AN ESSAY ON THE JAN DU TOIT’S RIVER WESTERN CAPE

By STEVE DUGMORE

(Steve Dugmore is an architect by profession, but also a maker of exquisite bamboo fly rods. He lives in Cape Town. See his Freestone fly rods on http://www.freestonerods.co.za/. The Jan du Toits flows near Worcester in the Western Cape. It is one of the most spectacular fly streams in the world. I took Denver Bryan – ace professional photographer from Montana – up there a few years back when he asked me to show me a stream that would knock his socks off and melt his lenses!  He later confessed that the JDT’s was the most beautiful small stream he had ever seen. Sometimes described as the stream flowing in cathedrals of stone, it is very challenging; not for the faint hearted, nor for people with a fear of heights. Tom Sutcliffe)

I just had a special weekend up the Jan Du Toit's with Herman Potgieter. Herman was fishing a Steve Boshoff 6ft 3wt bamboo and I was fishing one of the first rods I made - also a 6ft 3wt. It was marvellous fishing with Herman – another convert to the ‘dark side’ by the way – on this very special river. Both rods were a joy to use.

A Dugmore Freestone bamboo fly rod

The water was low but a lovely cool temperature with the kloof getting more shade during the day. Some of the stiller pools need a winter flush as the bottom is dark with sediment but the pools in flowing water are a warm palette of ambers and russets and very clean. The water is crystal clear.

The fish were sparse but in superb condition and rich in colour - light and luminous with almost turquoise undertones offset with red fins for the fish in the clear sunlit slab-rock pools and dark-toned and spotted in the darker pools.

It was good to see some smaller fish dotted in various sections of the river. We caught a good few of them right in the turmoil of bubbles at the inlets and they came out as fresh and sparkling as the water itself.

Herman caught one very special fish which we watched for sometime as it and its mate patrolled a pool. I hid on a rock under the branches of an overhanging tree on the side of the pool whilst the fish swam lazily right below me, not a metre and half away. If I dropped the grass I was chewing it would have landed on its head. I dared not move and very discreetly took a picture.

The way to catch these fish is to place your fly in the likely line of patrol whilst the fish is headed up to the top of the pool and wait for the fish to return. It does not require a whole lot of finesse but it does require a whole lot of nerve. With the clarity of the water you need to use 7x tippets and the fish are strong. Herman pricked and missed one of the two fish and then caught the other. The takes were so slow and languid it required a delayed setting of the hook rather than a quick 'strike', something which takes concentration to execute in the excitement of anticipation.

(See a full set of Steve’s images of this magnificent place under Themed Galleries on this site.)