In this excerpt from our issue 31 Undercurrents, LeRoy Botha looks to fly fishing for a breath in the space between life and death. “No tree can grow to heaven unless its roots reach down to hell.” – Carl Jung My internal monologue is splitting into a conversation between the opposing poles of my [...]
What if we can have the best of both worlds – brilliant trout fishing in the mountains of the Western Cape AND new (yet ancient) fisheries for large indigenous species that readily take a fly? If game-changing conservation biologist Dr Jeremy Shelton’s vision for the future is accurate, that will be the reality if stakeholders [...]
Snowshoe is not regular in South Africa. I was introduced to this funky dry fly material via Instagram (the platform may have its pros and cons, but the pros still outweigh the cons for me so far...Like spotting great-looking fly patterns and 'new' fly tying materials). Materials I came across on Instagram, which I really [...]
Have you ever struggled to spot your dry fly in low-light? That surface glare can be a real pain in the eyes when you are fishing your regular parachute dry, but here is the answer: Black posts or dark wings. Flies tied with dark, neutral colours, like dark grey or black CDC and/or poly-yarn, really [...]
The mountains of the Western Cape are home to many trout streams, both well-known and hidden, offering both rainbows and browns. But once you have quenched your thirst for salmonids, if you push deeper into the middle of nowhere as Leonard Flemming did fly fishing in the mountains of the Western Cape, you will find [...]
When we announced the Feathers Award in December 2020, we knew it would attract some very special entries. This was not only because for this inaugural competition we allowed for entries from any time in the past 24 months, but also because in our experience fly anglers in Africa are, for the most part, hard-charging [...]
Big witvis (Cape whitefish), an old nemesis, have plagued my thoughts for a long time. They seemed impossible to catch on fly, which simply didn't make sense to me, that was until I was introduced to micro-nymphing... It's amazing how aggressive small fish can be to large flies and then sometimes, how comparatively big fish [...]
SMALLMOUTH, largemouth, Natal Scalies, Lowveld, Clannies… South Africa’s yellowfish species are loved and lauded, but some cousins fly under the radar like the endangered Witvis. Leonard Flemming recounts what it took to catch his first one and how he’s been consistently targeting them since then. "Once upon a time, long ago, before I had caught [...]
