...but sometimes you get what you need. No doubt most fisherman dream of chasing big fish, in wild waters that are in far flung exotic locations. We want to explore unfished rivers high, wild and hidden, we want to drift down deep jungle waters teeming with life, and we want to walk endless exotic flats [...]
I remember the emotion of picking up a fly rod for the first time, pulling fly line off the reel and feeling the thickness and suppleness between my fingers. I was in awe and tried to figure how this foreign way of fishing worked as I knew nothing. After catching the first fish and feeling [...]
We all tend to want to fish secret, out of the way locations, with as fewer anglers as possible around... to have all the water to ourselves, to covet that solitude that makes up such an enormous part of or addiction to chasing fish... This quest for waters with as few people around as possible [...]
With the winter solstice behind us, I’m looking forward to the next chapter in our seasonal diary; bashing smallmouth bass in the many rivers and stillwaters around Cape Town. Although I always enjoy a bit of mid – winter bassing, it’s really the build-up to spring that gets me excited. Meatwhistle = smallie food [...]
Smallies can eat and spit a fly so fast, that most bites go undetected, especially when fishing the pre-spawn. After I started using a strike indicator a few years ago, my hookup rate increased dramatically and nowadays I hardly fish without one. I like placing the indicator right up against the flyline, and for [...]
Increased water velocity delivered the goods One of my favorite times to target smallies is after good rain has fallen in your smallmouth catchment and the velocity of the flow rates has increased, especially in spring and early summer. This is a time when I like to focus my attention to pool heads [...]
Go where the wild things are Spring is just more than a month away, and if you are keen to target some serious river smallmouth, now is the time to get ready. One of the most obvious, but probably most important strategies for big bronzeback, is to fish the best water. Go where the wild [...]
Micropterus Dolomieui, bronzebacks, smallies, call them what you may; I love fishing for smallmouth bass. Why? The first thing that comes to mind is their remarkable fighting ability. I love the way they can put a hole in the surface of the water when they get airborne after being hooked, even in fast water. [...]
Most fly anglers in Cape Town consider winter to be a quiet time of the year. Not me. Winter equals the start of the bass season and the hunt for big smallmouth bass. While they become really active during the pre-spawn period of early spring, the bigger fish remain active throughout the year and winter [...]
