Last Sunday I spent a very pleasing morning on beat 2 of The Smalblaar River. Although the trout didn’t start slow, we did.

My partner for the day, Justin Fletcher, had not fished a Cape stream before. I’d also not ever fished with him. It is always pleasing to watch someone’s first cast and realise you’re not going to have to babysit for the day. Justin caught several beautiful Rainbows on the dry fly and was very chuffed with popping his Cape Stream cherry. Welcome to club bud!

As mentioned, we started slow. I dropped seven fish before I finally brought one to hand. I don’t know why! I didn’t have Justin’s excuse of spending Saturday at Pinotage on Tap.

Anyway, the arrival of summer was clearly announced by the gusting wind. The recent rains also had the river in a relatively high condition which kept the challenge up!