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. [...]
Whether you’re a believer in the divine, dabble in the pseudo-science of intelligent design, embrace the wonder of serendipity, or accept that humans sometimes just get lucky, there is no escaping the fact that some things put on the earth are simply perfect. From humble bass bugs, to the lethal Swiss Army knife utilitarianism of [...]
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. While I do believe [...]
Of course I'd heard about surface-feeding vittatus. I'd seen the videos too, like this one of bird-eating tigers. In October 2019 Ewan Naude and I were on the upper Zambezi at Sioma Falls (Ngonye Falls) with Wildman Fishing Co. Early one morning we saw some peculiar surface boils in a quiet bay. Part of our [...]
No stranger to big fish, when Meredith McCord visited the flats of Sudan she was on the hunt for triggerfish, bluefin trevally and GTs. What she didn’t expect was the spaghetti worm. No one expects the spaghetti worm. “What is that?” I asked, awe-struck, as I stood looking in front of the three [...]
Snowshoe is not regular in South Africa. I was introduced to this funky dry fly material via Instagram (the platform may have its pros and cons, but the pros still outweigh the cons for me so far...Like spotting great-looking fly patterns and 'new' fly tying materials). Materials I came across on Instagram, which I really [...]
From representing, captaining and coaching South African fly fishing teams all over the world, to whispering to spotted grunter on the sandbanks of the Breede river, fighting Geets in the Indian Ocean or snapper in Gabon, we know very few anglers who can match MC Coetzer for all-round skills. Massive streamers, micro-nymphs, delicate dries, salt, [...]
Plop. Greedy eyes swivelled towards the commotion. As they focussed, I swear she licked her fat rubber lips at the fry pattern hovering 1.5m away. She stroked her whiskers, cruised over and slurped it down. A plan was coming together and this was a welcome change. No hesitation or suspicion. Since moving to the Netherlands [...]
We're loving this new video series on Youtube from Gordon van der Spuy (aka The Feather Mechanic), one of South Africa's best fly tiers and instructors. An actor by trade, Gordon begins each video with a clear explanation of what he wants to achieve from the fly, the materials he will use and why he [...]
Have you ever struggled to spot your dry fly in low-light? That surface glare can be a real pain in the eyes when you are fishing your regular parachute dry, but here is the answer: Black posts or dark wings. Flies tied with dark, neutral colours, like dark grey or black CDC and/or poly-yarn, really [...]
