What’s the saltwater equivalent of a trout bum? Whatever it is, Henkie Altena of Karoolskraal Fly Fishing Camp, a living, walking legend of the Karoo and Overberg fly fishing scenes fit the description. We caught up with him for our issue 18 Lifer profile. The first fish I can remember catching on fly, was a [...]
Over the past decade I’ve had the privilege of working with some of South Africa’s finest action- and adventure-sports athletes. Seriously bad ass cats who make a living from their respective sports. Surfers, rally drivers, climbers, BASE jumpers, FMX dudes, triathletes and trail runners. Among others. While they’re all characters in their own right and [...]
Neil Rowe and I were discussing grunter at dinner on Alphonse Island when he mentioned that he’d (for many years) had quite good success fishing tandem prawn fly rigs in the Breede River. He described the ‘top’ fly as a standard floating prawn-type fly, such as the foam-backed prawn flipper or the deerhair prawns, with [...]
This short piece on catch and release fly fishing in our estuaries was published on the Red Bull website: While studying the giant mud prawn Ewan had a premonition of imminent chaos, that a spotted grunter would eat his Clouser Minnow. I agreed that his olive Clouser could be mistaken for the prawn by a hungry [...]
Everyone has heard of the great Wildebeest Migration through Tanzania’s Serengeti and up into Kenya. This spectacular phenomenon is actually more than ‘just’ a wildebeest migration as includes (in far lesser numbers) zebra, as well as Thompson's and Grant's gazelles follow the trek for better grazing and water. As spectacular as it is in sheer [...]
There's something about waking up in dark to head out fishing. Launching the boat with nothing but a dim haze over the eastern horizon. The crisp air as it cuts, even in midsummer, through your layers as the boat plains over a mirror of water. The day is full of potential and all you really [...]
My group of fishing buddies caught our first grunter of the season (post September) while on a trip a few days ago. Mike Gradidge, Jannie Visser and I decided to hit the two estuaries most accessible to Cape Town in search of our spotted quarry. Mike decided to stop at the smaller estuary en route [...]
It was at a time that I was scrambling for a formula that worked for Garden Route Grunter, long before I realised there were many formulas, for many situations. Id been up every weekend for a year, walking, wishing & working. A process that I enjoy far more than any other aspect of the [...]
Success is a cool concept. No matter where you find it, success brings a smile and happiness. Tim sent me these photos of Dave - the junior fly tier from my Part 4 Post - fighting and landing a tasty Rainbow that he caught on one of the creations he came up with while behind my vice. [...]
After yesterday's frustration with murky water, today I headed towards the Heads and fished the flats around the "Grass Atoll" - small mud bank whose sedge grass resembles the shape of a tropical atoll. It's a spot where we've got grunter before and also Steenies on prawns. I've been wanting to fish a pushing spring [...]
