From captaining boats in the cliff wash off the Omani coast while targeting africanus permit to tickling behemoth nighttime Nile perch in Cameroon and playing with dry fly-sipping yellows in Lesotho, the guiding life of Greg Maxwell is as varied as they come. He’s our High Fives profile in The Mission Issue 48 (Nov/Dec 2024). Photos: C/o Gregg Maxwell, African Waters

5 best things about where you guide?  

1. There are not many places that I am aware of where you will get as many shots at tailing permit as southern Oman.
2. Slapping Hoppers down on the Bokong in Lesotho for yellowfish. The brown trout upstream are truly special. While I have never managed a good Bokong brown, I have had my chances and I still have nightmares about missed fish.
3. The guide teams and operations I’ve been fortunate enough to be part of have led to meeting and working with some of the fishiest people there are.
4. The Faro in Cameroon. It’s not for the faint of heart. You can fish all day and into the night. Nile perch, tigers, barbs, and vundu are a few of the species on offer.
5. Drift trips down the Orange River. There is a peace and calm that washes over you as you push off the riverbank and begin your journey downstream. I can’t explain it.

Fishing-connected items you don’t leave home without before making a mission? 

1. Fujifilm XT3 with a 16mm f1.4 lens. For me, this has been a winning combination for fish photos, especially shooting on a boat.
2. Boat keys and money for the fuel dock.
3. Patagonia Torrentshell rain jacket.
4. Suncream, glasses and water.
5. Cheap braid scissors. They can cut knottable wire, braid and fluoro.

“Is my hair receding because I have worn a hat constantly for 16 years?”

5 bands to listen to while on a road trip?

1. The Skatalites.
2. The Talking Heads.
3. Morphine.
4. OHGOD!
5. Queens of the Stone Age.

Things you are loving right now? 

1. The Island Bar in Hawana Marina in Salalah, southern Oman. They will happily prepare your mahi or yellowfin tuna while you enjoy a bucket of beer after a long day on the water.
2. Slow pitch jigging.
3. Some downtime with my dogs.
4. Chai karak, a sweet and spicy tea sold everywhere in the Middle East.
5. Honey Badger folding knives. Affordable and good quality.

5 indispensable flies for saltwater?

1. Stu Webb’s Love Mussel. It’s not only for Trachinotus africanus.
2. Clouser. Pick your flavour.
3. Crazy Charlie.
4. Flexo.
5. Ryan Janssens’ Silicone Hollow Baitfish.

5 indispensable flies for freshwater?

1. CDC Elk Hair Caddis.
2. Micro Changers. Bonus points if it only has the trailing hook.
3. Tim Leppan’s Foam Dungeon.
4. PTN with a CDC collar.
5. Speed Cop.

“Every day is a school day.”

5 favourite fly fishing destinations across Africa?

1. Lesotho. There are plenty of rivers that have hardly been fished.
2. Cameroon. It’s just so far out there in every possible way.
3. Tanzania. Huge, aggressive fish in an amazing setting.
4. Drift trips on the Orange River.
5. Some of the streams and rivers that flow out of the Drakensberg will always have a sentimental appeal for me.

Best things you have picked up from guiding?

1. Tenacity.
2. The understanding that every day is a school day. Always be willing to learn. This is not only related to fishing but to life in general.
3. Always be prepared and be adaptable. Anything can happen.
4. Having a sharp knife handy.
5. Wearing Crocs.

5 of the worst things you have picked up from guiding? 

1. Wearing Crocs everywhere.
2. Calling my boss “bru”.
3. A boep (beer belly).
4. Still thinking I can bite through fluorocarbon.
5. Sleeping for three days straight after a big season.

Funniest situations you’ve experienced while guiding?

1. When siafu (driver or army ants) got into one of our female guest’s tights when she had to relieve herself on a sandbar in Tanzania. I felt so bad for laughing but she had a great sense of humour.
2. Hiking through the Kalahari with fellow guide Tim Leppan to find a very important bottle of whisky for a guest.
3. Accidentally disturbing a huge hornets’ nest in a dead tree while drifting down the Ruhudji River in Tanzania. It was funnier around the campfire that evening.
4. The panicked and confused yelling when I turned all the lights off for the small bush camp on the Faro River in Cameroon, not knowing that a guest was still in the shower.
5. The swarms of tsetse flies on the drives between camps in Tanzania. Swearing, screaming, slapping flies – some guests even sprayed unhealthy amounts of insecticide on themselves.

5 flies to pack (in the smuggler kit under your driver’s seat) to cover most species? 

1. Clouser.
2. Sex Dungeon.
3. Bunny Leech.
4. PTN.
5. Flexo.

“Some of the places I have been privileged enough to work in serve as a reminder that we need to look after our natural areas.”

People you would like to guide or fish with?

1. My father. He taught me to fish when I was young and we don’t get too much time on the water together anymore
2. I had a dream that Matthew McConaughey was a guest on the Bokong River in Lesotho. Another time it was Adam Sandler. Either of those two would be awesome.
3. Mark Murray for barbel (sharptooth catfish).
4. Popping for yellowfin tuna with Oliver Santoro.
5. The list of people I would like to fish with is endless, but you can’t beat a day on the water with a good mate.

5 fish on your species hit list?

1. Tarpon and cubera snapper hopefully in Gabon one day.
2. Any billfish on fly. I have never had the opportunity.
3. Golden dorado.
4. Peacock bass.
5. Northern pike.

5 shower thoughts that have occurred to you while fly fishing?

1. Is my hair receding because I have worn a hat constantly for 16 years?
2. How big can a barbel really get?
3. Do milkfish really eat flies?
4. Did I remember to pack my lunch today? I remember making sandwiches.
5. Why do marlin swim up to a big, noisy, diesel-powered sportfishing boat and not spook?

Most underrated species in your book?

1. Yellowfish species historically have been overlooked.
2. Barbel.
3. Wave garrick (three spot pompano or dart).
4. Black seabream, aka the Temu triggerfish.
5. Big-eye trevally.

5 things (outside of the fishing) that make where you fish so special?

1. The people. From deep in the African bush to lavish sportfishing boats in the Middle East, you will always meet interesting people and some crazy South Africans.
2. Insane birding, wildlife, ocean life and landscapes.
3. Quiet and chilled lifestyle.
4. Good coffee.
5. The places themselves. Some of the places I have been privileged enough to work in serve as a reminder that we need to look after our natural areas. They are constantly under pressure from humans. There are only a few truly wild places left.
   

5 destinations on your bucket list?

1. Gabon.
2. Queensland, Australia.
3. Magdalena Bay, Mexico.
4. Tjuonajokk, Sweden.
5. Bolivia.

Things you would take up if you weren’t always fishing?

1. Overland 4×4 trips in Africa.
2. Conservation. We need to protect and preserve our wild areas.
3. I would hike more.
4. Smoking and slow-cooking on open fires.
5. I’d do more wing shooting.

Essential ingredients for an incredible mission?

1. Cheap beer.
2. Small crew.
3. Firewood.
4. Luck with the weather gods.
5. Distance from crowds of people.

5 things about fly fishing that you may never understand?

1. Trout and salmon purists.
2. Why a lot of people are against other fishing techniques. You can learn a lot and adapt them to a fly fishing approach.
3. Why stillwater fishing for stockies is more popular than fishing for yellows or tigers.
4. Hyper-realistic flies. They look like they take hours to tie, but a quicker, easier-to-tie, more-imitative pattern is just as effective.
5. What exactly about fly fishing is so addictive. There are easier ways to catch fish.

Common mistakes that most clients make?

1. Not reading the pre-trip information.
2. Over-packing.
3. Leaving sunscreen behind.
4. Bringing the wrong flies or the right flies tied on the wrong hooks.
5. Forgetting sunglasses or bringing non-polarised glasses deserves a slap.

Your last five casts were to…

1. Africanus permit.
2. Mahi mahi.
3. Dubai queenfish.
4. Jozini tigers.
5. Winter scalies (Natal yellowfish).

This story about Greg Maxwell first appeared in The Mission Issue 48 (Nov/Dec 2024). You can read the whole thing below, for free, forever.

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