Slowing it down

I think I have been moving too fast.

Mtshezana (18 of 30)

In years gone by (in fact right up until this week), I have been the guy moving on up. I glance at a bit of water, metaphorically shake my head, and move on. If a spot is half likely, I might dust it with a few casts, then tell myself I was right about it, and move on. The first cast at a pool or run is the best one, I reason, and each subsequent presentation will have diminishing returns.

Now don’t get me wrong, I still believe there is merit to that approach, but I think that I for one, am at risk of taking it too far.

If I stop a while and think about it, I might just realise that I have been shown up by some of my flyfishing buddies. I might just be a little red faced at having passed up a piece of pocket water, only to have the bloke catch up with me at lunch time, and tell me how many fat Browns he pulled out of just that spot.

P1020114

Just this last season, Graeme was fishing a pool on the Mkomazi without result. I was standing behind him getting some photos. The pool looked great, so I hovered behind him for a while, fully expecting him to get something. I really did believe he would. For a while. After about ten or fifteen minutes, I lost that belief. He had put drift after perfect drift over the sweet spot in the pool, as well as every piece of water either side of that, without result. I could not fault his technique, his stealth, or his presentations, but I developed a belief that there must be no fish there. Or perhaps that somehow, through no fault of his, they had spooked.

I put my camera away and moved on to fish my allotted piece above him.

No sooner had I taken the fly from the keeper, and he was whistling for my attention. He was into a great fish. A real beauty.

Mkomazi (42 of 47)

Then on a recent rip to the mountains of the North eastern Cape, I was on the Sterkspruit at Birkhall. I was at a deep run that flowed tight against a cliff in the deep shade, and with a side current that came into that, almost at a right angle, in an even deeper funnel of bubbling water. It seemed the perfect place to try my hand at some euro style nymphing. That is not something I do very often, but I figured I would give it a go. I did. I tried it for a while on both pieces of water, on either side of the gravel bar that I was standing on. The gravel bar, that I soon got to thinking had me standing above and over the trout. I was in the bright sun too. I quickly lost faith in what I was doing. It went against everything I have been taught, everything I know. The fish could see me. I was in front of them, and not behind them. It felt wrong. I figured I would write off any thoughts of catching anything, but that I would use the opportunity to try to perfect the method. To practice. I added weight to the fly and I flicked it again. I concentrated on leading the fly through the run, using clues to guess whether the fly was ahead or behind where my line entered the water.  I lifted the fly, and tried to establish if it was lifting off the bottom in an enticing way or whether perhaps I had it in mid flow, in no-mans land, and was raising it closer to the surface in a futile act.  I practiced, and practiced, and tried again.  And I caught two trout.

Carabas (26 of 35)

I think I have been moving too fast.

Subscribe

To receive an e-mail each time a new story is posted

I don’t spam. I typically post a few times each month

11 Responses

  1. Lovely post Andrew. What I have been preaching for zonks!
    All the best and keep up the good work and lovely images.
    All the best
    Tom

    1. Thank you Tom. You have indeed been advocating slowing down for a long time, but I think it cant be said enough. I for one fall back into bad habits, fueled by my insatiable curiosity as to what is around the next bend!
      Thanks for reading.

  2. I think you’re right about this; in general, many of us angle through too quickly, although there’s also merit in saying that our first few casts on a pool are likely to be more successful than the later ones. I guess it all adds up to how much water we hope to cover in a given period of time, or how fast we want to move along. Nice account!

    1. Thanks Walt. I think the key perhaps lies in stealth. The more stealthy our approach, the longer we should fish a piece of water. If we make a mistake and blunder in, as does happen, then I always advocate moving on. Thanks for stopping by.

  3. Absolute beautiful area you are fishing, only wish we freestone water like that here, colorful spots on those trout. thanks for sharing

    1. Thanks Loyd. The amazing thing about these waters is that they are virtually un-fished. We can fish for days and not see another angler. Our Trout are not the biggest, but in every other way we are blessed with world class waters.

  4. I know that I have the same problem. I think I’ve gotten used to fast food and instant gratification and it’s bled over to my fishing. Nice looking water and fish my friend.

    1. Thanks Howard. Yes, I think you are right: the fast pace of life spills over doesn’t it! We do have some wonderful mountain streams here, and slowing down to appreciate them more can only be a good thing.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *