SEPTEMBER DIARY

As I write the streams in the Western Cape are still high with the water more the colour of a dark, smoky, single malt whisky than a pale blend with plenty of ice and water added. It’s been cold as well, with water temperatures 12 to 14 degrees, the winds chilly and brisk, even the occasional splatter of rain. Hatches have been sporadic – which we expect this early when it’s wet and cold - but they covered most bases meaning small mayflies, the occasional caddis, plenty of mountain midges – but they were never dense hatches.

Charley Perkins

Last week Mark Krige and I took Charley Perkins onto the Smalblaar. He’s the son of Perk Perkins the President of the Orvis Company. I’ve known Charley’s grandfather, Leigh Perkins, for years so it was good to make the acquaintance of the Perkins family again.

Charley fished well, as you would expect from someone who has just spent a year guiding on the Missouri and the Smith River in Montana. He took a couple of fish within minutes on a large RAB, but after that the fishing went dead. Later when the chance of any good fishing looked even slimmer he lost a good rainbow, then landed a brown and finally lost another brown we all noticed was a sizeable fish.

Of some interest was a fish I guess was 17 to 18 inches long. He was sitting in a carrier stream that bleeds off the Smalblaar just above the hotel. Charley got him to chase his dry fly but in the swift flow it all happened so quickly he couldn’t set the hook. Then a second rainbow joined the big fish, maybe an inch smaller. They seemed comfortable with each other but the presence of the second fish put the big fellow off feeding. Then the smaller fish flipped onto her side and started making the flapping movements you see when trout are building redds.

Big fish left foreground, smaller fish just off the stones to the right

Charley was fascinated with Mark’s dry fly rig. He was using a 30 ft tapered leader! It had originally been 50 ft long but he’d cut it back to a mere 30 ft! With an upstream breeze Mark seemed to have no problem presenting his dry fly. He told us it was something he’d picked up in Europe. Evidently some French anglers are using them – presumably on the fussiest trout they have.

Is there’s more in the weather than we know about?

Neil Rowe and Kevin Coxr were on the beat of the Smalblaar below the one we fished on Friday with Charley Perkins. They got one fish between them and someone on the Molenaars blanked the same day. Reports were poor with blanks or very low scores on beats all over the place. They chatted to us on their way out of the river.

What's the collective noun for a bunch of fly fishers? A 'chatter'? - Anyway, here discussing barometric pressure on the Smalblaar

But I just got an email from Neil saying he fished Beat 6 of the Smalblaar two days later, on the Sunday, and got 16 fish. So what was wrong with conditions on Friday, the ‘off’ day? Low barometric pressure? Probably. But remember that Charley caught two fish within minutes of us arriving, then the river went dead, then it came alive again – sort of – around 4:00. So even in an off day there may well be cyclical windows of opportunity. Meaning the jury is still out on whether it’s wise to leave the river earlier just on account of the fish being off.

Luca Montanari

I just took an Italian visitor, Luca Montanari, onto one of our streams. It was a day that looked pretty poor weather-wise and I thought we’d be lucky to get three or four fish. But when Luca took a moment or two to slow his line speed down and shorten his casting distance he took a heap of trout.

Luca Montanari 

He is an avid fly tier living in Rome and his speciality is tying salmon flies in full traditional dress, meaning right down to bustard feathers, Indian black crow, jungle cock, kingfisher you name it. The results I saw were flies as close to splendour and perfection as they get.

How's this for perfection!

Jock Scott

He also showed me the tying of a Devaux pattern (quite brilliant) and a simple, but very elegant version of a CdC para-loop dun, a pattern called the Iris in Italy. Here’s a link to his step by step tying of the Devaux pattern that you will bless me for:

http://www.mustad.no/action/flyofthemonth/archive/yellowpartridgedevaux.htm

Above, Luca's tying of the Iris - a quite brilliant pattern

Fynbos

The fynbos isn’t at its best right now, but then it’s not that far off either. On recent trips I managed to find three plants I’ve never seen and think I may have since identified  them.

Gladiolus aratus

Moraea ochroleuca                                                                                                                                Pelargonium longicaule

A Steve Boshoff quote:

"My rods and nets are no more than one person’s pursuit to do the best he can in response to his own and a group of friends’ fly fishing needs and views based on experience and demands of particular fishing areas – the Western Cape and Rhodes streams. Most are prototypes, none profess to be the best there is for all users or conditions. None purports to be the best “custom” offer in the land, none seeks commercial favour.

Perhaps they are also my way of partaking in and trying to enrich this extraordinary tradition in which I accidently became a part (not coming from a fly fishing family or place; at most accompanying an occasional rock and surf father during holiday escapes from the dry Karoo). In a world full of disappointments, unfulfilled need for “control” and recognition of individual craft, the satisfaction of friends is critical: the fulfilment of their needs – often complex needs based on their in-depth experience on the stream and actual use of the products of others – when they handle one of my rods or nets. When they find it worthy of doing what it should do for them, functionally and spiritually, that is what I want to emulate, again and again."

Landing net made for Ed Herbst by Steve Boshoff

The Boshoff landing net - close to perfection

Steve has made me the prettiest landing net you ever saw, obviously in keeping with his usual high standards of craftsmanship. The net is small and ultra-light, the handle yellow wood, the trim cherry, and I think he built it because I’ve been on at him so long to make me a net he finally cracked – just to get me off his back. See above for the final product and see also how the spots on this little wild rainbow glow right through its pectoral fin!