So it's no secret that Clanwilliam yellowfish were stocked into the Berg River back in the day (from 1964). I've been trying hard to find remnants of these stockings, but even though I've hiked and fished most of the Berg River main stem and tributaries over the past thirty years, I've had no luck. [...]
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 [...]
Fly fishing and off-road motorcycles seem like the perfect fit so for issue 24 we teamed up with BMW Motorrad for a mission into the Tankwa Karoo. It involved two riders on the GS Urban and the F 850 GS bikes, two target species in Clanwilliam yellowfish and smallmouth bass and one giant storm. Check [...]
To further bury an already very dead cliche, ‘I’ve had the privilege of’ interviewing some greats over the years. GOATS the likes of Kelly Slater, Greg Minnaar and Kilian Jornet. Seven-time world champion Conrad ‘The Caveman’ Stoltz, Christoph Sauser and my skinny-ass bro from Hout Bay, Ryan Sandes, who just happens to be one of [...]
I dig fishing big dry flies with long 'legs' or rubber appendages for extra movement. The bigger flies are more buoyant and therefore also highly visible, they float longer than tiny dries and they can work charmingly well as 'indicators' when a dropper nymph is attached (I prefer 'New Zealand style' for this). Big dry [...]
From body-boarding to skateboarding, exploring the Vaal River and its tributaries for amazing yellowfish action, or inventing fly patterns like the brilliant Papa Roach, whatever our issue 21 Lifer Herman Botes does in life, he does at full tilt.
In issue 21 Tim Leppan wrote about 'The Foam Dungeon,' his go-to articulated streamer fly pattern for largemouth and Clanwilliam yellowfish. Here's Tim with the Step-By-Step. "After sharing this pattern with a group of mates, I received a lot of questions back about how one ties it and how to fish it. In saying that, [...]
"Never again will I be unprepared for an ant hatch" were part my thoughts on the drive home after watching sceptic Clanwilliam yellowfish refuse some of my 'buggy' nymphs over the weekend. The fishing was phenomenal, best I had ever experienced in the Tankwa Karoo, but I missed out on about three extra yellows that [...]
I've encountered swarming termites too many times on fishing trips to ignore them as important food items for fish in Western Cape rivers (the fish also started feeding like crazy during the termite swarms). Other, buggy flies worked well to catch fish during these ant hatches, but there were also picky fish (and some really [...]
Over the last few days I tied a small army of Skeleton Minnows to try out on our larger, more aggressive yellowfish and bass over the next year or so. In the process of tying them I enjoyed playing with different colours of flexo tubing, fluorescent beads (which may add the desired colour and weight [...]
