Conrad Botes battles chaos, fatigue and demons in his return to Gabon on a quest for the Silver King - tarpon. As featured in The Mission Issue 03. I wake up some time on the morning of day three. Or maybe it’s day four, I can’t remember at this stage. I’m completely exhausted, stretched to [...]
Guide, guru, mystic dream weaver and fly fishing pioneer – Arno Matthee is exploring the final frontier. By Tudor Caradoc-Davies, featured in The Mission Fly Mag Issue 03. I came across a great new word the other day – psychopomp. Relax, it’s not what you think. Steve Hofmeyr is not involved. In ancient Greek it [...]
The free films just keep coming! This time, it's Atlanticus (the trans-Atlantic tarpon fest) and Water is Life from Grant Wiswell of Castaway Films. All you need to do is sit back, relax and dream of big fish. https://vimeo.com/414009001
From cave art of woolly mammoths to hero shots of trophy fish, we feed off visual story-telling. Without Instagram and the rock star poses, the trophy fish and the Michael Mann montages that sell destinations, gear and dreams, today’s fly fishing world would be a much quieter place. Dictated to by geography and history, everyone would keep in their lane… but not Fly Fishing Nation’s globe-hopping Stephan Dombaj. When it comes to lanes, think of him as a talented Pricasso, boozed, in a rally car, armed with a loudhailer. The Mission met him in issue 6.
Earlier this year, we spent some time fishing in Gabon with fashion photographer and film director Travys Owen. When he’s not shooting for mega brands like Adidas or lipping African poons, Travys is amassing great tunes. For this Gabon-inspired selection, Travys says, “Deep in Gabon camping on a sand spit having one bar of 3G [...]
"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 [...]
