A FLY TYING DVD SERIES BY ED HERBST WITH PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANDREW INGRAM

Written by Ed Herbst

Behind my JVice with my friend Andrew Ingram behind the camera

Herewith some background on what we hope will be a series that celebrates and chronicles the evolution of what can be considered indigenous or significant flies in the South African context in terms of design or use of materials. This set the parameters of the patterns we chose. There would be no point in doing a DVD on tying the Adams or Royal Wulff because you can find a dozen of those on YouTube.

The format chosen was that I would anchor the series and interview the originators of the patterns before filming them tying and fishing their creations.

A tiny corner of my fly fishing and fly tying reference library now in excess of 1000 books

The first DVD will seek to create an historic, Cape-focused, chronology. It will very briefly sketch the introduction of trout to the Western Cape and the role of Fred Bowker at the turn of the last century before looking at the role of Mark Mackereth, the originator of the MacKereth Spider, who changed the mindset of local anglers from wet fly fished downstream to dry fly fished upstream and also that of one of his protégés, Tony Biggs, inventor of the RAB.

Tony has declined an invitation to appear on the DVD so Tom Sutcliffe, who tied flies and fished with both Mark and Tony, will tie these two patterns and fish them on the Smalblaar where they were tried and tested by Mark and Tony.

Fishing the Smalblaar, possibly the Prince of South African dry fly streams

The next pattern on this first DVD is my Christmas Caddis which was inspired in the eighties by Lee Wulff’s experiments with loopwing flies and by watching him tie them when FOSAF brought him out to South Africa in 1989 and which was, to my knowledge, the first dry fly design in this country to utilise a then-new material, cactus chenille.

Another important fly in the eighties was the G & B Low Floater. The advent of closed cell foam has seen some deer hair flies being superseded, but the G&B was an important dry fly on Western Cape and other streams and Dean Riphagen will be flying down in early April to tie the fly and fish it on the Witte which was his favourite stream as a young university student in the eighties.

The ethereal Witte River, Western Cape

We have already filmed Fred Steynberg in Rhodes, whose contribution to the first DVD is a fascinating and delicate little dry fly which resulted from his observations on the Bell and other streams that trout were feeding selectively not only on emerging nymphs but the shucks of those that had already emerged. The result is a fly that can truly be described as an ethnic design.

The final fly on the first DVD will be the parachute RAB, tied and fished by Philip Meyer who was featured, along with this fly in Volume 5 of the FOSAF series, Favoured Flies.

Phillip Meyer’s Parachute RAB

Once this first DVD is completed, hopefully by the end of April, our intention is to continue the series but changing the focus from an historic chronology to a themed approach - terrestrials, nymphs, the CDC revolution, stillwater patterns and, hopefully, locally developed saltwater patterns as well.

Mario’s brilliant Extended Body Inchworm pattern

In November, Andrew and I visited Aliwal North to video Mario Geldenhuys tying a fascinating extended body foam inchworm and then went on to Rhodes to film Fred Steynberg. Like most guides, Fred often ends up late at night after a tiring day’s guiding, replenishing his fly boxes or getting up at 4 am to do so. He needs to tie patterns that catch fish and are quick to tie and both he and Cape Town guide, Tim Rolston, routinely often tie quite complex patterns at the rate of one every four or five minutes. There is a great deal that can be learned watching them tie their patterns, explaining the tying steps as they go along.

Fred Steynberg

When I retired I had hoped to write a book on fly fishing and fly tying but the market is depressed and, short of paying the projected costs up front it is difficult to ensure publication and I did not have the necessary finance.

When I was approached by Andrew Ingram with the idea of a series of fly tying DVDs, it was a logical option. I studied film production at Pretoria Technikon in the late seventies and subsequently worked, first as a television news cameraman and then as a television news reporter at the SABC for 28 years.

Andrew studied photojournalism at the Port Elizabeth Technikon and then worked for 22 years with the Independent Newspaper Group which included a stint of four years as Chief Photographer for the Cape Times. When he resigned last year to take up his current position as Marketing Manager for the National Sea Rescue Institute he was deputy illustrations editor at Independent Newspapers, Cape.

He has a decade of experience in making DVDs and we have often fly fished together.

During the decade and a half that I have been editor of Piscator, annual journal of the Cape Piscatorial Society, I have been mindful of its pre-eminent role as a journal of record. It has been in continuous publication since 1948 and through the articles of members such as Alan Yates in the seventies it has provided a chronicle of how South African fly patterns evolved. I have sought to continue that tradition.

The DVD series is an extension of that and, provided we can cover costs I would certainly like to interview leading modern day fly tyers in other provinces and film them fishing their patterns.

Peter Brigg is keen for us to visit Natal and some of the historically important places such as Trout Bungalow in Mooi River and others which are reflected in his beautiful book, Call of the Stream. He will tie the Mooi Moth and his spinner pattern.

Trout Bungalow on the banks of the Mooi River, KZN

I would also like to feature the flies that evolved at Sterkfontein Dam such as David Weaver’s ant pattern and the Good Doctor’s Beetle and a visit to Magoebaskloof to film Giordano “Zamps” Zamparini fishing his innovative crab pattern – which features the wad from a shotgun cartridge – is certainly high on the to-do wish list.

The DVD will sell for R195. Craig Thom who runs the Stream- X fly shop in Milnerton, Cape Town and who has about 200 fly fishing and fly tying DVDs on his shelves tells me that imported DVDs sell, on average for R249 and the recently released South African DVD, Fundamentals of Fly Tying retails for R229 so we feel the price is competitive.

Andrew is aiming for the end of April as a completion date for first DVD and, depending on my health, we hope to meet that deadline.

The second DVD is almost complete and will focus on terrestrials. It will feature myself, Fred Steynberg, Mario Geldenhuys, Tim Rolston and Stanton Hector.

We will keep you posted on our progress.

Hard work ahead for the team!

Ed Herbst

Your enquiries are welcome. Direct them to me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or to Andrew Ingram at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it