We don't waste time on carp flies, because carp aren't exactly kings that only dine on the finest roast, right? They also thrive in mud holes that muck up flies in one outing, so why bother tying beautiful flies for them? Right...And that is also why most of my carp flies look like crap, but [...]
According to my knowledge, in fishing terms 'bloodworm' may refer to three different things: 1) Red midge larvae, 2) reddish coloured freshwater annelids (aquatic oligochaetes that are the freshwater analogs of terrestrial earthworms) including tubifex worms (sold as 'bloodworm' in frozen blocks to feed aquarium fish), and then 3) the well known marine bloodworm (a [...]
I've been so focused on ticking off a 2020 fly fishing bucket list - trying to fit in special fishing trips in the limited free time I had, rather than squeezing in the regular stuff - that I somehow forgot about the fisheries on my doorstep. For instance, the thoughts of chasing after big Clanwilliam [...]
Lockdown - I'm tired of hearing it and avoid the subject these days. But during the lockdown, my fly tying station was my psychologist. Years ago my tying desk was in something close to a cellar, the living space was two floors up. My wonderful wife, Belle, wouldn't have any of this so she bought [...]
Is there such a thing as a perfect fly? I believe there are many well tied flies that have a great 'strike rate' among different fishes - these, in my book, qualify as 'perfect' flies. When I say 'well tied' I don't mean 'pretty', but rather clever combinations of materials to create buggy flies that [...]
The Berg River in Paarl is a special place for me and many of us at Feathers and Fluoro. I have fished the river's headwaters for trout and, a bit lower down, for smallmouth bass. That was before the province built the Berg River Dam flooding what was some of my favourite river fishing close [...]
Catching carp on small white flies.
You're standing right above them, on a bridge, the water is crystal clear and about a metre deep. Its flowing quite strongly and the carp are sifting along the bottom, nose into the oncoming current. We've all been tempted to drop a fly off a bridge somewhere along the line, we can see fish clearly [...]
Having to channel all my fishing desires into fly tying like many others in these strange times I have been honing some pattern ideas for carp. One fish food source that is abundant in most freshwater bodies is tadpoles and around here they are about all year round. Like many creatures, hundreds are born to [...]
Everyone should be well aware that carp on fly is now entering that ‘booming’ phase - that exponential growth phase in popularity when most trout anglers discover just how nice and challenging it is to catch something else on fly, like tarpon...While reading up on the carp fishing history in our country I realised that [...]
