"If I could change one thing in fly fishing, it would be the illusion that you can drop a packet of money on going to an exotic venue and come back as an accomplished fly angler. I’m all for the School of Hard Knocks – I had to repeat a few grades myself just to [...]
"It’s impossible to convey to somebody what the jungles of Gabon are like. I can tell you that they are endless and totally overpowering with almost no sign of human habitation, but no matter how much hyperbole I use, most people will never know what it feels like to take a boat trip down a [...]
THE MISSION's editor at large and Feathers & Fluoro stalwart Conrad Botes on juvenile tarpon in Gabon. For more on this trip, read his account in Issue 3. It often occurs to me that it’s the unexpected parts of a fly-fishing trip that stay with me. Case in point is the trip we had to [...]
The Mission's Conrad Botes returns to Gabon today on his second trip with Tourette Fishing. The first one was a massive success. Several guys caught huge Tarpon off the beach on fly, while plenty of pitbull-sized Cubera Snapper, a few Giant African Threadfin and loads of Jack Crevalle (the local 'trash fish') were caught too. [...]
To a flyfisherman, the word "Tarpon" conjours up great visions of leviathan sized creatures, armour plated beaten silver heavyweights, exploding into the air over a gin clear flat, gill rakers rattling like the springs on the old farm truck as it drives over a cattle grid, a bewildered angler clinging to what seems like an [...]
The coast north of Tayrona National Park in Colombia`s La Guajira district is broken by hundreds of rivers. Majority are large and effected by rainfall. And all scream fish! We unfortunately arrived on the tail of two weeks of rain and the rivers were running high and muddy. My first thought was that my chance [...]
