It is winter, a dull time of the year for most river-addicted fly fisherman in South Africa, but a convenient time for a fly tying expo! The 1st expo that took place on Lourensford Farm in July 2016 inspired Gordon van der Spuy, the founder and event’s organiser, to continue with his fly tying expo concept by ‘creating’ a similar get-together in Johannesburg/Pretoria, scheduled to take place this weekend (24-25 June) at Toadbury Hall.
I attended last year’s expo and it was a great success, a conglomeration of fly tyers, fly casters, fly fishing professionals, writers and artists that was well attended by the public. Besides all the distractions, like Shaun Futter’s beautiful hand-crafted wooden nets and fly boxes (Trutta Angling Accessories), energetic Herman Botes tying the Papa-Roach, Chris Bladen’s bronze sculptures, and Ruhan Neethling’s perfect salmon flies, I finally managed to get signed copies of most of Tom Sutcliffe’s fly fishing books. It is in my opinion an event not to be missed if you are in the area.
For more info on the 2017 expo taking place this weekend, please visit the South African fly fishing and fly tying Expo website:
