Freedom of a captivated mind
The Morphew family, a shot down plane over Libya, and Trout in 2020
6 August 2020
Pewter and Charcoal: Gierach and conservation perfection
Exploring the writing of John Gierach, and a flyfishers obsession with stream restoration
7 May 2020
Pewter and Charcoal, Walden and Furth
Pewter and charcoal….a series of sorts, that aims to couple the timelessness of a black and white image, with the timelessness of quotes from our fly fishing literature. To kick it off, here is the uMngeni on Furth farm: …and here is something from Walden…that unsung American writer, from his book ‘Upstream and down’, published in 1938: “Streams with reputations do not always live up to them and the obscurer brooks often hold a big trout or two. ……/../… Fishermen rather than fish perpetuate and enhance the reputation of a stream. By story and legend, the magic euphony of a
29 April 2020
Photo of the moment (113)
It was late afternoon, and even the dark red colour indicator was proving difficult to see against the silver surface. I stopped and took this picture, then headed back to the bakkie where I lay back in the grass and watched the clouds, waiting for the coffee to brew.
8 April 2020
Circling back and the Kraai River Buffalo
It was Monday 13th April 2015. PD and I were on the lower water at Kelvin Grove, having a spectacularly unsuccessful day. It was just one of those days where it didn’t come together. It was also the first day of our trip, and I suppose we hadn’t found our mojo. Later in the day a pressing wind started to blow, and a million little polar leaves would shower down into the water, meaning we would hook leaves on every cast. We had set off with unbridled enthusiasm, and walked so far down stream, that I guess you could say
2 April 2020
A lie is a lie
Last season, I stood in the middle of a road drift across the uMngeni, and threw a fly upstream. I suppose it was not a tame road crossing. Not some concrete slab with guide railings, just a spot identified as a good one for tractor crossings, where years ago the farmer shaved the banks a bit. All the same, it felt just a little bit domestic to be standing there fishing, in the way that one feels when you stand on a jetty. Anyway, I had seen a fish rise in a spot beside the chute at the top of
27 March 2020
Photo of the moment (111)
This little fellow took a nymph in quick water on Stoneycroft farm, a place I have been hanging out at a lot lately.
24 March 2020
Fishing with Worms
At a time when so many South Africans are emigrating and the grounds that there is nothing left worth staying here for, it was refreshing to see at least our fishing, through the eyes of a foreign visitor this week. “Wow, Wow, Wow!” were the words that Bert Worms kept repeating, as we drove up the valley, and as we stopped to look out over the vista before us. It is a valley that I travel to most weeks, and it has become old hat to me. You can see Inhlosane mountain off to the south, and northwards is the
15 March 2020