Adult Caddis

Every now and then I develop a minor obsession with some or other pattern, or rig, or method. Lately it has been adult caddis patterns. Here is a sample from my vice:

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The Art of Being

As I drove into work the other day I observed a bumper sticker that said “How do I drive?”, and I thought it was a bit late to be asking for such guidance. In front of me was a truck full of waste. I wondered if it was headed for recycling, and then I spotted a punnet of rotten fruit pressed against the bars of the load-bed. It had a supermarket sticker saying “50% off”.  It looked to be 75% full. Then an armoured vehicle labeled “Asset protection” violated just about every traffic rule I know, pulling across the traffic,

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Lessons from the Landscape: Kamberg and a return to wildness

As a kid we visited and fished Kamberg a fair bit.Many of us did. I have fond memories: Jumping out of my skin when concentrating on a rising fish, in my own little world, when a ranger came up on the river bank alongside me  unnoticed and asked “Liseeence?”  Followed by the rattling off of every Trout fly that he knew. He knew a lot of them! Booking  Stillerus beat number one, and being excited at being offered beat two in whispered tones by the lady in the office, as no-one had booked it that day. I felt so privileged!

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Coffee and quotes

On running out of flies on the river: “I had to go home and be in time for supper, an astonishing mishap, breaking all precedents”.  From “Rod and Line” by Arthur Ransome…. 1929 (This little book is a delight!  It is poetic in its delivery, modern, adventurous, and upbeat in its content, and not the stuffy armchair stuff that you might expect to be hearing from a Brit between the wars.)

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Slowly slowly, kill a tree (and teach a man to fish)

When I was a youngster, my Dad took me out to a wattle grove that grew out along a ridge in front of the old house, and taught me to shoot with a .22 rifle.  He coached me slowly, and with great patience, teaching me about stance, and nestling of the rifle butt into my shoulder. He cautioned me about the position of my cheek, too close to the rifle.  Then he folded his hankie, and put it up on a tree nearby as a target.  I hit it on the first shot. Praising me, he proceeded to fold the

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Lessons from the landscape: the 1600m contour

Here in the KZN midlands, altitude is accepted as a defining criteria for Trout water. It has long been held that trout will survive above 1200meters above sea level, and there is very little fishable water above 1800metres.   So within that band of 1800m down to 1200m, there are a few critical bands, and I would argue that one of them is the 1600m band.  I say that because every listed trout stream in these parts rises above 1600m. So here is where that contour runs along the front of the Drakensberg: Interesting isn’t it! For me what makes it

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Beats, Beans and books

It is easy to get caught up in the whole boutique coffee thing and get a bit snooty about it.  But here’s the thing:  This here off-the-shelf supermarket stuff really hits the spot for me: House of Coffee Italian beans In my machine, and with the quantity of the grind set right down, the fineness of the grind at about 75%, and tamping it down ever so lightly, I get this enormous crème, which lends itself to amazing artwork on top of the flat white. But I don’t do artwork.  I just know it is a smooth, intensely flavourful cup

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