The Vice Squad evenings (initiated by Tudor Caradoc-Davies) at the Cape Piscatorial Society clubroom is taking off and the last event (and second one hosted at this venue) was so well attended (approx. 35 people) that the room was close to getting sardine-packed with eager beaver fly anglers of all sorts (iconic fly guys, freshwater and saltwater fish chasers and even youngsters that could fit in under my armpits). The event is shy of becoming famous; we even had a photographer from the Sunday Times rock up to capture the special moments on camera after rumours of its popularity spread through the Cape grape vines.

Ed Herbst was up first and demonstrated how to tie a crabby-looking dragon fly nymph for stillwaters:

Next up was Chris Bladen with his infamous Tan Clouser on which he recently caught a very nice permit; this is Chris’ ‘go-to’ fly for tropical flats fishing:

Gordon ‘Actor of the Year” Van der Spuy was all babbly when he had the opportunity to show off some of his excellent fly tying skills while demonstrating the Damsel in Distress, a nice search pattern when damsel nymphs are spotted swimming around in your favourite stillwater:

Then the pizzas arrived to keep everyone quiet between gulping down their red wine/beer and watching the rest of the fly tying demo’s…

Jimmy-The-Shark-Man (Jimmy Eagleton) had the privilege to ruffle up some feathers with his Raccoon fly (a sand prawn imitation specifically developed to catch guitarfish on South Africa’s West Coast) while the rest of us had a mouth-full of pizza:

The last stint was the highlight of the evening for me, a ‘tie-down’ between FlyBru anglers Matt Gorlei and Nick van Rensburg; Nick tied the Squirmy Wormy, while Matt competed with a bi-colour Blob for the quickest tie demo…Nick was first to finish with his Squirmy Wormy, arguably the easiest and quickest fly to tie on Earth!?

Vice Squad is something that neither feather-farters nor the pro fly tyers should miss out on; so feel free to join the party at the next Vice Squad meeting!

PS – keep an eye out on this blog for future updates about Vice Squad meetings…