The Mission Fly Fishing Magazine Issue#39

FAILURE is not an option

ABSOLUTE TIPPET

UP TO WET-KNOT STRENGTH THAN PREMIUM COMPETITION

40% stronger

Working Waders

when it comes to these fi sh,” he says. “I want to take care of this fi shery for the future. It’s tribal tradition. It’s my family.”

Arian Stevens

Wild fi sh activist and guide Matt Mendes roams his Deschutes home waters on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation. “I’m a passionate person

ISSUE 39 MAY/JUNE 2023

CONTENTS

38. VALLEY OF FLAMES

In a tale that spans bass, bluegill, garage pies and half-spoken lies, Jazz Kuschke and LeRoy Botha make a meal of their fishing in a bushed-in secret valley and learn something about themselves in the process. Or do they?

50. SATANIC PAPAYAS

Like Batman and the Joker(s) Peter Coetzee relishes doing battle with triggerfish. Having studied his frenemies up close and personal all over the world (including gyotakuing one into an artwork) when Pete encountered a behemoth yellow margin triggerfish in the Maldives, he was ready.

54. HIGHLAND TRIBE

When Matt Kennedy joined his dad on a trip to fabled Highland Lodge in the Eastern Cape, not only was it a coming of age moment in terms of family tradition, but for Matt an initiation of a different sort was also on the cards. One that involved doubledigit stillwater trout.

66. THE 4TH PERMIT

We speak to Oliver White and Jako Lucas about their experience in Oman chasing down the reef-dwelling, musselloving Trachinotus africanus, aka ‘the 4th permit’.

76. TROUT BOXING

We sent Leonard Flemming off to tackle African Waters’ inaugural Bokong Flyathlon in Lesotho with a clear brief: catch all the fish, drink all the beer, crush the opposition, win the race. Fighting altitude, ego and a field of trail-running racing snakes, it didn’t go quite as planned.

REGULAR FEATURES

30. High Fives 86. Salad Bar 94. Pay Day 98. Lifer

Cover: Oliver White releases an Africanus permit in Oman. (page 66) Photo. Austin Coit

Matt Drew bombs out a cast on the Bokong River, Lesotho. (page 76) Photo. Mark Murray

T&T Ambassador Alec Gerbec on the Snake River Wyoming

the next generation

Ask a group of experienced anglers to name the greatest dry fly rod of all time, and the T&T Paradigm is sure to be mentioned more than once. Over twenty years later, we’ve followed the same inspiration that made the original into a legend to create a new Paradigm for the 21st century.

THE PARADIGM SERIES, 5 MODELS FROM 3 - 6 WEIGHT

THE ROD YOU WILL EVENTUALLY OWN

www.thomasandthomas.com HANDMADE IN AMERICA

A YETI TIMESHARE

TheWhatsApp message advertising the Yeti cooler had that closing-down sale urgency.

“Hazzit? Got a Namibian farmer connection, fokken loaded. He’s shipped in a bunch of Yetis for his hunting buddies and he’s asked me to flog the spare ones. Do you want me to hold onto an XL one for you?”

Did I need a giant Yeti? Possibly, in the way that I need a flats skiff and a 70 Series Land Cruiser to err... better do my job. Did I want a giant Yeti? Yes. In much the same way that I, a non-smoker, wanted to smoke Peter Stuyvesant in the 90s because their ads featured good-looking people waterskiing and laughing on their yachts as a Concorde took off over and over again. Like anyone else in fly fishing, I’d seen the Yeti ads and films over the years and I wanted some of that action.

But an XL Yeti?! There have been those trips where my regular cooler seemed a bit small. And what if I went somewhere and I needed enough ice to last longer than the melting glaciers will? Plus, I reasoned, I had a bunch of stickers that needed a home.

In what I can only describe as an incredibly adult moment, I decided that, taking into account the rand/dollar exchange rate, I would not flash the cash on this luxury item.

At least not on my own.

Instead, I would rope in Conrad, Platon and Dre, three friends whom I fish with the most, and we would split the cost. The thinking was that a lot of our fishing is local, day trips, where you do not need a massive cooler in the trunk. The multinight trips to regional destinations would be where it would be useful AND, for the most part, we are all on those together. In between, for each guy’s trips with family or other friends,

there would be a simple, first come, first served approach. In effect, it would be like a week at the Beacon Isle at Plett or a Qwantani cottage. We had established a Yeti timeshare.

A rough constitution or memorandum of agreement was established along with a WhatsApp group for tracking who had the cooler last. Stickers that had lain dormant for years, awaiting a worthy surface to be stuck on, emerged from cupboards belonging to us, four middle-aged men who are 11-year-olds at heart.

Dre booked it first for a weekend out in the Koue Bokkeveld with the Cape Fly Fishers*. None of the rest of us was invited so off he went.

The problem arose when, after Dre had booked it, Platon, Conrad and myself decided to go fishing ourselves that weekend, somewhere deep in the Cederberg. The fishing was average, but the vibe around the campfire was great except for one thing. As we scrabbled around in our ammo boxes and diminutive coolers to make our meals and retrieve our beers, we became painfully aware that somewhere, no less than 100km away as the crow flew, Dre was probably lounging around on his own with the Yeti, the one we owned 75% of. He was probably using the vast expanse of the lid to prepare food on, eat off, sit on and play cards (Solitaire) on. This photo captures the moment that formal communication was made with our missing committee member to inform him that a quorum had been reached to amend the constitution and we had established that, in future, the Yeti timeshare would operate under the dictum of majority rules. Always.

*It’s a secret club with secret waters, secret rules, and secret members. We’re not entirely sure it actually exists and isn’t just an elaborate ploy by Dre to make it seem like he has other mates.

CONTACT THE MISSION

The Mission Fly Fishing Magazine for Soutie Press (Pty) Ltd

EDITOR

Tudor Caradoc-Davies

ART DIRECTOR

Brendan Body

EDITOR AT LARGE

Conrad Botes

CONTENT COORDINATOR

Matt Kennedy

COPY EDITOR

Gillian Caradoc-Davies

MANAGING DIRECTOR

Ingrid Sinclair

ADVERTISING SALES

tudor@themissionflymag.com

CONTRIBUTORS #39

Sebastian Murphy, Jazz Kuschke, LeRoy Botha, Blaede Russel, Craig Hill, Peter Coetzee, Matt Kennedy, Leonard Flemming, Ryan Sandes, Marius Rousseau, Bradley Young, Jako Lucas, Oliver White

PHOTOGRAPHERS #39

Blaede Russel, African Waters, Alphonse Fishing Co., Jazz Kuschke, LeRoy Botha, Peter Coetzee, Matt Kennedy, Craig Lodge, Alex Kennedy, Andrew Kennedy, Leonard Flemming, Mark Murray, Riley Meyer, Steffan Shultz, Austin Coit, Hayden Dobbins, Adrian Pehrson, Stephan Dombaj

The menu at the Makhangoa Community Camps generally consists of smallmouth yellowfish with a side of brown and rainbow trout (pg 76). Photo. Mark Murray

CHUM

A SHILTON SPEY REEL, EVENTS GALORE, STEP-BY-STEP VIDEOS & A NEW GIERACH

SAVE THE DATES AND...

... PRACTICE YOUR MERCH SWAN DIVES, because film fest season is upon us. There’s been a post-Covid fly fishing mega-event drought, but now it’s time to get stuck in again. Alphonse Fishing Co, Blue Safari and African Waters are bringing the Fly Fishing Film Tour (F3T) back to South Africa! But wait, there’s more… because they are doubling down on the festival festivities by also bringing in the International Fly Fishing Film Festival (IF4) . That means that, in the dead of the South African winter, inhabitants of Joburg, Cape Town and Durban will have plenty of opportunities to watch kickass, award-winning doccies and short fish-porn flicks from around the world. quicket.co.za

SAVE THE FOLLOWING DATES:

JUNE - SHOW 1 (F3T), flyfilmtour.com

Wednesday, 7 June – Cape Town at the Labia Theatre

Wednesday, 14 June – Durban at the Suncoast

Barnyard Theatre

Wednesday, 21 June – Joburg at the Fourways

Farmers Market

JULY - SHOW 2 (IF4), flyfilmfest.com

Wednesday, 12 July – Cape Town at the Labia Theatre

Wednesday, 19 July – Durban at the Suncoast

Barnyard Theatre,

Wednesday, 26 July – Joburg at the Fourways

Farmers Market

HEAD TO DULLIES...

... TO FISH AND BID FOR A CAUSE at the 2023 Mavungana Flyfishing Charity Event on 5 August in Dullstroom. Other than the sponsored goodie bags (including merch from Orvis, Fulling Mill and others), prizes at last year’s event included a trip to Mavungana’s Clarens operation, a Pongola experience, and the main prize of a luxury Richtersveld drift. The auction part of the event raises hundreds of thousands of rands to fund anti-rhinopoaching teams in the Kruger National Park. This year, the proceeds from the event will also support fish-tagging projects at Pongola and on the Lower Orange River. We’ve attended before and can confirm it is a fun, classy get-together where you get to fish premium Dullstroom waters, bid on big ticket items, and come away with prizes all while supporting good causes. flyfishing.co.za

GAZE UPON THE GLORY...

... OF THE NEW SHILTON SPEY REEL. Proudly Seffrican reel gurus Shilton have just released a spiffy new open frame spey reel that gives a nod to both tradition and innovation. Keith Rose-Innes of Shilton says, “For many anglers, fishing with a spey rod once or twice a year doesn’t justify having a stand-alone spey reel, so it makes sense to have a stylish classic spey spool that you can insert into a bombproof SL7 frame.”

In addition to this switcheroo convenience, while many orthodox spey anglers adhere to the tradition of wanting a closed frame, Shilton opted for an open frame. “This is because the SL7 frame handles running line really well,” says Keith.

Throw in the added benefit of Shilton’s renowned robust and hard-wearing frames, with the simplicity of accessible drag plates for on-the-go maintenance, and you have a spey reel designed for 14- to 15-foot rods that can take whatever is thrown at it. Thus far it has been tested on big salmon on Norway’s legendary Alta River and 30-60lb king salmon in Argentina and stood up to all tests. Bonus – the outgoing drag sound is magnificent. Colourways are combinations of red, blue, gold and turquoise, titanium, or black. shiltonreels.com

SERVICE YOUR SHILTON…

… WITH THIS STEP-BY-STEP

Lube and technique. Lube and technique. In this video Warwick Leslie  takes us through disassembling, cleaning, and greasing of all the necessary components of any Shilton reel, although the same can be applied to other cork-drag reels like Tibor and Abel. The big takeaway: if you look after your gear, your gear (especially saltwater reels) will look after you. themissionflymag.com

WATCH HERMAN BOTES TIE...

... THE AIR-HEAD CADDIS. Planning to chase some Vaal yellowfish in low-light conditions? This pattern, tied by Herman Botes and originally designed by Gary LaFontaine, imitates large, hatched adult caddis. The use of deer hair in combination with foam-packaging wings keeps the fly well afloat and makes for a high-vis sighter that also results in audible takes when fished at dusk. themissionflymag.com

“A STYLISH CLASSIC SPEY SPOOL THAT YOU CAN INSERT INTO A BOMBPROOF SL7 FRAME.”

ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD… … BY JOHN GIERACH

In the fly-fishing world, when John Gierach drops a new book, there’s a palpable wake of excitement, because in the pantheon of living fly-fishing writers, John occupies rarefied air at the top. In All the Time in the World, he takes us on a tour of his home waters in North America. Contrasting between the joys and frustrations of fly fishing, he guides us through the finite indispensability of the natural world and philosophises about fly fishing, and how spending time on the water has such a big impact on our lives. While his trademark down-to-earth writing invites thoughts of existentialism, John does not fail to get across the ultimate essence of what we do, namely that fly fishing can also just be what it is – fun. simonandschuster.com

SQUINT NO LONGER… … WITH BAJIO READERS

Post-40, have you ever tried tying a blood knot with 7x tippet (on the third attempt) while the wind howls downriver, squinting as you try thread the second loop tag, using a dark rock as a contrasted background? NO LONGER. Bajio has introduced a new Readers line to their high-performance sunglasses range. With built-in polarising and blue-light filters, the Bajio Readers include a magnification lens to increase focal length, without compromising fish spotting. The brand’s proprietary LAPIS technology offers exceptional clarity, and comes in all your favourite frame types, with four different lens options (Green Mirror, Blue Mirror, Rose Mirror and Gray), and in magnification powers of +1.50, +2.00 and +2.50. Fly fishing really is that much easier when you can see. bajiosunglasses.com

THE BABER SCOPE

YOUR FISHING FUTURE ACCORDING TO YOUR STAR SIGN AS READ BY BABERMAN, THE LEGENDARY GRUMPY CATFISH.

Taurus (The Bull) April 20 – May 20

The mighty bull. Some of you were born to charge across the Selous, others might feel like you are yoked to a plough in a rice paddy and yet, be ye daggaboy buff or domesticated cow, the blood of a minotaur flows through each of you the same. That’s all well and fine, but it’s actually time to challenge your stubborn bull-headed nature, because the changemaker, Uranus, is on a seven-year journey through Taurus. We call it the reverse prolapse. That means if you are slashing away at your home waters with diminishing returns, it is time to change flies, change lines, change target species, or maybe even take up golf. You’ll only know if the fishing is poor (or if it’s actually just you) if you experiment.

Gemini (The Twins) May 21 – June 21

I saw a news article the other day about conjoined twins who share reproductive organs, but, awkwardly, only one of them has a boyfriend. It dawned on me that, in a social sense, that’s essentially the problem with you twinzie Geminis. You and your no-outsiders mentality are guilty of overly-compartmentalising your fly-fishing life by fishing with the same people time and again. Sure, your buddies are entertaining (no one can light their own farts like Garth), but what if you allowed someone else into this group and – gasp – learned something new for a change? It’s a big inter-planetary system out there. Share the love. Or your reproductive organs. It’s all the same to me.

“SPENDING TIME ON THE WATER HAS SUCH A BIG IMPACT ON OUR LIVES”

THE LARGEST FLY TYING SELECTION IN SOUTH AFRICA

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The Xplorer Concept Store has every single Xplorer product, plus a wide range of products from the brands below. Pop in for a cup of coffee, have a browse around and see the complete range of products, never seen in one shop before. Open until 5pm Mon-Fri and until 1pm on Saturdays.

YELLOW ALERT

STERKFONTEIN DAM, ONE OF THE WORLD’S BEST SIGHTFISHING DESTINATIONS, AND ITS BEETLE-SIPPING SMALLMOUTH YELLOWFISH ARE UNDER THREAT FROM COMMERCIAL POACHERS. CONCERNED ANGLERS ARE FIGHTING BACK, BUT THE RESISTANCE NEEDS ALL THE HELP IT CAN GET.

The water

Just south of Harrismith in the Free State, Sterkfontein Dam offers some of the best smallmouth yellowfishing in South Africa and is especially well known for superb dry-fly fishing. Smallmouth yellowfish share the dam with their largemouth cousins and a number of other resident species, including common carp, mudfish, moggel, banded tilapia, and, allegedly, the odd rainbow trout. It’s a huge dam at 2 616 950 cubic metres so a boat gives you more options (and more shots), but fishing from shore remains a fantastic challenge. Anglers at Sterkies are spoilt for choice with scores of bays, cliffsides, inlets, corners and kloofs from which to target cruising fish. The yellows use important gravel-bed structures in the southern portion of the dam for breeding during the warmer months, and it is around there that angling is most productive.

The wankers

The dam was built 40-odd years ago and subsistence fishing for yellowfish by the local community has always occurred. It was a case of no harm, no foul as this appeared to have a relatively negligible impact on the dam’s staunch residential yellowfish population. More recently, however, hand-to-mouth subsistence fishing has transformed into a full-scale, organised, commercial operation. The Elizabeth Bay inlet and the Nuwejaarsspruit tributary, which flows into Barbel Bay, form part of the essential breeding run for Sterkies’ yellowfish. Both these main inlets have become primary targets for poachers.

For the past five years, Craig Hill, the general manager of the popular Qwantani Berg and Bush Resort, has operated a solo anti-poaching effort. He says, “I could

see how poachers were scooping out dozens of fish with crudely constructed basket nets made from weld mesh and chicken wire. Spawning grounds would be depleted by the morning, emptying the feeder streams of 300 to 400 fish, only to fill up during the day and be poached again the following evening.” According to Craig, bags of around 50 fish sell in an unregulated and unpoliced economy of thriving wet markets in local communities. He says, “At its worst, I estimate illegal yellowfishing supports a black-market industry of R400 000 per month in local areas.”

The way forward

As a lone ranger, Craig managed to slow the poachers down (it helped that he comes from an anti-rhino-poaching

Photo. Leonard Flemming

background), but there was only so much he could do on his own. Faced with the sheer destruction of full-scale commercial poaching, the need for support and a realistic plan became apparent. The involvement of some key role players in South African fly fishing saw the establishment of the Sterkfontein Yellowfish Conservation Group and the Sterkfontein Anti-Poaching Unit (SAPU) in 2022. SAPU has contributed to awareness and policing of the large-scale poaching ever since, using a tactical and intelligencebased approach to tackle the issue.

In December 2022, following SAPU’s formation, 413 smallmouth yellows were found in the back of a bakkie, resulting in the incarceration of one poacher. On a further occasion, a bag of 50 fish was found and the culprits scared

off. It seems that the presence of SAPU’s team has had an impact on poaching activity, but the fly-fishing community has to stay vigilant.

“We’re sorting them out,” says Craig. “But the resistance cannot continue without the avid assistance of interested and supportive personalities, fly anglers, and contributing companies.”

Here’s where you come in. Your support, financial or otherwise, can ensure the preservation of the anti-poaching unit, which offers a presence on the ground. The crew was recently sponsored a patrol boat and infrared FLIR drone for monitoring and policing in the reserve. If you would like to contribute, get in touch with them at info@sterkiesapu.org.za

“THE RESISTANCE CANNOT CONTINUE WITHOUT THE AVID ASSISTANCE OF INTERESTED AND SUPPORTIVE PERSONALITIES, FLY ANGLERS, AND CONTRIBUTING COMPANIES.”

Tim Babich of FlyCastaway admires a smallmouth yellowfish from Sterkfontein Dam (and considers selling it for fish curry at R40 a pop).

FODDER

THE BEATS

VIAGRA BOYS VOCALIST SEBASTIAN MURPHY

Sebastian Murphy is a different kind of cat. Lives in Sweden, fronts punk band Viagra Boys (their song “Sports” is essentially an anthem at The Mission office), works at Stockholm Classic Tattoo and when he’s not touring he spends his summers fly fishing in the Arctic Circle. He serves up our Beats for this issue and answers a few questions.

You’re American originally, but have lived in Sweden most of your adult life. So what language do you dream in? I used to dream only in English but now I dream mostly in Swedish and occasionally in an unknown lizard-like language that is reminiscent of speaking in tongues. Most of my dreams are without language entirely. Just embarrassing and bizarre images and flashbacks to experiences I’ve had in previous lives.

Which are your home waters? Where do you fly fish most often? I only fly fish in the short summer months here in Sweden and when I do it’s either in Jämtland or in Lappland. I’ve recently started fly fishing for perch in Stockholm when I get the chance, but nothing beats being up north and nothing beats trout.

What do you get out of fly fishing? As cheesy as it sounds, fly fishing puts me in a state of complete “here and now” that I find almost impossible to reach in my daily life. I have very intense attention deficit disorder and living in a city is the worst for my brain. A constant barrage of noises and images and lights from screens slowly transforms me into a worm-like creature, a shrimp in an endless sea of other

brain-rotted shrimp. I spend most of the year in chaotic situations talking to people I don’t want to talk to; travelling to dark, stinky, beer-ridden venues with no windows in the deepest depths of the Western world; sleeping way too little; partying; eating shitty food, etc. Fly fishing gives me something that is completely the opposite of that. No music. No talking. No thoughts on nuclear fallout. Just a rising trout, the colour of a passing mayfly, a moose, one million mosquitoes.

Your forehead tattoo says “LÖS” (Swedish for “loose”). Is that a reference to the fishing in the Arctic Circle, your casting style, your morals or something else altogether? It is a reference to a top secret Arctic fishing style that is only learned in the highest point of the Marbaten, the “fabled” waters of the Podsol crew. I’m afraid I cannot elaborate because I would put myself in danger. However, I tell most people it is a reference to a way of life or outlook on life. I usually say it means the opposite of “stiff”. Everyone should loosen up a bit

When you catch a grayling, is it compulsory to hold up its dorsal fin for a photo? Usually, if you catch a grayling, you whisper an ancient Swedish curse in its grayling ears and then you release it immediately wishing it was a trout. No photo at all.

When you’re not fronting Viagra Boys, you work at Stockholm Classic Tattoo. We’ve noticed a lot of fish/ fishing tattoos on your Instagram feed. Is that a common Scandinavian thing or do you have a lot of anglers as customers? Whilst fly fishing and fishing are common in

Photos. Adrian Pehrson, Markus Lemke

Scandinavia I am drawn towards those people and they are drawn towards me through my interest in fishing and from meeting other anglers on my adventures.

You occupy what we imagine might be a small space at the intersection of punk, fly fishing and tattoos. Have you ever met anyone else who does all three? It is more common than one would think, especially in the tattooing world. There are lots of amazing tattooers who have a heavy focus on fly fishing and trout imagery etc, much more than I do. Some of them have even started their own fly fishing tackle shops and clothing brands, which is very cool to see. On Instagram check out @dannyreedtattoo; @crookedcreekholler, @dan_santoro; @ housefly_fishing and my buddy Drew Wilson, @drewlr.

What’s the distance between who you are when fishing and who you are when on stage at a gig? Are you exactly the same person or do you feel like two versions of yourself? Of course they are the same people in a sense, but I don’t think fishing with me would be a very peaceful event if I was the same person I am when on stage. I am much quieter, calmer, and contemplative while fly fishing, which I would say is closer to my true self… sort of who I was as a child.

In your lyrics Viagra Boys take the piss out of far-right conspiracy theories, toxic masculinity and other rightwing bullshit. Is that just a reflection (and rejection) of the times or more of an overt political stance from the band? It is a mix of both. We are socialist Swedes and that shows in our mockery of right-wing bullshit, although I believe when I started writing music it was more a reflection of my world

view and a general hatred for everything going on in the world. Most of the first few songs I wrote were about drugs, body fluids, and strange worlds I had built in my head. Shrimps, frog traps, bog-bodies, funny little dogs, the evolution and devolution of man. It’s not all politics and I don’t want it to be all politics. I enjoy the fact that all sorts of people like my music and, in the end, it is just cosmic energy being spewed out of our brains. Afterall, it’s just music and I am grateful people enjoy it.

What do you and Viagra Boys have lined up for the rest of the year? We are currently working on new material as well as creating material for our side project known as Shrimptech Ecstasy Lab. We are also gearing up for playing at various festivals in Europe this summer (Glastonbury, Way Out West, etc). As for fishing, I am making plans as best as I can with what little time off I get from playing music. But I will most definitely be found somewhere up in northern Sweden doing what I enjoy the most.

Visit vboysstockholm.com to listen to Viagra Boys latest album Cave World and check out their range of merch.

PLAYLIST #39

Sebastian’s playlist is less punk than you might expect, featuring a curated selection of country and bluegrass along with some heavier bangers. Expect everyone from The Rolling Stones to Sturgill Simpson, RL Burnside, Hank Williams, Discharge, Beastie Boys, Beau Wanzer and Elvis Presley. Visit the missionflymag.com to listen

WISH LIST FISH

DOCTOR, DOCTOR!

NAMED SURGEONFISH BECAUSE THEY BEAR ERECTILE, SCALPEL-LIKE, DANGEROUSLY SHARP SPINES ON EITHER SIDE OF THE CAUDAL PEDUNCLE, THEY ARE RUMOURED TO SING LIKE BUMPHEAD PARROTFISH AND, APPARENTLY, THEY HAVE AN ALPHA FISH THAT LEADS THE SCHOOL. ALPHONSE FISHING COMPANY GUIDE BRADLEY YOUNG TELLS US WHAT HE’S DISCOVERED TARGETING HIS LOCAL YELLOWFIN SURGEONS IN THE SEYCHELLES.

Photo. Alphonse Fishing Company

There is no shortage of surgeonfish on Alphonse, specifically the yellowfin surgeon (Acanthurus xanthopterus). Seen frequently around coral bommies, in the surf, and on finger flats, we have grown accustomed to their constant presence on the atoll. Since I arrived in 2022 the general consensus has been that the surgeon is herbivorous and unlikely to take a fly.

With their vegetarian reputation preceding them, they are never even a consideration for an angler heading out on the flats. Certainly, on my off days, they weren’t even close to a fleeting thought.

The night before a particular off day of mine, I tied some extrasmall tan shrimp on a Grip Hooks Size 6 with the intention of fooling some of the spooky triggers that call Alphonse home.

We stopped on a finger flat around two hours before the dead low on a spring tide. After coming right with a moustache trigger, I spotted a tightly packed group of about 10 surgeons tailing on some of the finger’s white sand. With the trigger box ticked I thought to myself that a surgeon

and its beautiful colours would make an epic grip-and-grin photo. Armed with the same tan shrimp and some confidence (having just caught the trigger), I put in a speculative cast just ahead of the shoal, the tiny fly landing with minimal disturbance to the water. The fish continued tailing towards the fly as I began an ultra-slow strip. To my surprise, I hooked up and fought the fish for a short while before the hook pulled.

After blowing what I thought would be my only opportunity of catching one of these fish, I continued along the finger and found a similar shoal of surgeons also tailing on some white sand. Another gentle cast and a painfully slow strip later I hooked up again. Using its dinner plate-shaped body, the surgeon put up a fantastic fight with some powerful runs. The stoke was real when the fish came to net. After I’d taken the sought-after photo, the fish was safely released… most likely never to be caught again.

Whether it was the right place, the right time, the right fly, some damn good luck, or a combination of these factors, I’ll be going after these awesome fish again.

BLAEDE RUSSELL

WHETHER HE’S FISHING FOR TROUT IN ELEPHANT TERRITORY ON HIS HOME WATERS OR DOCUMENTING A SURVIVAL CHALLENGE BY LIVING ON A DESERT ISLAND FOR A WEEK WITH NO FOOD, WATER OR SHELTER, KENYAN BLAEDE RUSSELL SEEMED DESTINED TO BECOME A FLY-FISHING GUIDE. WE CAUGHT UP WITH HIM BETWEEN AFRICAN WATERS’ CAMEROON AND GABON SEASONS.

5 best things about where you guide?

1. Tanzania – the people. Aside from the insane fishery which needs no introduction nor further comment, it’s the people for me. We are so lucky to have a bulletproof team. These guys will literally give you the shirts off their backs and, if it wasn’t for them, the season simply would not be possible.

2. Campfire stories. It sounds clichéd, but the after-session conversations around the fire are what guiding is about. Talks of the big fish lost, big fish landed, dodgy hook sets, burnt fingers, and awards for the most logs caught are a common thread.

3. Gabon – it’s one of the last Edens. Ask yourself how many times, as an angler, you have thought or said, “I wonder what this was like a hundred years ago.” In Gabon you don’t, and that is special!

4. Cameroon – the night. You’re casting a whole chicken to a fish that could be 150lb in a river no wider than a full line away. There’s an audience of 50 or more hippos creating a cacophony of sounds in total darkness. It’s immersive!

5. Kenya – trout fishing among some of the Big Five. A lot of the trout fishing in Kenya is in national parks. This means you could literally be fishing dry flies in intricate little streams to hungry brown trout and be interrupted by a herd of elephants. Where else can you do that?

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

1. Loon UV Knot Sense. This stuff is liquid gold. From fixing eyes on rods to applying the finishing touches to nail knots and fixing glasses, it does it all.

2. Panasonic Lumix S5. I love videography and photography. This camera is a great hybrid and, at this price, in my opinion, unbeatable.

3. Braid Scissors. They last for years, can cut any braid, line or wire, and double up nicely for when the lid needs a trim during the season.

4. Short shorts. Comfortable, good for movement and great ventilation for the family jewels when you’re sitting down. You do have to settle for less real estate in the pocket, however.

5. Lucky hat. It’s a cliché in that it never gets washed (it could be used for biological warfare), but it catches fish and it tells a story.

5 essential survival items?

1. Leatherman. This is easily one of the most useful things to have ever been created, and my top pick.

2. Glass bottle. You can store liquid, start fires using the concave neck and the sun, desalinate water… the list goes on. If you’ve watched The Gods Must Be Crazy then you know how useful it can be.

3. A fly pack: rod, reel, flies and line. I travel everywhere anyway with fly-fishing gear even if it’s to the shops for milk.

4. Hammock. It’s easy to set up and extremely lightweight.

5. Chilli sauce. For most people this is not essential but it is for me. It covers up the taste of any stomach bugs you’re about to get and makes anything taste good. The downside is it adds ring sting to the stomach bug you’re about to get.

5 bands to listen to while on a road trip?

Photos. Blaede Russell, African Waters

1. Pink Floyd

2. Dire Straits

3. The Stones

4. Zach Brown Band

5. Lynyrd Skynyrd

“COMMON MISTAKES THAT MOST CLIENTS MAKE? FIFTEEN FALSE CASTS WITH A SHOOTING HEAD.”

“FROM SQAUEAKING TEKKIE AND DOING BURNOUTS ON THE DANCEFLOOR TO SCRAMBLING UP CANYONS, BATA BULLETS ARE ESSENTIAL TO A PROPER FISHING MISSION.”

5 things you’re loving right now?

1. Currently writing to you from Cameroon (where it’s hot), I am loving and totally loyal to my fan, tsetse spray and long breaks between seeking refuge on the Faro River.

2. Short documentary series. I don’t get to watch much TV but, on the extremely rare occasion, I do like a Netflix short documentary series.

3. Timau Sports Club, Kenya. It’s the hub of all things social in an area of big ranches and wide open spaces. The “sports” part of the name is an excuse to drink on school nights when there is “touch rugby” on, while the “club” part holds true on the weekends. Often, despite the best intentions, a game of touch or tennis ends up in a cracker of a headache the next morning.

4. A reference to West Africa again, but I am obsessed with Orangina.

5. BIG FLIES.

5 indispensable flies for saltwater?

1. Flash Clouser

2. NYAP

3. Tan GT Brushy

4. Crazy Charlie

5. Alphlexo

5 indispensable flies for freshwater?

1. CDC Elk Hair

2. Wooly Bugger, tan or olive.

3. Kenyan Special. A nymph derived from purple Duracell but with hardened UV body and CDC.

4. Muddler Minnow

5. PTN (Pheasant Tail Nymph)

5 favourite fly-fishing destinations across Africa?

1. Mount Kenya/Aberdare National Park. It’s near and dear to me and the trout fishing is my bread and butter. There are little intricate streams that are difficult to access and immense forests, old trees and, because it is a national park, an abundance of wild animals.

2. The Kenyan coast. Malindi, Lamu and Watamu offer some great offshore fishing for billfish species and other pelagic species like tuna, dorado etc.

3. Tanzania. The Tanzanian tigers are something else. We’re super-fortunate to have access to arguably the healthiest populations of these endemic species, and XL sizes too.

3. Sette Cama, Gabon. There are jacks, big tarpon, big snapper, big threadfin, big sharks from shore. Need I say more?

5. Gassa Camp, Cameroon.

5 things (outside of the fishing) that make where you fish so special?

1. The cultures. Guiding for African Waters we are extremely fortunate to be able to experience a plethora of different cultures.

2. The birds. I was not much of a twitcher before guiding. The idea of wearing full camo and spending hours waiting for birds to fly past was not that interesting but, in Gabon, Tanzania and Cameroon, it’s impossible to ignore.

3. When the other employees such as the boat captains/ drivers, river rangers etc start to get the same hype when a client hooks into a good fish.

4. Learning languages. Aside from English and Swahili, my French has improved the most with seasons spent in Gabon and Cameroon. At school I used French class as a prime time to gain some lad points by being the Chief Chat Officer as I never thought it would come in handy but, as it turns out, I should have paid a little more attention.

5. Food. I am a massive foodie and take great interest in the cooking both on season and off. Some places are astonishing with the abundance and variety of vegetables that you can buy! In Tanzania we are fortunate to have some mean chefs so it’s easy to let the rig go a little...

5 favourite fly-fishing destinations globally?

1. New Zealand. When you talk trout fishing, New Zealand is usually right at the top.

2. The chalk streams of southwest England. No, I’m not talking about the stocked rivers Test or Itchen, but their carriers instead which are predominantly wild trout fisheries in crystal clear water.

3. Australia is one of the best, intact, well-managed fisheries. You can basically fish the whole of Australia on fly, on foot, for next to nothing and have some worldclass fishing. I went on a glorified fly-fishing holiday, also known to some as a “gap year”, around Oz and paid for quite a few of my stays in hostels by catching fish for their kitchens.

4. Colorado. I was fortunate enough to do some fishing in Colorado with a good buddy and was blown away by the idea that you can ski in the morning and fish in the afternoon.

5. Any of the five destinations in Africa mentioned in the previous question, although get back to me once I have done Slovenia and Socotra.

5 flies to pack (in the smuggler kit under your driver’s seat) to cover most species?

1. PTN

2. Woolly Bugger

3. Elk Hair Caddis

4. Diawl Bach

5. Mepps Spinner (I joke)

5 fish on your species hit list?

1. Goliath tigerfish sits undisputed at the top.

2. Tarpon (I’m currently getting my arse handed to me by tarpon in Gabon with zero landed).

3. Permit

4. Blue or black marlin

5. Smallmouth yellowfish

5 of the most underrated species in your book?

1. The jack species but, in particular, the longfin and crevalle. They are easily the most overlooked/ underrated species that hits hard and burns drags. I think it’s partly due to their abundance, especially in Gabon, but I have all the time in the world for them.

2. Niger barb. Try hooking a 15lb barb and landing it on 4x with oyster beds to navigate and massive boulders to climb over. Welcome to Cameroon.

3. Tilapia – is this the gateway-drug equivalent for the fishing world? I spent countless hours fishing for them as a kid and owe them everything as fishing’s now my career.

4. Tetra – the big yellow-tailed ones (sorry to all the ichthyologists). Clients are not really keen to go after them here in Cameroon, but they get big and are sluts for dry flies.

5. Ripping streamers for pellet-fed rainbow trout that look like carp on still waters.

5 destinations on your bucket list?

1. Socotra

2. Sudan

3. Seychelles

4. Patagonia

5. Bolivia

5 things you would take up if you weren’t always fly fishing?

1. A proper job.

2. Rehab for a chilli and Maggi sauce addiction.

3. Counselling to integrate back into society.

4. A healthy sleeping routine.

5. Paying tax.

5 essential ingredients for an incredible mission?

1. Bata Bullets (or trainers). From squeaking tekkie and doing burnouts on the dancefloor to scrambling up canyons, these are essential to a proper fishing mission.

2. The good juju juice. Described as “the golden edge of an autumn afternoon”, a bottle of 18-year-old Glenmorangie is of paramount importance. It is a good way of sorting the boys from the men; it starts the trip full and ends the trip empty and it’s always there to warm you up from a day of hanging flies in trees.

3. Well-vetted company to help with answer 2.

4. Good coffee. You can’t trust those that don’t take their coffee drinking seriously.

5. A generic selection of flies in a fly box for when your mates raid your box (won’t name any names).

5 flies that to look at make no sense but that catch fish all the time?

1. Tequila Blob

2. Sunrise Blob

3. Fluorescent pink Blob

4. Pastel orange Blob

5. White Blob

6. ANY BLOB

5 common mistakes that most clients make?

1. Asking the guide if you “missed it” on day six.

2. KVD SPECIAL (Kevin VanDam hook set).

3. The trout strip for tigers.

4. A client suggesting mothballs to prevent holes appearing in the back of my work shirts while I’ve previously spent the day removing hooks out of my back and the shirt.

5. Fifteen false casts with a shooting head.

5 of the most difficult guiding/teaching experiences so far?

1. Firmly at the top of this list is guiding/working with a heavy dose of malaria. This season in Cameroon my dry spell came to an end and I managed to get a good

dose. I don’t remember two of the days and had to do shopping for the next set of clients in 49 point something degree Centigrade weather. Not a vibe.

2. When it rains, it pours. Inevitably, and especially in fisheries which are still being discovered, you can do everything right (moon phases, tides etc) and the fish just don’t play their part. As a guide, automatically this pressure falls on you and sometimes you don’t have the exact answer, and that perhaps is the beauty of Mother Nature.

3. Honestly, one of the most difficult things is getting clients who are not quite at the casting level you need them to be to catch fish. We often get quite a few who are completely new to fishing. This can make it tricky when you’re trying to get them to cast a 20, 40, 80ft line on a boat that’s drifting and they need to land it a few inches from a log. This is compounded when the client has big expectations.

4. Matching the energy. You have to look at a guiding season as a marathon. Pacing yourself is key as one of the biggest factors that you encounter is that every week there is a group of clients that have been looking forward to this trip for the last year… or for a lifetime. So, even if you are three months deep into the season, you have to match that energy each week.

5. Motivation: keeping clients motivated and focused when things have gone quiet.

5 of the best things you have picked up from guiding?

1. Problem solving. Considering the areas we operate in and that some are in incredibly remote areas, you need to think ahead of the f**k up that’s about to happen, before it happens and ensure that there are plans B, C, D, all the way through to Z.

2. DIY self-qualified bush engineering. Linked to problem solving, it’s all the work outside of the guiding part of the job. With African Waters, we are also in charge of managing the logistics in camp. We host, we are fully self quali-failed plumbers and electricians. A few shocks here and there and you soon know what not to do.

3. Solitude. As a guide and working in the areas we do, one has to be good at being alone, without reception or direct contact with the outside world and generally keeping the mind and body busy. This is a rewarding skill to have in a world that is obsessed with short-form stimulation.

4. An ability to match the sound of the drag made from reels to the brand… without looking.

5. Speaking to clients while having a quick power nap.

Your last five casts were to….

1. Nile perch

2. Niger barb

3. Yellowfin tuna

4. Dorado

5. Sailfish

“YOU HAVE TO LOOK AT A GUIDING SEASON AS A MARATHON”

THE VALLEY OF FLAMES

AT A REMOTE, SECRET SPOT, LEROY BOTHA AND JAZZ KUSCHKE MAKE A MEAL OF THEIR FISHING. AND LEARN SOMETHING IN THE PROCESS… OR DO THEY?

Photos. LeRoy Botha, Jazz Kuschke

LIFE OF PIE

“You ready for that pie?” I asked my regular fishing buddy LeRoy.

LeRoy is not a man who feeds all too often. He’s more of a nibbler, really, preferring to graze like a tiny red fin minnow rather than inhale anything as edible as a fourpound largemouth bass would. When he does snack, he usually keeps it fairly carb and gluten-free. The man rolls like this even on full-day treks. I’m kind of the opposite. I guess it’s a throwback to my previous life as a marathon cyclist – eat often, drink all the time.

“Pepper steak… it’s proper,” I offered, mouth half full, pastry flakes dusting my goatee and bits of gooey pie-gunk sticking to the corner of my mouth. I’d packed my usual protein bars and energy gels, hydrated on electrolyte mix. Right then, this “real” lunch felt like something beyond indulgent. I couldn’t help but marvel at the flavours. It was as if an avant-garde punk rocker of a young open-flame chef had prepared a Madagascan pepper corn-crusted fillet cooked to just past rare and paired it with twiceroasted rosemary potato wedges. All I needed was a fiveyear-old Malbec and I was in a culinary utopia.

After seven long hours in the baking valley heat, with 10km in the legs and at least a baker’s dozen bass in the books, LeRoy couldn’t resist either.

“I need that,” came his reply, eyes still fixed on the water after yet another cast off the point. “I need that right now,” he reeled up and sauntered over to where I was lounging on the bank.

Now, while they tasted as though they’d been served in a Michelin-star establishment, the pies in question were a mushy, squashed version of their former selves. Roadkill even. Sal (my way-too-kind-hearted, long-suffering wife) had brought them from a local deli the previous day – sustenance enough to fuel our climb out of the deep valley. She’d given them to me the night before as I was counting out my energy bars and filling my hydration bladder. She’d had enough of the dizzying tales of hunger and dehydration from out of the valley. From our stories of past sojourns, she knew the risks and she’d established that a pie each would provide enough complex carbs and protein to get us out, while being small enough to fit in my backpack.

The valley is close enough to home that you can sleep in your own bed and safely consume a pie purchased the previous day, but it’s remote enough that you’re going to burn a good few litres of diesel and test your bakkie’s suspension on the way in. There’s no cellphone reception except on the tallest ridges and, if you get hurt, your mate will need to organise a helicopter rescue.

It’s the kind of place where leopards aren’t shy and the kudu bulls that roam the forested gullies are three-turnsto-the-horn specimens. Once you leave the vehicle, the only path to the water is via the game trails the animals have trod.

Only those who know are allowed to go there and the precious few who do, guard the secret closely enough that those kudus will die of old age. Their eyes are among the privileged few to have witnessed the blood-red winter aloes set fire to The Kloof.

“THERE’S NO CELLPHONE RECEPTION EXCEPT ON THE TALLEST RIDGES AND, IF YOU GET HURT, YOUR MATE WILL NEED TO ORGANISE A HELICOPTER RESCUE.”

But back to the pie. The setting made it a feast. And the prelude. Not the item. Just before dining, I had landed (in quick succession) a beautiful smallmouth and a largemouth on a topwater frog creation whichw LeRoy had gifted me. It looked good enough to auction rather than to be lobbed in the middle of the blazing day. But such was the quality of the day. Those are the kinds of games you can play once you’ve stopped counting, every fly you’ve tried has worked, and you’re satiated with the number and quality of the fish and the absolute privilege of walking the valley.

“Good pie is where you’re at, bru,” LeRoy mused. Even the fish agreed.

The day didn’t start that well though. At least not for me. The first hour or so was about as good as spending half the night hugging the toilet after a bad garage pie. LeRoy picks up the story before redemption came… These are his words:

GETTING BURNT

With a view to finding a large patch of unexplored water we’d seen on our maps, I was bashing the shit out of some bundus when I came across a small, sequestered pool. It was still early in the day. We’d worked the first large bit of accessible water quickly to maximise exploration time. I was already on the board and skipping ahead as Jazz lingered to work the last few likely-looking spots.

“Jaaazz?”

“Yo?”

“You must see this cute little pool, bru!”

“Look good?”

“Tiiiiny. Could be quite amusing if there’s a fish in here!” The pool was maybe 20-odd square feet – most swimming pools are bigger – surrounded by thick bush and with no apparent way in or out.

I could almost hear Jazz trying to decide whether or not to bash through to my location when I spot something:

“Bru, bluegills! I haven’t seen bluegills in donkey’s yonks!” I dumped my gear and readied my 3-weight and dry fly, keeping an eye on the small school of ’gills. Clearly a bit of flirting going on. One Chad of a bluegill stood out and I showed him the fly. He ate it, naturally, and, naturally… I fright struck!

The bluegills scattered, Chad with my fly in his pie-hole. “Bru, wait up, can I get a bluegill just to get the hell on the board?” Jazz, laughing at his own expense and mine, made the request as I heard the cracking and bashing of bushes.

“THE VALLEY IS CLOSE ENOUGH TO HOME THAT YOU CAN SLEEP IN YOUR OWN BED AND SAFELY CONSUME A PIE PURCHASED THE PREVIOUS DAY, BUT IT’S REMOTE ENOUGH THAT YOU’RE GOING TO BURN A GOOD FEW LITRES OF DIESEL”

“Of course, bru, come, I’ll hang back…”

“Think they’ll eat a black dry?”

“Yes, bru, can’t go wrong with that!” I was getting better at this.

Jazz arrived on the opposite side of the pool, spotted the ’gills, and made a cast. They refused the damn black fly and somehow disappeared. At the same time, a sizable largemouth bass materialised less than a rod length from me, claiming a spot in the shade of an overhang. Jazz and I were visually separated at this point by a small “island” of reeds in the middle of the pool.

“Big bass, right here by me! Come smoke him, bru?” I said.

I believe very strongly in managing your expectations on a fishing trip with mates. Collaboration holds the potential for much sweeter times than competition; maybe not always but straight fact: no one likes a hog. But then I’m

not Santa either, so I would make it clear and appreciate your recognition of the fact that I didn’t think twice about letting Jazz take this shot. He flat-out deserved it.

Or did he?

“You sure, bru?”

“For defs, masekind [sweet child]. Can you see him?” At around this point, I believe the fish fever took a hold of brother Jazz.

“No, I think you’ll have to guide me, and I don’t have the right fly on,” he replied, as he started wading anxiously in my general direction.

I believe all the bass we’d taken in The Kloof so far had fallen for a particular golden Clouser Minnow, one of which I had tied onto my 6-weight. Jazz, you will recall, had a black dry fly, which in hindsight could have worked just fine.

“ONE CHAD OF A BLUEGILL STOOD OUT AND I SHOWED HIM THE FLY. HE ATE IT, NATURALLY, AND, NATURALLY…  I FRIGHT STRUCK!”

“Grab my rod, bru?” I was gonna ask if he could catch, but this is Jazz. Of course he can catch.

I javelin-launched the Scott to Jazz who was barely visible behind the grass island before he could respond in any other way than to catch it… but only just. Jump the gun, job’s done, that bass is grass. Or is it?

Meanwhile, the bass was parking cheesy, flapping his happy little pec fins in the shade.

“Can you see it? In the shade right next to me, you wanna try and pitch that fly right in under these branches.” I imagine myself in his shoes as I type this. Adding that sort of pressure so early on was a dick move, I see that now. What followed happened in slow motion and warp speed all at once. Not kidding, temporal shenanigans happened. Mistakes happened, repeatedly, as if on a loop.

Fright striking, FYI, is a majestic if somewhat inefficient hook-setting method, usually employed when you don’t expect the bite, or because you expect it too much. You either miss the fish or lose the fly, there is no other outcome. A good fright strike is all about the drama. Jazz has witnessed me fright striking more times than one should be able to forgive, so I’d wager we’ll survive this: Allow me to recount how this day, Jazz took the Art of Setting the Hook to a new and beautiful level all his own. “OK cool,” he replied, but what he was thinking was, “I don’t wanna hang this fly in that branch and spook that fish.” I know this because that’s what anyone would have thought. So, he cast short. Way short.

“A tiny bit short, bru, go… Wait, he’s coming for it!”

“Where is he?” Jazz had yet to get a fix on the target. The bass ate, held and spat out the fly. Time warps there. It is the only explanation.

“He got it!” I yelled reactively after seeing the rejection, at which point Jazz momentarily froze before sort of setting the hook.

The hookset bounced the fly, which triggered the bass into murdering it again.

“Yes, bru!” I yelped, as the bass swirled the fly around in its mouth. I realised later that saying “Strike!” would’ve been more helpful under the circumstances.

“… errr, STRIKE!” I corrected myself. The bass spat the fly, Jazz lifted the rod, but not quite hard enough, all in an order I can’t quite be sure of.

“Noooooo! How? You must hit him, bru!” I lamented, as the fish re-engaged the fly. He really dug the way Jazz was striking.

“I don’t wanna break your rod, man,” Jazz offered sincerely. He knows I love that old Scott and I’m suddenly reliving a moment some years ago when I witnessed Jazz go a new shade of green, having accidentally shit-mixed a famous guide’s new and stupidly expensive fly rod.

“Never, dude, give it to him!” I replied as the bass ate the fly a third time. Jazz responded with what I would call a beginner fright strike. Not enough drama. The hook doesn’t stick and the fish kind of spits it as you would a bug that flew into your mouth.

“Bro!” I say ‘bro’ instead of ‘bru’ when the threat level rises and my inner 90s kid wakes up. “I have fright struck the fear of Satan into more fish with that rod than I remember. It can take it!”

I didn’t have to explain any more, the fly was already swimming again, what with time doing its own thing and all that. Also, because Jazz was frantically punching short casts in an effort to locate a fish that I claimed to be suicide bombing his fly. It ate, again. I yelled “strike!” in time and Jazz hit the crap out of the fish and the fly right out of its mouth. That time it rightfully took offence and made for cover quicker than you can say “rookie mistakes”.

Now, I was seeing the humour in all of this, but Jazz had a defeated “WTF” written all over his face. He’s no rookie. He had fish fever. I could feel his pain, man.

“What the hell just happened, Jazz?… Listen. We never have to tell anyone what happened here today.” Liar, liar, Valley of Fire.

We were mumbling explanations, dumb struck, when I finally internalised the fact that Jazz had yet to see this fish and for all he knew none of this drama could be shown to have happened for any good reason. Hell, he hadn’t even felt the bites and yet, he was an emotional wreck and we were both out of breath.

So, we took a moment to calm down. And so did the bass. As I lit a reset smoke, he reappeared from under the grass island, and Jazz saw him. We peered through the fog of war. This time the presentation was spot on, the bass’s hunger no less urgent, and Jazz’s hookset, majestic. We’re freaking good at this! Or... are we?

That tiny pool had no shortage of cover, and the bass was losing its mind trying to find some.

“Pull, bru!”

“Your rod!”

“Pull hiimmm!!” By then I could barely see through the tears. I was laughing my ass off.

The bass found a beautifully thick mess to dig into, and the rod stopped bucking.

“No.” I grabbed my net and dug into the salad, and ripped it back out of what I’m guessing was a good time. I was only vaguely aware of Jazz questioning the wisdom of my actions in the background. The net came out full of bass and grass, and low and behold, right next to the bass’s mouth lay the fly Chad Bluegill had stolen a few minutes before.

“Bru?” I conveyed my wonder.

“Could… the bass have..?” Jazz, now grinning from ear to ear, is smelling what I’m stepping in.

“Let’s not speculate, masekind. But I told you it’d be amusing if there was a fish in here,” I don’t think I’ve enjoyed three minutes of fishing so much in my whole life. “Let’s get some pics of that bass. Well fished, bru.”

THE REAL PIE OF LIFE

I will never unsee that bass coming to net. And I love the story. And the way LeRoy yarns it. It was a crazy little-big moment. But then, as he’ll also tell you, accessing the bass fishing bounty in the rocky pools of the Kloof requires a touch of madness. It’s a place where you learn things about yourself as you push through dense undergrowth, overgrowth, old growth and regrowth, sweat stinging your eyes as the gnarled branches, vines and thorns conspire to skin you and devour your fly tackle.

Much like in Life of Pi, the 2012 movie directed by Ang Lee, based on the novel of the same name by Yann Martel. If you’re unfamiliar with it, the movie follows the story of a young Indian boy named Pi who survives a shipwreck and finds himself stranded on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker.

The film explores themes of survival and faith, and offers a powerful message about the resilience of the human spirit and the importance of storytelling in our lives. The movie encourages us to embrace our own beliefs and to find the courage to face the challenges that life throws our way, even if it means bundu bashing after fussy bluegills. Oh, and it tells us how important it is to eat.

“I DON’T THINK I’VE ENJOYED THREE MINUTES OF FISHING SO MUCH IN MY WHOLE LIFE. “LET’S GET SOME PICS OF THAT BASS. WELL FISHED, BRU.”

SATANIC PAPAYAS

LIKE HYENAS AND LIONS, PETER COETZEE AND TRIGGERFISH LOVE TO DO BATTLE. HAVING STUDIED HIS FRENEMIES UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL BY CATCHING THEM ALL OVER THE WORLD (AND EVEN GYOTAKU-ING ONE INTO AN ARTWORK), WHEN PETE ENCOUNTERED A BEHEMOTH YELLOW MARGIN TRIGGERFISH IN THE MALDIVES, HE WAS READY.

Photos. Peter Coetzee, Steffan Shultz

“Man, the gee tee were sa-ta-nic today!”

I can still hear the phrase coming out of Nicola’s mouth right now. I first heard the colourful, Italian, fly-fishing tour operator describe fish as “satanic” (pronounced sah-tah-niek) while sitting in the lounge of his steel catamaran off the coast of Sudan. Since then it has stuck in my fishing vocabulary.

I’d travelled to the Maldives hoping for weird things… A new parrotfish species, sweetlips, something colourful. I’d found some of those and, to my delight, healthy triggerfish numbers. My relationship with triggers can only be described as a competitive rivalry that they don’t know they’re in. I particularly enjoy setting the hook. It’s the same sort of sadistic joy I imagine they get destroying crustaceans or biting divers when they’re moody or on the nest. I play the role of the Punisher in my own little triggerfish movie. Like many great rivalries, there is a lot of love too. At least from my side. Every single trigger you will meet has a slightly different way about him, and, if I can stretch it, a different personality, something that’s quite rare among fish. If you’re a sight fisherman and you’re exposed to them enough, the trigger love will get you. They’re an octopus in a world of cuttlefish. Intelligent, cunning, curious, aggressive.

I’ll also admit that my obsession with them has led me to killing one for a gyotaku, (the Japanese art of printing fish onto rice paper). Although gyotaku involves the death of an animal, nothing will tell you more about their form. Every scale has Braille on it, two or three little spots per scale. And they have multiple different types of skin on their body. That moustache on a titan triggerfish is not just colour, it’s an entire texture difference that shows itself in a print. It may or may not surprise you that, after

spending an hour-and-a-half in a hole in the sand on some little island in Sudan, the particular unfortunate titan that I decided to print, still tried to bite me when I dug it out of the sand. I learnt that day that they can seal off their gills. I guess that’s handy if you like killing crustaceans in shallow tidal environments. The shock on the guides’ and fellow anglers’ faces when I arrived back on the mothership that day to a disgusted welcome, soon gave way to fascination as the almost four-hour long gyotaku process began. As luck would have it, the only humid day in Sudan we’d experience that trip would be this one. Preparing and pinning the fish was hell in the thick wet air. It didn’t help the bamboo paper either.

“Luck” and “triggers” are two words that generally don’t coexist in the same sentence.

My favourite Maldivian moment happened on my final day. The two-week trip had been characterised by shoddy weather and empty water in what was very much a “you should have been here in February” thing. I had known that going there in November was a risk, but I figured it would be worth it, not even thinking about the swell.

Local guide Mohamed and I had decided to spend this last day trying our luck at teasing up some wahoo. After two hours of trolling without a look on the teasers, we spotted a shoal of yellowfin tuna porpoising along. Mohamed ran ahead and cut the motors. The fish moved too quickly for us and diverged at the last second. I asked Mohamed to try to get ahead but, as he cranked, I heard the starter motor again complaining at the lack of cranking amps. It was my last day of fishing. We’d broken down the previous day and had had plenty motor trouble the day before that. On finding out that Mohamed had again forgotten to fix the issue or bring a spare battery, I went nuclear. I was about to lose my second day of fishing in a row and the last day at that. The most important day.

“‘LUCK’ AND ‘TRIGGERS’ ARE TWO WORDS THAT GENERALLY DON’T COEXIST IN THE SAME SENTENCE.”

We sat at anchor as he tried to call for help. We didn’t have enough anchor rope either and, as we drifted towards the massive reef break with an anchor dangling into the abyss, I packed everything in my waterproof pack and broke down my rods preparing for what was going to be a pretty shit swim. With over six feet of shore break dumping onto fire coral, I knew I was going to come out looking like Mick Hucknall after a bike accident. To our combined relief, the anchor caught the first patch of reef as we felt the swells. The anxiety faded. An hour or so later help did arrive and towed us into a small commercial harbour. I apologised to Mohamed for my conduct earlier, explaining my anger. I then decided to go for a walk behind the harbour, the verse about “the right way to hunt” from Hemingway’s The Green Hills of Africa running through my mind.

It was now too deep to fish any flats, the pushing tide had been fleeting, but I’d spotted the milky water off this commercial harbour on a previous run and I’d commented to my fishing buddy, Andreas, that it absolutely stank of permit. I know predators love that sort of structure for ambush and that type of water had produced so well for me before. It was a weird environment to fish. Behind me, like a scene from WALL-E , a nearly-rusted-to-death excavator lifted and dropped enormous rocks. As I fished I was flanked by various Indian gentlemen, squatting and having a chat among the very out of place pine trees on top of the boulder outcrop they’d created.

The commotion was obviously fairly regular as, seemingly undisturbed, in the channel I could make out the shape of a very large yellow margin triggerfish. It was just beyond the milky water, in the clear of the pumping current. He was clearly inspecting something on the bottom, his body cocked slightly vertical but into the current.

Some previous bad luck (losing all my leader material when a leader holder failed) meant that all I had was the very stiff 22lb hard fluoro leader Andreas had left behind when he’d returned to South Africa, and some 40lb leader. The wading in Maldives is super-deep so, a few nights earlier, I’d stuffed some Flexos with tungsten beads to get them down before triggers could spot them. I picked the heaviest of the lot, a tungsten dumbbell into which I’d stuffed 3 x 3mm tungsten beads.

Aware of this particular destination’s sensitivity to flies landing, I cast way up-current testing the sink and distance. There was a lot of current, probably six knots, and I figured the fish would never be happy with a presentation in this situation, as anything on the bottom would be tumbled along. On the second cast I managed to get it into the fish’s feeding lane. As it got close, I noticed the tailing fish level itself off in a reaction to something. It was deep water, maybe three metres, so watching the body language was not easy. I decided to do a short strip to test if the change was a result of my offering. Amazingly, the fish charged and ate straight

Above left: Pete with his ‘satanic’ Maldives yellow margin trigger. Above right and opposite page: Pete turns a sacrificial Sudanese trigger into a gyotaku artwork.

away. I set as hard as I would for a GT and held, knowing there was, at best, a very slim chance of landing the fish.

Beside the current I had to deal with, there was a series of coral heads about half a fly line off. Triggers pay attention in geography class. “Here comes trouble,” I thought, as fly line went on the reel and the fish attempted its departure. I turned the drag knob to a point I knew to be around 18lb (about 60% drag on the Hardy Fortuna x2). That’s an uncomfortable amount of drag for any fight and beyond what’s possible on any cork draw bar drag, but I knew I couldn’t let this fish stretch its legs. I held and hoped my knots would last and nothing would part. I’ve pulled triggers this hard in Kiribati, and its biggest fish had been unstoppable against 20lb leader. This Maldivian fish kept pulling bits of fly line, the reel audibly resisting with each erratic quarter turn.

I jumped up on a rock immediately to my right and got a visual. It was about three metres from its intended bunker. The tug of war was on! I couldn’t let it run any more. With the rod amusingly flat for a crab eater, I could feel the line stretch and give way and so I locked up to 30-and-some pounds. I knew the bastard was winning, but he’d have to break me off now. No more line allowed. And then my rival made a rare mistake. Sensing less resistance on his starboard, the fish shot off towards me hoping, I suspect, to get under the rock I was on. Here was his critical error. I’d been so

clumsy in leopard seal-ing myself onto said rock that the entire area in front of it was silted up beyond the normal current line, as well as the entire bay that contained me.

As my adversary entered the milky water, I could see confusion in its movements. I pulled hard to get it further into my manmade advantage and it tried two direction changes looking for clearer water. It then popped up to the surface for a look. I’ve seen big parrotfish do this as a tactic, and I know from experience that the moment is fleeting and is not the end of the fight. Yet it is an opportunity, and you can take serious advantage as they don’t get purchase from the surface. So, in a rare moment of coordination, I jumped in and netted it from underneath in a single movement. Not able to see my net in the milky water, it was an easier-than-expected death to the fight. What I saw in the net was awesome, an absolute giant of a yellow margin. Not as fat as the Kiribati fish, but long and perfect. I’ve fought my fair share of XXXL triggers, and I know how rare landing one this much bigger than normal is.

I spent the next while jumping around like a TikTok star getting some self-timer shots before a construction worker helped me with the release shots, amused at my excitement. Sitting in the water with it then, I couldn’t help but admire it. As Nicola would say, this was a truly satanic papaya. The luck I needed had finally arrived.

HIGHLAND TRIBE

GRADUATION? COMING OF AGE? CALL IT WHAT YOU WILL BUT, WHEN MATT KENNEDY TOOK THE TRIP TO HIGHLAND LODGE IN THE STORMBERG MOUNTAINS OF THE EASTERN CAPE, HE WAS LOOKING TO BE INITIATED INTO THE DOUBLE-DIGIT TROUT CLAN.

Photos. Matt Kennedy, Alex Kennedy, Andrew Kennedy, Craig Lodge

With a receding whizz, my drone carried itself away and over the glassy stillness of the morning water. Blanketed by mist and speckled with the horizontal rays of the morning light, bays and channels took shape and disappeared again as the vapour began to burn off.

My initial intentions were to get some epic footage of the Stormberg views from 300m above. However, once the drone was up and flying, it quickly turned into a fishing recce. The zone I intended surveying was a weed bed gully where another guest, Craig “Lodgey” Lodge, had caught a few decent fish the previous day. The dams at Highland Lodge are long and by day four I was tired, both literally and metaphorically, of the guessing game of where to paddle and cast next, constantly wondering if there was greener grass on the other side of the dam.

“Make a few casts! I want some cool footage!” I screamed across the empty flat water at my father, who had just launched his tube. He’d attempted the on-the-water flipper mount, an elaborate move which proved much easier on a windless morning. Once he’d complied with a few casts, I decided to scout the area where Lodgey had hauled in so many trout. As I piloted the drone closer to the water and squinted at my phone’s live feed, small flecks in the water slowly turned into larger fish-like shapes. My heart began beating in my throat. They looked like basking crocodiles. I made a quick count of around 50 fish, most of them large, wallowing in the warming topwater between the weed beds. I wanted to shout to Dad and share the intel but, while I had been dicking around with the drone, he had already set off across the dam and was out of earshot.

I made a mental map of where the fish were, retrieved the drone, jumped into my tube, and began kicking.

It depends on who you talk to, but trout stillwaters in South Africa often get given a bad rap. That’s generally because of the stereotype served up by certain trainingcamp destinations. These are the non-technical places where most of us begin our fly fishing careers. The kind of places where you’re likely to hook onto some mutant zombie stockie.

Further up the ladder are the manicured, private, trophy waters of places like Dullstroom in Mpumalanga, South Africa’s stillwater trout Mecca. Having grown up with our family’s own little go-to concession in the greater Middelpunt, Dullstroom area, I have always had a soft spot for the area and the fishing it offers. From the smell of dry grass and smoking chimneys in the winter, to crisp air, clear skies and a mandatory visit to the fly shop, it’s a place loaded with traditions and sensory triggers. In fact, I start itching if an annual Dullies trip isn’t on the cards. Weekend visits to these waters have always been a simple proposition – easy fishing on the banks of a weir,

tossing thick leaders to trout that may have originally been raised on dog pellets, but in time graduate into streamersmashing opportunists. It’s relatively easy fishing, but it has its place and I get immense joy from these trips.

Coming from a tribe of stillwater trout folk, I have fun memories of kicking around with my brothers in those old school donut float tubes, looking like a tribe of Mini-Mes wearing neoprene waders like our dad. As we grew more accomplished on our home waters, we were more fully kitted out with our own rods, fly jackets, tech-clothing, and float tubes. From family holiday to family holiday, we racked up experience in various stillwaters from Mpumalanga to parts of KwaZulu-Natal and later, the Eastern Cape. These trips included fisheries in the Rhodes/Maclear area and, eventually, a visit to Highland Lodge.

I first went there with my family in the winter of 2018. I’ll never forget the cold winds, icicles forming on my rod guides and the layers upon layers of Merino wool and willy warmers necessary to cope with the elements. That trip yielded only one or two fish between us – although they were big and strong enough for us to be content when calling it a day. It was on that trip that the top tier of the South African stillwater trout hierarchy was firmly established for me. I’d only had a taste of what the Eastern Cape, and Highland Lodge specifically, could offer, but I was blown away. The pedigree of a wild-grown fish offered something no stocked fish ever could. Sure, a stockie puts a bend in your rod, but a wild four-year-old fish with attitude, battle scars and tales to tell, is a different animal. I recall leaving that holiday feeling giddy and spooked at the same time, bothered by a sense of unfinished business.

“I MADE A MENTAL MAP OF WHERE THE FISH WERE, RETRIEVED THE DRONE, JUMPED INTO MY TUBE, AND BEGAN KICKING.”

Fast forward a few years and my father and I are rigging up on the banks of Greywing Dam, one of a handful of stillwaters of varying sizes available to visitors at Highland Lodge. While their dams are bolstered by seasonal stockings, the majority of the fish survive the warmer summers, and continue growing naturally.

“What worked last time?” I asked as we made our way up the 4x4 route to the dam. His advice, as always, was to keep it simple – an atomic worm trailing behind a filoplume dragonfly is the go-to.

Through the secondhand telling of my dad’s fishy tales, I’d been obsessing over these trips that Frontier Fly Fishing (Tom Lewin and co) hosted, although I’d never been old or capable enough to tag along. My older brother got to go the year before (with a lot of success). Now, as I was on

a break during my postgraduate studies, it was my turn. It felt incredible that, in 10 hours, we’d teleported from the buzzing chaos of Jo’burg into an ethereal realm of wild trout and wilder views. In place of the city’s constant sirens, alarms, and steady rumble of traffic, now squadrons of wild ducks whistled by, a silent raptor circled overhead while a black-headed heron fished on the bank and a herd of black wildebeest sprinted along the hillside away from us.

Seeing as we were the first to arrive, Tom phoned ahead and encouraged us to suit up and get in an afternoon of fishing. On these trips Tom is sort of a guide, but arguably, technically, more of a host as, unless he sits on your float tube and whispers sweet nothings into your ear, the nature of stillwater trout fishing makes it difficult for anyone to really guide you into fish. Left to our own devices we chose to pursue the wilder of the waters –

Seasoned Highland Triber Alex Kennedy releases a stonkingly strong rainbow.

Greywing – a smaller dam fit only for two anglers who won’t get on one another’s nerves. We blanked that first afternoon, but nothing could dampen our spirits as we returned to the lodge looking forward to a few beers. Introductions completed, ice broken, and blokes showered and fed, we were able to settle comfortably into a night of banter. The group consisted of a handful of successful, middle-aged businessmen, along with Tom and a mild-mannered gap year student (me). Some of the guys had previously toured together while the rest of us made quick work of becoming buddies. Of everyone there, I was the odd one out, by age, by tech (sporting a drone and a camera), by virtue of me having long hair (as opposed to very little) and because I could not contribute to stories of military conscription from way back when. Regardless of our differences, we were all united by the almost eight hours of fishing per day over the four days that lay ahead.

While the control freak/mild-arsonist in me took control over the fire, everyone connected over fishing talk. Every angler’s goal appeared to be to catch a trophy similar to the taxidermy cock fish floating above the mantlepiece. Pictures were being passed around showing off previous records at the lodge and everyone seemed obsessed with the idea of hooking into a double-digit trout. Anything above 10lb meant automatic entry to a distinguished club. The club did not have a name, a membership card, a secret handshake or any obvious benefits, yet it stirred up something in me. To take on the boomers and strike a blow for Gen Z? Not really. I was simply determined to come away with something to brag about, a personal record of sorts, either in size or number of trout caught. So that next time I landed up at a lodge amid grizzled veterans I’d have a war story of my own.

“ON THESE TRIPS TOM IS SORT OF A GUIDE, BUT ARGUABLY, TECHNICALLY, MORE OF A HOST AS, UNLESS HE SITS ON YOUR FLOAT TUBE AND WHISPERS SWEET NOTHINGS INTO YOUR EAR, THE NATURE OF STILLWATER TROUT FISHING MAKES IT DIFFICULT FOR ANYONE TO REALLY GUIDE YOU INTO FISH.”

Tom Lewin of Frontier Fly Fishing with a big cock fish.

Double digit rainbows are a menu standard at Highland Lodge.

I felt like the chances of this happening were pretty good, because Highland Lodge is known for having big fish –beeeg fish. It resides in the catchment of some of the cleanest, most nutritious, monster-trout growing waters you can find. You could easily hook onto a trophy fish. They can grow at a rate of 3lb per year and a four-year-old trout will grow up to 12lb. These fish get big because they eat big, so you don’t need to be subtle in your fly choice. Fish a juicy dragonfly, or a San Juan Worm even, because they feed on whatever bulk food sources they can find –massive dragonfly nymphs, tadpoles and platannas, and a myriad other nutritious things. That said, as a repeat visitor to Highland Lodge, my dad has had the time to experiment and one of his greatest thrills each trip is to land a fish on one of his size-16 Zaks. While he likes to remind me that, “You see, they don’t just want fat Woolly Buggers,” all of our fish on this trip were caught on dragonflies.

The next few days passed by in a flash and my gung-ho confidence was somewhat tempered by countless hours of kicking and casting for little reward. When you pay to fish, it can start to feel less like a holiday and more like a nine-to-five job. “Here are your hours, this is what’s expected, now make the most of the time.” Being on the water for that long, a figure-eight retrieve becomes as natural as breathing. Hours of casting and retrieving are

punctuated by speculative fly swaps, location changes, and leg stretches to ease the ache of constant butterfly kicks. Have you ever experienced bipolar weather? Like gentle zephyrs blowing over Bernard’s Dam, gusted by gale-force winds that could last for hours. Kick as much as you want, your body and float tube’s wind resistance are not unlike that of a Dutch frigate, with the topsail of a peak cap constantly threatening to fly off.

Over days two and three we had each caught a few fish on the various dams, casting into the margins where weed met deeper waters, just a handful of 6-9lb fish, varying in sex and species. Some anglers came home with stories of smashing a dozen fish – Dad and I would give each other the eyebrow and wonder what we were doing wrong. The encroaching twilight meant that you had given it your all, and being off the water came as a relief. We’d pack our wet gear away, stow the float tubes on the roof and head to HQ, where the beer of a lifetime awaited. Once off the water we’d all congregate at the house, mouths watering as the catering ladies dished up our dinner. Sometimes we would all be on time, although often the hardcore headlamp anglers needed excusing. The stereotypical fireside tales included all manner of profanities, sharing of exotic whiskeys and wines, and ending in the dam allocations for the next morning’s fishing.

“SURE, A STOCKIE PUTS A BEND IN YOUR ROD, BUT A WILD FOUR-YEAR-OLD FISH WITH ATTITUDE, BATTLE SCARS AND TALES TO TELL, IS A DIFFERENT ANIMAL.”

By the evening of day three, the pressure of being without a decent catch was making me desperate. Around the fire that night Tom told a story about his experience boat-fishing for golden dorado in Argentina. Due to the slippery-when-wet decks and burning sun, Tom wears socks on board when he fishes. After several tough days, in order to win over the fishing gods, he had a bright idea and decided to swap his ergonomic socks around – left sock on right foot, and right sock on left foot – in the hopes of generating some luck. The locals thought it was ludicrous but Tom caught a big dorado that day, and was convinced it was due to the sock swapping. Seated on my single bed on the fourth and final morning, a desperate thought clicked in the superstitious portion of my brain. I was praying to the fishing (and sock) gods that my luck would turn as I swapped my worn L-R fuzzy socks and crossed my fingers before heading out.

That morning started off slowly despite the promising drone scout only hours before. I was closing in on the aforementioned gully, itching to sink my intermediate line and start stripping. Finally, after a long cast into one of the fishier-looking weed banks, there were a few knocks and I was on. That feeling of a bent rod never gets old. Electricity shot through my bones, and I started ticking off my mental boxes – check drag, palm the reel, let the fish run, put my back to the wind and keep kicking. A key part of fighting a fish while on a float tube is to untether your boat from the anchor line, as instructed by my dad over many years, and repeated by Tom on this trip.

The anchor line is kept afloat by a small bicoloured buoy, to help with relocation at a later stage. This stage was completed successfully – its primary goal being to prevent any messy line wraps with the tow line. Unfortunately, and unintentionally, I often skip steps and, on this occasion,

I focused on getting my net ready before the fight was even over. This faffing lead to a lapse in line management and the fish ran between my legs and under the tube. Trying to fight a fish, bending my rod underwater, folding myself into a pretzel to get my flipper underneath the rod to fight the fish straight on again, led to an explosively silent gnoef… And the fish was off. Dad’s soft chirp from nearby, “Jeez buddy, come on man,” boiled my blood. His irritation is always that of a passionate guide who want you to do well and gets angry when the basics are ignored. I knew this but had to cool down myself. The frustration was building.

Eventually we had made our way to the spot I had surveyed earlier – the spot. I knew to fish from a distance, but each failed retrieve further numbed my hopes of hooking into any of those busses I had seen hours before. Water levels were so high at this time of year, that parts of the barbed wire fencing were submerged, along with the fringes of grass tussocks surrounding the dam. Desperately trying to keep my back cast off the water, with one glorious cast I was able to extend my whole line into this sunken grassy goodness. Allowing the fly to sink, I was not even halfway through my counting and I was on. Every mental box was checked off in an instant, and I was able to net a rugby ball of a hen, 11lb on the scale, and my biggest trout yet. Dad, always in earshot, was able to assist, and the trip was made for both of us.

Now it was all about how to break it to the veterans back at the lodge that the long-haired laaitie with the drone had triumphed first in the unspoken double-digit challenge. Once I showed them the drone footage and the fish, it was funny how even the most ardent fly-fishing traditionalists among them seemed to be kicking towards that corner of Bernard’s Dam that afternoon.

“I WAS ABLE TO NET A RUGBY BALL OF A HEN, 11LB ON THE SCALE, AND MY BIGGEST TROUT YET.”

Matt Kennedy with a butter ball hen that tipped the 10lb mark.

THE 4TH PERMIT

IN SEARCH OF TRACHINOTUS AFRICANUS (AKA THE FOURTH PERMIT), OLIVER WHITE AND JAKO LUCAS WENT TO OMAN. THEY CAME AWAY WITH A NEW PERMIT BOX TICKED, A DIFFERENT WAY OF FISHING EXPERIENCED, AND A FILM (NOW ON THE F3T CIRCUIT).

Photos. Austin Coit, Hayden Dobbins

“THEY’RE DIRTY, DOGGED, BULLETSHAPED FIGHTERS THAT HAVE A LOT OF STAMINA.”

Depending on where you live, you’ll probably have different ideas of what counts as a permit. There’s Atlantic permit, Trachinotus atlanticus, which if you’re from North America, Central America or the Caribbean is what will come to mind when permit are mentioned. If you’re from South Africa, the Seychelles, Oman, Australia, or elsewhere across the Indian and Pacific Oceans, there’s a good chance you’ll think of an Indo-Pacific permit, Trachinotus blochii. More recently, other species of permit like the Trachinotus anak, found in the tropical waters of northern Australia, have had their status as legit permit targets solidified by permit fly fishing nuts from all over the world.

There are many variants and sub-species from the greater permit/pompano clan that have claims before the court of public permit opinion. Take for example Trachinotus mookalee aka Indian permit, and Trachinotus maxillosus aka Guinea permit, but they are caught too infrequently and too little is known about them for a solid case to be made. Perhaps the last addition to the confirmed/legit/ viable target permit list is Trachinotus africanus. Found along the Omani coast, where it overlaps in range with the blochii, the africanus has been targeted for years by veteran DIY saltwater fly anglers and a few Middle Eastbased operators.

After successfully adding the anak to their species tick list while filming Glorious Bastards in Australia a few years ago, it made sense that globetrotting guides Oliver White and Jako Lucas would be drawn to Oman to target the africanus, aka the fourth permit. There, they teamed up with local experts Nick Bowles, Stu Webb, and the rest of the Ocean Active crew (oceanactivefly.com). The film from that trip, 4 of a Kind, is currently playing on the Fly Fishing Film Tour (F3T) circuit. We caught up with Oliver and Jako to find out a bit more about this fishery.

“WE WERE FISHING FROM THE BOAT IN THE SWELL, UP ON THE ROCKS AND WE WENT AND WALKED SOME BEACHES LOOKING FOR CRUISING FISH.”

“YOU WANT TO BE TIGHT ENOUGH THAT YOU CAN FEEL, BUT LOOSE ENOUGH THAT IT LOOKS REAL”

The Mission: So how did the trip and the film come about?

Jako: With all the destinations and species available in the world now, a lot of it’s been done. So now it’s about putting more challenges out there. For us the challenge has gone from trying to just catch one permit, which is a Holy Grail in itself, to catching four different species of permit. The africanus has become this legitimate permit target species.

Oliver: On my first trip to Oman I saw three Indo-Pacific permit and caught two. I never saw an africanus, but the success we had was really encouraging and it was one of the most stunning, aesthetic places I’ve ever seen. Finally, after I made it to Australia, Jako and I each had our IndoPacific, our Atlantic, and our anak. Now the justification was there to go back to Oman and grind it out for that africanus. That was the premise for the film – going back to Oman, looking for the fourth permit. We pitched it to a bunch of people and Costa jumped on board.

TM: What’s the fishery like compared to other places you’ve fished for permit?

Oliver: So part of what makes it so productive in Oman is that the cliffs come right to the ocean with all these rocks at the bottom of the cliff, and then there’s this huge two metre swell. When the swell comes up, the fish move up onto the rock to feed, and you’ll see them tailing on the beds as the water’s receding. Sometimes they even get stuck up there and flop back off. So we were trying to cast a mussel or crab fly up into the top of the swell and

then tumbling the fly down. The idea is to wash a crab or a mussel into the surf zone. You want to be tight enough that you can feel, but loose enough that it looks real. It is fucking weird, man.

Jako: It’s pretty dramatic, with these big cliffs and waves crashing onto the rocks and the mussel beds. Unlike the other permit that behave the same way, cruising and tailing around turtle grass flats or on the sand, these ones feed very differently. You have to go on a specific tide when the waves are crashing over the mussel beds. Using the waves to their advantage, these fish take the opportunity to wash up onto the mussel beds and feed. Sometimes the water goes out too quick and fish are left flopping on the rocks for a moment. It’s wild to see how committed they are to getting the food they’re looking for.

TM: In terms of their behaviour, what else did you notice about the africanus?

Oliver: When we found them, they were generally in a group, but there was inconsistency. We saw tailing fish right up on the rocks. We would also see them swimming around in the swell. We hooked fish that we just saw floating in deep water. The camera guy went swimming with a mask on, got out of the water and was like, “There’s a whole bunch of fish over there.” There was nothing going on, nothing indicating that we should be fishing there, they were just floating around. We dropped a fly in front of them and they came over and ate it. They’re... different.

TM: How do they fight compared atlanticus , blochii and anak ?

Oliver: The fish aren’t that big, but they’re really strong. The way they fight and the fact that they’re often in a deeper water, having the backbone of a 10-weight is really kind of nice. Nick recommended 10-weights, but I fished nines. When you do go tight, you’re pulling the fish away from the rocks and they’re just coming along as you’re stripping in and it’s like, no big deal. Then you get them 15 feet away and they suddenly figure it out. Then they become badasses, man. They go straight down into stuff. You break a lot of fish off because it felt like nothing’s happening. It’s a full-speed transition. It’s pretty nuts.

Jako: That was definitely the strangest thing for me, how every single time we hooked one, it would come towards us so easily. It’s almost like they lull you into a false sense of security. Then suddenly, as if they got one big scoop of fresh air, they wake up and then just go down and try take you straight to the rocks. There’s a lot of rocks, mussels, and old fish traps down there. Until that fish is in the net, they will go for structure, go down and use the side of their bodies. You can see on the ones that you land how they have been feeding and fighting. They are silver, but you can see all the scrape

marks down their bodies. They’re dirty, dogged, bulletshaped fighters that have a lot of stamina. Definitely up there with other permit species for a fight.

TM: Do they get big?

Jako: They are comparable to the blochii . Nick and the guys have landed africanus up to like 22 pounds – a bus! One of the guys took 45 minutes to land a fish. I can see that if they stay down it could take a while. You have to really pull on those things.

TM: Did you see the blochii ?

Oliver: We did, but not necessarily overlapping in the same place. It was a similar dynamic to what I had seen in Oman in the past, in that when we found white sand, we found Indo-Pacific permit on that. We didn’t catch any, but we saw them.

Jako: For the most part you’ll find blochii on beaches, which shows you the different feeding patterns of the two permit. I don’t think we saw a single blochii feeding on the mussel beds. It wasn’t quite vice versa. We did see some africanus near the beach when the tide was out. It was almost like they were kind of waiting for the tide to come back in so they could go back and feed. That was the only time we saw them cruising around closer to the

“WE WERE GETTING FUCKING ROCKED IN THE SURF, BARRELLED OVER.”

beach. There are places in Oman where you can catch them from the beach, but I believe for that to happen there needs to be mussel beds in the area. My friend and client John Snipes caught a few africanus from the beach, but the permit were chasing sardines into the beach. So they might be a little bit more predatory than other permit in that sense because I know guys catch them on these silver plugs too. Maybe when they’re in the mussel and oyster beds, they zone in on that and when the big sardines are around, then they just go after those.

TM: Was this trip a combo of boat and beach-based fishing?

Oliver: We did a couple of different things. We were fishing from the boat in the swell, up on the rocks and we went and walked some beaches looking for cruising fish. The beach is a lot of fun and a lot more challenging, because there’s monster surf. The fish are on the other side of it and you’re trying to get out there and make a cast over the surf. We were getting fucking rocked in the surf, barrelled over.

Jako: We did some beach stuff where if you’re not there on the right tide you can walk a long way without seeing shit. I think Oman is almost like Gabon where it’s a beautiful, cool fishery, but you’re going to grind if you don’t know what you’re doing. DIY fishing in remote parts of Oman is only for a select few. The africanus are pretty tricky to get to because of the high cliffs. You need a boat, but this is not like Florida where anyone can pitch up and attempt it. You need local knowledge. We did a bit of research beforehand, but we relied on Nick, Stu, and the Ocean Active guys for all the information. They have it figured out. Nick’s been there for two decades or more. I think when Stu, one of the Alphonse Fishing Co guides, started working with Nick, he was definitely pivotal in figuring out which fly to use, the technique, and all that stuff.

TM: Without giving away too many state secrets, what can you tell us about the most successful flies?

Jako: The Ocean Active guys are obviously a bit guarded about the techniques that they figured out and for good reason, because they have these fish dialled. But I can say that they went from using crab flies a lot to using more imitative mussel flies. There was this specific one that Stu tied called the Love Mussel. Like the Alphlexo crab for the Seychelles where you went from catching fish here and there to catching lots more fish, it was a complete game changer. It was so dramatic how the africanus were feeding on it. We tried with other flies, but to be honest we didn’t get one fish to eat the crabs. It worked so well that at one stage we had one Love Mussel left and Oliver and I would just take turns. He would catch one and then give me the fly and then I’d get one and give him the fly back.

SHOP THE MISSION

SUNNIES

Oliver wore the Costa Santiago with Green Mirror lenses. costadelmar.com

Jako wore the Costa Ferg with Green Mirror lenses. costadelmar.com

REELS

Oliver fished the Nautilus NVG, which is no longer in production. The newer model is the Nautilus CCF-X2 nautilusreels.com

Jako fished the Mako 9550. makoreels.com

RODS

Oliver fished the G.Loomis NRX+ S 9-weight. gloomis.com

Jako fished a prototype rod he can’t talk about.

LINES

Oliver used the Scientific Anglers Sonar Saltwater Intermediate scientificanglers.com

Jako fished the Cortland Intermediate Tropic Plus Series cortlandline.com

TOP TIP

Oliver: Something that I think was really important is that we fished intermediate lines, or at least a line with a 15-foot intermediate tip. We had a lot more success breaking that surface tension with an intermediate. They happened to be clear lines, but I don’t think that made a difference. I really just think because there was so much turbulence going on, it was about getting through that.

Jako: You’re fishing in such a big wash that if you had a floating line, it’ll lessen the connection you have with the fly. Whereas with the intermediate lines, you seem to be more connected to where the fly is and feel every single thing that’s going on.

TROUT BOXING

WE SENT LEONARD FLEMMING OFF TO TACKLE AFRICAN WATERS’ INAUGURAL BOKONG FLYATHLON WITH A CLEAR BRIEF: CATCH ALL THE FISH, DRINK ALL THE BEER, CRUSH THE OPPOSITION, WIN THE RACE. FIGHTING ALTITUDE, EGO AND A FIELD OF TRAILRUNNING RACING SNAKES, IT DIDN’T GO QUITE AS PLANNED.

LESOTHO

Photos. Leonard Flemming, Michelle Flemming, Mark Murray, Riley Meyer, Keith Clover, Aiden Du Preez, Tyler Horne, Pete Jacobs, Sarah Drew

Iglanced over the slippery cliff edge and for a moment entertained one of those fleeting suicidal thoughts that tend to come packaged with precarious heights.

“I can’t breathe…”

“My whole body is aching.”

“I’m defeated.”

“I may as well... jump.”

Brains do weird things when exhausted. While enduring the worst muscle cramps I’ve ever had from running, I guess my brain went into gallows-humour mode but, the truth, is I did feel absolutely finished. While I am used to hiking long distances in the Western Cape mountains to reach relatively untouched waters, jogging nearly continuously for 20km in the thin air of the Lesotho Highlands (with a dad bod) was evidently a completely different ballgame. Altitude was taking its toll. The lack of oxygen gave me muscle spasms and had me panting like a dog chasing feral pigs.

Speaking of pigs, I was no longer worried about the main pig, a chap called Aidan du Preez, who had received special mention during the briefing the previous evening. You see, Aidan is an ichthyologist who works at one of the trout farms on Katse Dam, which the Bokong flows into. Tipped as the favourite, he had been training hard for this endurance fest by running and riding his bike in the surrounding mountains, so he was used to the altitude and familiar with the terrain. Being a fish scientist and a keen fly fisherman from a farm in the Eastern Cape, he was clearly also a clever fishy guy. Everyone considered him to be the main threat and the man to box out with a clever game plan.

THE INAUGURAL BOKONG FLYATHLON

Where: African Waters’ Makhangoa Community Camp, Bokong River, Lesotho

What: A 20km trail run (the initial five-hour period was extended to six hours during the briefing) next to the Bokong River and participants had to catch at least one fish during the run to qualify (maximum of three fish allowed, of which the length in cm would be deducted from the participant’s running timaze) and drink beer at the end of the race. The concept of combining trail running, fly fishing and drinking beer was born in the States: www. runningrivers.org/flyathlon.

Why: Flyathlon events are used to raise funds to improve river and trail projects. The Makhangoa Community Camp Flyathlon was arranged by African Waters to raise funds for rebuilding a footbridge for school children and community members to safely cross the Bokong River.

On the subject of boxing, it probably makes sense to explain the challenges inherent in an event like this because, make no mistake, a flyathlon is no simple race. A bit like the bizarre mash-up sport of chess boxing where opponents take each other on in alternate rounds of chess and boxing, this race would require both extreme physical exertion (boxing/trail running) and calm, strategic thinking (chess/fly fishing for selective fish). And, of course, nutrition (beer).

By the time I found myself on that cliff I was, however, no longer on Aidan’s back. Like an angry wild boar running away from catch dogs, Aidan was already kilometres ahead of us and I was certain that he’d be the match winner. However, the day before the race, Aidan wasn’t the only competition I’d identified.

There was the boss man, African Waters’ Keith Clover, a marathon athlete, who entered himself and his two pointers into the flyathlon. A bunch of Keith’s trail-running mates from the town of Hilton had also tagged along to Lesotho, and they were all as slim as salmonids and keen fly fishers. Talk about stiff competition!

While there were clearly tough competitors to knock out in the group of runners, I was confident that my choice of pools and knowledge of trout and yellowfish could still come in handy and give me somewhat of a competitive advantage. Afterall, one had to catch at least one fish to qualify for the standings and there was potential to ‘weigh in’ with three fish (photographed with your cellphone next to a tape measure) that could give a lucky fisherman the lead.

Before driving to Lesotho from my home in the Western Cape, I had spent the greater part of my last working day checking out all the big pools on Google Earth. While plotting out the trail online, I found a series of deep cascades about halfway up the designated route. There were four big pools fairly close to each other in this stretch of river and from the dark colour of the water on the satellite image, it was evident that some of them were also lekker deep. Perfect water to hold yellowfish and big trout, or so I thought.

I was wrong. When Michelle, my wife, and I stood next to the pools during the race there were only tiny rainbow trout rising all over the place. We caught a small rainbow each to get off the mark and then started moving up, scratching for bigger fish, only to find Keith and his pointers were already just upstream of us on one of the juiciest-looking pools of the lot. “Bloody bastard!” I said, pointing him out to Michelle. Finding the boss man there, at least I knew we were on good water. The previous day we had caught several big rainbow trout further downstream on the Bokong yet, weirdly enough, during the race and in fact for the entire field of the flyathlon, no yellows or big trout were caught. So it turned into a tiny trout boxing match.

While gasping for air, we still had to formulate our strategy. Do we make a quick move to prevent a check mate position for both of us? Do we risk taking the time to try to find and catch big fish or do we leave the water immediately and finish the race? My fish sense kicked in and I realised that the big fish were simply not on the bite that day and that it would be a wise move to rather push on with the running part of the equation.

We trudged up a steep hill to find the footpath, which seemed more like an animal trail in places, and headed on to the 10km turning point with heavy feet. This is when I could feel things start to go wrong with my legs. I continued to jog down descending sections with Michelle right on my tail, but I had to stop frequently, gasping for air, when marching uphill.

After downing a cold Coke at the guide’s station on the halfway mark, we turned onto the home stretch. About 5km from the finish line we passed one of the African Waters guides on horseback who said, “Keep it up, you guys are just behind Aidan.” Surprised by our position in the race, we pushed a little harder to try to make up some ground.

But then my right leg locked in an untimely fashion, like a telescopic landing net. I sat down in the footpath. Michelle stopped next to me and like a true partner and supportive teammate she tried to motivate me to get up and continue running. “I’m not leaving you here like this!” she said in a determined voice, almost scolding me for telling her to leave me to sulk in peace.

“GO! Just go, otherwise both of us will be dead last,” I scolded back, hoping that she’d actually listen to me for a change.

Surprised and a little heartbroken, I watched my wife turn her back on me and continue running. She got the message and with the bigger picture in mind (her own survival in the race), left me to die like a survivor abandoning their injured climbing partners on K2. I tried to get up and walk the steep hill but stalled close to the top with both legs cramping up on a narrow, slippery section of the path above a cliff face. I was in a proper stalemate situation.

“I GOT THE PRIZE FOR THE PERSON WITH THE MOST CRAMPS AND, WITH THAT, A NEW SCIENTIFIC ANGLERS FLY LINE, THREE SPOOLS OF TIPPET MATERIAL, AND A BOX OF ANTI-CRAMP TABLETS.”

That’s when I peered over the edge of the cliff with mildly suicidal thoughts. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, a chap called Pete Jacobs came shunting past me.

‘Whaaaat de faaaaark?’ I thought as he trotted up the hill like a Basotho pony. As he said, “Good luck mate! Crikey, this run is tough.” I watched him glide past Michelle ahead of me and I understood that I was in deep trouble. With both my legs cramping, which was making me walk like a stickman, I realised people were clearly catching up. The last two and a half kilometres left of the race suddenly looked impossible.

With no drinking water left in my hydration bladder, a dry mouth and pain coursing through my body (and my ego), I eventually wobbled up the last hill before the Makhangoa Community Camp and finished behind Michelle. The cold Maluti Lagers at the end of the race were a welcome refresher and provided much needed electrolytes. While I knew Michelle had won the ladies’ division, I was content just to finish the trout boxing match.

At the dinner/prizegiving, everyone was very surprised that Pete, a trail runner/spearfisherman/fly fisherman from Durban, had beaten Aidan. Pete managed to catch three sizeable rainbows which gave him the edge as their collective length in centimetres deducted enough minutes from his running time to box Aidan out of first place. Talk about a dark horse snatching the win!

Regardless of placings, nearly all participants received a prize at this event. I got the prize for the person with the most cramps and, with that, a new Scientific Anglers fly line, three spools of tippet material, and a box of anticramp tablets. The tablets came in very handy the next day, which was spent with Michelle fishing upstream of camp when some beautiful smallmouth yellowfish and trout that had been hiding during the race made an appearance.

“WITH BOTH MY LEGS CRAMPING, THE LAST TWO AND HALF KILOMETRES LEFT OF THE RACE LOOKED IMPOSSIBLE”

SHOP THE MISSION

CTS - AFFINITY X 590

This rod built by Derek Smith is an absolute brute of a rod. It has a fast action, and the 5-weight is well suited to punching out line in places like the Lesotho Highlands and New Zealand. It makes perfect sense that it was developed in NZ, where you will experience sketchy weather and may need to cast in windy conditions. It really performed well with the Airflo Superflo Elite weight-forward 5 floating line and it certainly helped me to present a fly at fair distances to spooky yellowfish that were typically feeding on the far bank of pools. I can really recommend this combo for larger rivers in South Africa. Even the 5-weight CTS had enough backbone to land good size fish quickly. ctsfishing.com

EPIC - 590C

Also built by Derek Smith, this Epic blank is very forgiving, a slower rod than the CTS Affinity X, for instance, but that helps with delicate and accurate presentations in calm conditions. It seems to correct a poor casting stroke, helping to throw a beautiful loop on almost every cast and is a real pleasure to fish with. I imagine that it would be very well suited to sight fishing at fish cruising the margins of stillwaters or for more delicate presentations with a dry fly on larger rivers, like the Bokong on a calm day. epicflyrods.com

SALOMAN - SENSE RIDE 4 (men’s) salomonsports.co.za

MERRELL - MTL LONG SKY 2 (women’s) salomonsports.co.za

FROM THE BASOTHO PONY’S MOUTH

OSPREY - TALON 11

The Osprey Talon 11 hydration pack with 2.5L bladder (men’s) and Camelbak Rogue Light Hydration Pack (women’s) adventureinc.co.za

AIRFLO

Airflo Superflo Elite WF5F with Airflo Copolymer 9 ft 4X tapered leader. airflofishing.com

We asked South Africa’s most successful trail runner, Ryan “Hedgie” Sandes, for advice on tackling a race of this nature. Sandes’s track record is insane. He was the first competitor to win all of the sevenday 250km self-supported 4 Deserts Ultramarathon Series (Atacama, Gobi, Sahara and Antarctica). He also won the Western States 100, set various FKTs (fastest known times) including a section of the Great Himalayan Trail and the Drakensberg Traverse. Oh ja... Last year he and Ryno Griesel circumnavigated Lesotho on foot. Here’s his advice.

1. Wear long socks to protect your lower legs when bundu bashing.

2. Running in a Lesotho river valley could mean rock-hopping so, if living near the coast, train on the beach and coastal environment, and do plyometric exercises to get your legs strong for uneven, rocky terrain.

3. Do some interval training by varying the intensity of training to get used to getting the heart rate up and down.

4. Get used to training in a steep environment and strap ankles that give you grief or take some tape along just “in case”.

5. I can imagine those Lesotho river valleys can get quite hot so do some “heat training”. Train midday or even in a sauna if you can.

6. Be careful of the river water. I wouldn’t drink it. Have a bit of a nutrition strategy by making sure you take electrolytes and stay hydrated.

LATEST RELEASES SALAD BAR

PATAGONIA - WOMEN’S SWIFTCURRENT EXPEDITION ZIP-FRONT WADERS

Designed by women for women, Patagonia’s Swiftcurrent Expedition Zip-Fronts are built with Patagonia’s industry-leading 100% recycled fabrics. They’re exceedingly comfortable, designed to fit women’s bodies better, and provide exclusive, for-women-only features. With a gusseted crotch, sock-like anatomical booties, and adjustable top hem, wading belt and suspenders, finding an individualised fit for every body shape is uncomplicated and quick. A waterproof front zipper makes everything more accessible and comfortable, and the waist-mounted, quick-release suspenders convert the waders from full-length to waist-highs. The rear-buckle drop-seat system means no more awkward, dangling straps during bathroom breaks. Other features include removable knee pads for fish-releasing comfort, two soft hand-warmer pockets, and two stash pockets – all with waterproof zips. An interior, flip-out waterproof pocket keeps phones and keys dry, and rock-resistant scuff guards at the ankles boost durability. patagonia.com

REDINGTON - WRANGLER TROUT KITS

While mixing and matching reels, rods and lines can be a cool part of your fly fishing journey, there’s something incredibly reassuring when you know that what you’re getting is perfectly balanced, because it is part of a kit that an R&D team put together. Redington’s new Wrangler kits come in a range of models from Pond to Trout, Bass, Salmon and Salt, and in South Africa Xplorer Fly Fishing is stocking the Trout version. What you get is 1) a 9-foot 5-weight medium-fast action Wrangler rod that presents dry flies with precision but can handle nymphs, buggers, and indicator fishing with aplomb; 2) a Redington Crosswater reel with durable composite frame and carbon disc drag; 3) a RIO Mainstream 5-weight line, a RIO Powerflex Plus 4x tapered leader, and sturdy dacron backing. It all comes with a durable nylon carrying case and a lifetime warranty on the rod. farbank.com, xplorerflyfishing.co.za

ORVIS - HY-FLOTE FLY DIP

You can pre-treat your flies with Orvis’s Hy-Flote Fly Dip or take the bedraggled fly you have been fishing with great success all day and revive it with a quick dunk. Fish-safe and low smell, think of this as a magic potion and your flies as Asterix and Obelix gearing up to annihilate the Romans. orvis.com, flyfishing.co.za

“DESIGNED TO FIT WOMEN’S BODIES BETTER, AND PROVIDE EXCLUSIVE, FOR-WOMEN-ONLY FEATURES”

“TAKE THE FLY YOU HAVE BEEN FISHING AND REVIVE IT WITH A QUICK DUNK”

HERMIT COMPANY - PALMER HAND VISE

As handy as Mrs Palmer and her five daughters, the Palmer Hand Vise from the Hermit Company is a delightfully niche product for a niche (on-location fly tying) within a niche (fly tying) within a niche (fly fishing). Compact and ultralight at only 90g, it was designed to enable you to tie flies regardless of the place. It features a custom front-adjustment bolt to make more space for your fingers and allow left-handed tiers to tie more easily. Bankside with a very specific mayfly hatch on the go (one that you lack any suitable flies for)? Sorted. In traffic with time to burn? Who needs radio? hermitcompany.com

SCIENTIFICFLY - PREMIUM RANGE

Arno Laubscher at ScientificFly has an excellent new range of premium locally-tied flies. The first release is aimed at stillwater anglers so expect streamers like Millionaire’s Taddys, Minky Zonkers, and the Big Fish Zonker, as well as realistic egg patterns and Elk Hair Caddis with and without hackle (the hackle flies are all tied with Whiting hackle). Upcoming additions to the premium range will include patterns aimed at dry fly yellowfish fisheries such as Sterkfontein and Van Der Kloof. scientificfly.com

OROS - FLY FISHING STRIKE INDICATORS

If you grew up in South Africa, you probably drank Oros, the sweet orange-flavoured concentrate juice. The Oros mascot looked like the lovechild of the Michelin man, Casper the friendly ghost, and Agent Orange. While we’re not saying that Oros Fly Fishing Strike Indicators are the Oros mascot’s gonads, the fact that he had no balls and that these are orange and that the brand shares the same name is… hugely coincidental. Oros Fly Fishing Strike Indicators are designed to dodge the usual indicator pain points: small bits and bobs to lose; things that stick out to create drag or tangle line; plus it has a streamlined design so you can still cast elegantly. By simply closing the two moulded soft-foam hemispheres, you create a pressure-fit lock that keeps the indicator on the line and in place. No kinking. Bonus, these indicators are made with a biodegradable additive and their paper packaging material is Forest Stewardship Council certified. Available in three sizes. orosflyfishing.com, frontierflyfishing.com

“AN EXCELLENT NEW RANGE OF PREMIUM LOCALLY-TIED FLIES.”

“OROS FLY FISHING STRIKE INDICATORS ARE DESIGNED TO DODGE THE USUAL INDICATOR PAIN POINTS”

LATEST RELEASES SALAD BAR

GRIP - MAGIC YARN & FINE CRAFT FUR

New from Grip Tying Materials (a division of Mbombelabased ScientificFly) are the Magic Yarn and the Fine Craft Fur. The yarn is similar to egg yarn and is available in 12 colours. It’s ideal for flies such as glo bugs, sculpins, and minnows. Spin it like deer hair or use it as dubbing for various patterns. The Fine Craft Fur is available in five colours (Red Fox, Grizzly Brown, Grey, Purple, and Red). Shorter than Grip’s Premium Craft Fur, it’s ideal for brushes and brush flies (especially smaller patterns for largemouth yellowfish), bass bugs, and smaller tigerfish flies. If you happen to be a Victorian lady of the night, it would make a fantastic merkin too. scientificfly.com

SIMMS - PRO WADING STAFF

LOON - TROUT PLIERS

Loon’s new Trout Pliers seem to be aiming for the Goldilocks zone between saltwater plier sturdiness and trout hemostat delicate work. They’re robust, but at 7.5” long they are sized for trout. They include a cutter in the jaw that is designed to be as comfortable pinching heavy barbs as it is removing delicate dry flies, cutting braid, clipping tippet, and everything in between. Housed in a durable rubber holster they include a Quickdraw Tool Tether, so you can attach them to packs, belts, or boardies. loonoutdoors.com, xplorerflyfishing.co.za

Simms’s carbon-fibre Pro Wading Staff not only dishes up balanced, in-river support and stabilisation, but it also comes in handy on the hike in, you know... For duelling with bears, crocs, etc. Stiff and resilient, like our art director Bod’s fabled trousersnake, it sports a convenient one-handed deployment so you can be ready in seconds (like Bod). Unlike Bod, the length is adjustable (120-140cm) via the integrated flick-lock mechanism, a Cork/ EVA composite handle gives you all-day comfort, while the integrated carbide tip gives you that in-river grip. Includes a built-in wrist strap, retractor, and compression moulded sheath. simmsfishing.com, frontierflyfishing.com

SIMMS - TIGHTLINES STRAP

Wading the flats of Somaliland and need to take a second rod with you? Rafting the Zambezi under Vic Falls and want to make sure your lunch doesn’t fall off? Custom-moulded TPU with a high-density plastic buckle, these flexible, moulded 15” utility straps are designed to lash whatever is precious to you down fast. Can also replace those fluffy handcuffs of yours in a bind. simmsfishing.com, frontierflyfishing.com

WHAT IF...

INSTEAD OF JUST THINKING ABOUT IT, YOU ACTUALLY DID THIS?

YOU THREW CAUTION TO THE WIND AND WENT ON AN ADVENTURE. YOU WENT FLY FISHING IN ONE OF THE GREATEST WILDLIFE AREAS ON THE PLANET FOR SOME OF THE BEST TARGET SPECIES AROUND AND YOU DID IT ALL WITH SOME OF YOUR BEST MATES.

WHAT IF...?

Dates: 16th to 23rd September 2023 (7 Nights) 23rd to 30th September 2023 (7 Nights) Contact Lucky Bastards at platon@themluckybastards.com or Instagram DM @themluckybastards to secure your spot. Platon +27 83 290 1502 / Andre +27 82 551 2255

an

Lucky Bastards have secured a couple of weeks at the incredible Majestic Rivers Lodge on the banks of the Kilombero River in the Nyerere National Park (Selous Game Reserve) in Tanzania.

Your hosts will be Andre van Wyk and Platon Trakoshis who will make sure you have

incredible trip. We will be fishing on foot and from boats for Tanzanian tigerfish, Tanzanian yellowfish, Bagrid catfish, Vundu, Alestes and more.

LATEST RELEASES SALAD BAR

UMPQUA - BOAT BOX

We love that there was someone in the R&D department at Umpqua who has felt the frustration of needing to re-rig fast when the fishing is hot, but had to waste time searching through fly boxes. That sentiment comes through in the design of Umpqua’s Boat Boxes, which feature slotted foam internally on the top and bottom lid, but they have also ingeniously added one external slotted foam sheet for easy drying, organising, or quick access to your flies while fishing. The thick, durable foam features fly placement guides to easily identify where the slots are located. Available in Baby, Ultimate (medium), and Magnum sizes. umpqua.com, xplorerflyfishing.co.za

PATAGONIA - BLACK HOLE ROD CASE

Finally! Patagonia have been churning out quality fishing packs and bags from their Stealth and Guidewater ranges, but we were wondering when they would make a rod bag. Voila – the Black Hole Rod Case, categorised in their Black Hole range known for savvy design, cavernous space, and toughness. Built from sturdy 100% recycled fabric that is coated with a recycled thermoplastic polyurethane laminate, this case should withstand decades of fishing trips. At 91cm long it is big enough to fit four-piece rods of up to 3.35m. Modular internal storage dividers and two external pockets allow you to organise your reels, lines, tools and other stuff, while your carrying options include an adjustable shoulder strap and a grab handle that can be slipped over the handle of rolling luggage for easier movement through airports. As always when it comes to Patagonia, it is Fair Trade Certified sewn. patagonia.com, xplorerflyfishing.co.za

RIO - PREMIER BANK ROBBER FLY LINE

If André Stander from the infamous Stander Gang had pulled a Thabo Bester and was in fact alive and well, living in Lesotho and fishing hoppers on the Bokong River, this would be his go-to line. The Premier Bank Robber is designed specifically for presenting terrestrials, stoneflies, and other large dry flies as close to the bank as possible. Its fine front taper enables precise, accurate casts, the rear-loaded head easily carries the bushiest patterns, and a long back taper allows for easy mending and an extended drag free drift. There’s also a unique bright green section located towards the rear of the head for identifying the ideal lengths for loading the rod. Made with a harder SlickCast coating than Rio’s standard trout lines, you’ll find the Bank Robber easy to shoot (dadumtish) right up on the banks even on the muggiest summer days. Available in 5- and 6-weights. farbank.com, xplorerflyfishing.co.za

“THIS CASE SHOULD WITHSTAND DECADES OF FISHING TRIPS”

THE MISSION - PINK EYE CAMO TRUCKER

Not quite Duck Dynasty, but also not quite high fashion either, our Pink Eye Camo Trucker blends in and stands out. Sporting a 70s foam trucker style with a more modern slightly curved visor, it’s as at home bundu bashing for bass as it is at the bar. Conjunctivitis not included. themissionflymag.com

LATEST RELEASES SALAD BAR

SIMMS - EVERYDAY BEANIE

This beanie will, like your favourite pair of jocks, become an indispensable part of your wardrobe in winter. Made from knit polyester it has a stretch fit for everyday comfort even for folks with big melons. Bonus – it doubles as a back-up reel case. simmsfishing.com, frontierflyfishing.com

LOOP - NORDIC BEANIE

When it’s colder than a well digger’s derrière, you know that to keep your brain (and said rump) warm, you need to keep your head warm. Scandinavian tackle lords Loop know about cold conditions. Their unisex Swedish knit beanie combines 50% acrylic and 50% Merino wool with a fleece inner lining for craycray warmth and comfort. Ear flaps protect the sides of your head, while the pom and braided straps provide both comic relief and something for your many lovers to hold onto. Available in Blue, Soft Black and Pine Green. One size fits all. looptackle.com, flyfishing.co.za

LOOP - FACE & NECK GAITER

We love a multi-functional product and these face and neck gaiters fit the description. Comfy, stretchy and supremely breathable, Loop’s Face & Neck gaiter protects you from the sun’s UV rays, wind, and insects looptackle.com, flyfishing.co.za

BEDROCK - MOUNTAIN CLOG

There was a time when clogs (of any sort) were the choice of monks, nuns, Dutch cheesemakers, fragrant hippies, and restaurant workers. Through the relentless existence of Birkenstocks and Crocs, the style is getting its moment in the sun. Bedrock are better known as manufacturers of minimalist all-terrain sandals, but their entry into the clog zone is a doozy. Available in either a one-piece oiled Ecco Nubuck leather or a durable synthetic upper, they have an adjustable three-point strap system and extra sticky Vibram Megagrip outsoles. Wear them around the house, around camp, or even take on a hike in them because these things are designed to be versatile. bedrocksandals.com

“WEAR THEM AROUND THE HOUSE, AROUND THE CAMP, OR EVEN TAKE ON A HIKE”

DEEP WANTS PAY DAY

SKIFF MEETS TENT AND ’90S WRESTLEMANIA-INSPIRED SUNNIES

OUTLIE - SKIFF TENT

Since fishing is generally better in the late afternoon and evening, and early in the morning, if you have a skiff wouldn’t it be great to just sleep on it overnight? That way you don’t waste any time on land, waking up, packing the cooler, retrieving a hungover fishing buddy, getting to the jetty, launching and motoring over to where you intend to fish. The Outlie Skiff Tent is the answer to your greedy prayers. Being rained out, burnt out and bugged out are no longer considerations, because this waterproof tent can handle an extreme flats deluge, provides UV protection from the sun, and has an anti-insect penetration-prevention system to negate those pesky estuarine hatches. A simple rim-clip and rod-snapping design means that assembly can be a solo job, and the design adapts to skiffs of different shapes, sizes, and categories.

Outlie worked with a range of skiff manufacturers from Hells Bay to Drake and others to develop three sizes of tents (small, medium, large). A simple gunnel-clip system secures the tent using G-clamps and straps, creating a sheltered space within the skiff. Diagonal tent poles form overhead struts and provide a solid scaffolding to overlay the waterproof and windproof flysheet, which secures onto the skiff’s bow loop and gunnel G-clamps.

If overnighting on a sandbar in the middle of a Louisiana salt flat appeals or camping halfway up the Breede River for some first-light tailing grunts, this is the solution you never knew you needed. Now all you have to do is save up for that skiff… outliegear.com

“BEING RAINED OUT, BURNT OUT AND BUGGED OUT ARE NO LONGER CONSIDERATIONS”

PIT VIPER - POLARIZED SUNNIES

Think the sartorial nous of Kenny “Fucking” Powers from Eastbound and Down meets the acid-tinged stylings of WWF’s Randy Savage and you get an idea of where Pit Viper positions themselves in the sunglass market. With a background in snowboarding and skiing, and with ambassadors like Travis Pastrana, Pit Vipers were designed to take a beating either on the slopes or on the water. When you’ve got trout fishing at 5am and a smackdown with Hulk Hogan at 6, these polarized wrap-around lenses are the ultimate all-in-one. They come with a comfortable nose piece and forehead grip that complement fully adjustable temples, giving you a comfortable wear-all-day feel. Throw in the excellent low-light polarizing abilities and you have a tool that not only adds to the vibe but in the context of an après-fish party, allows you to become the vibe too. pitviper.com, bikalot.com

“WHEN YOU’VE GOT TROUT FISHING AT 5AM AND A SMACKDOWN WITH HULK HOGAN AT 6, THESE POLARIZED WRAP-AROUND LENSES ARE THE ULTIMATE ALL-IN-ONE”

S A V I N G S A N

CONSERVING SOUTH AFRICA’S MOST

D F I S H

MOST THREATENED MIGRATORY FRESHWATER FISH

Photo: Jeremy Shelton

Co-founder Fishwater Films

STRAIGHT STICK

YOU KNOW WHEN A GUY HAS A FISHING MIDDLE NAME LIKE MARIUS “STRAIGHTSTICK” ROUSSEAU , THAT HE’S WALKED THE WALK. WHETHER IT WAS TARGETING LARGEMOUTH YELLOWFISH ON THE VAAL OR HIS NEW LOCAL WATERS IN THE EASTERN CAPE WHERE HE TARGETS GRUNTER AND STEENBRAS, IN OUR EYES, MARIUS IS THE VERY DEFINITION OF A FLY-FISHING LIFER.

The first fish I remember catching was when I was about three years old. I was fishing with my grandfather at Second Beach lagoon near Port St Johns. I reeled in a pufferfish. I subsequently caught some decent blue kurper and mullet in the same estuary.

I was born in Welkom in the Free State and from there moved to Fochville in the Western Transvaal, then to Klerksdorp and finally to Cape St Francis in the Eastern Cape.

I started my working career in the gold mines as a gold reef sampler. I then decided to study further, and I became a human resources practitioner until my early “semiretirement” in 2017.

As I am living 200m from the beach in Cape St Francis, if the weather permits, a typical day will start with fishing and afterwards some gardening and/or house chores. It might involve some more fishing in the afternoon and evening. That is, when I am not hosting a fly-fishing trip to the Maldives or elsewhere and then it is, obviously, just fly fishing.

I happen to be blessed with some great rivers and estuaries near where I live. There I can fish for grunter, leeries and steenbras and other species on a regular basis.

Photos. Marius Rousseau

“STEENIES AND GRUNTER WILL PROBABLY MAKE ME END UP IN A LUNATIC ASYLUM, BUT WHAT THE HECK!”

I also do a lot of spinning for yellowtail and elf, kob and katonkel and leervis in the sea. If conditions are favourable I might even find myself on the “darkest dark side” fishing for steenbras, elf and kob on bait in the surf.

My first fish on fly was a yellowfish. Later on that same year, 1989, I caught some trout at Swartwater Dam in Phuthaditjhaba in the Free State (also known as QwaQwa) and towards the end of the year I caught some small salt water fish at Kosi Bay including two decent greenspot kingies. Since then it has been impossible for me to choose between fresh and saltwater fly fishing, both have their own merits and I find both disciplines exciting, stimulating and challenging.

For local saltwater estuary fishing I favour my old TFO BVK 8-weights and for tropical venues I use my 9- and 12-weight G Loomis NRX and NRX+. For largemouth yellows I prefer the 8-weights and for smallmouth yellows and trout, my trusty old 5-weight Sage TCR and 6-weight Sage ONE. I own a 3-weight rod but I have never really ventured into the micro-fish realm. It will come out of the closet should I visit the small streams around Barkly East again.

When it comes to fishing, the best advice I have ever been given in very difficult situations, is to carry on regardless, as you will eventually run into a stupid one –“’n dommetjie”.

I am most proud of my family, my beautiful wife and both my children, who still enjoy coming home and whose eyes light up when they see me.

I am no longer one for extravagant and rowdy parties but if the best party trick can be defined as a person, it would be my good fly-fishing mate, IW Wilkens – he is a walking, talking party trick on his own. Free entertainment into the early-morning hours.

To be honest, I always had to work hard at a 9-5 job but fishing, and in particular fly fishing, always came naturally to me.

Looking back, it will be very difficult to identify the most satisfying fish I have ever caught but, if I absolutely had to choose, it would be a 96cm queen fish I caught way back in 1990 off the beach in Sodwana Bay with archaic tackle and a fly tied by hand without a vice from various scraps left over from used Lefty’s Deceivers. Recently, each and every local steenbras and grunter I have caught has been extremely satisfying.

My go-to drink is a double-shot cappuccino and, occasionally, a nice red wine. I will, however, drink anything if the occasion warrants it.

“THE BEST ADVICE I HAVE EVER BEEN GIVEN, WHEN IT COMES TO FISH IN VERY DIFFICULT SITUATIONS, IS TO CARRY ON REGARDLESS, AS YOU WILL EVENTUALLY RUN INTO A STUPID ONE.”

One thing comes to mind immediately when I think of a place I would never like to be again… in hospital having a catheter connected to my nether regions.

Two places I would have to return to would be Jozini and the Vaal River.

I think a fly fisherman should never lie about the number or the size of the catch, but when it comes to the venue, i.e. “Zipper Mouth Creek”, it might just be acceptable.

When it comes to life or death, a handy survival skill I possess would be to obtain edible food from the ocean, e.g. fish/shell fish.

While in my fishing zone I have tremendous focus and patience. My aim is to apply the same focus and patience to my daily life.

The biggest adventure I have been on was arranging my first St Brandon trip; the stress of the unknown beforehand; the 32-hour voyage on a catamaran in stormy conditions; and eventually arriving in this indescribable paradise.

I believe one should ideally face fears head on, but only the ones worth facing.

Before I die, I would like to spend more quality time with my family and to tick off some of my fly-fishing bucket list items, number one being sight-fished tarpon.

Over the years nothing has really changed in terms of what I get out of fly fishing. The excitement, satisfaction, and all the pleasures and blessings associated with being in and a part of nature remain the same. I may just appreciate these moments more now.

If I could change anything in fly fishing it would be to remove the stigma of exclusivity and status that is manifest in the exorbitant pricing of fly-fishing equipment. This has a negative impact and hampers the growth of the sport, especially in the lower income groups. A fly line costing more than R2 000 and top-end fly rods selling for more than R21 000 these days is ludicrous, notwithstanding the R/$ exchange rate.

Looking back I would not do anything differently, due to the fact that what I did has ultimately led me to where I am now, and I am largely content with my current state of affairs. A few more zeros in my bank account would not have hurt though.

In the past, suffering from ADD, I told myself it was not worth the time and effort to fish for grunter and rather to focus on more aggressive species. Of late I have changed my mind and found pursuing them is worth the effort. Steenies and grunter will probably make me end up in a lunatic asylum, but what the heck!

The last fish I caught was a unicorn fish, taken off the back of the boat while some friends were snorkelling in the Maldives during my trip in February 2023.

MISSING A GOOD TRUCKER TO COOL YOUR PORRIDGE, OR A STICKER PACK FOR YOUR TRUSTY COOLER? THE MISSION HAS YOU COVERED.

WWW.THEMISSIONFLYMAG.COM

POP QUIZ

SURGEON FISH OR SARDINE? LEAD SINGER OR BELL RINGER? TAKE OUR RAPID-FIRE QUIZ TO SEE WHETHER YOU WERE PUT ON THIS PLANET TO BE CHUM-EE OR CHUM-ER.

1. According to the editor, The Cape Fly Fishers might be... (page 12)?

A. A figment of Andre van Wyk’s imagination.

B. A secret club with secret waters, secret rules and secret members.

C. The CIA of fly fishing clubs.

D. A ruse in order to secure more time with a timeshare cooler.

2. According to Sebastian Murphy of Viagra Boys, if you catch a grayling, you should...(page 24)?

A. Hold up its dorsal fin and take a goofy photo with it.

B. Compliment it that, in your eyes, it’s more, “silver foxling than grayling.”

C. Whisper an ancient Swedish curse in its ears and release it while wishing it was a trout.

D. Turn it into the freshwater equivalent of Surströmming (sour herring) by salting it, letting it get stinky and then canning it.

3. According to Blaede Russel, which of these things does not happen while night fishing in Cameroon... (page 30)?

A. You cast flies the size of chickens.

B. You have Ed Truter whisper sweet nothings in your ear.

C. You catch 150lb Nile perch.

D. You play footsie-footsie with crocs.

E. You receive a cacophony of hippo grunts.

4. In his imagined triggerfish movie, Peter Coetzee plays the role of... (page 50)?

A. Marvel’s King Crab.

B. DC’s Cancero.

C. Thunder Force’s Jerry the Crab.

D. The Punisher.

E. Dr Octopus.

5. While trying to be the first angler in his group to break the double-digit fish hoodoo, Matt Kennedy indulged in which superstition... (page 54)?

A. Swapping his left and right socks around, an old tarpon trick.

B. Planting a banana on a fellow angler’s float tube, also known as “the Snack Pack Attack”.

C. Crossing his fingers while practising a figure of eight retrieve.

D. Haruspex, the ancient Greek practice of reading the entrails of an animal, in this case an unfortunate Highland Lodge sheep.

6. Stu Webb’s gamechanging fly pattern for Trachinotus africanus in Oman is called... (page 66)?

A. Sid the Sex Squid

B. Sam the Lust Clam

C. Gail the Smut Snail

D. Russel the Love Mussel

“I FORGOT MY WAAAADERS AND IT’S -32 OUTSIDE!” Sebastian Murphy of the Viagra Boys laments conditions in the Arctic Circle. Photo. Adrian Pehrson

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