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Joining the 20/20 club.
Deciding on a bit of pampering, Wendy and I decided to head for the Elandspad, fish for the morning and then take a casual stroll over the mountain and spend the night at Fizantakraal lodge. Turned out not to be much of a stroll but a bit of an uphill slog, but the pool and cold beer at the end made it worthwhile.
Membership of the 20/20 club, for those who may aspire to join, is attained by catching a 20 inch fish on a size #20 hook or smaller. My goal was to do this, using a tenkara rod, size #22 hook and 8X tippet. On the Saturday evening I had hooked a monster using one of my giant spiders, but lost it in hand when I grabbed the tippet and it shook its head. Lesson: have a net! The next morning (with a net) I targeted the big fish and eventually caught one of the bigger ones. It looked quite big enough and measured a millimeter off 50cm.
To cut a long story short I assumed that 50cm was well over 20 inches, so when I got home and did the calculation, I was sorely disappointed. 500mm divided by 25.4 is only 19.685 inches. Foiled! Ah, the tip, carry a net and the proper measuring tape.

String up your rod.
This months tip is about a tip, and how not to loose a tip. Keith Barton (www.singlebarbed.com) recently told a tale of woe in which he lost two rod tips in two days. After breaking the first and losing the second in bush, he suggests that you always leave your rod strung (especially when leaving the water after having lost your last fly). Doing this will ensure that the tip piece is not snagged by a leaf of branch behind you and lost forever. If it does snag, you will now know about it.

Fishing safety.
Fishing alone can be a beautiful experience, but many people don’t do it, mainly out of fear of  disaster or calamity. “What if I break an ankle, or get my foot stuck?” In certain areas with easy access to the road and where there is  it is cellphone coverage it is no problem. If this is not the case it is certainly unwise to fish by yourself, as should something go wrong your options are very limited. When you do venture out, whether with someone or alone, always let someone know which beat you are on, and when you are expected back. That person should also know who to contact, not the emergency services, but someone who knows where the beats are.

Another idea is to carry an emergency blanket, a whistle and something that can reliably start a fire. You can keep this in your backpack permanently, or get one of those wading sticks with all the emergency kit inside them.

Flyfishing for Snoek (Thyrsites atun) or ‘Cape sailfish’ Feb 2011

 
Watch out for those snoek teeth

Finding Snoek
Snoek are found from False Bay to Ysterfontein, and further up each coast at times.
The easiest way to find the snoek is to follow the commercial fisherman out, as they know where they are. A quick call to a general tackle shop will tell you were they are launching. Avoid getting too close to their boats as they do this for a living and won’t stand any nonsense.
When snoek are close inshore in sheltered places like Buffels Bay they can be reached by kayak

Catching Snoek
Fly fishing for snoek is essentially vertical jigging, but with a fly rod. You are casting a very fast sinking line, with a seriously weighted fly so that you can get to the depth the fish are. A fish finder comes in quite handy to find the depth. If there is a current you need to cast ‘up stream’.
Once you feel your line tighten up as it straightens out, lift your rod and then let the fly sink again. Do this once or twice, and then do one or two long strips, followed by the sink & lift. Finish with long pulls as the fish sometimes follow the fly till it gets quite close to the top.
Once you have a fish on, give it a good strip strike to ensure the hook is in. Thereafter give in no quarter, get it in as quickly as possible. Seals love to steal hooked fish.


Denton Ingham-Brown concentrates on beating the seal.

Tail the fish and get it under your arm, holding the front end by the leader at a safe distance. Use a tool to remove the hook, keeping your hands as far as possible from those sharp teeth.
Don’t lose control of the fish, keep the leader in your hand and hook in if you are photographing or killing the fish. Don’t let it drop into the boat, it will eat legs and feet and can do serious damage to an inflatable.
Practice catch & release if you can, but if the fish is bleeding badly, kill it and take it home.
To kill the fish, you need to get it under your arm and bend the head back to break its neck. It goes a lot easier if you cut the skin below the gills. Then remove the hook.


Tackle for flyfishing for snoek

Your rod needs to be at least 9wt, preferably 12wt with a decent saltwater reel to enable a quick landing.
Sinking line of minumum 7 i.p.s. is required to achieve depth. The most popular line is a head of Rio T17 (10 i.p.s.) connected to a running line, or to a fast sinking line.

A leader of about 40 – 50lb will suffice but a shock tippet of 100lb Fluorocarbon is recommended. Replace after each fish or you will lose your fly on the next one. Steel traces do a lot of damage and fish cannot usually be released.

Flies are usually of the clouser type with the heaviest eyes you can find.
We have custom made some lead eyes as the ones commercially available were not heavy enough. Colours do not seem to be important, but Pink and Chartreuse are popular.
Make sure your hook is very sharp.

Pat Garret with a nice snoek

Eating Snoek
Snoek is great on the braai.
It needs to be ‘flecked’, which is means it is butter flied open so it stays in one piece, with the abdominal cavity in the centre and the spine to one side.
Just stick it straight on the grip, skin side down and let it cook with a medium heat. You may want to start it off flesh side down so that the thicker parts cook quicker, but only do this on a clean lubricated grid, so it can be turned over.
Apricot jam is popular as a basting sauce.
Cook until flesh is white all the way through. Do not overcook.

Snoek flesh has ‘worms’ in it, but they don’t bother most people, who just eat them. If you are squeamish, eat the top half as it is always wormless and give the bottom half (below the lateral line) to the cat.

The ‘worms’ are a flesh eating Nematode, but are harmless to humans, and some claim it improves the flavour. There are none of these above the lateral line,

Pap snoek is not caused by over playing the fish, or not keeping it cool, but by another bug called Kudoa thyrsites, which causes “soft flesh syndrome”. If a fish is heavily infected, these parasites release an enzyme which rapidly breaks down the flesh. It is still edible.
Left over snoek can be made into ‘Smoor snoek’ which is delicious.

Aug 2010

Pushing the envelope or smashing through the boundary?

There is often debate about what constitutes fly fishing and what doesn’t. On the one hand there are the dry fly purists who disdain anything other than a dry fly on a stream or river. On the other side of the railway tracks are the blue water boys, who chum and tease huge fish into a frenzy and then casually lob a fly into the ensuing melee.
While both extremes use fly rods, fly reels and flies the situation is far from clear cut, as there are no clear rules. It’s a kind of democratic anarchy, as the rules are largely followed, but every man fishes according to his own personal dictates. This situation has allowed fly fishing to evolve from the dry fly only chalkstream fishermen, to the various aspects it encompasses today. All species in the world are now targeted, some more successfully than others, but that makes it a challenge, which in turn makes it more attractive.

These are the thoughts that occupied my mind as I wolfed down four cans of anchovies in the early hours one morning. It may seem to be a strange preparation for my first snoek (Thyristes atun) fishing trip, but prudence dictated that should a heaving sea cause a heaving stomach, my efforts would not be wasted. Thus my early morning brain stumbled upon the first question of fly fishing ethics. If I were to lose my breakfast, it wouldn’t really be chumming. Really! It could also be considered 'catch & release'.

The second question was more complicated. The fly rod and fly reel were safe from scrutiny, but what about my line? Twenty five meters of braid, connected to a six meter head of Rio T17 (that’s a 10 inch per second sinking rate) may not have been an out of the box fly line, but it was probably safe. This line sinks like a brick, especially with a saltwater DDD fly attached. (The saltwater DDD, with apologies to the original DDD, is a large Clouser pattern 4/0 to 6/0, with enormous dumbbell eyes). It was named “Denton’s Deadly Diver” after the man who ‘invented’ the eyes and pointed out that it had the potential to cause serious harm to the back of a skull, as well as sinking like a sack of hammers.

This was a perfect morning for fishing, a calm sea and a whimper of wind. The good ship "Double Haul" made good time to Buffels bay. My rod was quickly rigged and my ‘line’ castt into the water. It sank like it should have, and within moments of getting the fly down, and before starting the long strips, the line started moving away.
No smashing take. Just a reassuring solid pull. I said “Ooooh”, the fish speeded up and pulled harder. A louder “OOOOH”, this was fun. With the 10 weight rod bent to its limit we had a bit of a tug of war, followed by a few to-and fro's. This fish wasn’t giving up easily.
With some good advice from Captain DDD, the fish was soon boated, almost a meter of flashy silver with some serious dentition and a kak attitude.

The rest of the morning went well, with a lot of fish lost off the hook. Having a seriously sharp hook was essential, and having a hook hone even more important.
[Tip of the Day: Keep your hooks sharp, and your wits sharper]
Despite using a mono (100lb Sufix) shock tippet, only one fish broke it off, just as it got to the surface. For the most part the fish were swallowing the Saltwater DDD’s deep, so the tippet was severely tested. One of Captain DDD's fish had the flash of the fly sticking out of it's gills.

The mere suggestion that this is flyfishing, may cause pain in some quarters. When snoek fishing on fly is broken down to its basest components, it is really vertical jigging with fly tackle. It was not nearly as efficient as the commercial guys with bait, but it was immense fun, and no matter what side of the tide you sit, flyfishing.
This is where it gets worse. At some point someone suggested that treble hooks would be a lot more effective (as would barbed hooks). That may well sound like flyfishing blasphemy, yet trebles are quite common when fly fishing a salmon stream.

So where do YOU draw the line?

July 2010

June 210

May 2010

Droppers

Tangles are a way of life... or are they?
In the introduction I mentioned the use of multiple flies or teams. One of the reasons why people hesitate to use these is the risk of tangles. The best method to avoid this is to open up your loop when casting. You can also slow your cast down slightly. The other way is to get your knot setup correct. Here is a tip from Paul Procter, a UK pro.



Do a surgeons loop knot to tie on a dropper (left). Loop the dropper around the line (point side) and back through the loop created (centre). Pull tight (right) and the dropper now sits at 90 degrees to the line, preventing tangles. Fly line has been used instead of leader material for clarity.



April 2010

Pull the other one

While pondering the difference between good fishing vs. good catching days yesterday, I lost concentration a bit and hung up my fly on a rock. The usual 'do a funny roll cast' thing didn't work and the fly stayed stuck. Then I remembered something I had heard or read years ago. Point your rod at the fly, take up the slack, pull until you feel the line stretching, and then let go. This bow and arrow trick shoots the line back at the fly and most of the time it becomes unstuck.
It doesn't work for submerged trees though!
Just remember to check your knots afterward, and more importantly you hook as it may now be blunt and blunt hooks don't catch fish.
 

March 2010

Directionless

While sight fishing to a large rainbow trout, I was taught the following lesson. The fish sucked in the fly, I lifted and pulled, and the fish was on, then off. It was immediately apparent why the fish got off, and this is why.
You will find you lose a lot of fish when they are close and take the fly, simply because we are conditioned to lift and strip strike.
There is nothing wrong with this, but we should be aiming for the sweet spot, the scissor. The top of the mouth is a bit bony, and doesn't hold a hook nearly as well as the lip or scissor. What I should have done was move my rod towards the rear of the fish instead of upwards. So bear that in mind, especially when sight fishing at close quarters. You will land more fish.

Tenkara Fly Fishing

I think it was Lee Wulff who was the exponent of this kind of fishing, the object of which is to get a resting fish into a feeding mode by constantly drifting a fly over it. "Creating a hatch"  Well, it seems like this is nothing new, as it is a method that has been in use in Japan for a long long time by the Tenkara fly fishermen. They call it "Sutebari". The  translation is "showing off the fly", but a literal word for word translation goes like this "throw away fly hook". The latter won't get us any fish, but the Sutebari technique will.
Not only is the technique different, but the tackle and flies are as well.

On the left is a typical 'Tenkara" fly (picture compliments of Yoshikazu Fujioka). You can find more examples and a description of the "Sutebari" technique on his website.

And now to the point. Sometimes you come across a big fish in a river, and you want to make sure that a. you catch it, and b. you don't spook it. The above technique comes in handy at this point.
Start by presenting your fly in line and next to the fish, reasonably far off. This will also help you get your casting distance right. Then gradually lengthen your cast and slowly move each cast nearer to the fish, so that the landing fly describes an arc. After a few casts, you will be ahead of the fish and drifting your fly right through the prime zone.
OK, so you ask why you shouldn't bung it into place the first time. A few reasons. One. You could duff it and spook the fish. Two. Using this method you get your aim right. Three. You are creating an artificial hatch, and the fish being more familiar with the flies just outside his feeding zone but within sight, is more likely to have a go at the fly.

Think Like a Fish

"Think like a fish, BE the fish" - Tom Donaldson

Thinking like a fish doesn't mean 'dumbing down', but rather, looking at things from the perspective of a fish, bearing in mind its own priorities. How is the fish going to behave in response to certain stimuli, given that its major needs are food, energy conservation and safety. (We will ignore the obvious, like its need for water).

1. Food. This needs to look like and act like food. Thus your fly needs to behave like something a fish would eat. Minnows don't swim backwards, but prawns do. Flies seldom move laterally across the surface while ploughing it with a hook. A small nymph doesn't swim against a heavy current.
Current thinking is that an exact imitation is not actually a requirement for a fly, so something suggestive works just as well, as long as it is in context. If you were a fish, would the fly look like food, some flotsam, or something scary?

2. Energy conservation. It is not worthwhile for a fish to go out of its way for a small food item. If you were the fish, you would need to balance effort (energy use) with reward. You wouldn't use 10 Joules of energy to chase a 5 Joule morsel. It's not flogical.

3. Safety. A fish will hold or feed where it 'feels' safe. Where would you (the fish) lie to be safe (especially from aerial predators), not have to fight the current, and have food delivered to your mouthstep. You would more likely to be in the seam between the fast current and the smooth patch, as you would be a sitting duck in the smooth patch.
 

Matching The Hatch

This last weekend saw us fishing during the CPS Bell's Festival. While waiting for my turn to fish the Holsloot I had time to watch the water surface for bugs, and discovered that there was a hatch of small black mayflies in progress. (pic below)

A quick glance into my flybox showed the best I had to offer was my variation of the Griffith's Gnat I call call the 'X-twhat' (see fly of the month). Now, because these are tied in sizes #20-24 there are practically invisible to me on the water. To tie in an indicator just wouldn'y work on this fly, so the trick is to use another fly as an indicator. So instead of a 'dry and dropper' I use a 'dry and dry'. These are spaced quite close and if you get your drift right they will dance around each other. Just watch the 'indictor' dry and if something splashes or moves in its vicinity.....Bam!  This proved quite effective that day and worked effectively the next day on the Smalblaar as well. The moral of the story.. don't forget to look around you! Yes, look for rising fish, but take in the small stuff, it will get you more fish.

(R) Stream X is a registered trademark