The complete fly fisherman TruePDF february march 2019

South Africa: R40.25 vat incl Other Countries: R35 tax excl www.completeflyfisherman.co.za / www.completeflyfisherman.comAfrica’s fresh and salt water fly fishing magazine RARE ANTS OF..

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South Africa: R40.25 (vat incl) Other Countries: R35 (tax excl) www.completeflyfisherman.co.za / www.completeflyfisherman.com

Africa’s fresh and salt water fly fishing magazine

RARE ANTS OF

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FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019 | ISSUE 264

ON THE COVER:

Taimen – Mongolia’s rare giant

PHOTO BY: Amara Simms

www.completeflyfisherman.co.za | www.completeflyfisherman.com

22

Life is Short, Fish More!

Ian Couryer talks crippled insects, hatch

breakers and trout’s feeding habits

Cruising for Golden Dorado

Does slowly cruising down a river and

catching plenty of fish along the way

sound like the perfect fly fishing trip?

Jonathan Boulton says it does

Up Close: Chris Bladen

TCFF talks to Cape Town sculptor Chris

Bladen about his love for nature, his art,

and of course, fly fishing

Tackling Up for KZN’s Trout Streams

“What fly?” is normally the first question

asked when fishing new waters

Actually, there are other things much

more important you need to know

Andrew Fowler explains

Deciphering Fish Speak

Fish don’t talk but what their body

language says is well worth knowing

TCFF Editor PJ Jacobs advocates

learning the language

The Rare Giants of Mongolia

Dreaming of untouched water where no

Westerner has gone before? Contributor

Tom Boyd makes the journey to remotest

Mongolia

The Magic of Highland Lodge

The fishing can be hard at times, but this venue has the potential to offer a stillwater trout fishing trip of a lifetime

Field Editor Murray Pedder is a believer,and talks tackle and tactics

Doornkop Fish and Wildlife Reserve

Looking for a venue to spend some qualitytime fly fishing with the family? WebberMarais recently found just such a place

The Power of Ants

Having an ant pattern in your fly box is

a no-brainer Hans van Klinken explains why

The Hackle Stacker Technique

Contributor Arno Laubscher discusses the hackle stacker technique used in both trout and yellowfish patterns

Share and Share Alike

We all have a duty and responsibility

to welcome newcomers to the fold, says Andrew Levy

82 Specialised Services

83 Travelling Angler

85 Outventure Guide

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With the staff well rested after a deserved

break over the festive season and our

first issue of 2019 on the shelves, it’s

all systems go here at TCFF, and we’re looking

forward to an exciting year! We are also hard at

work on The Complete Book of Fly Fishing for

Yellowfish as well as The Ultimate Bucket List

Volume 2; launch dates will be announced soon,

so keep an eye out on our Facebook page and in

future issues of TCFF

One new development for 2019 is that we

have pleasure in announcing that Hans van

Klinken has joined our editorial team as

Inter-national Field Editor-at-Large Most of you will

be familiar with the name as Hans is well known

in the fly fishing industry The creator of the

Klinkhamer Special (and many other deadly

patterns), well published in many international

magazines and TCFF, Hans’s contribution to

fly fishing has been immense Accompanied

by his wife Ina (a great photographer and fly

fisher), they are also dedicated conservationists

who revel in nature, and this shines through in

his articles His inclusion at TCFF will result in

the publication of many more exciting articles

about his piscatorial adventures across the

globe Good news is that Hans and Ina will be

visiting our shores in November this year and

will attend our annual TCFF Sterkfontein

Expe-rience, as well as appearing at prominent tackle

shops and fly fishing clubs where Hans will

demonstrate tying some of his famous patterns

and give talks on fly-tying, fly fishing and related

subjects Dates will be announced through our

Facebook page and future issues of TCFF

On the magazine front, we have a great

line-up for you in this issue, a good mix of local

and international stories and happenings Tom

Boyd’s article on Mongolia is especially

interest-ing and an eye-opener as to why even in such

a remote location, fish species are in need of

protection and conservation in order to survive

Other good news is that his latest book Trout

Salmon and Char, fresh off the press, just

landed on our desk and if I can manage to pry

it away from the staff, a review is on the cards

in our next issue

On a more serious note, in our travels to New

Zealand, especially over the last few years, we

PUBLISHER: Tight Loop Productions (Pty) Ltd EDITOR: PJ Jacobs

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ADVERTISING & PRODUCTION MANAGER

Lizelle Jacobs info@completeflyfisherman.co.za Tel: (012) 371-3914

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• Steve Starling (Australia)

rivers intimately and are very familiar with howmany fish they used to carry, as opposed topresent day With the exception of one or tworivers (one very famous river actually has morefish in the headwaters now than it did 20 yearsago), fish numbers were at an all-time low inDecember Things have changed quite a bit inNew Zealand, and the advent of large-scale dairyfarming is undoubtedly having an impact asdoes other farming, including the spraying ofpesticides and nutrients that eventually end up

in the rivers The worrying thing is that even insome backcountry rivers deep in bush country,far from farming activities and people, fishnumbers seem to be shockingly low compared

to what they used to be

I’m still trying to make sense of it Globalwarming and higher water temperatures arehigh on my list of suspects, for as I look back onour 20-year diary of all the trips we have done

to that part of the world, one thing stands outclearly: it’s getting a lot warmer down there insummer And it’s happening in our own back-yard too I’ve always believed that fly fishermenexperience nature more acutely than most, and

I don’t like what’s on the cards as far as globalwarming is concerned What is especially con-cerning is that in an ever-increasing pursuit tomake more money, some commercial industryplayers (and even governments) continue todeny the existence of this well-documented andscientifically proven fact I am reminded of thefollowing quote: “When the last tree has been

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LETTER OF THE MONTH

Homeward bound

I recently received the Dec/Jan issue of TCFF from our friends

who just returned to Canada from a Christmas trip to SA Family

and friends that have visited us here over the years know that

the only gift I ask for when they come over, is the latest TCFF

and at least one bottle of contraband Bovril I always look

for-ward to much-needed quiet time reading my TCFF magazines

in my poor man’s “mancave”,

re-minded of home by our SA-themed

sign wall The local Canadian/USA

literature just doesn’t cut it

Hon-estly, even though the articles cover

some of the places us Saffas only

dream of, none of them come close

to providing the sense of anticipation

and excitement I get from reading

the articles you guys publish Since

arriving in Canada six winters ago,

my wife and I have been so fortunate

to see and do things which two

Durbanites rarely get the chance to

experience (I count our time here

in winters passed, as anyone who has

experienced -40ºC and below would

understand.) I have managed to save up and tick off bucket-list

trips to catch trout from Yellowstone Park to Montana and

Alberta, caught salmon near the Alaskan coast, and wild

steel-head in BC But through all of this, I still miss my days of fly

fishing for trout in Rosetta stillwaters and Drakensberg rivers,

catching shad on fly from the rocks in the wild Transkei,

kingies off the beautiful beaches from Durban to Mozambique,

or yellows in various KZN rivers after seeing crocs in the pool

we had just waded through I want to let you know that the

fishing and natural beauty which SA has in abundance, rivals

anything we have seen overseas, from the Canadian Rocky

Mountains to Hawaii But even more special than the natural

beauty is that of our people The passion of SA’s people is just

not found elsewhere We are not naive to the fact our country

has serious problems and the number of people leaving SA is

testament to that We do not judge those who are leaving, but

in the same breath, nobody must judge those of us who are

coming back As for our family, we have made up our minds

and started the process, and we cannot wait to be back home

ol’ RSA I am sure everybody will be happy to see you Enjoy and safe travels back home Ed.

Lamentations of a piscatorial nature

I’m always amazed, humbled and somewhat belittled by thearray of language used by people of our shared pursuit and howthey can become completely and self-indulgently intoxicated

with it when it comes to writing about fly fishing.Truth be told, formulating that previous statementcost me a week of misspent office hours I love howfly fisher folk roll around in the language like a pig

in the mud when it comes to a description or report

of their favourite pastime But I recently attemptedreading a linguistically self-indulgent fly fishingbook by a local author and, if I’m honest, it wascompletely exhausting to read I get that ours is anancient pursuit and I adore that we attach poeticlicence to our fishermen’s tales, but just becauseone can identify a hatch, select a self-tied fly, andcast a semi-decent line, doesn’t mean one needs toexpress oneself in a thesaurus-ridden crow’s nest

of Shakespearean idioms to tell you about it If

I can’t understand you, you’re wasting your ink

Donovan Honeyborne (Letter shortened.)

The wannabe

In my nine years of fly fishing, I have been trying from dawn todusk in search of a single mullet Yes, I have never officiallycaught a mullet on fly Many may have the dream about youand dad going at some trout in a small spring creek, but for methat was too easy Catching trout on 5X tippet is easy; in thebay I use a 20ft leader ending in a 7X tippet This, however, stillscares the bejeezus out of mullet on presentation When I doget a good presentation, the mullet are not interested, evenwhen chumming bread (believe me when I say I’m chummingagainst my will) So you get the picture A salty with a big

“small dream” Little did I know that my luck was about tochange I set out on my bicycle early morning, and by sunrise

I stood hip-depth in water armed with my mother’s 27-year-old4-wt and a #14 RAB We have a little water station next to

a spot I know the mullet are fond of The station creates avacuum, almost forming a little river on low tide With my firstcast “upstream” a mullet came up and ate the fly just like a troutwould! I used the common trout strike and, for a moment,

letters Win a 9ft, 5-wt fly rod valued at R7250, Sage Pulse

if your letter is chosen as “Letter of the Month”

E-mail: editor@completeflyfisherman.co.za

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LIFE’S TOO SHORT NOT TO GO FISHING… EVERY WEEKEND!

Join renowned registered and accredited fly fishing guide IAN COURYER on a selection of exciting

WEEKEND TRIPS to the BEST trout and yellowfish venues throughout 2019.

DRAKENSBERG: RIVER TROUT

• INJASUTHI: MICRO RAINBOWS

Classic small stream fishing clinic: March 1, 2 , 3 Ten rods only.

• LOTHENI: BROWNS

March 8, 9, 10 AND April 5, 6, 7 AND April 26, 27, 28 Four rods only.

• LAMBONJA CATHEDRAL PEAK: RAINBOWS and BROWNS

April 12, 13, 14 Four rods only

• BUSHMAN’S RIVER: BROWNS

May 3, 4, 5 AND May 17, 18,19 Four rods only.

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June 7, 8, 9 AND July 12, 13, 14 AND July 26, 27, 28 Four or six rods.

YELLOWFISH

• WATERVAL RIVER, VILLIERS Smallmouth and largemouth

May 24, 25, 26 AND June 21, 22, 23 AND July 19, 20, 21 AND August 9, 10, 11 Four rods only.

• VAAL RIVER, ORKNEY: Smallmouth and largemouth

August 2, 3, 4 AND September 13, 14, 15 Six rods only.

• TUGELA RIVER: Natal scalies

September 27, 28, 29 AND October 11, 12, 13 Six rods only.

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• STERKFONTEIN DAM: Smallmouth

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he snared a memorable brown in NewZealand a few seasons ago that com-pletely ignored all his best offerings until

he drifted a blowfly over its nose Perhaps

it couldn’t help itself and in the wiring ofits brain it heard a little voice say, “Eatthe cripple!” as incredibly un-PC as thatmay sound

Cripples and spinners have edly been the least written about insectstages in all of trout fishing and it seemsthat Tom and Kelly are onto something

undoubt-It makes perfect sense that trout shouldchoose food that cannot escape over foodthat may fly off at any moment (no punintended) They must have always fedthat way; it’s just that anglers haven’tgiven trout that much credit for howperfectly they are programmed toeat successfully

To lend credence to these wiseobservations, there is one stream

in the Berg I know of where inApril a mayfly called the blue dunhatches in profusion It is of the

“prong gill” family, as the nymphsare known On hatching, many ofthese larger mayflies end up ascripples and the fish eat these tothe exclusion of all else If you fish

a perfect imitation of a blue dun – correctsize and colour with beautiful matchingmallard quill wings – among the manyidentical naturals on the water, you willcatch exactly nothing, even though thewater is boiling with feeding trout Ishould know, I’ve been there! If you

Anew year has dawned, and I hope

yours will be one filled with plenty

of clean water and fantastic

fish-ing I know mine will be I currently have

26 weekends booked and lined up for

fishing/guiding trips Life is short and

in the past I have been remiss in not

embracing the abundant variety of good

fishing to be experienced in this country

I have fished and been to many fantastic

waters and magical, out-of-the-way places

over the years, and am visiting all of them

again this year I also plan on fishing

a few new ones and am inviting anyone

who wishes to come along to take the

plunge whenever you have a free

week-end

I intend going back to my first

love – trout fishing – in earnest

this season, in both stillwater and

stream Although the “old

Trans-vaal” has a couple of half-decent

trout streams, I’ve never found

them as appealing or exciting or

as good as those in KwaZulu-Natal

Proper river trout fishing for me

is undoubtedly in the Drakensberg

area and when it comes to

still-waters, the boys down there have

water aplenty Perhaps my

over-whelming need is more motivated

by nostalgia as many of the Berg streams

are my old stomping grounds And so

that’s where I’m going to spend many

weekends this season

With my thoughts focussed on trout

fishing at the moment, I came across a

Life is short, fish more!

IAN COURYER talks crippled insects, hatch breakers and

a trout’s ingrained first-selection response to taking prey

that cannot escape, over ones that can

by Ian Couryer

FORUM: FRESH WATER

feed on crippled insects Kelly Galloupalso discusses in detail the role of crip-

pled insects in his excellent book Cripples

& Spinners He states that spinners and

cripples play a bigger role in the diets

of trout than duns I believe that this ismore than possible and have always feltthat parachute-style mayflies are a moresuccessful general style of pattern than aclassic upright-winged Catskill-style tie,particularly for yellows, in a hatch situa-tion Perhaps this is because the para-chute mayfly is a dead ringer for a cripple,with its lower wing profile and its bodyand tail on the surface or in the film, muchlike a crippled mayfly with its hacklesplayed out, creating a bigger imprintand further amplifying that illusion

The definition of a cripple in thecontext of dry fly fishing is any insect thatcannot escape the water surface Thisincludes beetles, hoppers and all variety

of terrestrials If a cripple is an ingrainedfirst-selection response in all trout, per-haps this explains why a beetle or an ant

“ ANGLERS HAVEN’T GIVEN TROUT THAT MUCH CREDIT FOR HOW PERFECTLY THEY ARE PROGRAMMED

TO EAT SUCCESSFULLY.”

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Man do we love Argentina, some of the best trout fishing on the planet for

sure, but also home to the golden dorado! The people, the food and the

diversity of exceptional fishing We are proud to call some of the countryʼs

finest guides, lodge and luxury live-aboard owners our friends, which

means we can formulate the very best trip for your next adventure.

ARGENTINA - GOLDEN DORADO

READ MORE!

Se

e the full article on pa

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22 - 27 of this issue

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tel: +27 11 268 5850 | email: travel@flyfishing.co.za | www.flyfishing.co.za

FLYFISHING

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JONATHAN BOULTON says it does.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY MAVUNGANA FLYFISHING

The doting grandmother at

Christmas proudly surveys thedining-room table with allher grandchildren While sheloves them all, and really can’tpossibly admit she has a favourite, we

all know, deep down, there is always a

favourite I love each and every fish

from all the corners of the world, their

characteristics, their looks, their

individ-ual nuances but then there is golden

dorado One should never have a favourite,

but we are talking golden dorado here,

just saying Hold a golden dorado in the

soft light of the setting sun and admire

the scale configuration, the striking fin

markings, that colour only Mother

Na-ture’s palette can produce and let’s start

talking favourites! Then there is the way

they behave Their brash aggression, their

fearless smash-it-first-ask-questions-later

attitude

And the fight We have all caught fish

that jump spectacularly, but some dorado

I have hooked have spent more time

airborne than underwater during the

fight I also love the sheer diversity in the

way they hunt, from strength in numbers,

their pack mentality, literally driving

baitfish to throw themselves onto the

mud banks to avoid the unfolding carnage,

and then to solitary fish cleverly stationed

at strategic spots like tributary mouths,

converging currents, a colour line or an

underwater drop-off Their favourite is

on the front end of a piece of structure in

the current: a log, a boulder or a sapling

growing out of the water This is when

one has to throw caution to the wind and

cast across and perilously close to the

structure, the current will swing the fly

Golden Dorado

Somewhere down that crazy river

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I have been lucky to fish for golden

dorado throughout northern Argentina,

from the crystal-clear water of the Ibera

marsh system to the massive Paraná

River system that flows south through

Argentina More recently, the Lower

Paraná has become my favourite The

second-longest river in South America

only to the Amazon, the Paraná changes

characteristics as it makes its way through

Argentina From the clearer

single-channel meandering river up north, it

gathers in size and attitude as it flows

towards the junction of the Uruguay

River, creating huge braided systems

and ultimately the Paraná Delta before

discharging into the Atlantic This last

couple of hundred kilometres around the

town of Rosario (and conveniently a

pleasant three-hour drive from the bustle

of Buenos Aires) is a myriad split

chan-nels, backwaters and shallow lagoons

that, without the help of a GPS and a

good guide, one could get lost in forever

The water here is that of a typical lowland

river; fairly heavily laden with sediment

and visibility not great, but the nutrient

load is overwhelming and the shallowsare alive with baitfish With the com-plexity of channels, there is no way thissystem could be fished successfully beingbased at one lodge

GOLDEN DORADO RIVER CRUISER

Bait concentrations and the ensuingdorado move huge distances and whatbetter way to keep up with them than on

a live-aboard operation This is not a newconcept, especially for us in southernAfrica where a houseboat is the perfectmeans of staying with the fish on amassive system like the Okavango River,Zambezi and Lake Kariba The GoldenDorado River Cruiser is the first of itskind in Argentina and the brainchild ofLuciano Alba and his head guide DarioArrieta Owning Estancia Laguna Verde,which is the operator with the greatestamount of lake and river access on thelegendary Jurassic Lake, running slickworld-class fishing operations in ultra-remote areas is old hat for these guys

The collection point for guests is themarina in the town of Rosario and then

it’s a comfortable run in a boat, whichlasts anything from half an hour to twohours depending on where the houseboat

is moored The live-aboards I’ve usedhave always been impressive, but this

is a particularly nice setup Guests sleep

in spacious cabins below and enjoy aluxurious bar and dining room abovewith breathtaking views over the pampasand floodplains

THE FISHING

Fishing is done from Carolina Skiffs,undoubtedly one of the most versatileand angler-friendly boats in the world,being super-fast, super-roomy and sostable that if your super-sized boat part-ner makes an unexpected lunge for thecooler box, you don’t even know he isthere Two anglers to a boat, the guideholds in the current and off structurewith a GPS-enabled trolling motor, oper-ated by a remote control, leaving himhands-free to wire-trace your fly andexcitedly point in the direction of fish-holding structure I always enjoy alter-nating guides, as each one has his own

Below: A double-figure Paraná backwater dorado for the author.

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“ AND ADMIRE THE SCALE CONFIGURATION, THE STRIKING FIN MARKINGS, THAT COLOUR ONLY MOTHER NATURE’S PALETTE CAN PRODUCE ”

Top: A fat dorado for Sarah Left: Oversized double-barrel poppers won’t be easy on the shoulder but give spectacular takes!

Below: A fun way to catch dorado – lily-hopping frogs.

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Above: The Paraná Grand Slam includes the wolf fish (above left) and the vampire fish (above) Below: Carolina Skiffs with remote-controlled trolling motors are perfect to fish the Paraná River.

guiding style, humour and preferred approach On one day you might

swing pigeon-sized Andino Deceivers on a shooting head in the hope of

dredging a 10lb-plus fish from the depths on a 9-wt, but then another

guide prefers a more delicate presentation of poppers and frogs while

stalking fish in shallower lagoons on a 6-wt

The fishing timetable is relaxed and anglers return to the mothership

for a three-course gourmet lunch and siesta, or a picnic-style table and

chairs on a picturesque island out on the river I recall being woken from

my lunchtime snooze under a tree by the sound of busting dorado, and

watching a school of 4lb - 6lb dorado herding fry into a back eddy,

systematically smashing them I could swear I also saw some holding off

the main group that were sipping bugs off the surface I reached for my

5-wt that had been set up for some of the smaller insectivorous fish in

the river and tossed out a dead-drifted hopper, only to have it delicately

sipped off the surface by a lovely 4lb dorado that subsequently went

bananas cartwheeling away and peeling line off the little trout rod If the

novelty of catching dorado all day using every method from streamers to

skipping frogs off lily pads wears thin, then the pursuit of a Paraná Grand

Slam can be undertaken This entails a fly-caught dorado, tararira (wolf

fish) and chafalote (sort of a mini-vampire fish); the latter requiring a

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super-light leader and thin piano wire

with a tiny fry imitation swung smoothly

in the current with no retrieve

Our guides, like all the Argentines,

are just spectacular people – passionate

about their fishery, their country and

culture, wanting to share it with you with

all their heart I think they also

particu-larly enjoy South African anglers for our

shared love of the outdoors, rugby, wine

and meat-based meals Also, the fact

that most of us have fished for tigerfish

means that chucking an 8- or 9-wt all day

is no big deal There are, however, subtle

differences between tiger fishing and

dorado on the Paraná Dorado don’t need

to chase down their prey, since there is so

much food that if they don’t get the first

passing morsel, they know there will be

plenty to come You therefore need a

slow, meaningful strip, keeping the fly

moving at an even, steady pace

This was something my wife Sarah battled with The minute the flylanded she would kick into a fairly aggressive tiger/salt water type strip.The guides would then gently remind her to try to swing and slowly stripthe fly Sick of constantly having to remind her, “Slow streeep, Sarrraplease, iees no tigerfish, ieeees dorado,” one afternoon Dario burst into

the melodic song, Despacito, Quiero respirar tu cuello despacito (Slowly,

I want to breathe your neck slowly) Now, when a tall, good-lookingLatino guide starts singing that to your wife and you know enoughSpanish not to need Google Translate, you only have to laugh I haveencountered some novel ways that guides connect with their clients, butthis serenade in the middle of the Paraná Delta took the cake – it wastime for a sit-down and another Quilmes lager

Ed’s note: If you are interested in more info on golden dorado, e-mail the author at jonathan@flyfishing.co.za

Top right: Teeth all round for Sarah and her guide Dario Above left: The Boultons taking a lunch break on the shores of the Paraná.

Below: The Golden Dorado River Cruiser – decadent luxury to access a massive river system.

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TCFF talks to Cape Town sculptor Chris Bladen about his love for nature, his art and, of course, fly fishing.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY WAVEBREAK MEDIA,

ER LOMBARD & CHRIS BLADEN

UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL

>>

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TCFF: How and when did you first

become seriously interested in art?

Did you have a mentor in this

regard?

CB: I lived and worked in London in the

’90s as a dental technician where I had

the opportunity to travel and fish around

the world In 2001, I decided to head

back to South Africa permanently and on

arriving back in Cape Town, my brother

introduced me to a friend of his who

owned a bronze casting foundry

Know-ing I had an interest in sculpture, they

convinced me to make a sculpture in

bronze My first piece was a trout, and

I managed to sell two pieces shortly after

making them The rest is history

TCFF: What is your favourite

medium to work with and why?

CB: As a youngster, my dad had a

stone-carving business, so in my free time, I

used to carve fish out of semi-precious

stone and wood This laid the foundation

for my interest in sculpture The biggest

problem with stone was that it was very

TCFF: Did you receive professional training in this field or medium?

My life took a swing when I became adental technician by trade, but I suppose

it went full circle when I took up full-timesculpture some 18 years ago

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TCFF: What is your favourite tool

in your studio?

CB: A tool I made myself out of copperand wood – great for carving and addingclay and also to add texture

TCFF: Who do you admire most in your field?

CB: Dylan Lewis – he is famous for hiscat sculptures The way he captures theessence of life, I find very appealing TomSutcliffe is another person I admire Hehas the gift to express himself throughwonderfully poetic writing, as well asgreat talent and skill in drawing andpainting

TCFF: Do you draw a lot of ration from being a fly fisherman and does it give you an edge when doing fish sculptures?

inspi-CB: For sure! Fly fishing has been more

of an art and meditative sport than theactual catching of fish – not that I don’tlike catching fish! With fly fishing there

is a calmness and while fishing I am stantly observing and dreaming Also,once having caught a certain species,

con-I have the opportunity to observe andstudy movement and anatomy Theseare all things I like to bring into my work

I also enjoy photography that later helps

me during the sculpting process

TCFF: Tell us a bit about your

workspace

CB: My studio is in Cape Town, with

won-derful mountain views Generally it is

very busy, with completed pieces and a

lot of uncompleted and experimental

works lying around I like being involved

with the casting process and have access

to welding and fettling tools The final

surface patina (colouration) is also done

from my studio I am generally a fairly

private guy when it comes to my work

I love working with music in the

back-ground, but also enjoy working in silence

Nothing better than a bit of Bob Marley

at the right time!

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TCFF: Your bird sculpting is also

amazing! Which is your favourite,

birds or fish?

CB: Thanks! I am fish crazy, so it will be

hard to put birds first in line That said,

birds have always fascinated me, and I

am really enjoy sculpting them

TCFF: Do you try to capture a

certain look or poise in your art?

CB: Movement and lightness are most

important to me Also, I believe that the

eyes of my pieces give the work life, so

I spend a lot of time getting them right

TCFF: Do you think your art

com-municates a message?

CB: I hope so I have always hoped that

fish would receive the same recognition

as our land animals do, especially on a

conservation level I seem to get the

feeling that people tend to cast a blind

eye to things that are not usually visible

As a fisherman, I have noticed how things

are going downhill for our fish species

TCFF: Which sculpture are you

most proud of?

CB: Mmm this is a tricky one! I suppose

it is natural to be proudest of your last

piece, but if I have to choose, it would

probably be “Permit III” as permit is my

favourite species to fish for Probably

because they can be so pedantic!

TCFF: What is your greatest

pas-sion?

CB: Ha, I better be careful here… My

twin girls and my wife And then, fly

fishing for permit

TCFF: Your work has received both local and international acclaim Have you won any awards?

CB: I’m not big on competition I actuallyhappened to win first prize for a stand Ihad at a boat show, but when the organ-isers heard that my exhibit had won, theychanged it, as I happened to sponsor theprizes Ha ha!

TCFF: Does your job get in the way

CB: I used to fish myself silly on ourbeautiful Cape streams for trout when

I was younger, but eventually it startedfeeling like you knew every fish by name.Salt certainly takes preference as it ismore of a challenge and personally muchmore rewarding when you get thingsright Fresh water fly fishing will alwayslie close to my heart though

TCFF: What’s on your bucket list?

CB: The brown trout of South Island,New Zealand Golden dorado in Bolivia,and white marlin in Morocco

TCFF: Do you work on commission only?

CB: I would guess that about 80% of mywork is on spec One tends to have morefreedom that way

“I AM WAY TOO OBSESSED WITH DETAIL!”

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TCFF: You recently did some

exhi-bitions in Johannesburg Tell us

more about that.

CB: I exhibited work in Hyde Park Corner,

hosted by Charles Greig sculpture gallery

It is an annual wildlife sculpture exhibit,

and I am fortunate to be part of it I was

actually born in Johannesburg, and some

of my best mates and clients live there I

wouldn’t mind moving there, but I’m not

sure my wife would be so keen though

She’s a real Kapenaar!

TCFF: Have you ever considered moving abroad?

CB: I often think about it My first choicewould be Jackson Hole, Wyoming Butdespite our rocking politics, I still thinkRSA is the best country in the world tolive in

TCFF: Where would you like to see yourself in five years’ time?

CB: Established in the US and Europe

TCFF: A heads-up on your latest creation?

CB: A fairly large brown trout I’ve beenworking on this piece for a couple ofyears! My New Year’s resolution was tofinish it before I start any new sculptures

TCFF: Where and how can our readers view your work?

CB: At www.chrisbladen.com, e-mail: info@chrisbladen.com, orthey can contact me on +27 (0) 73 158 7355

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Trout Streams TACKLING UP FOR KZN’S

“What fly?” is normally the first question asked when fishing new waters Actually, there are other things much more important you need to know.

ANDREW FOWLER explains.

The most common question I am asked by new fly fishers or visitors to our KZN

streams is, “What flies do you recommend?” Now it just so happens that I’m one

of those fly fishers who often straps something buggy on the end of my tippet andleaves it there all day For such a person a “top five flies” list is a sigh-inducingquestion The guy asking the question is seeking a silver bullet, and my top five list isgoing to do very little to satisfy that need There are so many questions that he could haveasked that would be more important and more significant to him in ensuring a pleasant orsuccessful outing, but he doesn’t know to ask them

TROUT

>>

* “How to put ‘Ask’ into Alaska – an interview”

Hunting and Fishing from A to Zern by Ed Zern, Nick Lyons Books, 1985.

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My sigh is not a disparaging one It is

more a representation of the quandary

of how to get him to ask what he really

needs to ask So, like the famous

hu-mourist Ed Zern*, who, on his return

from a fishing trip to Alaska, encountered

no one who wanted to interview him

about it, I am going to interview myself

here by asking and answering the

ques-tions I think really should be on the lips

of the fly angler visiting KZN’s streams

DO I NEED A 4X4?

No There are but a few streams that

require a 4x4 to get to and for the most

part that is merely because of a club rule

that avoids anglers very occasionally

getting stuck and inconveniencing the

landowner For the rest of it you may

need a bit of clearance and you might

spin a bit when you turn the car around

in the veld before the dew dries A little

Tazz or a Chevy Spark might be a bit

limiting but a RAV or a two-wheel-drive

bakkie will get you most places A hired

car will go anywhere In hectic summer

storms a 4x4 is great I wouldn’t go

with-out mine Don’t break the club rules!

WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE

ON FOOTWEAR?

I find trail-running shoes a nuisance

because they fill with grass seeds and

gravel I also need more ankle protection

But trail shoes are just fine if that is what

you normally wear and provided you are

happy to get them wet Whatever you

wear, be prepared to get wet If you

stay dry, you probably aren’t fishing, you

are probably just posing for photos My

preference is wading boots that are fortable enough to hike some distance in

com-You don’t want to be carrying a secondpair of shoes/boots with you to changeinto as you switch from hiking to fishing

I don’t like my leather hiking bootsspending that much time immersed

Rubber soles are fine in just about allsituations, barring low flows and algaeblooms Felt soles are treacherous ongrass, and on that little slick zone of blackmud at the waterline, that you see fleet-ingly before you flip upside down intothe pool you were about to fish My pref-

erence is for those felt soles with placesfor studs: three studs in the front and two

on the heel Don’t put all the studs inbecause on rocks that will be like marbles

on glass I have experience of this

WHAT DO YOU WEAR

ON THE RIVER?

For the most part I wear long-sleevedshirts for sun protection In the height ofsummer, I wear those flimsy breathablelongs – you know, the expensive onesthat make you feel like you are fishingstark naked because you can’t tell theyare there But those offer absolutely zerowarmth in spring or autumn At thosetimes I wear the slightly heavier onesthat are still quick-dry, and still damnedexpensive (I think they are called Kings-ley Holgate pants No, you don’t need aFather Christmas beard to wear them.)

In simpler times I just wore cotton khakipants You weigh a few kilos more as youstep from the river in those, especially

if you use the ones with turn-ups Thosefill with river sand

I never wear shorts: brambles nettles and snakes Brambles: If youare one of those turkeys who comesback from a day’s fishing with your legsshredded by brambles, you are now about

to shred those expensive pants too.Much simpler to learn what a bramblelooks like, and go around it Seriously

Below: The late Roy Ward proceeds with caution and a wading staff on the Lotheni.

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Then, for those whole days out whenyou park the car up at the road and godown into the gorge or hike several kilo-metres down the river and fish back upall day: for these you do need a day pack.

I am thinking here of days on the bidwana, or hiking down to the bottomboundary of Reekie Lyn on the Mooi, ordoing the whole length of Furth Farm onthe Umgeni You could easily buy aninexpensive day pack and use that withthe belt or chest pack described above

Nci-Or you could satisfy that need we all have

to buy really cool fly fishing gear Go on,spoil yourself No, you don’t deserve it,but do it anyway

I fished for years with a lookalike of

a Patagonia Sweet Pack and I have twomates who own the real thing I havetechno envy They are great Now I fishwith an Umpqua Swiftwater pack because

I needed a change Absolutely lous! I bought the full-size pack It isinterchangeable with a smaller one that

marvel-I find just isn’t big enough For me thebiggest feature of these packs is the waterbladder pouch That’s a personal thing;

I have a kidney that needs it Aside fromthat I want a rain jacket, and I want spacefor my sarmies I also want space for

my coffee pot and stove, but that is justplain ridiculous

PROBLEMS THAT I HAVEN’T REALLY SOLVED YETThe Patagonia Sweet Pack is impres-sively waterproof Many others are not,and only some of them come with thoserain covers that tuck into a pouch at thebottom Those are very useful for ourwild KZN thunderstorms The alterna-tive is to take along one of those rainponchos that cover you and the pack Myfriend Rogan and I tried to tame mine

in the wind of an approaching storm lastyear but it was a bit like trying to nail jelly

to a tree, and besides, the poncho turnedout not to be waterproof at all

The other problem I have is heat Wehave heat and humidity here in KZN insummer, extending right to the end ofMarch, and you will sweat heavily under

a backpack If you go without the sweaty

Nettles: On the Umgeni – plenty And

here’s a secret: they sting right through

those flimsy longs Wear the other

ex-pensive ones, which, by the way, are less

of a magnet for autumn blackjacks, which

are also rife on the Umgeni

Snakes: I am terrified of them I wear

snake gaiters, and in hot weather and

rank growth, I like having one of those

collapsible hiking poles with me for

making a noise and clearing a path I

attach it to my belt with a heavy-duty net

magnet, plus the curly cord they come

with A tip: attach it on your right hip (if

you are right-handed), because on the

left side it snags hastily retrieved line

The hiking pole is of course also a wading

stick, which I can’t be without in strong

flows Since taking these snake tions, I have not died from a snake bite

precau-Not even once

HOW DO YOU CARRY YOUR KIT?

It depends If you are a fair-weatherfisherman who parks near the river,strolls down to the bank and fishes upand down a few hundred yards, then awaist pack or chest pack is perfect There

is nothing wrong with fishing like that

It is uncomplicated and light We all dothat when we are sneaking in an hourhere or there I won a fancy waist pack

at the Fly Fishing Film Tour event lastyear, which I am loving for this purpose

I would never have gone to the expense,but knowing what I know now, I might

in future

Below: Snake gaiters, long rod and a day pack – Andrew Fowler on the Umgeni.

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A HAT AND SUNSCREEN?

Of course

POLARISED SUNGLASSES?

Of course

WHAT ROD DO YOU USE?

LINE WEIGHT AND LENGTH?

Everyone is different, and it’s a

per-sonal choice, but here’s what I do Firstly,

I don’t do Euro nymphing, so the choices

described below exclude that I own a

2-, 3- and 4-wt, which I use on rivers I

use the toothpick, I mean the 7ft 6in 2-wt,

on those special days on a high mountain

stream By that I mean most of the

streams in the Drakensberg World

Her-itage area The Mooi, the Injasuthi, the

upper Mkomazi and at Giants Castle

There you are rock-hopping in lovely

mountain scenery, fishing little dries as

much as you can Here you want to go

light and use your toothpick, or perhaps

your “boo”, if you are lucky enough to

own one of those It will be poetic and

pretty and special Unless the wind

blows, in which case you are poked That

is when I use the 3-wt Of course whenyou set out, you might not know thatthe wind is going to blow and get caughtthrowing thistledown at the hairdryer

It’s your call You will get it wrong times

some-I actually own two 3-wts One ispathetic and I don’t like it I use it all thetime as it’s a four piece you see, and theother one isn’t The four piece is anentry-level rod and I find it has no back-bone I thrash it around, performingway too many false casts and I find that

“IF YOU GO WITHOUT THE SWEATY BACKPACK, YOU WON’T

HAVE SPACE FOR LUNCH OR A RAIN JACKET, AND OUR STORMS COOL THINGS DOWN MIGHTY QUICKLY AND LEAVE YOU SHIVERING

AND IN NEED OF A JACKET AND COFFEE.”

Below: Time out for coffee and fresh tippet.

Below: Graeme Steart casting to a sighted fish on the Lotheni wearing a conventional day pack.

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when I develop some torque in my

cast-ing it buckles dramatically past the

straight point at the end of the delivery

It is 8ft long and that is OK because so

is the better rod that I far prefer The

preferred rod has backbone and throws

quite well into a wind, and that, after

all, is why I typically use it I will use the

3-wt on the Mooi from Tendela down

through Riverside, Stillerus and Reekie

Lyn, and I will use it on the Bushman’s,

on Snowflake and on the community

water It can throw a nymph with a 2mm

or 2.5mm bead, and of course it throws

a dry Lotheni often gets windy, so there

I use it a lot So my next step is to take

to the two-piece rod with a hacksaw I am

still busy trying to pluck up the courage

I could just buy another 3-wt, but I

already bought that fancy backpack…

When I buy my new 3-wt I might go 8ft

6in We will see

SO WHEN DO YOU USE THE 4-WT?

Ah! Thank you for asking I wanted

to talk about that The answer is, “more

and more” I use it on the lower reaches

for getting up and over the top, and the9-footer is what you need for that But

at the same time, in the middle to lowerreaches you often encounter what I call

“meadow water” By that I mean it isslower, deeper, meandering water, often

a bit wider, and also often with an fled surface This is difficult fishing, withspooky fish, and presentation is every-thing It is much more challenging waterthan the forgiving mountain streamswith their smaller and more plentiful andwilling fish So you want to go heavier

unruf-Your frown is noted Let me explain

If you were to try getting a long line over

a big, flat pool with the toothpick, youwould be thrashing that little thing aboutfuriously, trying to get the rod to load,while standing on tiptoes to keep all theaerialised line out of the tall grass Good-bye trout With the 4-wt and a Scientific

Anglers Trout Taper line, I am often able

to deliver a fly across the river in a singlerod motion One flick No false cast

Your trout is finning quietly, and next

WHAT ABOUT LEADERS? EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT 20FT LEADERS DO YOU DO THAT?

No, I don’t I use long leaders onstillwater, where I am throwing heaviertackle and can move around to get thewind where I need it My casting simplyisn’t good enough to use 20ft leaders on

a river, and besides, given that a KZNstream might be 15ft wide, you might now

be trying to throw nylon, which, again, islike throwing thistledown into the front

of a hairdryer I also don’t feel able with a leader that has an overalllength shorter than the rod I say thatmerely because I want fine diameter ortransparent leader material between myvisible fly line and the fly, and I wantsome delicate stuff between the chunkyfly line and the fly for the purpose ofgentle presentations I suppose I gener-ally fish a 10ft to 15ft leader, if you includethe braided or furled leader butt I amalways tinkering with leader formulas I

comfort-am a fan of Orvis braided leaders, furledleaders (which I make myself), and morerecently, those flat-butt Japanese leaders.Tom Sutcliffe introduced me to those afew years back They are yellow in colour(a bit shiny, I mark them with a dull olivepermanent marker), and kind of heavyand plastic-like They turn a tippet overbeautifully Google them You may have

to touch up on your Japanese – all thefeatures are described on the packaging

in hieroglyphics

So the leader butt will be about

6-or 7ft, and then I go down progressivelyfrom say 4X to 5X or 6X This no doubtanswers your next question on tippetstrength Of course fly size and weight

as well as water clarity make a difference

In terms of the spookiness of the fish,

I find this less of an issue Fishing theSmalblaar with Darryl Lampert a fewyears back, I was spooking fish andDarryl asked me what I was using Ianswered that it was 5X, and he washorrified I tied on some 7X and wasinto fish immediately That is foreignlanguage to us here in KZN most of thetime There are exceptions, but we oftenhave slightly tinged water in high flowsand we have very low rod pressure, so you

Above: Graeme Steart fishing a 2-wt on the Bushman’s wearing a Patagonia Sweet Pack.

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fish with that little stream net And downthere you might very well hook a lunkerand you will be grateful for the long-handled net advice For the rest of thetime you will just curse me for suggestingthat you lug the thing around with you

AND WHAT ABOUT FLY CHOICE?

WHAT ARE YOUR TOP FIVE?

Thank you for asking that last thing buggy will do

Some-(being visible) But I don’t use them as a

matter of course In slow meadow water

or low flows I lose the indicator and

watch the point where the tippet enters

the meniscus What I do do with

indica-tors is to change all the time That is, I

change the position on the leader, the

colour and the size I focus on my tippet

and my indicator, and change these

constantly to suit the piece of water in

front of me and make sure they are

turn-ing over properly and landturn-ing delicately

If it’s not working or I can’t see it, I take

the time to sit down on the bank and

change it I change fly a lot less often

than I fix my tippet and indicator

WHAT ABOUT A NET?

Like anywhere else, you can use one

of those lovely little stream nets, on a

magnet behind your neck There are a

few exceptions worth mentioning though

On the lower half of the trout water on

the Umgeni, take along a long-handled

stillwater net The same is true for

the Bushman’s down at Rockmount and

perhaps some of the lower stretches of

the Mooi, but I mean the very lower

stretches Any place where the grass

grows tall, the banks are steep and the

pools are deep, you might struggle to

get your toes to the water’s edge to net a

Below: The author with a brown from the Mooi at Reekie Lyn He is wearing the Umpqua Swiftwater large pack fully loaded with lunch, rain gear, coffee pot and stove! Bottom: An Umgeni River brown from the upper section where a small stream net will do This net is from Shaun Futter

of Trutta Angling Accessories

“ BUY REALLY COOL FLY FISHING GEAR GO ON, SPOIL YOURSELF

NO, YOU DON’T DESERVE IT, BUT DO IT ANYWAY.”

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Fish Speak DECIPHERING

YELLOWFISH

>>

PHOTOGRAPHS BY GERHARD LAUBSCHER

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