GTS DESTRUCTION NEW Issue 258 february/march 2018 TROUT GOLDEN ... MASTERS OF LESSONS ON LARGEMOUTH CONSERVANCY FLY-TYING PRODUCTS AND GEAR

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1 Africa s fresh and salt water fly fishing magazine ORANGE RIVER GOLDEN LARGEMOUTH CONSERVANCY LESSONS ON TROUT NEW FLY-TYING PRODUCTS AND GEAR 2018 Issue 258 february/march 2018 GTS... MASTERS OF DESTRUCTION South Africa: R39.90 (vat incl) Other Countries: R35 (tax excl) /

CONTENTS www.completeflyfisherman.co.za www.completeflyfisherman.com FEbRUARY/MARch 2018 ISSUE 258 44

A Treatise of Fowl Hooks and Foul Mouths Mike Wentzel recounts a few incidents which have led to his fear of heavy flies.

Astove Atoll: Fly Fishing for the Masters of Destruction The Seychelles has become the GT epicentre of the world, and Astove Atoll is the place to catch a monster GT on the flats.

Uniquely Country Contributor Webber Marais recently visited the Wakkerstroom area and found a water-rich valley that will find favour with both fly fishermen and hunters.

3 CONTENTS FEbRUARY/MARch 2018 ISSUE FEATURES & FLY-TYING REGULARS Fine and Far Off Be prepared to adapt your fishing method to the situation at hand or go home fishless. So says Ian Couryer. A Treatise of Fowl Hooks and Foul Mouths Mike Wentzel recounts a few incidents which have led to his fear of heavy flies. Encounters with Trout: Part IV Lessons on Lingering When to Make your Move Contributor Andrew Fowler discusses how long is too long, and dwells on the importance of finding a rhythm with your fishing partner. Kalahari Gold Golden Largemouth Conservancy In this day and age when wild places are ever-increasingly rare, Garth Wellman tells why we need to do whatever we can to protect the truly special ones. Astove Atoll: Fly Fishing for the Masters of Destruction The Seychelles has become the GT epicentre of the world, and Astove Atoll is the place to catch a monster GT on the flats. Rasmus Ovesen takes the journey Uniquely Country Contributor Webber Marais recently visited the Wakkerstroom area and found a water-rich valley that will find favour with both fly fishermen and hunters. New for 2018: Tying Materials, Tools and Techniques Fly-Tying Field Editor Murray Pedder takes a look at what s new for this year on the international fly-tying scene. Dubbing Applications Arno Laubscher gives a basic introduction to dubbing and the importance of the correct selection and application thereof. Product Review: MotorGuide Xi5 TCFF puts the latest technology in electric trolling motors to the test. Product Review: Loop Evotec Cast TCFF puts Loop s 8-wt fast-action Cast rod through its paces. Thoughts from a Lagoon Andrew Levy takes stock of the year gone by and reflects on the importance of meaningful friendships. 4. Editor s Cast 6. Letters to the Editor 8. What s Up 10. Gear Bag 78. Specialised Services 82. Outventure Guide ON ThE cover: Jan Hradecky with a trophy Seychelles GT of 110cm PhOTO by: Devan vd Merwe / Alphonse Fishing Co tcff FEBRUARY/MARCH

EDITOR S cast A fly fisherman for patron and president? As we move into 2018, I, like many South Africans, am cautiously optimistic about the future of our country.

4 EDITOR S cast A fly fisherman for patron and president? As we move into 2018, I, like many South Africans, am cautiously optimistic about the future of our country. On the political front, the appointment of Cyril Ramaphosa as ANC president bodes well for the economy, and it appears that swift action is going to be taken against perpetrators who are largely responsible for the mess we find ourselves in. Is this new ANC going to have the political will to put the country before its own interests? Only time will tell. However, as this magazine has nothing to do with politics, the fact that I am even mentioning it in my editorial is for another reason. Back in 1993 when The Complete Fly Fisherman magazine first saw light of day, the dawn of our new democracy was imminent. The country was positive, and Nelson Mandela s vision of the Rainbow Nation embraced by virtually all. We too were of that notion, which is why soon after, we asked Cyril Ramaphosa to become one of our patrons. You see, at the time, he was a prominent businessman but also a fly fisherman, and his values stood for much of what we were about. Our Editor-at-Large, Tony Biggs, then suggested we consider him to be our patron. We also felt that it would be good for our industry, and fly fishing as a whole. Our decision had no political bearing, and who was to foresee that he could be the next president of the country? We asked, and he graciously accepted. I remember a meeting I had with him in his offices in Sandton. We had a good talk around all things fly fishing, and his secretary served us rooibos tea and biscuits. It was mid- Nineties, the country ready for Mandela s vision, and fly fishing was booming. A lot has happened since then. Twentyfour years and 257 issues later, TCFF is still around. As far as the fly fishing industry is concerned, it has had its ups and downs, but signs are that fly fishing is once again aspiring to the golden years of the late Nineties and up to 2012, after which everything went south for most industries. Cyril s appointment as the new ANC president has much to do with the positive business sentiment that is currently regenerating in many sectors of our economy, and our industry is sure to benefit from it. 4 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2018 tcff The changes on the political front also prompted a reader to send me a letter questioning whether or not we should still have Mr Ramaphosa as our patron, given his rising political profile. The question no doubt has merit, for, as stated, we are apolitical, and this magazine s association with someone who has such a high political profile is not necessarily a good thing. The other side of the argument is that having a fly fisherman in the highest office of the land can surely not be a bad thing for the industry. What we desperately need is someone with the same passion we have, to listen to the problems that our industry and the environment are faced with: the war on trout, little or no government support for towns that exist mainly because of fly fishing, apathy among government employees regarding pollution and the huge threat it poses to the environment in general, and so on. The list is long, and we desperately need some help. Our industry does not discriminate on the basis of political affiliation, and neither do we. If Mr Ramaphosa is willing to stay on as our patron, I am happy to have him. However, in the end, this is a publication for fly fishermen, by fly fishermen, so I am keen to hear what you have to say on the matter. Whether you agree or disagree, drop me a mail and let s talk about it. Your opinion matters. PJ Jacobs - Editor PUbLIsHER: Tight Loop Productions (Pty) Ltd EDITOR: PJ Jacobs editor@completeflyfisherman.co.za EDITOR-AT-LARGE: Tony Biggs FIELD EDITORs Andy Coetzee Ian Couryer Marcus Janssen (UK) Dan Blanton (USA) CONTRIbUTORs Jonathan Boulton Keith Clover Dionne Crafford Miles Divett John Dreyer Horst Filter Andrew Fowler Ryan Hammond Bill Hansford-Steele Sean I Ons Arno Laubscher COPy EDITORs Janet Nowers Chris Whales ADVERTIsING & PRODUCTION MANAGER Lizelle Jacobs info@completeflyfisherman.co.za Tel: (012) AD DEsIGN AND PRODUCTION COORDINATOR JP Koekemoer design@completeflyfisherman.co.za Tel: (012) ADVERTIsING sales Dylan Isaacs adsales@completeflyfisherman.co.za Tel: (012) ACCOUNTs DEPARTMENT accounts@completeflyfisherman.co.za Tel: (012) subscriptions (HARD COPy AND DIGITAL) subscriptions@completeflyfisherman.co.za Tel: (012) OTHER DIGITAL PLATFORMs DIGITAL MAGAZINE STORE POsTAL ADDREss PO Box 1777, Ifafi, 0260, South Africa FIND Us ON FACEbOOK thecompleteflyfishermanmag PATRON Cyril Ramaphosa Andrew Levy Murray Pedder Turner Wilkinson Steve Starling (Australia) Gerhard Laubscher Leon Links Webber Marais Malcolm Meintjes Rasmus Ovesen Ben Pretorius Keith Rose-Innes Richard Schumann Rob Scott Fred Steynberg Tom Sutcliffe All rights reserved, reproduction of contents of this magazine is prohibited without the written consent of the editor. Editorial opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the publisher. The publisher and editor does not accept responsibility for advertising content. Publishing and editing of material received will be at the discretion of the editor. Editorial contributions must be directed to: The Editor, via editor@completeflyfisherman.co.za. TCFF does not pay for unsolicited material.

letters TO THE EDITOR Win a Sage Pulse 9ft, 5-wt fly rod valued at R7250, if your letter is chosen as Letter of the Month. e-mail: editor@completeflyfisherman.co.za sponsored by Tel: +27 11 463-9048/9 www.

Hubby was oblivious, so no more fishing for me. Now the boys are eight and 12: Obsessed and Totally Obsessed.

monthly data on fly-tying videos. That s when he is not watching the same fly fishing DVDs ad infinitum, or casting on the lawn. Granted, he does tie a mean fly, or so say those in the know.

6 letters TO THE EDITOR Win a Sage Pulse 9ft, 5-wt fly rod valued at R7250, if your letter is chosen as Letter of the Month. editor@completeflyfisherman.co.za sponsored by Tel: /9 LETTER OF THE MONTH Good things come to those who wade When the boys were little, someone had to keep them from the water s edge. Hubby was oblivious, so no more fishing for me. Now the boys are eight and 12: Obsessed and Totally Obsessed. Totally Obsessed did a course with Jacques Marais when he was eight, and ever since then he does his best to ruin us financially he never has enough fly-tying materials and he forever depletes our monthly data on fly-tying videos. That s when he is not watching the same fly fishing DVDs ad infinitum, or casting on the lawn. Granted, he does tie a mean fly, or so say those in the know. As Murphy had wanted, his vise recently broke, so he tries to reel in Obsessed s vise. Hatchling rivalry of note! Obsessed is catching up with Totally Obsessed, and my rod is forever lost in the hands of two midget fly fishing maniacs. If they could, they would re-route the Orange River through Bloemfontein. Recently, hubby and the boys went fly fishing on the Orange River. Although Obsessed caught two beautiful yellows, he was the catch of the day, caught hook, line and sinker. He cast with a 7-wt the entire day and never gave up. My fears that his arm would go into spasm were unfounded. The addiction hit him hard, the withdrawal symptoms afterwards in water-restricted Bloemfontein even harder. Fish fever has reached mammoth proportions! After lunch, Obsessed fished with two rods. While he was fishing with the one, hubby was untangling the other. As soon as hubby took off his reading glasses, proudly having sorted out the tangles, Obsessed stated that they needed to swop, and hubby started untangling again. The joys of fatherhood! (Mom was finally off the hook.) Totally Obsessed was totally on his own, looking for bigger fish to fry. The weather wasn t great, but he wanted to surpass his catch of the previous trip: 13 yellows caught in one day, on flies he had tied himself. It seems that for now I ll have to find other fish to fry. Regards, Annerle Barnard. Annerle, your boys are extremely fortunate to grow up in a family that loves fly fishing. The lifestyle will no doubt have a positive impact on them, so keep them interested. To that end, I award you our Letter of the Month prize, a fantastic Sage rod to the value of R7250, compliments of TCFF and Frontier Fly Fishing. Contact our offices on Tel: (012) with your details, and the rod will soon be on its way to you. Next, take the boys fishing. Regards, Ed. sage rod prizewinner Thanks a million; my rod has arrived. So, so happy! The way I have watched fly fishing change over the years, it has happened because of companies like yours that have taken the South African fly angler and put us onto the world map. I really enjoy your magazine. I have virtually every issue and they have got progressively better. Malcolm Sharp. Congrats TCFF! Congratulations on a simply magnificent issue of TCFF [Dec/ Jan issue 257]. You do our country proud! Best regards, Tom Sutcliffe. The key to choosing fly fishing over golf? I have a thing for a rush, for that moment when a fly line comes alive and rips up a million diamonds from the water s surface, shattering the solitude that came with the first rays of the sun. There s also another kind of adrenaline rush, one that emanates from that dreaded combination of an impending deadline and elusive keys. My cards, keys and, lately, my glasses have a knack for misplacement often at pivotal moments. My wife says it s a nightmare. In a peculiar way she s right. The basic elements are there the horror, the fear, the anger, the helplessness and, hopefully, the awakening that brings reality when you eventually find the keys where they had hidden themselves in a fridge or similar unthinkable location. That s how it plays out if it s your own keys. It gets exponentially more complicated when you lose someone else s keys, and even worse if they are keys to a heart. I gave up my putter for a fly rod in 1993 to start fishing with my boys. Oom Flip (rest his soul) gave me that strange-looking reel and a fishing rod without a butt end almost a quarter of a century ago. Little did I know what it would do to me. Oom Flippie, many things have changed since you left us. My little boys became men who I am proud to call friends and sons. My baby girl magically morphed into a beautiful, grown woman and brought another son into our hearts, and, you guessed it, he also loves the rush. Your legacy lives on. So, let s honour those who take time to make time to invest in others. The river walkers. The shadow stalkers. The ones scouting the riffles with friends, family and even their fathers patiently, silently retrieving the lost keys. I found so much more on riverbeds than in clubhouses. Neels Coetzer. (Letter shortened.) 6 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2018 tcff

FOR YOUR NEAREST DEALER CONTACT FRONTIER DISTRIBUTION Shop online at www.frontierflyfishing.co.

7 FOR YOUR NEAREST DEALER CONTACT FRONTIER DISTRIBUTION Shop online at Coachman s Crossing Shopping Centre, Peter Place, Bryanston, Johannesburg 26º S; 28º E Tel: (011) /9

NEWSWORTHY WHATS UP Alphonse Invitational: report-back Anglers attending the third annual Alphonse Invitational at Alphonse Island in the Seychelles in 13-22 January 2018 were rewarded with

The northeasterly blew strong at times, but ultimately conditions assisted the spring tide with flushing the lagoon, making for the cleanest water seen in weeks.

topped with the necessary bragging rights! Starting inside the lagoon, the largest bonefish came in at 61cm, caught by Justin Kemp.

8 NEWSWORTHY WHATS UP Alphonse Invitational: report-back Anglers attending the third annual Alphonse Invitational at Alphonse Island in the Seychelles in January 2018 were rewarded with favourable conditions and optimal tide times, dividing each day equally with fishable ebb and flow. The northeasterly blew strong at times, but ultimately conditions assisted the spring tide with flushing the lagoon, making for the cleanest water seen in weeks. All trophy fish were measured for entry into a size competition for a variety of prizes sponsored by Yeti Coolers, Cortland Line, Shilton Reels, Sight Line Provisions and Alphonse Fishing Company all topped with the necessary bragging rights! Starting inside the lagoon, the largest bonefish came in at 61cm, caught by Justin Kemp. Five moustache triggerfish were captured, with the best measuring 52cm, this by Richard Strachan at Wayne s Bay. The only permit was landed on the west of the atoll by angler Ross Elliot, and was taped at a respectable 57cm. While a good number of GTs were caught in the surf, the majority were found just offshore demolishing fusilier and other baitfish. A 103cm fish was landed by Ross, winning him the title of Angler of the Week. On the last day, Ryan Wienand s personal best fish at 100cm topped the lodge s season s best total of 17 GTs in the week. The eastern surfline produced some action when a massive 104cm milkfish came to the net, tamed by John Stott, crowning him the Milkman of the invitational. Offshore, both yellowfin tuna and sailfish were targeted, with the best sail coming in at 190cm, landed by André Oberholzer, closely followed by Mike Harker s fish of 184cm. DFFA Bonanza: report-back Held at the end of September every year, the DFFA Bonanza s primary focus is to raise funds for its local charities. Thanks to the huge support it gets from the fly fishing fraternity, 2017 s Bonanza gave away prizes to the value of R200,000 for individual and team achievements, and raised R85,000 for the Helping Hands charity. This was a great help to the charity, especially in light of the current tough economic times. Planning for the 2018 event is already under way, so remember to book your team early, as numbers are limited. Contact Neil Nicholas on for further information. JFFC programme for promises to be an exciting year for Pretoria-based Jacaranda Fly Fishing Club. Monthly meetings are held at the Zwartkop Country Club in Centurion, where members can learn from some of South Africa s top fly fishers. The club also organises monthly trips to various fly fishing venues around the country, where members spend time on the water testing these techniques and flies that have been tied. Events planned for the first half of this year include a presentation on Euro nymphing, followed by a practical day on the water where Denise van Wyk will share her skills. Three weekend trips are planned to Sterkfontein in February, where, under the guidance of Dennis de Klerk, members hope to land slabs of Sterkies gold. Club members will be arming themselves with flies after fly-tying sessions with Mark Yelland and a second session with member Benjamin Steyn. Andre van den Werff, assisted by Leslie Thiart, will host a casting session in early February specifically aimed at preparing members for Sterkfontein. Check out the Jacaranda Fly Fishing Club s website ( for more information on how to join. The club caters to all fly fishers, from newbies to advanced levels. Upcoming SAFFA events SAFFA will host the 2018 Ladies Nationals and the inaugural 2018 Masters (over 50s) Nationals from 7 to 11 February in Dullstroom. Running in conjunction with the Nationals will be the Masters trials for a team to represent SA at the World Masters Championship in Spain in April. For more info, visit SAFFA s website ( CPS AGM When: Thursday 15 February 2018 Time: 6.30pm Venue: CPS Club Room, Cape Town Contact: Louis de Jager via cpsoc@netactive.co.za 8 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2018 tcff

cost - from $4250 pp (charter flight included) September to december 2018 For

9 Giant Tiger Trips Tanzania: Selouse Game Reserve the largest fauna reserve in the world, massive blue tigerfish and other exotic species. cost - from $4250 pp (charter flight included) September to december 2018 For more info, contact Fred Steynberg on fred@linecasters.co.za

GEAR BAG New Products &gear Handmade fly fishing lanyards Made of 550 paracord, the Matuka handmade lanyard consists of two leader spools, clipper, steel cord zinger, belt clip, fly-drying patch,

com Perfect sandal for the outdoors The Rocky Berg boasts all the best features of a hiking shoe with the breathability of a sandal.

The Berg has a removable and washable comfort insole, and a Phylon EVA midsole offers lasting comfort and cushioning.

Visit www.rockysa.co.za srp: R999 Price: R359.99 - R399.99 Visit www.secrettacklebox.co.za Now for something completely different Secret Tackle Box has launched a Match the Hatch box for fly fishermen.

10 GEAR BAG New Products &gear Handmade fly fishing lanyards Made of 550 paracord, the Matuka handmade lanyard consists of two leader spools, clipper, steel cord zinger, belt clip, fly-drying patch, rubber/foam fly or lure keeper. srp: R350 Contact or Perfect sandal for the outdoors The Rocky Berg boasts all the best features of a hiking shoe with the breathability of a sandal. The upper shoe is made of genuine waxy leather and stretched mesh neoprene upper, making it durable and comfortable. The elastic closure with cord lock system creates a quick, snug and flexible fit. The Berg has a removable and washable comfort insole, and a Phylon EVA midsole offers lasting comfort and cushioning. The rubber compound outsole has an integrated toe protector and a rugged lug pattern for great traction whatever the conditions. Available in brown/olive and brown/orange colour combinations. Visit srp: R999 Price: R R Visit Now for something completely different Secret Tackle Box has launched a Match the Hatch box for fly fishermen. This unique offering can be taken as a once off, or a three- or six-month subscription, during which time a multi-species tackle box will be delivered to your door every month, the exact contents of which are a surprise until you open it. Inside you will find products from local and international manufacturers, with a cost-saving factor of up to 40% off the normal retail price. The Secret Tackle Box changes each month according to season, and will equip you to target a variety of locally available fish species for that particular time of year. Makes for the ideal gift. 10 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2018 tcff

South Africa: R190 (vat incl)

South Africa: R190 (vat incl) introduction By pj jacobs Published by: Tight Loop Productions (Pty) Ltd Editor: PJ Jacobs Contributors Volume I: Brendan Becker Derrick Beling Jonathan Boulton Graeme Field