I’ve been playing with a new rod and reel combo, a Moonshine Epiphany 10’6″ 3 wt (to get yours in RSA, contact Stream and Sea) and a pewter-coloured Predator 4/5 reel (tiny for its size, perfectly suitable for a 3 wt outfit) and it just feels so good. The rod is long and strong, so it has great reach and it handles big fish well. The small Predator reel is beautiful in a pewter finish and the drag is so smooth; fish don’t stand a chance snapping fine tippets off (even 7X) on those unexpected, powerful first runs.

This combo has worked really well for me when fly fishing for larger cyprinids, like smallmouth yellowfish, largescale and smallscale yellowfish, Clanwilliam yellowfish, witvis and carp. I find it very versatile as the rod has great reach and it casts well too, so you get to target fish at close range and at a distance in the same session with ease. Besides its smoothness, the Predator’s drag is also powerful and you can tighten it up on stronger tippets to stop bigger fish from running too much line off and finding snags in the middle of the dam, or on the opposite bank of a river. (For a new Predator reel, contact Anton Pentz on antonpentz@icon.co.za)