If you are new to fly fishing and fly tying or if you are simply rusty and you want to give yourself a fly tying crash course, the guys over at Orvis are running a FREE livestream series of classes hosted by Tom Rosenbauer, the revered mentor behind much of what Orvis does in terms [...]
Regardless of your skill level, being an angler always involves a modicum of luck. In Gareth Tate and Craig Pappin’s case, they hit the motherlode in a Tsitsikamma estuary. Full story in issue 25. By Gareth Tate. Photos Gareth Tate and Craig Pappin In my fly fishing life there are a few experiences and stories [...]
A favourite of farm dams and local ponds, this aggro bridge troll the blue kurper deserves your attention as Leonard Flemming reports in issue 24. WHAT The blue kurper, aka Mozambique tilapia or Oreochromis mossambicus as the scientists know it is a fairly large, deep-bodied, mouthbrooding and very robust cichlid that thrives in southern African [...]
When Peter Coetzee went to the Yemeni archipelago of Socotra, he had two weeks spent chasing giant trevally on the cards. Then the pandemic shut the world down. Stuck between a civil war in Yemen, pirates and terrorists in Somalia and the pallor of a new plague gripping the world, Pete and his fellow travellers [...]
Two weeks into Lockdown level 2, with international borders still closed, Jazz Kuschke goes in search of local tigerfish in South Africa at Lake Jozini to wash away the cabin fever. Up close and personal with some of the permanent residents Tigers, again. This time was different though. I’d not stamped a passport [...]
Shaun Dickson explores the Injasuti river and its feisty rainbows in KwaZulu-Natal in this little film fresh from the guys at Xplorer Fly Fishing. Not only does it feature the singular filming and editing style of Matt Gorlei of FlyBru, but considering the country's beaches are closed, it's going to make you want to get [...]
Over the years at both Feathers & Fluoro and The Mission, we have been witness to some incredible catches. There was that time Conrad Botes and Arno van der Nest caught massive tarpon on fly off the beach in Gabon. Arno van der Nest with a tarpon caught off the beach in Gabon [...]
Feathers & Fluoro co-founder Peter Coetzee is one enigmatic mo-fo. In his mid-30s, the guy has a relative baby face and yet every now and then he drops something into conversation like, "When I was commercial pilot, we used to fly into Bamako all the time..." Other than being a commercial pilot at the age [...]
In the hidden Bulkhead Hollow Fleye, Conrad Botes discovers the fly of his salty dreams. Here’s why. The Bulkhead Hollow Fleye. Photo John Travis When it comes to fly tying, I’m a bit old school in the sense that I try to resist new fads and tying styles for as long as I [...]
Think you’ve gone long periods without fishing before? In 2011, a few weeks into a six-month motorbike ride through Africa, from London back home to Johannesburg, Steve McGown was abducted by Al Qaeda in Northern Mali. Most people who encounter terrorists do not survive the ordeal, but Steve not only endured just under six years [...]
