Few people get to fish for tigerfish inside the Kruger National Park. Head of Scientific Services Dr Danie Pienaar is one of them and his weapon of choice is Echo’s Bad Ass Glass (BAG) in an 8-weight.
“What I really liked about this rod is that it allows you to minimize false casting. The Quick Shooter is certainly an apt name for it. With 10 metres of line out the tip, I could shoot to 25 metres with a single back cast and reach 30 metres with only 2 back casts! This is ample distance for the rivers I fish and this ability lets you spend more time with the fly in the water than in the air. When you slow your casting stroke down, let the rod do the work and try not to aerialize too much line, this rod is an absolute joy to cast.
It gets even better when you hook into a fish. I have used this rod mostly for tiger fish and have caught fish up to 8 pounds on it with ease. The ‘pleasure factor’ of fighting a fish on a fibreglass rod is unquestionably more than on graphite – even smaller fish put a bend in the rod. One also seems to feel every heartbeat of the fish transmitted through the rod during the fight, which translates to a more visceral experience!”
Read the full story in issue 12 of The Mission below:
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For more on Danie, check out our lifer in issue 6.
