If ever there was a time to celebrate and support local fly fishing products and manufacturers, it’s now while our economy is struggling more than ever. One brand that not thaaaat many people know is actually South African is Omnispool, the line care solution guys (based out of Grahamstown noggal).
I’m an unabashed patriot. Not in the sense that I believe bullshit like, “my country is better than yours and everything we do is great.” Far from it. As any South African knows, it’s very easy to pick at our problems and we have plenty of them. My patriotism is more around pride when we do or make good things.
Example 1. Doing Good Things
We occasionally win at some major type of sportsball, like the Rugby World Cup in 2019 (and 1995 and 2007). Top tip: check out the exceptional doccie about the 2019 campaign, Chasing the Sun, directed by fly angler and friend of The Mission Greg Lomas of Scholars & Gentlemen. Here’s a link to a playlist Greg put together for us in issue 13.
Example 2. Making Good Things
Rooibos teas, Q20, CT scans, heart transplants, bokdrolspoeg, Dolos (those geometric concrete blocks that hold back harbour walls and basically fight the ocean), Pratley Putty and the Kreepy Krauley – we invented them ALL.
and now, honk them vuvuzelas for I’d like to draw attention to a third category…
Example 3. Making Good Fly Fishing Things
Ok, so it’s not a new category, but it’s noteworthy. For a relatively small player on the fly fishing scene, South Africa punches above its weight. Sure, there are the globe-trotting personalities we feature in the mag, but there are more and more great products being made here in the good old RS of A. Who knows, with the wobbliness of globalism, maybe even more things will be made here in the future?
The standout examples are reels like the indestructible, SA-made Shilton reels (recently partnered with Fly Men Fishing Co in the USA) and one-man-band Pentz Predator, both of which have been around for quite some time.
While these brands are quite well known as South African, for whatever reason, the South African DNA of line care specialists Omnispool and their ingenious range of Switchbox and Linecareboxes, has flown under the radar.
Designed to help you switch and care for lines, easily and quickly, whether while fishing or at home, it’s the kind of inexpensive gadget that once you have one makes you wonder how you ever managed without it. I’m a highly disorganised, messy person and these things have made a major difference to my ability to get organised before a trip and to stay organised while on one.
I could run you through how they work, but why do that when a short instructional video of Peter McLeod of Aardvark McLeod switching up lines on Farquhar atoll, will do a better job?
You can get these clever line-care gadgets in most good fly fishing shops both in South Africa and abroad. Find out more at Omnispool.
