za

18

THE BEATS – TRAVYS OWEN’S JUNGLE SPIT SELECTION Earlier this year, we spent some time fishing with fashion photographer and film director Travys Owen.

When he’s not shooting for mega brands like Adidas or lipping African poons, Travys is amassing great tunes. For this Gabon-inspired selection, Travys says, “Deep in Gabon camping on a sand spit having one bar of 3G connection these are my go to tunes. Fuck, I love that place!” Enjoy. Instagram: travys_owen 1. Teleported - Okzharp & Manthe Ribane 2. Rapture – Koffee 3. Faces - The Blaze 4. Mkokotelo - Stiff Pap 5. Trip to New York - DJ Lag 6. Time for Us - Nicolas Jaar 7. Do You Feel – Bearcubs 8. Nikes - Frank Ocean 9. Ngud’ (feat. Cassper Nyovest) – Kwesta 10. Janet - M. T. Hadley 11. Sky Walker (feat. Travis Scott) – Miguel 12. Feel Right – WurlD 13. Drumming - DJ Lag 14. Run the Road – Santigold 15. I THINK - Tyler, The Creator 16. Gosh - Jamie xx 17. Bullet from a Gun – Skepta 18. Come Closer (feat. Drake) – Wizkid 19. Feelin’ Sleazy - Fingers Inc. 20. Sea of Dreams (Turbotito Remix) - Baby Alpaca 21. NNNEWWW - Stiff Pap PRESS PLAY

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

MUNCHIES COBB LEMON & GARLIC STUFFED ROAST CHICKEN Trips into the bundu are great, but there comes a time, usually four days in, where braaivleis (or those reconstituted powdered meals) for breakfast, lunch and dinner becomes just a little boring (not to mention the scurvy issue). If you are not going the minimalist camping route, a Cobb (cobbglobal.com) is the kind of genius device that can turn your camp kitchen into a gourmet cave. Simply put, this genius contraption does everything from frying and grilling to smoking, boiling and roasting. Want to braai/grill meat? It does that. Want a stir fry or some scrambled eggs in a pan? Easy game.

How about a pizza? Whole roast chicken? Bread? Yes, yes and yes. Versatile, compact, easy to fire up (using either eco-friendly, long-burning coconut husk Cobble Stones or charcoal briquettes) and easy to clean – it’s the Swiss Army Knife of outdoor cooking. Day 4 dinner – a whole roasted lemon and garlic chicken? Don’t mind if we do.

INGREDIENTS

1 whole chicken 2 whole lemons, quartered 8 cloves garlic crushed Fresh parsley, chopped Fresh thyme, chopped Olive oil Salt and pepper

METHOD

Prepare the Cobb using one Cobble Stone or 10 briquettes. Once the coals are ready, place the Grill Grid and Fenced Roast Rack in place, cover with the Dome and allow to heat for a few minutes. Stuff the chicken with the lemons, garlic, parsley and thyme. Rub the entire chicken with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place the chicken on to the pre-heated Fenced Roast Rack and cover with the Dome. Cook for 90 minutes, turning once after 45 minutes. Once cooked, remove and set aside for about five minutes before carving. Added bonus: you can cook your hard veggies (potatoes etc) in the moat while the chicken is cooking - add them in at the 45 minute mark.

UNDERCURRENTS

THE FALLEN ALEX MCLEOD, OF THE CL AN MCLEOD (AND OMNISPOOL), I N A D V E R T E N T LY R E - E N A C T S C I N E M AT I C WA R S C E N E S W H I L E F LY F I S H I N G F O R TA I M E N I N MONGOLIA Photo Peter McLeod, Artwork: Conrad Botes

I

wasn’t in Vietnam; nothing even like it. It was Mongolia. Outer. I’ve never been anywhere more beautiful to chase fish. The goal was one of those legendary old taimen we’ve all read about, but just being out there was breath taking. The world as we know it could have ended, but right there, we wouldn’t have known a thing about it. The scenery, as you float around every bend is spectacular; the Ger camps just make you happy, but watch out for the Chinggis Khan vodka. The temperature plummets as the sun disappears behind the steep mountains, leaving you huddled around the fire in huge Mongol coats and hats with furry ear flaps. Then, when the sun sneaks back over the cliff the next morning, you can wear just a T-shirt inside your waders.

It was a tough week for taimen. Not much in evidence, just the odd small guy caught and a very occasional something with more promise that would show up. But the fishing for the beautiful lenok and grayling was outstanding, almost worth the trip in its own right. There was one good taimen caught and, by chance, it was me that caught her.

The thing that makes for one of those indelible fishing moments isn’t just the fish, but what happens around the catching of it.

The day before had been balmy, perfect. My brother, Pete, and I awoke the next morning to the sound of light drizzle on the canvas, only to discover that our tents were half buried in snow. After a morning spent with icy fingers tussling with lenok, the sun slowly started to melt the snow on the boats and we headed downriver. By mid-morning it was bright and warm again. Most of the way down a long, slow, crystal pool, Pete said, “What’s that?” and leant on the oars to hold us up. There she was, across and a little upstream, motionless. Tough cast to make without spooking her. She didn’t move when the Gurgler landed, nor when it started to skate. But once it had skittered away some six feet, seemingly ignored, the old fish turned and

20

snaked her way casually along behind it, right across the wide pool till the fly finished its long arc and stopped below me in the front of the raft, and just hung there. I watched her; she watched the waking fly from below. “Shit! What am I supposed to do, now!” I blurted. A few more seconds passed and nothing happened. Palpable tension. Then, as I felt myself just about to lift the fly off (for no explicable reason) and do I don’t know exactly what, I watched the big white mouth open up and we were in.

It’s the whole scene that stays with you, but in this instance there was even more in catching that fish: we nearly missed

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

even seeing her; we might never have known she was there; I nearly pulled the fly away, a split second before she ate it.

I remember the quiet behind me, only a few hushed tones as we worked the fish in. And then, once we had the fish to hand, the tension broke. There was a sudden release of nerves, followed by general euphoria. Then, when it was all over, as I wandered a little way downstream feeling happier than I thought I deserved to be, I kind of went to pieces. The fact that I was stumbling over the rocks should have woken me up, but my head was still back in that pool with that beautiful, broad, old fish. I may have been muttering to myself as I waded out and lost my footing.

It was comical: each attempt to recover just accelerated my undoing and while the episode played out I was aware that, to anyone watching, I must have looked like an aquatic Willem Dafoe as I staggered tragically, Platoonlike, before finally collapsing forward in the water. I was laughing when I finally fell and ended up drenched, spluttering and coughing up the river. When they found me a little later sitting by the boats in nothing but my waders , sipping a beer in the warm afternoon sun and they asked me why I was dressed like a Redneck, I didn’t say anything; just a small smile by way of reply. What an arse. I’ll never forget it.

HIGH FIVES

THEMBANE WILLIAM TATSE F R O M T H E VA A L T O T H E O R A N G E , R I V E R G U I D E T H E M B A N E W I L L I A M TAT S E O F K A L A H A R I O U T V E N T U R E S O N LY C A M E T O F LY F I S H I N G R E C E N T LY , B U T P R A C T I C E M A K E S P E R F E C T A N D H I S O F F I C E I S T H E O R A N G E R I V E R S O H E ’ S FA S T B E C O M I N G A SMALLMOUTH AND LARGEMOUTH YELLOWFISH PRO.

5 best things about where you guide?

1. The team, aka Die Ous, aka The A-TEAM. We’re the best. It is really a blessing to have been chosen to work with them.

2. The desert environment I work in, including Tutwa Lodge, Augrabies National Park and the many special places around it.

3. It’s mind blowing, the huge number of wildlife species we have. The birds can`t stop singing and there are wild animals everywhere. Even the cows are wild. You hardly ever see people on the river except your fellow fly fishermen.

4. The natural environment around the Orange River is so awesome, especially the section we are paddling in. The river is calm here with nice, clean flows.

5. The fishing is truly insane. When you see the numbers of fish we have, it will blow your mind.

5 of the most difficult guiding experience so far?

1. Strong headwinds that no man can control, especially with the amount of equipment that we carry on our boats, it has turned us from Beasts into the Legends we are.

2. Equipment failure (EISH).

3. Preparing lunch for hungry anglers only to find that they are more hungry for fishing and will only pitch 30 minutes after lunch. For the record, I make the best river food ever.

4. Having to explain, every 25 minutes, how far the next camp is or how long they still need to paddle.

Sometimes I laugh, because I know how cool it is being on the river.

5. Losing stuff.

5 things you would take up if you weren`t always fly fishing?

1. Whitewater river rafting. It has brought me so many experiences, introduced me to the importance of wild life on the rivers and also got me hooked on fly fishing.

2. Mountain biking. It started out as a source of transport for going to work at Dimalachite River Lodge back when I worked on the Vaal River, but now it has become a hobby.

3. Having a vegetable garden and selling what I grow.

4. Hiking.

5. Probably drinking too much beer.

5 common mistakes that clients make?

1. Trying to cast very far even when

they don’t have to. It can drain a lot of your energy and still often results in no fish landed.

2. Underestimating the guide’s ability to put them into a fish.

3. Noticing a very nice spot or hole in a rapid and then wading straight to that spot and spooking the fish, instead of fishing the water leading up to that spot.

4. Not bringing enough water.

5. Not bringing a wading stick. Some folks are not physically fit enough to wade without a stick so they end up falling in the river and causing chaos in the water.

5 shower thoughts that have occurred to you while fly fishing?

1. Yellowfish are so cool and unique, but why are they so stupid? They will eat my ugly streamer that, on the face of it, does not even compare to a sexy, smooth and sizzling Woolly Bugger.

2. What are fish thinking when they take the very same fly that hooked that very first fish in the very same spot?

3. What’s running through a fish’s mind when they’re been shown to a camera (I’m sure they like it)?

4. Why don’t carp like my flies?! I’ve

“THE FISHING IS TRULY INSANE. WHEN YOU SEE THE NUMBERS OF FISH WE HAVE, IT WILL BLOW YOUR MIND.” W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

23

The weapons in Terminator 7: ‘Ek kom terug,’ are truly next level. Photos Matt Gorlei

seen big carp! I wanna hook them.

5. What would happen if I decided to take a nap at our lunch spot and woke up just before 6pm with everyone waiting for me to start cooking dinner?

5 indispensable flies for freshwater?

1. Wooly Bugger.

2. Caddis (natural green and mustard).

3. Squirmies.

4. Black and Olive Nosediver.

5. MSPs.

gave me my first fishing tackle and introduced me to Eendekuil on the Vaal River.

4. Fishing with my Kalahari Outventures crew has always been a privilege.

5. KwaZulu-Natal’s finest – guide Trevor Sithole.

5 bucket list fly fishing destination globally?

1. Cameroon (Nile perch).

2. Iran (mangar).

3. Gabon (tarpon).

4. Seychelles (bonefish and GTs).

5. Tanzania (tigerfish).

5 Favorite fly fishing destinations across SA? 1. Vaal River. I have not fished it enough because my time on it has been about rafting.

2. Lesotho for the trout fishing and besides, from what I have seen on social media and other broadcasting channels, that place looks so siiick.

3. Sterkies (Sterkfontein Dam).

4. Anywhere in Kwa-Zulu Natal.

5. My homewaters, the Orange River.

5 people you would like guide or fish with?

1. My son. He’s always asking me when we are going to fish together.

He really seems to like water sports and activities.

2. Philip Nel. We met on the Orange River with Kalahari Outventures and from there we became buddies so it would be great to fish with him.

3. Stefan Aucamp. He’s the dude who

5 things you are loving now?

1. Getting myself physically and mentally fit for next year’s marathons.

I’ve always loved jogging in the mornings before heading to the river.

I hope my training works out.

2. Spending enough time with my family for as long as I can.

3. Growing vegetables has become a thing, but only when I’m off season back home.

26

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

4. The place I’m currently renting at Augrabies, because it gives me enough space to be by myself. I also want to turn it into a tying office.

5. Cooking on an open fire and preparing healthy salads.

5 fishing connected items you don’t leave home without before making a mission?

1. My WildfFly sun hat.

2. A pair of flexible short pants.

3. My Waves sun glasses.

4. Vaseline to soothe irritating, dry skin.

5. A pair of light shoes, but I’m mostly kaalvoet (barefoot) anyways.

5 Bands you listen to while on a road trip?

1. Afro pop and jazz, both local and international. The likes of the late Oliver Mtukudzi.

2. Young South African Bongeziwe Mabandla.

3. FKJ tunes for some good vibes.

4. Justin Timberlake.

5. The legendary Bob Marley.

Your last five casts were to?

Sight fishing for smallmouth yellowfish on the Orange River.

Instagram: @thembanetatse

Distributed by Xplorer Fly fishing - www.xplorerflyfishing.co.za Email: jandi@netactive.co.za or call 031-564-7368 for your closest dealer.

ZAMBIA

A PLACE CALLED

POSSIBILITY

FORGET (ALMOST) EVERYTHING YOU KNOW ABOUT F LY - F I S H I N G F O R Z A M B E Z I T I G E R S , T H E Y S A I D .

PA C K Y O U R T R A I L S H O E S , T H E Y S A I D . O N A R E C E N T M I S S I O N T O W E S T E R N Z A M B I A , E WA N N A U D E A N D J A Z Z K U S C H K E D I D J U S T T H AT, A N D B U R N E D M O R E THAN HOLES IN THE SOLES OF THEIR FEET AND GROOVES INTO THEIR STRIPPING FINGERS. Words: Jazz Kuschke Photos: Jazz Kuschke and Ewan Naude

SOLACE, AS BIG-FISH LOSSES GO, WAS STILL SOME WAY OFF.

“Faaawrk!”

Ewan Naude stood dejected on the rocky point. The first stripping guide on his 9-weight nested in a mess of running line.

“F@rrck. Mann!”

His choice offerings to the vittatus (tigerfish) that had just gnarled his 25lb fluoro leader were only just audible over the voice of the Zambezi as it gushed down a big rapid.

Some way out the sink tip, and what remained of his savaged seven-foot leader, dangled in the tail-out. A hundred-odd metres further up the Ngonye Falls, (the second largest in the mighty river and also called Sioma), cascaded down, marking the transition point of the Zambezi’s flow through Kalahari sand floodplain to basalt dyke.

Frustrated, but far from disheartened Ewan painted a picture not unlike that of a fly-half who’d just missed a kick to goal from the corner. A kick which would’ve put the result out of question and added just that extra touch of flair to an already man-of-the-match performance.

“That, that was a monster,” offered Wildman Fishing Co. guide Brett Manton, after a suitable silence and with all the gusto of one who’s seen plenty and spent much of his quarter-century life in the bush.

Brett sat perched, unmoving like a baboon sentry, higher up on the boulder strewn slope. He’d positioned himself way up on one of the magmatic rocks with his landing net so he could reach either Ewan or me should we hook up.

“Did you see it?” Ewan directed the question as much at the moist upper Zambezi valley universe as at Brett.

“Exploded like a gun shot,” he added, eyeing the fistsized tangle of running line which had shot out of his line basket and ultimately lead to his leader exploding.

“Saw it turn,” Brett confirmed. “Dorsal-to-tail was at least this big,” he gestured well over a foot between his hands, indicating what would, no doubt, have been a fish weighing double figures (in pounds).

“F#@k,” I added in solidarity. “I heard the line parting before I saw anything.”

Solace, as big-fish losses go, was still some way off. But as I watched Ewan reel up and trudge back to where his pack lay among the rocks to retackle, I consoled myself with the fact that at least by then, after an action-packed morning in this otherworldly environment, the demons had been exorcised.

31

“WE’D HIKED, SCRAMBLED AND DRAGGED OUR WAY UP, OVER AND ACROSS SAND DUNES, STEEP, BASALT-BOULDER STREWN VALLEYS AND SHADY LITTLE WOODLAND SECTIONS THAT SCREAMED ‘MAMBA’” Tigers had made brief appearances in the previous few days, but it was in the cool pre-dawn hours of that day when they’d kept me from sleep. Those haunting ‘what-ifs’ and ‘what-the-f#cks’ ghosted around in my skull as I lay eyes-wide under the towering canopy of Western Zambian stars outside the tent window. I was being haunted by tigers. A lack of them.

Aside from those few smaller fish on the first two days of the trip (mainly from the casting deck of Wildman’s tinnie boat and rock hopping the points here-and-there), we’d gone blank for a few sessions… not for a lack of trying though. We’d left the boat behind and gone onshore.

We’d hiked, scrambled and dragged our way up, over and across sand dunes, steep, basalt, boulder- strewn valleys and shady little woodland sections that screamed ‘mamba.’ We’d traded casting turns on the points and along edges. Gone shot-for-shot on wind-blown back-casts, side flicks and clousers knocked dumbbell-less in the rocks.

We’d snagged up too many times to count and started running low on wire trace material.

The idea was to make a concerted fly-fishing effort on foot in the side cataracts and rapids around the extended Sioma Falls area. It’s an area populated by otters and fish eagles. A place where netting is fortunately still under control thanks to Peace Parks, with local subsistence fishing by hand and line. It’s not a new destination by any stretch, but fly and spin-fishing efforts have been few and very far between over the years. It’s a place full of potential. Potential for a double-figure vittatus. And Upper Zambezi yellow fish.

A picture had started to emerge over our landbased sessions and we’d tied different flies and adjusted leader setups and approaches derived from conventional middle- and lower-Zambezi wisdom.

But still, meals back at Wildman’s spectacular tented fly camp (which is run from the base at Mutemwa Lodge some 70kms downriver) on a flat dune high above the river, were becoming awkward. The boys in the ‘boozing group’ with us – which included a fellow who now re-

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

33

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

35

“IN THE TENT NEXT TO ME, EWAN WAS ARGUING WITH SOMEONE IN HIS SLEEP, A SIGN THAT HE TOO WASN’T SLEEPING AS PEACEFULLY AS ONE REALLY SHOULD IN SUCH A MAGICAL PLACE.”

sides in Watford because London couldn’t handle him; a guy who single-handedly contributes 25% to Botswana’s annual per capita beer consumption; and another who once had his scalp stitched up by a vet because the doctors turned him away after a binge weekend – were notching up double figure tigers on nearly every trawland-beer session.

Trawling big, deep and heavy has been the norm from Mutemwa up to Sioma for years. The steep gorges and deep, fast channels where we were made this an altogether different Zambezi to the reed-fringed, sandbarred characteristics so well documented (and fished) on the middle and lower reaches. My brain went into over-drive with confidence pep-talks, consolatory reasoning and those bloody what-ifs.

‘You cannot compare trawling to fly-fishing. They’re covering loads of water daily and that method has been well proven in this area. Your fish will come.’

It was a futile attempt at fighting the demons. I lay sleepless in a place where the only things you should be hearing at night are the song of the fiery-necked-nightjar and the whisper of the distant falls.

38

‘What if we end up heading back to the real world with a few fish only – mostly rats at that – on the cards?’

‘Maybe they’re seeing your knottable wire. Perhaps you should go back to old-school copper and haywire twists.’

In the tent next to me, Ewan was arguing with someone in his sleep, a sign that he too wasn’t sleeping as peacefully as one really should in such a magical place.

‘You should’ve come armed with a different box to the one you tied for lower Zam.’ Relentless it was.

“Okay, now it’s on.” Ewan, snapped me from my reverie.

Once more he was tackled up and already rock-hopping back to access the same tail-out, bursting to add to his already man-of-the-match tally from the morning’s session.

You see, something clicked that day. Aside from applying the learnings from the previous days’ toil, conditions were perfect and the fish, the fish were willing. That combo drop-kicked the demons way out of the stadium. Wiretrace colour didn’t matter and the flies worked.

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

Fly angler Jazz Kushke hijacked the latest Asics campaign ‘Ons soek ‘n tiger.’

Amazing what that does for confidence and how the intent returns. Ewan made good early right below the falls on a good ‘ole blurple clouser and I fooled a feisty one on a fire-tiger coloured effort.

If the river there has a character of its own, so do the fish.

The tigers of the middle and lower Zambezi box hard, but they are very much Olympic fighters (dare I say it), fighting well by the rules. These upper Zambezi fish are street brawlers. If they can’t savage your knottable wire trace with their teeth they’ll gun for the rocks and use the rapids and current to their advantage. A seven-pounder will eas-

ily box in the 10-pound weight class. They have no regard for the rules, as Ewan had just seen.

I watched Ewan loop tight and shouldered my pack, gathered up my rods to edge past and make my way down to the next rapid, ever more in search of that 10-plus pounder.

Only then – once that double figure fish was on the books for either of us – could we focus on the yellows, in this place called possibility.

Jazz and Ewan were guests of Wildman Fishing Co. (wildmanfishingco.com)

40

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

TIGERS ON FOOT

SHOP THE MISSION Scientific Anglers ECOastal Stripping basket “I desperately wanted to hate it, because it looks so different to what I am used to, but couldn’t find fault. Lightweight.

Packable. Durable. Absolutely indispensable on the rocky, landbased stuff. Full review soon,” says Jazz. scientificanglers. com, frontierflyfishing.co.za Horizon 990-4 TSS “Fast line pick-up and easy delivery in tight situations with a minimum of false casting.

Solid butt muscle (™ trademark description from now on - ed) to handle the tiger’s vicious takes,” says Jazz. frontierflyfishing.co.za Rio Powerflex Wire Bite Tippet (Knottable Wire) “Absolute game changer, next time I will pack three rolls and no other wire,” says Ewan. rioproducts.com, upstreamflyfishing.co.za Scientific Anglers Custom Tip “I cut mine down to around 360 grain to begin with (from the 460 in which it comes) and then took another bit off on the river just to dial it in. Great line to get you down deep and into the zone fast in the rapids and running water,” says Ewan. scientificanglers. com, upstreamflyfishing.co.za Rio Tiger Line “Short, heavy head makes for shooting-head style casting. Ideal for the rapids,” says Jazz. rioproducts.com, xplorerflyfishing.co.za Orvis Gloves “Great for sun protection and line burn.

Lightweight and breathable meant wearing them all day wasn’t a problem,” says Jazz. orvis.com, flyfishing.co.za

K E N YA N T R O U T

THE TRAIL BLAZERS HA I R- RA I S I NG D ES CENTS AN D LUNG-BUSTING ASCEN TS T HRO U G H I M P E N ETRABLE MONTANE FORESTS, ELE P H A NTS TO S HARE THE TRAILS WITH AN D RIVERS BOAST I NG CHU NKY RAIN BOWS AND BROWN S. FOR KI ER AN AVERY T H IS IS ALL PART AN D PARCEL OF A M I SS I O N FLY FI SHING IN KEN YA’S HIGHL AN DS.

Story & Photos Kieran Avery

I

t was the end of an intense and satisfying day of fishing on one of our favourite stretches of river – it had been a successful one with a mixed bag of brownies and rainbows of up to 2.5lbs weight.

This is one of the few stretches of river we have found where the two species live side by side.

We were on our way back down to the river to find the only path which allows access both in and out to this stretch. I was leading. We were walking beside the river and pushing through thick bush when a slight movement ahead suddenly caught my eye; I stopped and peered through the bush to where a big brown moving mass obscured my view.

No more than 20 feet away a big bull elephant was walking rapidly towards us.

Elephants have acutely sharp hearing but their eyesight isn’t great – in this case the sound of the nearby rapids drowned out the noise we were making and so neither the elephant nor we knew that the other was there. We quickly back-tracked and he stopped where we had just been standing as he picked up our scent – a shake of his head and a loud trumpet and he was off, crashing through the bush past us. The elephants in these forests are not too fond of people – years of crop raiding and the inevitable human retaliation have built a deep, easily-sparked anger within them, making a chance encounter pretty dangerous.

There is nothing quite like a close encounter with a wild elephant while on foot to get the adrenaline rushing!

I grew up in Kenya, where I was introduced to fly fishing at a young age by my old man and my equally keen brother.

Our dad was never that enthusiastic but somehow he raised two ultra-keen fly fishermen. Throughout our schooldays in Kenya, most of our weekends were spent in the highlands, exploring new rivers in search of those elusive trout weighing over a pound. A pounder was, and still is, a very respectable trophy from a Kenyan river.

Kenya is blessed with massively diverse aquatic landscapes: warm ocean waters; the world’s largest desert lake; glacial tarns and the streams which flow from them. So for a fisherman or general outdoor enthusiast the country is a playground waiting to be explored. Kenya might not jump to mind when one thinks about destinations for trout fishing but, if you have time, energy and a willingness to endure some discomfort off the beaten track, then Kenya has some unbeatable trout fishing to offer.

Each Kenyan trout river is unique. The rivers are either full (literally) of 6-ounce fish which don’t ever grow bigger (either as a result of lack of food or perhaps in-breeding), or the river seems empty until someone hooks a brute. In the latter scenario very few fish are caught in a day, but all of them are big. Over time we have tended to focus our

44

“MOST OF OUR WEEKENDS WERE SPENT IN THE HIGHLANDS, EXPLORING NEW RIVERS IN SEARCH OF THOSE ELUSIVE TROUT.”

efforts on those rivers with fewer but bigger fish and this has meant targeting the larger, more remote rivers. What that means is we have searched more and more off the beaten track and with that has come some of the most incredible exploration one could ask for. Our efforts have been rewarded as we have started to find rivers holding some real trophies of 3lbs plus.

Trout are not indigenous to Kenyan waters. Major Ewart Grogan first introduced them in 1905 during the British colonial era. One can only imagine what ecological damage was caused by their introduction, but they are now one of the primary predators in most Kenyan highland rivers and lakes. Their ability to adapt and colonise waters is impressive and as a result trout have managed to reach many of the more untouched areas of the highlands.

That’s not good for the ecosystem, but means an exciting opportunity for fly fishing enthusiasts and you needn’t feel guilty keeping the occasional one for the pot.

The Kenyan highlands I refer to are the Aberdare Mountain Range and Mount Kenya, Africa’s second highest peak.

Both of these highland areas are protected national parks and both are situated within 30 kilometres of the equator.

Their altitude ranges from 7,000 to 17,000 feet and trout can be found at all levels. The Aberdare range features rivers whereas Mt Kenya has rivers, lakes and tarns that

46

hold a mix of brown and rainbow trout. It is quite something to experience glaciers and snowfall while standing in the “tropics.”

The highlands are special not just because of their trout fishing, but also because they are so wild and remote. One forgets the number of times we have had close encounters with large, dangerous African mammals like Cape buffalo and elephant. Sometimes they have been so close that the only way to avoid contact was to leap off a cliff into the river or to scramble up the nearest tree. These are not situations to joke about but, weirdly, it is encounters like these that add to the draw of trout fishing there. On an average day in the forest we will see troops of black and white colobus monkeys, duikers, birds unique to

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

these highlands, clawless otters, butterflies of all kinds, all manner of small game and numerous fresh spoor of leopard, buffalo and elephant. And then on other more memorable occasions we see wildlife VERY close up when we bump in to them at close quarters, each unaware of the other’s presence until the last moment. Things can get a little hairy when this happens and, thankfully, to date we haven’t had any major injuries as a result.

Our grandfathers and fathers’ generations fished the same rivers we do today. Growing up in Kenya we heard about the “good old days”. Some of these “old timers” are still around and one is sure to get a rush of excitement when sharing a whisky with one of them and picking their brains for memories of “forgotten secrets.” In those days they

would focus on fishing the lower altitudes, slower moving, deep stretches outside of the forest where the rivers enter the crop- growing lands. Back then the local fishing “fundis” (experts) hadn’t yet figured out the value of trout as a relatively simple and cheap source of protein and so there was minimal “poaching” of trout using bamboo sticks and worms. As a result the trout would regularly grow to 7 plus pounds in these slow moving pools and many this size were caught by colonial fly fishermen. A number of these trophies are still hanging in the original fly fishers clubs and lodgings scattered across the country. These days those big trout struggle to survive as the local fundis have learned how easy it is to fill a sack for the market. As a result, we are pushed to search further upstream where poachers don’t reach.

“ONE FORGETS THE NUMBER OF TIMES WE HAVE HAD CLOSE ENCOUNTERS WITH LARGE, DANGEROUS AFRICAN MAMMALS”

I now live on the northern foot slopes of Mt Kenya which has allowed for intensified exploration. Scanning Google Maps has become an addiction as I search the valleys for spots which might hold fish and ways to access those spots. The river valleys on Mt Kenya are not to be messed with or underestimated – they are huge. What looks like a simple walk into a river always ends up being a near vertical descent covered in stinging nettles of the worst variety and tree ferns with horrendous thorn-covered trunks. Once you make it down, driven by the excitement of a new stretch of river, you remember that in a few hours you will have to climb back out. So to make things easier what we look for are characteristic, ancient elephant trails.

The elephants’ knowledge and movement across these valleys over millennia have exposed the few access routes that do exist. Criss-crossing the forest, the ability of these four tonne plus beasts to ascend and descend these valleys still amazes me. Very often you will see where an elephant has slid non-stop well over 50 metres down one of these near vertical slopes seemingly out of control. Even I, with two legs plus hands to help, get nervous when following some of their tracks. One wonders if they actually feel fear.

One of our friends stumbled across an elephant carcass with his tusks still present, at the bottom of the valley. Perhaps he was undone by one of these out of control slides. To find an old elephant carcass with ivory still present today, is highly unusual and really shows how off the beaten path these areas are. A recently used elephant trail makes our lives much easier. However, we always try to have a minimum of two or, ideally, three people along on these missions, just in case we have to carry someone out.

It is hard to explain the excitement of exploring a new river. As you get nearer you begin to hear the rapids and immediately the conversation about the expected state of the river begins. Is it in flood? Is there enough water? Will there be pools to fish? Will we be able to walk up the river valley? Then as you catch your first glimpse of the water everyone is anxious to assess the colour. These rivers are affected by snowfall on the peaks, rainfall and, importantly, wildlife activity (especially elephants) upstream. Even on a dry day a herd of elephants can turn the water chocolate and unfishable. This can be pretty disappointing after all that effort but, thankfully, it normally clears over a few hours. Once you make it to the river (sometimes after a few hours of route finding) the true potential is revealed and excitement levels are bursting.

Some discussions about fishing never change and never get old. As we start to set up our rods one of the predictable first questions will be: “So what flies are you guys going to use today?” You find that everyone out here has their favourite flies, from home-tied “specialities” to bog-standard classics but the reality is that on most of these Kenyan rivers, as long as you fish deep enough then the most important thing is that the fly is a dark colour – it’s as simple as that.

50

Fly fishing is a fast changing sport with so many different techniques available to suit everyone and one can try any number of them on Kenyan rivers. If you fish with one of the “old boys” he will inevitably use a sinking line and streamer retrieved from the head of the pool up the current. He will they probably catch less than 20% of what one would catch nymphing the same stretch but, to give it some credit, the biggest fish are often caught using the “old boys” method and you do keep dry and warm standing at the water’s edge.

I have had the most success with a mix between Tenkara and Czech nymphing. I use as long a rod as possible, one that can still be manoeuvred through the bush growing along the rivers, and then two big heavy nymphs bounced along the bottom of the runs using a French leader or bugging braid so that any bite can be felt. Those of us that have adopted this method take a lot of criticism as the “purists” claim it is no different to using a weight and worm but, to

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

“SOMETIMES THEY HAVE BEEN SO CLOSE THAT THE ONLY WAY TO AVOID CONTACT WAS TO LEAP OFF A CLIFF INTO THE RIVER OR TO SCRAMBLE UP THE NEAREST TREE.”

52

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

“WE WILL NEVER COME CLOSE TO FISHING EVERY SPOT THERE IS AND THAT WILL ALWAYS LEAVE US SEARCHING AND WONDERING ABOUT WHAT COULD BE WAITING FOR US. “ my mind a fly is a fly and if I’m ever going to land a 5lb plus trout out of a Kenyan river (my mission), then I want to give myself the best chance.

The best stretches of river are those with deep runs and fallen trees or other cover for the trout to hide in. The water is often gin clear and so how you fish the runs is critical. It’s far from easy fishing and has taken many years for us to figure it out and we still have days where we blank. Most of these rivers are complicated by overhanging branches and cliffs (typically the worst over the best runs!) and this is where I have found that the long rod really helps. These fish are really spooky so you have to keep out of sight. The long rod allows you to lean out over crossing currents and let the fly sink to the bottom at the head of the run. It’s interesting how you can fish the same run ten times but until you get the drift just right – matching the current and getting the fly down deep – you will feel nothing. But as soon as you get it right – just that small attention to detail – you will get the bite! We have found that rainbows fight better than brownies in these rivers and tend to be more aggressive too. Our biggest fish to date have all been rainbows.

Then there are the lakes. Personally, I would always choose a river over a lake. If I can fish 20 completely new and unique runs in a day, all of which challenge me, then why would I choose to thrash a still body of water? However, the lakes and tarns of Mt Kenya do hold a lot of attraction because of their immense beauty alone. They really have to be seen to be appreciated. They also hold the biggest trout in Kenya with recent catches of up to 10lbs. Many of these lakes are not attached to any flowing water so the rainbows slowly die off and need re-stocking. This has to be done using helicopters as walking trout in to the lakes would be one hell of an effort. What the lakes really need is a consistent source of food for the trout – but that would mean introducing another eco-system changing species!

The best thing about trout fishing in the Kenyan highlands is the vastness of the territory. We will never come close to fishing every spot there is and that will always leave us searching and wondering about what could be waiting for us.

Is there that one hidden valley somewhere out there which holds a river trout up to 10lbs? I am sure there is and that means we will just have to keep exploring until we find it.

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

57

D ES T I N AT I O N

FOOTLOOSE

IN FIJI FULFILLING A CHILDHOOD DREAM TO VISIT FIJI, F R E D D AV I S A N D H I S G I R L F R I E N D D A N I E L L E N O R TJ E F I S H E D , S U R F E D A N D L O S T T H E M S E LV E S I N THE ISLAND LIFE Photos: Fred Davis, Danielle Nortje, Chad kockott

S

houlders slumped, I stared down the spaghetti line that, moments ago, was connected to a GT. I was done now. A little frustrated, but not nearly enough to shout and curse, I slowly turned away from the ledge and picked my way along the rock bottom of the coral flat. Far away I saw a trigger tail silhouetted in the glare of the late afternoon sun.

The emerald green islands in the distance framed the oil slick water that washed around our little sand cay; just like a cliched postcard. But it was easy to console myself that my girlfriend Dan and I were, in fact. living the postcard dream. The only footprints on that spot of sand were ours, and they’d be gone with the tide!

As a youngster, I had a Fijian surf poster on my bedroom wall. I would stare at it endlessly; the white lines of waves separating the shallow reef blues from the cobalt of the deep open ocean. In the foreground was Tavarua; home to the famous left-hand surf break known as Restaurants. I had dreamed of getting there, but Fiji and the rest of the Pacific had always been an ocean too far away. Until now.

After a year in the planning, we had arrived in a country filled with friendly folk who treat everybody like family and live by the simple rhythms of island time. “Fiji time” and a smile was often the only explanation for any timerelated mishap, inquiry or suggestion. If you’re happy to roll with the flow of the laid-back tropical attitude, you’re going to be just fine in Fiji. I arrived heavy with fly rods, surfboards, diving gear, home-tied flies and an extremely excited girlfriend. Little did she know that I had some big things planned.

After a night in Nadi (pronounced Nandee), it was off to the airport for the hop across to Taveuni. The ‘Garden Island’ really lives up to its name with its luscious green forests and beautiful plant life. Taveuni is divided down the middle by the 0 degree line of longitude. You can literally stand in Today and Tomorrow (even if the international date line actually swings out to the East a bit) which can be a bit of a mind-boggler!

It was here where we were meeting Chad Kockott, an old friend and spin-fish aficionado. He has found himself a Fijian slice of paradise tucked away on an outer-lying island called Yacata. It is here that he is growing his dream in the form of a fishing lodge he calls Amanzi-Wai. You may have seen some Ocean Souldiers advertisements popping up here and there. That is him. The idea of this trip was to test the fly fishing potential of the island waters.

There had been mixed reports about the fly fishing in Fiji and out at Yacata. They varied from “not worth it at all” to the far too eager “permit smashing flies at the camp”.

Some of the intel about the island, which Chad shares with

60

a village of about 100 people, seemed too good to be true. The waters are also shared with guests and residents of the neighbouring island which is home to a very highend lodge. From experience I know how local villages, shared access and spin fishing can impact on a fishery… from a fly fishing perspective anyway. We set off to find out.

Before we could reach Yacata, we had to endure a 30 mile crossing of open ocean. Chad is in the early stages of developing his piece of heaven and hasn’t yet got a boat big enough to make a comfortable trip in rough seas.

On a flat beautiful day, the 23ft centre-console Islander will clear the 30 miles in a couple of hours. But not so much on a broken South-East sea with a serious wind chop.

We arrived, quite literally battered and bruised. Dan

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

“Now remember, the first rule of Snorkel Club is.....

deserves a medal for the way she handled those four hours of back-jarring drops and endless saltwater in her face, especially when the fact dawned on her that there was no hot water in camp!

But we had arrived and the lagoon looked fishy. The narrow cracks in the reef through which we passed from ocean to lagoon lifted from inky blue nothingness to white sand shallows peppered with coral heads. I was immediately up on the casting deck, stretching cramped legs and straining salty eyes hoping to see a dark shadow disappearing in front of the boat. While no fish showed themselves I did manage to tear my eyes away from the water long enough to take in the splendour of the islands of the atoll. It really is beautiful and nothing screams “fish” like empty white beaches on a tropical island.

“Bula, welcome home!” is the standard greeting you get from the locals anywhere in Fiji. And they believe it; there’s nowhere better in the world, so this is home. There’s also a stoic sticking-to-tradition that make for interesting experiences. The Kava ceremony is well known. It’s a bad tasting, (think water poured through dirty sand), drink made from the roots and stem of the Kava plant. Sitting in a circle around the ‘grog’ bowl, everyone gets involved.

There is a lot of clapping, singing, and shouting of “Bula” and “Mathe”! This potion is drunk from a polished coconut shell and passed back and forth between the circle of people and the man in the middle who is hosting the ceremony. Getting it down is easy enough if you don’t breathe through your nose. Your mouth then goes numb and you feel very relaxed. Despite the taste, it ensures a good night’s sleep.

“I TRIED TO MIX UP MY APPROACHES AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. I STARTED SEEING FISH. FOLLOWS HERE, A BUST THERE OR A TAIL ON THAT SHALLOW PATCH.”

From snorkeling in blue waters to catching bluefin trevally, Fiji has it all.

On the smaller and less commercial islands like Yacata, a ceremony called Sevu-Sevu is held for new visitors to the island with the chief of the village. This is an introduction and permission-granting custom where one is then allowed to make use of the island, its waters and reef systems. Without this permission, we could be asked to leave at any time.

sandy beaches towards us, the sun at a perfect angle to our right. An easy cast, followed by that slow count to three and then two strips followed by an explosion! Of course, it was the rat of the pack that snuck in and a lovely bluefin was brought to hand long after the two bigger fish had disappeared. It felt so good to be waist deep in the warm wash of tropical waters watching the fish swim off.

Almost all land in Fiji is community owned, run locally by a chief and overseen, on the whole, by the Fijian Government. Chad stumbled upon the island by chance in 2015. He fell in love and started the slow process of negotiating a slice for himself. After two and a half years of Kava Ceremonies, Mataquali (Fijian landowners) meetings and a whole lot of patience, he was eventually awarded a 99-year lease for a slither of land on the north side of Yacata known as Daku. Since 2017 Chad has been building his camp by hand, cutting planks from locally felled trees, sourcing labour and driving the nails in that hold down his new home. It’s a big undertaking and there is still a lot of work to be done, but Chad is growing a dream and dreams don’t come true overnight. And when he’s not lugging heavy logs through the forest, he’s taking advantage of the great popping fishery on his doorstep.

The Waterfalls is an area that is going to become legendary in fly fishing circles. It’s not unique, but most certainly it is very special. It’s basically a coral dam wall that funnels water towards the beach, forming a series of cascades and mini waterfalls. What I witnessed here is something that will stay with me for a very long time. The odd GT will hang, trout-like, in the bubble lines left by the pouring water. I missed two fish there and both times I was left bewildered. Neither fish ate like a GT should. No white water explosion. No crashing up against the rocks. No chase down leaving fingers numb and knees knocking.

Nope, these two just sipped my 8/0 SF baitfish like it was a lazy Sunday at the Sushi Bar.

With very little fly fishing having been done on the island, there was a lot of walking and scouting to be done. Our first wander up the beach, towards an area known as The Waterfalls, set us up for one of those picture perfect sightfishing moments. Three dark shapes were cruising up the

Exploring a place that has seen very few fly rods is a bit daunting. The questions like will there be fish, how well or poorly does it fish, on which tide and what fly should I use, are always there. I tried to mix up my approaches as much as possible. I started seeing fish. Follows here, a bust there or a tail on that shallow patch. The daily incessant wind and cotton candy clouds did nothing to help and I didn’t have much to show for the first five days.

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

65

“I’M SURE, AMANZI-WAI WILL BECOME THE VISION THAT CHAD HAS FOR IT. BUT UNTIL THEN, IT IS THE PERFECT ROUGH AND TOUGH FISHING TRIP DESTINATION.”

Opposite Page: In Fiji, the plebs are allowed to lay hands on the emperors

The camp is still very much a work in progress and not the perfect spot for my big plan which was to drop a knee on a deserted beach. However, what we lacked in hot showers and daily serviced rooms was made up for by the beautiful beaches and untouched nature of this stunning island. The camp is not luxurious, but the views are worldclass. In time, I’m sure, Amanzi-Wai will become the vision that Chad has for it. But until then, it is the perfect rough and tough fishing trip destination. Chad is a host supremo and, when we weren’t chasing shadows, we barbequed on deserted islands, swam in lagoons that might see 50 people in a busy year and soaked up the sun on empty beaches.

Nokotolo, a series of three small islands with acres of broken rocky flats, was for me the place to return to. Thanks to constant wind and rough seas, we unfortunately only made the seven mile crossing once. It was here that Chad hooked and landed a monster GT in knee deep water. I saw a good fish there on the full tide but managed to fluff a cast that was straight into the wind. We barbequed a bluefin trevally wrapped in coconut leaves, drank warm beer and stared back at the curious boobies nesting in the Noni trees behind us. There will be big GTs caught here.

68

Another very special island is known as Vata Vara.

From a distance it looks very much like a top hat and, on arrival, you imagine yourself in a castaway story. Once in the shelter of the lagoon, we did our best to fool the massive triggerfish that were cruising the coral ledges.

But triggers in deep water without a push pole are always very tough to hook and, in the end we settled for all the usual dwellers of a tropic reef system. It’s worth noting that we did see a shoal of 30 odd Permit feeding which, sadly, heard the boat before we reached casting distance.

The importance of a silent approach was highlighted in this moment. With a more manoeuvrable boat that can be poled, the deep sand flats of this island’s waters hold great potential.

A lot of our time was spent at the Waterfalls. We camped out with the pink flamingos, built bonfires, picked up the plastic that floats in on each tide, read books, and pretended that the castaway life was for us. I chased tails and Dan soaked up the sun. She also caught a few fish.

The bluefin are loose here. I spent hours sighting goodsized fish in knee deep water. Targeting them as they ride the surge on to the reef is a favourite approach of mine.

I lost many decent fish during this time.

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

C‘Dont’t go chasing waterfalls, chase the GT’s and the blufein at the base of them’C

In the evenings I’d walk from the camp along the flats and pick off tailing brassy trevally with the 8 weight. The odd bigger fish really bent my light rod and made for an exciting fight. I’d also spook plenty of fish along the way. Unfortunately, Chad does share the island with a village, and with this comes overfishing and a huge lack of knowledge on conservation tactics. The locals fish at night and with spears. They keep any and all fish caught. The closer to the village you get, the spookier the fish became.

There aren’t many places left that are truly untouched, but Yacata is pretty close.

We explored the corners of the island and hiked up to lost caves filled with the bones of forgotten warriors and rotten war canoes. We met the villagers and shared a Lovu with Chad’s neighbour, Eddie, and his family. Lovu is a traditional cooking method where food is wrapped in banana leaves and cooked in an underground oven with hot stones and burning coconut husks. It is a long, slow, full-afternoon process. But hey, Fiji time!

I didn’t catch the fish I had hoped for on or around Yacata; I feel like I’d just started to work things out when we had to leave. We were happy to have made the mission and we fell in love with the tranquillity of this island. Chad has found a place to pour his passion into and to call home. It is so great to see a friend in his happy place and living out his dreams.

Our trip was not yet over and after a much more manageable crossing back to Taveuni, we were flying off on a small plane to Western Fiji in the hope of finding the waves of my teenage dreams.

Famous in the surfing world, the Malolo Barrier Reef is home to legendary surf spots such as Desperations, Restaurants and Cloudbreak. We were staying at a friend’s spot on Malolo Island. This turned out to be a 5-bedroom private residence in a 6-star resort, just for the two of us! And we were lucky enough to have use of their boat for our week’s stay. Pure luxury! This was definitely the time to set my plan in motion.

All research had indicated that the reef, although still in great condition coral-wise, was mostly fishedout. I had, in my head, already packed up the rods and was more focussed on surfing and relaxing. But of course, the rods are never truly packed away. We had some fun success spinning with light sticks between surf sessions. There were plenty of smaller trevally and other reef dwellers that made for bent rods and much laughter. I didn’t fail to notice that we also got smoked by big fish a few times right next to the reef; this was contrary to what was expected and I suddenly found myself wondering about what I might find in the endless shallows.

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

71

“WE CAMPED OUT WITH THE PINK FLAMINGOS, BUILT BONFIRES, PICKED UP THE PLASTIC THAT FLOATS IN ON EACH TIDE, READ BOOKS, AND PRETENDED THAT THE CASTAWAY LIFE WAS FOR US.”

It was by luck that a solution for my ongoing search for the perfect “picnic” spot was found. The fact that it would give me a chance to walk some flats was a bonus. We had cruised several miles up the reef edge looking for a place to go snorkelling when we stumbled upon a small sand cay. We could see that it would sink away with the push of every tide. Immediately a day was planned. It didn’t take much to convince Dan that we should head back on the low tide the following day with the flamingos, chilled champagne, backgammon and, of course, a cheeky fly rod. A plan was being hatched.

“I just saw a huge fin! Or a tail! I’m not sure but it’s there!” exclaimed Dan, pointing out over the mirror of water that lay over the flats. I wondered if this was a tactic to throw me off my winning streak of backgammon - she knows me well and telling me a fish was tailing out there most certainly would distract me. But she wasn’t lying! About 100m away, I spied a big bow wave moving slowly between the old coral rubble, with the odd tantalising glimpse of the dorsal fin. In the distance I counted another three good-sized fish breaking the surface.

Barefoot, we grabbed the 8-weight and the camera and stalked off. By now the big fish had moved off and I got distracted by the antics of a Picasso triggerfish that attacked my Crazy Charlie. The reef was indeed alive. And then I saw it again, a swirl in the distance, a cast and a half away. A few minutes later my #8 was bent double and I was scrambling along, still barefoot across the reef trying to protect the 20lb tippet (difficult when there’s 80 odd meters of backing out the reel already).

After the moose of a longnose emperor was photographed, we headed back to our little cay. There I was, feeling like a boy, a little nervous, on a beach surrounded by ocean and with this incredible girl who is happy to adventure with me in any environment. I had managed to keep a small loop of platinum hidden from her for the past month.

Whoever the gods of deception are, they had been playing on my team. Waist-deep in turquoise water, surrounded by coloured corals and blue skies, I asked Dan the Big question. After much laughter and tears, I understood that she had, in fact, said Yes! The champagne was popped and the tailing fish forgotten.

The last days blurred as our trip came to a far too hasty end. Our last day started with a surf at Cloudbreak before heading to the flats for one last wade. I hadn’t even anchored when Dan spotted a GT on small reef shark. We watched it disappear into the lagoon. I fished my way along the reef while Dan soaked up the last rays of holiday sun on the deck of the boat. I finished the day with an explosion of angry GT that left me staring down that spaghetti line. I headed back to the boat, satisfied and strangely ready for real life.

Of course, it wouldn’t be long before we’d be planning our next adventure and yearning again for the freedom of the tropics. But, for now, we were heading home and I had, quite literally, safely landed my best ever catch.

For more on Amanzi-Wai, check out oceansouldiers.com

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

75

POP PROFILE

FORGET THE CRAPPY TV SERIES – IF YOU FLY FISH IN THE SALT YOU PROBABLY OWE THE INNOVATION THAT CAME OUT OF THE JERSEY SHORE AND MORE SPECIFICALLY, BOB POPOVICS, A DEBT OF GRATITUDE. BECAUSE, ALONG WITH OTHER SALTY LUMINARIES LIKE LEFTY KREH, BOB CLOUSER AND FLIP PALLOT, FEW HAVE HAD SUCH AN IMPACT ON SALTWATER FLY FISHING AND FLY TYING AS HE HAS. BRENT FLACK-DAVISON SAT DOWN WITH HIM AT SHADY REST HIS RESTAURANT IN BAYVILLE, NEW JERSEY TO CHAT FISHING, PTSD AND FLY TYING, SURF CANDIES, HOLLOW FLEYES, ROSES AND PIZZA. Interview Brent Flack- Davison Photos Brent Flack- Davison and Bob Popovics archive

Bob, how long have you been running the restaurant?

Shady Rest has been in the family 53 years. As a kid, my father had a tavern in the city, in Trenton New Jersey and, as a young boy I was making pizzas there, making dough by hand in a galvanised bucket. Then he sold the bar and we moved down here to Bayville, New Jersey. He was trying to retire, but he built a little pizza parlour. I worked here right out of high school. When I went into the Marine Corps, it was the only time that I wasn‘t here. I did a tour of Vietnam, came back, worked with him again and bought it from him in 1978. It was just a pizza parlour. I got a liquor licence in 1984, or ’85. We’re the smallest restaurant on the block, but we still compete well. We have the main restaurant, the outside seating and my raw bar, where I shuck my clams and oysters. And then of course, there’s my rose garden. It’s our 53rd year.

What’s your favourite rose?

I would say probably the Climbing Himalayan Musk – the big one on the restaurant sign. It’s just a big grower and it only blooms once in huge clusters of tiny roses. They freshen the air like you can’t believe. It’s like fresh air is supposed to be.

How did you get into fly fishing?

When I came back from Vietnam, a friend of mine came over to see me. He brought his fishing buddy, Butch Colvin, who brought his fishing rod. Butch’s father’s was Cap Colvin, who was quite instrumental in the formation of salt water fly fishing in this country. Cap had a tackle store in Seaside Park where I live, only a block from my house now. We got together to fish for weakfish off Long Beach Island. We were conventional fishing off the boat, doing very well, when all of a sudden a school of blue fish (elf or shad, ed) came by on the surface, and these guys

scurried into the little cabin and they started taking their rods down and I saw them rigging up this long thick white line. I said, “What are you doing?” They wanted to fly fish for the blue fish.

I’d always wanted to do that, so the next day they came and picked me up and took me over to Seaside and I got my first lesson from Cap Colvin on how to cast a fly line, in front of his shop. Butch Colvin was my best friend for many years, and he was really the one who introduced me to saltwater fly fishing. Then I met a guy, Richie King, who I had featured in my latest book, Fleye Design, and he was very helpful. I actually fished more with him than I did with Butch. Butch had commitments and Richie always had the time. So that’s how I got started. It was 1970.

When did you get into fly tying?

I didn’t start tying flies until about 1971. In that first season I would just borrow flies or get them from somebody. I can still remember trying to find somebody that I could buy from – it was almost impossible. One day I get a knock on the door. Usually with Butch I told him to just walk in the house because I knew he was coming. So I go to the door to let him in, and he’s standing there with a flat cardboard box that holds a 6-pack of beer. I knew what it was for, because it was my birthday. It had a vice, some bucktail, a bobbin, scissors. I really loved it. Once I find something I like, I get deeper into it. Fly tying captivated me. I was totally engulfed by it. I’d fished all my life and fly fishing is only one part of it. But all fishing has something in common. You have to identify the bait, you have to know them, observe them, watch them. Then you imitate them.

At that time, fly fishing was just another way of fishing.

It wasn’t how I learned to fish. You learned to fish from fishing. I can still remember the first time I tried to cast,

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

77

“ONCE I FIND SOMETHING I LIKE, I GET DEEPER INTO IT. FLY TYING CAPTIVATED ME. I WAS TOTALLY ENGULFED BY IT.” it felt like I had the bottom of a telephone pole. You know how awkward it is. It was way strange. But I remember that instance didn’t last long. Once I got it right, I just loved that sensation of feeling that tension against the tip. It’s like hitting a tennis ball or a raquetball, in the sweet spot of the racquet, every time. That gratification was there in a fly cast. When you do it well, every cast that you make, either going backward or forward, it’s the same sensation, instant gratification. It was really something I very much enjoyed.

What were you trying to achieve with the surf candy?

I was tired of running after fish, of bullshit flies and I wanted to catch more. I would be fishing in the surf because I don’t have 4-wheel drive. I’ve got my waders on and here comes a school of blue fish. Then there’s chaos, something wrong.

I bring in my line, the fly is a mess, the thread is all gone.

Meanwhile the fish just keep going all the way down the beach. By the time I re-rig I have to run after them. I’m thinking, ‘I’m tired, this is bullshit’. I came back and was sitting having a talk with the guy at the tackle store, and I told him, “Hey listen, it’s a pain in the arse you know”, and

78

he said, “Well, that’s fly fishing for blue fish”. And I said, ”I don’t know man, there’s got to be a better way, there’s got to be something better that can last”. It was then that I happened to have some epoxy on my table, because when we used to make my poppers, we used to use epoxy glue to set the hook inside the cork. Mark Sosin made a fly with epoxy called the Blockbuster, which was a series tie and the shank was nothing but thread covered with either varnish or epoxy. I liked that. I was looking in Ken Bays’ book. I thought if I put epoxy from the eye of the hook all the way back to the bend, it was not bad. That’s the way I left it.

Wavy bucktail, epoxy, no eyes, no paint, nothing, and they worked. Then I thought, ‘Take it back a little further and it will stop any fouling’. So I took it back about an eighth of an inch past the bend off the hook. Now I had the perfect fly. Nobody liked it because it was uglier than hell, but I caught blue fish after blue fish after blue fish. That’s how the surf candy came about. It was designed for durability, but then it evolved into where, now with the foils, it has a more realistic look. Once they started to look better, guys started to use them, but the beginning ones were so ugly.

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

Still, they caught fish. A buddy fished one. He came to me and said, “You know you’ve got a winner here. I’ve just got 30 fish on that”.

Where did the name come from?

My father always liked sour balls, multi-flavoured, multicoloured, hard candy in balls. They were clear, or semiclear in different colours. I’d put the epoxy on, there’d be a yellow one, there’d be a green one and it just reminded me of the candy balls of my father.

You are really known for a lot innovation in fly tying.

What has enabled you to be so innovative with fly fishing?

You know how they do the Project Healing Waters (projecthealingwaters.org) stuff for veterans with PTSD? It really helps them. If you look at my timing, I came back from Vietnam and I was home for just a month before those guys showed up and got me started going over to Cap Colvin. It’s only natural that once you get the fly rod and you learn how to tie flies, you enjoy it. Well, that’s what they did for me. There was no title for it, there was no organisation, but it really helped me.

I would stay up all night long and tie through the night. I would lay down in bed because, rather than try to get all the thoughts out of my mind, I would just relish the time.

With my mind thinking about different flies and all that, there was a creativity in there, a problem solving idea that there’s got to be a better way to do things. That creativity would probably never have surfaced if it wasn’t for the problem-solving challenge in something as trivial and as harmless as fly fishing. Thoughts would come and there was no way I could go to sleep. I would wake up with ideas and go and try something on the vice. There was a comfort, I guess, in tying flies and trying to figure out things. It was simple, I didn’t have to go outside, I didn’t have to exert myself. I could just sit down and try things.

Once those doors opened, it was non-stop.

How did the hollow fleye idea come about?

It’s a technique not a particular design, which gives you the bulk, but no weight. The incredible movement comes from the sparseness. All the tips move on bucktail. The body, the length of the bucktail doesn’t move. The tips move. So the more tips I can expose in the make- up of the fly, gives it more activity in the water. It came about when my artist buddy, Kenny Abrahams, said, “You gotta do something with this bucktail Deceiver. I really like this fly, but you’ve got to take it to another level.” Kenny is quite a fly tier, but he’s that artistic kind. I’m more the “let’s go, we gotta go fish” kind. After he said that, I was driving back from a show in Boston, all by myself, and I’m thinking, ‘What would happen if I tied the bucktail in backwards, just like those umbrella lures they use up in Montauk where they jig?’ I thought, ‘If I can get it back there, I have to get the thread in front of it, because I need the thread to push

80

it back.’ In a sense, what you’re doing with a hollow fleye, is that you tie it in the opposite direction than we’re so used to. It’s tied down and when you come back with the thread in front you pull everything back with the thread up.

That material is now 90° to the hook shank. You control it right from there, go as far down as you want to go, create taper, add different lengths and then, holy shit, it looks wow! By the time I got home from Boston I was as tired as could be. I went straight upstairs to my tying room with the idea in my head and, using the material that I had from the show, sat down, tied one, went “Ooh!” and went to sleep. Came down the next morning and I made it again.

That’s how it started. The first ones that I did, didn’t look much different to the bucktail Deceiver but they had just a little more openness to them. Then I started to say, “Let’s open them all up.” And then boom, boom, boom, oh my God. Now all these guys with their musky and GT flies they are all using them.

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

Bob Popovics doing what he does best, catching East Coast striped bass in the surf.

A fish’s worst nightmare - the fours fly anglers of the Apocalypse, Bob Clouser, Flip Pallot, Lefty Kreh and Bob Popovics.

“I HAVE NEVER CHARGED ANYONE TO LEARN HOW TO CAST A FLY, MAKE A FLY OR FISH A FLY. SOMEBODY GAVE IT TO YOU AND GAVE IT TO ME, SO YOU GIVE IT TO SOMEONE. YOU PASS IT ON” What’s your favourite fish to fish for?

Big bluefish – 15lbs or more, those giants. The runs are a little bit longer, but they do more of them, and they’re just strong. To me, big blue fish, 15lbs to 20lbs are the most exciting because it’s brute force. You almost get it in a few times and then he’s like, “Screw you, I’m not coming in.

We’re going to fight, we’re going to have it out right now, you and me.” I love to eat the small ones, no bigger than 4lbs. You get them, bleed them as soon as you can, fillet them and bake them in butter and lemon, paprika, salt and pepper. That’s all you need to do.

What advice do you have for fly tiers?

Observe. Be an observer. When you’re on the water, you observe everything, but as a fly tier, you watch the bait. You have to know your bait. Watch it, watch it in the water. Watch it swim without being threatened and then watch it while it’s escaping…being preyed on. Does it have a different colour? Where does it go? Most baits fly to the surface, but something like sand eels, they do things a little different. Look where they live. A lot of times

you may think ‘Well, I’m an experienced tier.’ But even if you’re good and experienced, there’s no guarantee you will get it right. The first couple of attempts are not going to be right. There is a learning curve to every time you do something new. So if you’re doing a new pattern, give yourself a little chance to fail, two or three times.

Would you agree, when it comes to fly fishing and fly tying knowledge, that sharing is caring?

In all my career I have never charged anyone to learn how to cast a fly, make a fly or fish a fly. I would charge an owner of a tackle store or a show, but if you came in late and wanted to learn, I’d show you the same for free right outside. Or just come see me on the beach sometime, we’ll get together right away. I’ve taught more guys how to fly cast here in our parking lot than I can remember. It’s a social thing. For the life of me I can’t charge somebody for any of that. It’s handed down. Somebody gave it to you and gave it to me, so you give it to someone.

You pass it on, and I’ve always liked that. That’s a big deal to me.

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

83

THE ORANGE RIVER

A TALE OF TWO FISHERIES SEASONED MIDDLE VAAL FLYRODDER, JEFF TYSER RECENTLY MISSIONED INTO THE PRISTINE WILDERNESS OF THE KALAHARI LARGEMOUTH YELLOWFISH CONSERVANCY. COMPARISONS WERE INEVITABLE. Photos: Jeff Tyser & Matt Gorlei

T

he Vaal River – specifically from The Barrage down into the Vredefort Dome – holds a mighty special place in my heart. For over twenty years its rapids, riffles, glides and pools have served both as classroom and sanctuary. A place to learn, experiment and refine. A place to find peace, when peace was needed. As diverse, nuanced, humbling and rewarding a fishery as any I’ve set wading boot in, the privilege of calling this my home water is never lost on me.

Of all the species available to flyrodders on the Vaal, none is more frustratingly enigmatic than Barbus Kimberleyensis – the largemouth yellowfish. Hunting these fish on the Highveld, for the most part, is an exercise in masochism.

Ego and expectation are unwelcome accomplices on a largie (largemouth yellowfish) mission. I have found a morbid fatalism – the acceptance that I most likely won’t touch a fish – to be far more useful. Each encounter is celebrated, the rarity of the moment amplified by the briefest connection to an animal that has endured more than was ever expected of it, simply to be there. It is no secret that the habitat of these magnificent creatures is under siege, and nowhere is this more true than on the middle Vaal.

Acid mine drainage, chemical spills and the influx of raw sewage have long been enemies of this precious ecosystem.

But when the cogs of an ailing Emfulweni Municipality sewage infrastructure finally ground to a halt in the winter of 2018, disgorging an estimated 1.5 million litres of untreated sewage into the river every day, the Vaal faced its darkest hour. Mudfish were the most visible casualties, perishing in their thousands; their rotting corpses only compounding matters. The stench, at times, was unbearable. The river – ‘my river!’ – was suffocating, and there seemed very little I could do about it. Despair triggered literal depression (try explaining that to your therapist) and a year-long hiatus from the waters to which I owed so much.

Thankfully, due in no small part to the unrelenting pressure of a passionate core of individuals and non-profit organisations, the grim state of the Vaal was escalated all the way to Government. The army was sent in (though one couldn’t help but wonder if military engineers were the best people for the job) and the worst affected sewage plants received some much-overdue TLC. The improvements have been noticeable, yet there’s an uneasy sense that this is an ecosystem forever teetering on the brink.

At the risk of being completely derailed by the Vaal and its plethora of challenges, I should change tack here. This is actually a story about a float trip through The Kalahari Largemouth Yellowfish Conservancy, some 800km to the west. A little context is required, however, because at almost every turn I found comparisons between these two fisheries near-impossible to avoid.

87

“THIS FISH IS MAJESTIC IN EVERY WAY – FIN PERFECT, BROAD SHOULDERS, NOT A SINGLE SCALE OUT OF PLACE ON ITS BUTTER-YELLOW FLANKS.”

26

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

I have always been drawn to wilderness, places that – through enforcement and/or sheer inaccessibility – afford one a glimpse of a time before mankind and his manhandling ways. These places are rare and, as such, of immense value. A float through The Kalahari Largemouth Yellowfish Conservancy – a 40km stretch of the Orange River, somewhere between Augrabies Falls and the Onseepkans border post – is a wilderness experience in every sense. Bar a solitary farm house (which I would consider donating a part of my anatomy to own), human encroachment is conspicuous in its absolute absence.

Kalahari Outventures has exclusive rafting rights to this stretch of water, ensuring that, for four glorious days, your solitary bliss remains intact.

Day one, and I’m about to lay out the first cast of the trip, excited as fuck. Luke Pannell, guiding his maiden season on the Orange, has positioned us on the edge of a deep, swift-flowing run, facing downstream. I’m eyeing out the big eddy swirling languidly below us. There’s gotta be one in there. “Not there. Fire this first one straight across the river”, chirps Luke. Off to the right, where he wants me to drop my fly, the bulk of the Orange River charges downstream, seemingly intent on getting to the Atlantic by dinnertime. After years of reading largie water on the Vaal, I find this a curious suggestion. However, not wanting to come across as too much of a doos from the get-go, I oblige. “Dump line! Dump line,” yells Luke, the second the fly hits the water. I awkwardly shake some

coils of slack from the rod tip, not entirely sure if this is what he means. The barking continues from the back of the raft. “Okay that’s enough, get in contact with your fly.” I start a slow, erratic retrieve. “No! Let it swing! No retrieve.” In less than 20 seconds, Luke has managed to yank me unceremoniously from my comfort zone. Should be an interesting four days.

My first fish in The Kalahari Largemouth Yellowfish Conservancy is not a largemouth yellowfish. In the depths of a long, rock-lined pool, something mauls my Muishond with enough purpose to simply hook itself.

Feels heavy, so I take it slow. It’s always a relief to get on the board early but, really, I just want to prove to Luke that I have a vague idea of what I’m doing. A few minutes later, the heaviest smallmouth that I have seen in years is safely in the net. We pull up to the side for some pictures and a closer look. This fish is majestic in every way – fin perfect, broad shoulders, not a single scale out of place on its butter-yellow flanks. A smallmouth of this size, in this condition, could comfortably be the fish of a season on the Vaal. Over the next few days, I learn that it’s quite possible to encounter several a day around these parts. Frankly, the quality of the smallmouth fishing blows my mind. The fact that they seem only too happy to crush a streamer means that you can effectively fish for both Barbus species at the same time, which of course means maximising your time spent targeting that trophy Kimberleyensis.

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

89

78

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

“I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN DRAWN TO WILDERNESS, PLACES THAT – THROUGH ENFORCEMENT AND/ OR SHEER INACCESSIBILITY – AFFORD ONE A GLIMPSE OF A TIME BEFORE MANKIND AND HIS MANHANDLING WAYS.”

Happiness comes in various shapes and forms. For Jeff Tyser it looks like largemouth (left) and smallmouth yellowfish (above).

In this corner of the Kalahari, a man called Phiri West is fast becoming a fly angler, tyer and guide of some repute. I pick West’s brains around the fireplace, specifically on flydesign. Swinging flies on this stretch of the Orange seems to be all about getting down deep, as fast as possible.

Form follows function, with slim profiles and oversized lead eyes being the order of the day. I pore over my box of chunky Muishonds, a pattern I place a lavish amount of blind faith in, back on the Vaal. Suddenly, they don’t look so deadly. Before heading out the next day, I make sure that a handful of my heaviest Muishonds receive a good shearing.

Day two sees me pairing up with guide, Matt Gorlei.

After Luke’s crash course, I’m confident that I’ve got this swinging shit down. But right off the bat, perhaps noticing the swagger with which I hop onto his boat, Matt suggests yet another foreign technique. We stow away the 7-weight

and type 5 sink-tip, and rig up a floater on the 6. Matt talks me through the mechanics of what one might call ‘streamer nymphing.’ Essentially this entails drifting a heavily weighted streamer down and across through a likely lie, throwing multiple mends to avoid drag. The leader’s greased-up butt section acts as a strike indicator, with takes generally only registering as the faintest aberration.

Matt evidently has us anchored above some unseen honey hole, because my nymphed streamer is eliciting an enquiry on practically every drift. They’re eating on the drop, or right at the end of the drift, just as the first bit of drag sets in. With all that fly line snaking downstream, the main challenge here seems to be getting a solid stripset in. We put two small largies in the net and miss about twelve more. I honestly can’t be bothered by this abysmal conversion rate. It is an hour of the most absorbing fishing I have experienced in a long time, and a technique that I will certainly be experimenting with back on the Vaal.

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

95

“NEITHER OF US PARTICULARLY WANTS TO SAY GOODBYE TO THIS PLACE. ENOUGH HAS HAPPENED OVER THE PREVIOUS FOUR DAYS TO LEAVE US YEARNING FOR MORE.”

The lively start is a harbinger for a red-letter day. By the time we slide into camp, just after sunset, we’re ten largies to the good – a simply astounding return, in my books at least. Matt’s grinning ear-to-ear. A little earlier, I had passed him my rod after landing two fish in three casts. I felt rather guilty having all the fun, to be honest. Besides, it was the perfect time for a beer. It took Matt all of two throws to go tight on the fish of the trip – a quite magnificent largie that easily went 15lbs. That made it three in five from one lie.

So much for The Fish of a Thousand Casts.

The water clarity improves steadily on our journey downstream. By day four, it’s as if we are drifting through an aquarium. Mudfish by the hundreds mooch lazily in almost every glide (the last time I saw them in these numbers, they were floating belly up). Clouds of baitfish take shelter in the shallows. It’s only mid-August, but already fair numbers of smallmouth are moving into faster water. I suspect the guides are tiring of my constant comparisons to the Vaal, but as the true health of the river reveals itself, the disparities become more apparent than ever. I’m caught in a paradox – overwhelmed by the pristine ecosystem before me, weighed-down by the reality that places like this have become so rare.

The sight of an SUV on the river bank snaps me from my introspection. We’ve reached the take-out. All too soon, this adventure is over. Fellow Highveld flyrodder, Paulo, seems to be experiencing similar emotions to my own.

Neither of us particularly wants to say goodbye to this place. Enough has happened over the previous four days to leave us yearning for more. Jealousy creeps in as I think about the Kalahari Outventures guides, who still have three months of this shit ahead of them.

Once back on the Highveld, I know exactly what needs to be done. Some perspective is urgently required. The first chance I get, I head to a favourite largie haunt on the middle Vaal. Unsurprisingly, I blank hard. It feels wonderfully comforting. The natural order has been restored.

99

L AT ES T R E L E A S ES

SALAD BAR SCIENTIFIC ANGLERS – ECOCOASTAL STRIPPING BASKET

Soft, flexible, biodegradable…?!? It looks odd to those of us accustomed to hard plastic stripping baskets stolen from Checkers or Pick ‘n Pay, but when Frontier Fly Fishing sent us one of Scientific Anglers’ new Sondergaard ECOastal stripping baskets to test, we were game. After one mission to catch tigers on foot (page 24), here’s our reviewer Jazz Kuschke’s initial take (long-term review on themissionflymag.com/feathersandfluoro) coming out in December.

“If I told you it was love at first sight, I’d be lying. In fact, I was highly skeptical when I first saw the design and initial images. I was expecting to find some holes in its functionality and construction on my trip to the Zambezi. Now, the only holes are those from thorns of the Acacia trees and magma rocks of Western Zambia. If you’re like me – and function precedes fashion – these holes are scars of pride. The flexible, straw-like spikes kept the notoriously sticky running line of sink tip shooting heads from tangling too much and stayed in the basket, even with the open fronted-design. It proved ideal for the long, hot hikes in and tricky rocky sections we fished. In addition, the super lightweight foam was super comfortable for the long days and, when jettisoned while fighting a fish, floats beautifully.” scientificanglers.com, frontierflyfishing.com

“IT PROVED IDEAL FOR THE LONG, HOT HIKES IN AND TRICKY ROCKY SECTIONS WE FISHED.” 100

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

COSTA – DIEGO

Dun dun duuuuu! Costa’s new Diego sport performance sunglasses are their most advanced to date. With an innovative vented spring hinge system to maximize airflow and enhance fit, plus sweat management channels that wick away moisture, there’s less steamage and more comfort, which means more fishing. Paired with colourenhancing polarized 580 lenses that provide 100% UV protection, you can’t go wrong. costadelmar.com

ORVIS – WADER SOCKS

Outside of fly fishing, the glorification of a sock can be seen as the acceptance of middle-age tedium, but within what we do, a good wader sock deserves to be put on a pedestal, much like Borat’s ‘Sleeve of Wizard’.

Sporting Merino wool, nylon, and a wee bit of Spandex in a knitted rib construction with a padded sole, this sock is duper durable and comfortable. Available in a dark gray Heavyweight and light gray Midweight (20% lighter than its heavier brother). orvis.com, flyfishing.co.za

FNF – JELLY AND WORM

New and improved from FNF, their latest jelly has more movement, more translucence, twice the fluorescence, brighter colours (from Marshmallow Pink to Orange Sunburst and Biscuit) and with the same micro core is still easy to use. From blobs to carp fritzs, you can’t go wrong. Given a voice via the eternal lyrics of Destiny’s Child, ‘Bootylicious,’ “B I don’t think you’re ready for this jelly, I don’t think you’re ready for this jelly B.” fnflyfishing.co.uk, flyfishing.co.za

SMITH – CARAVAN MAG

Hate having to choose an in-betweener kind of lense that caters for most water conditions? Best you check out the new Smith Caravan MAG, which comes with interchangeable MAG™ technology. Depending on the conditions, using the quick-release magnet system you can swop out your choice of bright sun lenses for the low light ChromaPop™ Ignitor lenses that are included with each pair of MAGs. Throw in their hydrophilic megol temples, auto-lock hinges and nosepad for a snug fit and you have shades for pretty much any fishing application. smithoptics.com

L AT ES T R E L E A S ES

SALAD BAR YETI – TUNDRA 75 & ROADIE 20

There have been imitators and haters, but if you want a classic cooler that you will never need to replace, the Tundra from Yeti (now available in South Africa for the first time at Upstream Fly Fishing) is what you will be passing down to your grandkids. It’s marketed as bear-resistant. We don’t have those in South Africa, but we reckon hyenas would struggle to get into it. It’s not beer-resistant, handling 57 cans, a ratio The Mission approves of. Available in 35, 65 and 75 sizes. Not yet at the XL-family/friends size? Go with the Roadie 20.

With its Coldlock™ gasket and 16 beer capacity, it’s your go-to BYOB buddy. yeti.com, upstreamflyfishing.co.za

“A CLASSIC COOLER THAT YOU WILL NEVER NEED TO REPLACE” Tundra - Dimensions 17 7/8” × 17 1/2” × 33 1/2”

Roadie - Dimensions 13 5/8” × 14 1/4” × 19 1/8”

ORVIS – SUN GLOVE

CLIMATE CHANGE! GLOBAL WARMING/HEATING! HOTTEST YEAR ON RECORD! You don’t like wearing gloves when you fish? Trust us, you will not like skin cancer even more. With a minimalist design meant to stay out of the way of your fishing, Orvis’s breathable, quick-drying, 50 UPF sun gloves are made of spandex, with synthetic leather palm for durability in the rod butt wear points. Available in light gray. orvis.com, flyfishing.co.za

FLYMEN FISHING CO – MICRO SPINES

Fresh from the innovators at Flymen Fishing Co. is this collab with Gamechanger inventor and fishing guide Blane Chocklett. The new Chocklett’s Articulated Micro-Spine comes in 6 mm, 8 mm, and 6 mm tail shank lengths and allows fly tyers to take the Game Changer style of fly tying to completely new (small) levels. Insects, small baitfish, crustaceans – make ‘em move! flymenfishingcompany.com

102

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

SCIENTIFIC ANGLERS – SONAR SINK 25 COLD

Yellowtail boiling near the surface and you need to get a cast out fast? Scientific Anglers’ Sink 25 is just the line for this sort of application. With a short 25’ fast-sinking head and a floating running line, it bombs out casts and gets flies deep extremely quickly to where the beasts with teeth are. The rest is up to you. scientificanglers.com, upstreamflyfishing.co.za

SAGE – TROUT LL

There’s a chap on most of the Facebook fly fishing forums, whose name rhymes with “Shirt” who sounds like a stuck record. His favourite subject? What is fly fishing coming to? For him everything from gear to attitudes, people and places from 30-40 years ago was, and always will be, better than whatever happens today.

We reckon he might be swayed by the terrors of the modern world if he got his hands on this, one of the most legendary trout rods which is back in its new iteration and in stock (in an 8ft, 9in 3-weight) at Frontier Fly Fishing. With a classic appearance built off a backbone of Sage’s Konnetic HD blank material, the new Trout LL features a delicate touch and medium action, designed with the trout angler and dry flies in mind. Perfect for wade fishing, closer casts, small flies, and light tippets, its supple tip maximizes light tippet protection and gives way to a smooth easy-loading mid-section that increases feel and feedback throughout the casting stroke. This rod + a hatch on a river filled with trout or yellows = happy place. sageflyfish.com, frontierflyfishing.co.za

“PERFECT FOR WADE FISHING, CLOSER CASTS, SMALL FLIES, AND LIGHT TIPPETS, ITS SUPPLE TIP MAXIMIZES LIGHT TIPPET PROTECTION AND GIVES WAY TO A SMOOTH EASYLOADING MID-SECTION”

LOOP – OPTI 160 UNIVERSAL FLY BOX

Scandi design for your furry friends, despite the numerical name the lightweight (224g), ergonomicallydesigned Loop Opti 160 fly box deceptively holds 300 flies.

Available in carbon grey or Swedish Blue (not to be confused with Norwegian Blue which is the colour of rare Monty Python parrots).looptackle.com, flyfishing.co.za

L AT ES T R E L E A S ES

SALAD BAR G. LOOMIS – NRX +

G.Loomis do not replace or update rods often. Just look at the longevity of the GLX and NRX. So, when they do, the market takes notice. Following on from the success of the original NRX, Steve Rajeff and his team at G.Loomis have just released the NRX+ range, featuring the NRX+, the NRX+ S (saltwater), NRX+LP (light presentation) and the NRX+Switch/ Spey. Using the latest science from their Mega Modulus + graphite matrix and GL8 resin system, to their Dynamic Recovery Technology, G.Loomis were on the hunt for that sweet spot where the power, line speed, and loop stability expected from modern fast-action rods meets the “feel” and finesse anglers crave. They believe they found it. In Rajeff we trust. gloomis.com, upstreamflyfishing.co.za

RIO – INTOUCH BIG NASTY 4D SLOW SINK

The buzz coming back from the Orange River is that this is one of the lines you should be trying for largemouth yellows. With a front-loaded weight distribution that easily casts the biggest of flies, this line features RIO’s Multi Density Control – a seamless blend of four densities that ensures the smoothest transition of energy when casting, and the best depth control when fishing. With an ultra-low stretch core for the maximum in sensitivity and performance, it is the perfect sink tip for casting large streamers deep in the Northern Cape. The F/H/I/S3 is perfect for getting flies down to 2-4 feet in depth. rioproducts.com, xplorerflyfishing.co.za

REDINGTON – PROWLER-PRO BOOTS

Redington’s new premier wading boot, the Prowler-Pro is an upgrade on the tried and test, tough Prowler boot. Same stalker name, but with updated materials and design, including a wide sole for increased comfort and stability, lightweight, shockabsorbing EVA midsole, reinforced rubber in high wear areas for added abrasion resistance, durability, and foot protection – these boots are designed to keep you fishing comfortably for longer. redington.com, xplorerflyfishing.co.za

“THESE BOOTS ARE DESIGNED TO KEEP YOU FISHING COMFORTABLY FOR LONGER”

104

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

WHO SAYS YOU CAN’T HAVE A FAVOURITE CHILD? While socks and handkerchiefs will always get a smile, the possibility of the latest fly line, a coveted chest pack or everyone’s favourite flyfishing author’s latest bestseller will always get a wink and a high five.

Be the favourite - buy a Mavungana Flyfishing Gift voucher till the end of January and pay 10% less than its value and receive a cool trucker cap free for purchases over R500.

Send an email with the subject ‘Christmas Voucher/Cap Giveaway’ to info@flyfishing.co.za to claim your festive season discount.

WWW.FLYFISHING.CO.ZA Mavungana Flyfishing Centre, Main Road , Dullstroom, 013 254 0270 Mavungana JHB, Shop 3B, Illovo Square Shopping centre, 3 Rivonia Road, 011 268 5850

PROTECTING YOUR FLY F

FISHING FOR THE FUTURE From headwaters to court rooms, fighting the pollution of our rivers or challenging the disproportionate legislation of the authorities, FOSAF works for you. For just R300* for a year’s membership you can do your bit and support FOSAF.

Please join at www.fosaf.org.za Ask your club to enter the scheme whereby your annual subscription Is reduced from R300 to R150”

ISSUE 02 | “RECEDITE, PLEBES! GERO REM IMPERIALEM!”

issue 01 | “noli nothis permittere te terere’

WWW.THEMISSIONFLYMAG.COM

www.themissionflymag.com

smallmouth Bass lose big win small

hatch junKIe

trainspotting on the vaal

hIgh 5s

with mark murray

KeIth Rose-Innes managing chaos

jan | feb 2017

FREE

themissionflymag.com

MARCH | APRIL | 2017

jan | feb | 2017

Issue 01

BACKSTAGE AT

ASTOVE

BLOOD, SWEAT & BEERS

DEAD ZONE

PLATON TRAKOSHIS

DESPERADO

PROVIDENCE WITH DRE

MARCO PIERRE WHITE

PIKE, TROUT AND NOSTALGIA

ISSUE 05 SEPT | OCT 2017

LEFTY

KREH ISSUE 07

FREE

JAN | FEB 2018

THEMISSIONFLYMAG.COM

FREE

THEMISSIONFLYMAG.COM

CAPE ROCK & SURF, THE FISHING SCIENTIST, EXMOUTH, TOAST COETZER, PAT COHEN, BEERS, BEATS AND MORE...

ISSUE 11 SEPT | OCT 2018

ISSUE 10 JULY | AUGUST 2018

ISSUE 13

JAN | FEB 2019

FREE

THEMISSIONFLYMAG.COM

PENTZ PREDATOR, JEREMY BLOCK, TIGER MOTHER, CHASING NATIVES, ED HERBST, BEERS, BEATS & MORE

FREE

THEMISSIONFLYMAG.COM

FREE

THEMISSIONFLYMAG.COM

ROLF NYLINDER, THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN, WITH JUNGLE FEVER, FATTIES, BEERS, BEATS & MORE

ISSUE 08

MARCH | APRIL 2018

FREE

THEMISSIONFLYMAG.COM

DALE STEYN, GABON, MONGOLIA, EDUARDO GARCIA, FOREST TROUT, OZZIE DEATH, BEERS, BEATS AND MORE...

ISSUE 12 NOV | DEC 2018

FREE

THEMISSIONFLYMAG.COM

A PLASTIC PLANET, NEW ZEALAND, TREASURE ISLAND, MARK YELLAND, TOM SUTCLIFFE, BEERS, BEATS & MORE

MISSED AN ISSUE? READ THEM ALL HERE, IT’S FREE

FOLLOW US ON

@THEMISSIONLYMAG

“BE READY TO TRAVEL UP AND DOWN, TO DRINK BEER, SHAKE YOUR BOOTY TO THE MUSIC, EAT CATFISH, BURN IN THE SUN, SLEEP IN THE COLD AND JERK OFF TO THE BRAND NEW GEAR YOU CAN DREAM OF! LOCK THE DOOR, GET NAKED, IT’S TIME TO READ THE MISSION, THE ULTIMATE FLY FISHING MAGAZINE!” - CYRIL KAMIR, LE MOUCHING

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

THE LIFER

HENKIE ALTENA WHAT’S THE SALTWATER EQUIVALENT OF A TROUT BUM? WHATEVER IT IS, HENKIE ALTENA OF KAROOLSKRAAL FLY FISHING CAMP, A LIVING, WALKING LEGEND OF THE KAROO AND OVERBERG FLY FISHING SCENES, FITS THE DESCRIPTION. The first fish I can remember catching on fly, was a garrick I caught at Kleinbrak River. Being from the Karoo the only permanent source of water I knew was the ocean, so it was only logical that I started out fly fishing the salt.

The first paying job I had was as a national servicemen in the army. Since then I’ve been a technician at an optometrist (unqualified), I worked for a diamond prospecting company finding diamonds, did logistics for a 4x4 adventure company operating in Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique and Zimbabwe and started both Fly dot Fish and the Karoolskraal Fly Fishing Camp.

I was born and bred in Beaufort West in the Karoo. I’ve called Mossel Bay, Oudtshoorn, and now Witsand home.

I live on a farm about 7 km from Witsand. It’s a tranquil coastal town when the wind is not blowing. The locals are true people. I love it.

I’m busy renovating the house I’m renting from my friend Attie, the owner of the farm on which Karoolskraal is situated. If the tide and weather are favourable, everything gets put on hold and I head down to the river to fish.

I’m privileged to call the mighty Breede river my home waters. I think it was (former Protea fly fisherman) Mark Krige who said the Breede is one of the top three saltwater fly fishing destinations in South Africa, but he still needs to find the other two.

The best advice I have ever been given is to show people respect.

The thing I am most proud of is the establishment of the Karoolskraal Fly Fishing Camp.

111

“THE HANDIEST SURVIVAL SKILL I HAVE IS I CAN GO WITHOUT FOOD FOR DAYS.” Fun fact: the AGHA floating prawn fly was created by Attie Gunter (AG) and Henkie Altena (HA) of Karoolskraal.

The best party trick I have ever seen? There is a certain sheep farmer I know that sometimes goes off on cane and cream soda. When he does that, he is a party trick on his own.

Something I have really had to work at in life is figuring out just why the grunters aren’t taking my fly. What I have never had to work on is my eagerness to keep on trying.

One place I have to return to is Botswana. I love the country, its people and of course the Okavango. Beautiful and majestic, it’s a truly unique river system. Oh ja, it also holds tigers. I was lucky to do tiger fishing trips to the Okavango for the annual barbel runs from 2006 to 2017.

It’s okay for an angler to lie when the person you are telling the story to, is not really interested.

The most satisfying fish I ever caught was at Nuweland, the mud flat in front of camp. The sun was setting behind Potjiesberg, there was no wind. It was just a perfect evening. There were no signs of grunter - no tails, no pancakes. I was just fly fishing and enjoying nature, when a grunter rose and ate my Agha fly. I soon realized that it was a big fish. The usual panic set in, knot failure, hook slip, did I turn off the stove? Would my 4.5kg tippet hold? Luckily everything worked out. The size of that tail as it swam off is etched in my mind forever.

The handiest survival skill I have is I can go without food for days.

My go to drink is a Windhoek draft… followed by a couple of Commando brandies.

Looking back on my life, I have regrets, but thinking about it, if I changed anything I probably would not be where I am now.

One place, never again? Alexander Bay. After hitting a heatwave in the Richtersveld (+50°C / 122°F) and with the Gariep in flood, we headed for the coast to find relief. Let’s just say we found it and then some in Alex. Only at Port Nolloth did we become human again.

114

A skill I would like to master is woodworking.

Something I want to do before I die is go on a fly fishing trip to Gabon with Bra Conrad Botes.

If I could change one thing in fly fishing, it would be to lower the prices on some of the leading fly fishing brands.

The last fish I caught was a beauty of a spotted grunter on the mud flats right in front of my home at Karoolskraal.

To book the Karoolskraal Saltwater Fly Fishing Camp, visit flydotfish.com

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

For more information contact Iron River (www.ironriver.co.za) on 0861 527335

POP QUIZ DID YOU REALLY, TRULY READ THIS MAGAZINE OR DID YOU JUST LOOK AT THE PICTURES AND PASS JUDGEMENT? PROVE IT BY PASSING OUR SPEEDY TEST.

2. When he’s not curating playlists for us, photographer and film director Travys Owen is shooting for? (answer page 16) A. FREEDOM! B. Adidas C. Nike D. Lilets E. The artistic expression that only a true creative can find by turning the camera at himself to examine deep within the recesses of his own tortured soul.

3. Tuskfish are so named because they... (answer page 14) A. Are not actually fish, but marine mammals and the closest living relative to the elephant after the rock hyrax.

B. Have impressive gnashers (capable of snapping your rod in two) that would get two thumbs up from the British Orthodontist Society.

C. Were discovered by Józef Tusk, grandfather of Donald Tusk, president of the European Council.

D. Possess great incisors made of ivory, eyes made of pearls and ligaments known to cure erectile dysfunction. Don’t tell Vietnam.

E. Like an elephant, they have great memories and, having been caught once, will bide their time, swimming across oceans to take revenge on an angler by biting him on the nether regions while he is having a family holiday on the Med.

116

4. Things Kieran Avery has found while fishing for trout in Kenyan rivers include… (answer page 34) A. Rumours of 10lb trout.

B. Sozzled old timers talking about the above.

C. Elephant carcasses complete with tusks.

D. A use for Tenkara.

E. All of the above.

5. If you happen to be wandering through Mongolia and you see a man naked to the waist in waders drinking a beer, should you… (answer page 18) A. Surmise that the hillbillies have taken over the Steppes?

B. Expect to hear duelling banjos?

C. Take cover in the nearest yurt.

D. Congratulate Alex McLeod on a monster taimen.

6. Yacata is … (answer page 44) A. How you say cheers when drinking Kava in Fiji B. What happens when you drink Kava in Fiji.

C. The island where Chad Kockott has built a lodge by hand.

D. Pyramids in Colombia.

7. Shaving one’s “chunky muishond” is… (answer page 64) A. What Jeff Tyser does before heading out on a Friday night.

B. Illegal in at least 41 states in the USA. C. What Jeff Tyser recommends for catching yellowfish on the Vaal.

D. What Jeff Tyser learnt was a good idea when trying to catch largemouth yellowfish on the Orange.

E. None of your damn business.

Answers: 1. D, 2. B, 3. B, 4. E, 5. D, 6. C+D, 7. A+D+E

1. What is Bob Popovics’s favourite rose? (answer page 56) A. The Jon Bon Jovi Boudoir Blanket B. Elizabeth II’s Potpourri C. Iceberg Titanica D. Climbing Himalayan Musk (lol) E. Descending Alpine Perfume

W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M

What lasts a lifetime?

To build the highest-performing and most durable wading boots possible, we paired our expertise in fly fishing and product innovation with Danner’s proud tradition of quality and craftsmanship. Engineered for the most demanding wading and built by hand in Portland, Oregon, our new boots are resoleable and can also be completely recrafted as they wear over time. They’re the best boots we’ve ever made—and we believe they’re the last ones you’ll ever need to buy.

Made for a lifetime of wild fish and wild places.

Patagonia built by Danner.

Game on! Jasper Pääkkönen chases a GT on the razor-sharp coral heads of Astove Atoll’s lagoon. Seychelles. KYLE REED © 2019 Patagonia, Inc.