Truttablog

Tying tips: what to do when the thread snaps

It happens to everyone, and usually at some critical point. Simply grab the tag end of the broken silk as quick as you can with one hand, letting the bobbin fall. With your other hand, reach for your superglue. You will soon master opening that with one hand. (try not to glue the tube to your lips!) Dab a tiny, barely visible amount of glue onto the thread, and wrap it once or twice. It will stick very well. Now you can reach for the bobbin and re-start where you broke off. (Note, some tiers dispense with the whip finish,

31 July 2015

Photo of the moment (38)

28 July 2015

Treasures and treats

My wife and I pulled up outside a shop the other day, and while she went in search of ice for the cool box, I hung back and answered questions from a woman who was swooning…..over our boat. She seemed a bit rough around the edges. Hard as a woodpeckers lips in fact. Her fingers were tobacco stained, and her hair was like straw. But she got it. She got it that this work of art is a thing of such beauty, that to travel with it, to launch it, and to climb into it, is in itself a treasured

21 July 2015

Photo of the moment (37)

18 July 2015

African snow

This post is largely for the benefit and interest of foreigners to South Africa. With the exception of the tip of South Africa, in what we call the Western Cape, ours is a country in which rainfall comes in summer. Our winters, by contrast, are brutally dry. And I really do mean brutally dry. We can see rainfall taper off as early as late March, and not have a drop of precipitation again until October. Those in tune with our seasons, as I believe I am, are acutely aware of the length and severity of winter’s dryness. Did the rains

11 July 2015

Photo of the moment (36)

10 July 2015

Tying tips: bulky brushes

You will often find that the brush on your superglue, UV glue, or Sally Hansen’s nail varnish, is just too bulky for the fine work you do. Simply use a small pair of scissors to trim away the brush fibers, leaving a much more manageable brush size. I find I trim away three quarters of them!

7 July 2015

My tapestry, your tapestry

Each of us builds a set of reference points in our flyfishing journey. We all have a history of where we went and what we caught, and what happened along the way, and with whom. It is a tapestry, in which our history matches that of a fellow flyfisher for only as long as it takes for our threads to cross. We spend a day together here, and then, and for an instant we saw the same frames in that movie in our minds that is the flyfishing aesthetic. For the rest of it, it is a personal and unique

2 July 2015

Photo of the moment (35)

27 June 2015

Stillwater celebration

The mornings have been cold. Lake fringes, boats and tackle have been laced with ice. The sun has been golden, sweet and welcome. The water has been sparkling, clear, and shimmering blue in contrast to the dusty veld. The Trout have been willing at times. We have had small strong silver fish, and larger Rainbows, flushed in deep colours. We have warded off the chilly breezes with jackets and gloves and “buffs”. Hot coffee has been essential. The sunsets have come quickly.

21 June 2015