Fish food flies I recently ran an intensive weekend course for a group of lovely ladies who were relatively new to fly fishing or indeed complete novices. It was billed as a “Ladies Fly Fishing Boot Camp” and in a couple of short days we covered all the essential elements of fly fishing from the […]

A quick trip to paradise Not more than a 90 minute drive out of town lies a remote kloof a canyon I suppose you might suggest. It is steep sided with a gradient to match remote rocky and unspoiled unspoiled in a way that so few places really are. Through this little piece of paradise […]

The more things change the more they stay the same: It is perhaps unnecessary that I should here dwell on the advantages  which a knowledge of fly dressing gives to the angler since it is to be expected that they are already known and felt by those who read these lines. At the same time […]

The C-Word: CONFIDENCE. I have been tying a lot of flies recently mostly with a forthcoming trip in mind. The trip will take me back to waters I haven’t fished in four decades and as a result I have been researching more than a little on hatches fly patterns and all things related. I like […]

Thoughts on selectivity: Much is made of a trout’s selective feeding in a great many angling publications in fact it comes up so frequently that one would have to imagine that it is a fact and if not fact at least commonly accepted wisdom based on subjective observation. Certainly although I don’t fish alkaline waters […]

Well would you know it I have a new baby.  It has taken the better part of two or more years to get to this point people might think that in-vitro fertilization is a long and troublesome process but with no real motivation towards fatherhood and with a natural human longing to leave something behind […]

I suppose handling rejection is something we all have to deal with at different points in our lives. Maybe your fumbled advances to the prom queen (or Football Jock: this is a non-sexist blog) were greeted with those immortal words “Bug off Four Eyes”. Maybe the girl that you knelt before ring in hand gave […]

Things have been a bit of a whirl of late what with the silly season (which closely aligns with the festive season in these parts). Guiding days handyman jobs urgent fixes hot weather a trip out to the lake and a great deal of traipsing up and down the stream valleys in search of fish. […]

I have on occasion written down both here and in other scribblings   my thoughts on selective trout and that supposedly mythical beast the “educated trout”. Of course that has equally led to a level of derisive commentary from some sufficiently determined argument that can on occasion have me questioning if I have missed the point […]

A lucky escape: I have a favourite quotation from one of my all-time favourite books “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”. The scenario plays out something like this. Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect (an alien with a carelessly chosen pseudonym) are in the pub just prior to the destruction of the planet earth. Ford Prefect […]

It had been an exceptional morning’s fishing Jack had risen a lot of fish and landed a good many of them but our spirits sagged slightly as he had also broken off on some of the better trout a lack of experience with light tackle and fine tippet mostly to blame. Still we did some […]

For a long time now I have been pondering what it must be like to be a small insect hatching out on a freestone stream. I know that insects are smarter or at least appear smarter than we might think. Mayflies for example manage to all hatch at the same time so that they can […]

It’s a common joke out on the river with clients we look up at the sun drenched mountain landscapes the bright profusion of flowers and perhaps an eagle in the sky or a klipspringer on the rocks and someone will say “nice office”.  It’s a bit of a giggle because it is a nice office […]

I like to imagine that I am open to new ideas suggestions hypotheses and such although I must admit at the same time that I am not overly keen to listen to foolish notions without logical backup. So it happens that some months back I hosted Peter Hayes from Tasmania. Peter was in South Africa […]

The Self Fulfilling Prophecy: I am sure that everywhere that trout swim we have all experienced one of these “Self-Fulfilling Prophecies” it is a common enough trap and actually quite a tricky one to get out of even if you suspect that you may be a victim. A couple of examples: Years back I was […]

An interesting discussion this past week on the Flyloops Forum “how much is fly fishing about luck”? Which was stimulated by a previous blog “The Last Word” from “The  Fishing Gene Blog”. Undoubtedly there is some element of fortune good or bad to angling. There is far too much out of our control for there […]

It strikes me that fly fishing as a field sport is alone in one very important respect the fly angler doesn’t actually have control over the outcome. Should you go hunting with a rifle and with sufficient practise you are able to make your shot the vagaries of wind distance muzzle velocity and such all […]

To those of us with The Fishing Gene fishing and in my case fly fishing holds plenty of opportunity for passion excitement and ultimately one hopes fulfilment but in a world of instant gratification there is nothing that builds one’s ardour more than a bit of foreplay. Right now I have a hot date on […]

Out of the mouths of babes or fish: The past few decades have been a remarkable time for fly angling in my youth fly fishing meant one of only a few things. The gentry would swing wildly ornate patterns through costly waters in pursuit of Salmon. The well-heeled to the south might cast dry flies […]

I have recently been reading “The Selfish Gene” by Richard Dawkins a fascinating look at the way genes control us and every other living thing for that matter. But one portion of the book fascinated me in particular a discussion on Cuckoo’s and their foster parents. As no doubt we all know Cuckoo’s lay their […]