I've been contemplating ways to alter the attack when the surface bite for Breede and Kleinbrak grunter slows down, and I think, as always with the help of mates, I've found one or two things worth trying. I've fished Karoolskraal only twice, both times the fishing was rather challenging. Which is fine because the vibes [...]
Catch and release is what we do. It’s how it should be, you know it and I do, so I’m not gonna preach to the converted. But if you’ve never watched a fish swim away thinking, “Oof, hope he’ll be okay,” you’re not exactly alone. So here’s a little pic dump of fish that made [...]
Whereas I won’t be caught dead driving fifteen minutes to target 40cm leeries, I’ll drive hours to hunt smallstream trout. In my favourite stream a 40cm trout is absolutely a trophy. It’s weird. Perhaps I just have different ideas of what good fishing entails in salt water as opposed to fresh, but then why do [...]
A large number of swimming prawns (almost certainly Penaeus monodon, aka Tiger Prawn) have invaded Southern Cape Estuaries at least as far south as Breede. This sparked some conversation here at Feathers and Fluoro, with resident science type JD wondering out loud whether or not they’d be followed by springer (Elops machnata, aka skipjack, ladyfish, [...]
TOTALLY COMMITTED Nine to five. That’s how long I worked that flat today. The blazing sun burned me right through my shirt: I now look like a tomato with vitiligo. Also, I missed an appointment. Within an hour or two of fishing I felt as though I had a steel rod in my back, and [...]
IRONMAN SBS If you haven't read part 1 and part 2.1 of this series, may I suggest you do before working through this piece? If we’re all still friends after that, let’s tie this thing. Note: Pic heavy post, and I found some of the finer points quite hard to explain. I hope you can [...]
A muse, a rant and an introduction to the upcoming Ironman SBS I feel as though we need some emotional preparation. Even if I were immune to bouts of overzealous, extra-verbose circumlocutory elaboration, an Ironman SBS was never going to be a quick read. I recommend setting aside a few hours one evening, with some [...]
For as long as SA fly fishers have been obsessed with grunter, misconceptions and heresies have spread about fishing for them. Noticeably, and especially in the Western Cape, many grunter hunters have focused almost exclusively on one ubiquitous grunter food, the mud prawn. But has tunnel vision inadvertently done us out of options? Yeah, maybe. [...]
My corruption of Herman Botes’ Papa Roach has come up in conversation quite a bit lately. It’s fair to ask why on earth I would tamper with this damn near perfect stillwater trout fly, but in my case the answer is simple: you absolutely don’t have to, but … you can.
For some years, I have largely ignored my closest fishing hole. Five minutes from home, the Garden Route Dam was once a pristine bass fishing destination. The near-black tannic water made for challenging fly fishing, but experimentation and perseverance paid off. It also hosted enough bluegill to keep a kid busy for hours. But then [...]
