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

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