Equipment Outfitters

Water nourishes, and brings death. We are not naturally built to survive in it, but we are drawn to its many possibilities for extreme sports.

Water ninety percent of our body made of it. Two-thirds of the planet covered by it. It is the most inhospitable the earth’s elements for survival, yet without it, life would c indeed all life began in the water, as modern theories of evolution suggest, perhaps this explains why we attracted to it, and why being in or near it fosters a sense of synergy welcomes us through some ethereal sense of belonging, and we respond seeking to find any way we can to have fun in and on it. For as tong a has been human life, there have been opportunities for sport in the water. Read the rest of this entry »

Speed has been a quest of sailing pioneers for as long as there have been sailing vessels. In early times, speed meant sailors could travel farther to catch bigger and better quantities of fish. Speed allowed explorers to gain access to new frontiers before supplies dwindled and starvation ensued. As warriors sought control of the seas, speed offered aggressors the opportunity of a swift attack, and gave those seeking escape the chance to elude their demise. Today, the quest for speed is all about establishing new levels of performance and securing a spot in the record books. Read the rest of this entry »

Avalanche precaution

The best precaution is to use your common sense, observe avalanche warnings, and never travel on closed routes. They have been closed to keep you out of danger, and even if you take the risk and get away with it, your tracks may tempt others into danger and they may not be so lucky.

Most avalanches occur at known spots, and when avalanche conditions exist, a warning is issued, ski pistes are closed and the emergency services stand by. Providing the skier does what he is told, and stays out of danger, little harm can come to him. Read the rest of this entry »

Because the spinners fall to the water’s surface and become trapped there with wings outstretched, trout have ample time in which to ingest them,feeding in a leisurely fashion while cruising in long rise paths. The mostprolonged sequence of rises to thesespinners that I have seen was a series offifteen at Hopewell, a large lake in EastGriqualand. Other anglers I have spokento have had similar experiences duringhatches of these mayflies. It is easy to understand why American anglers call these fish `gulpers’, since they often gulp down several spinners in one mouthful. Trout do not inspect each insect during these gluttonous feeding sprees, since their window of vision is extremely small at such shallow depths. However, any dry fly that does not resemble the adult in size and shape will usually be rejected outright, particularly if the pattern is a high-floating one. Read the rest of this entry »

One of the best areas to prospect with a DDD in our still- waters is along weedbeds that reach to the surface. Trout often cruise along these weedbeds in search of aquatic and terrestrial fare, and weedbeds that grow in deep water and which reach to the surface are favoured, since they provide food as well as the protection afforded by deep water. The imitation should simply be cast out alongside the weedbed for the trout to find of their own accord. If the surface action is slow, it pays to give the pattern an occasional twitch with a single, short strip of the line.

Another excellent area to prospect with the DDD is along the windward shore of lakes, where terrestrial and other wind-blown insects are found during and after windy weather. Strong winds stir up the bottom silt close to the bank, making the area even more inviting for trout to feed in as they can go largely undetected. Read the rest of this entry »

‘OPPERTUNITY TIME‘, as well-known angler, authorand entomologist Dave Whitlock calls it, is a unique time of the year when anglers are able to deceive some of the largest fish of the season on dry flies. As summer advances, grasshoppers become increasingly active in streamside vegetation and may end up in the water as a result of strong winds, rain, annual crop harvests, grassfires, predation or severe cold. Once they become trapped in the surface tension, they are relished by observant trout on the lookout for an easy meal, and may afford the angler some of the most spectacular sight-fishing of the year.

Grasshoppers thrive in areas with over sixty days of sunshine a year, and with daytime temperatures that average fifteen degrees Celsius, and so do exceptionally well in South Africa. Hopper activity increases as temperatures begin to climb above fifteen degrees Celsius; to most South African anglers this translates into mid-spring to late-autumn fishing, with peak hopper fishing occurring during the heat of summer. Hoppers are welcomed by fly-fishers as they become active along river and stream banks at a time when the more significant hatches are on the wane. Consequently they are of great importance, particularly to anglers who enjoy the sight of trout feeding actively at the surface. Read the rest of this entry »

Most still water fly-fishers have fished damselfly nymph imitations, and patterns such as Hugh Huntley’s Red-Eyed Damsel are firm favourites in many fly-boxes. However, few anglers use the adult form of this abundant insect even though it can produce some spectacular action, particularly on days when the weather may seem too hot for enjoyable fishing.

Adult damselflies are easily distinguished from dragonflies by the attitude of their wings when they are at rest. Damselflies hold their wings folded together over the top of their abdomens, while dragonflies hold their wings at right angles to their abdomens. In addition, damselflies are not as large and robust as dragonflies, and are more likely to find themselves on the water, particularly during strong winds. Once on the water, they are unable to escape and are easy prey for an opportunistic trout on the lookout for a high- calorie meal. This usually occurs during the warmer months of the year when adults can be seen flitting over the water’s surface as they deposit their eggs. Read the rest of this entry »

During emergences of these Tricorythidae mayflies trout become extremely selective to the naturals, both in the nymphal and spinner form. I usually rely on a small nymph imitation during the emergence of the mayflies and a simple spinner imitation during the spinner falls in order to fool trout which gulp the naturals in the surface film. This is exciting fishing, but for the neophyte fly-fisher unaccustomed to fishing small nymphs and spinner imitations in the surface film, both the emergences and the spinner falls can lead to great frustration.

Prior to the spinner fall of these tiny mayflies, however, trout feed selectively on the emerging nymphs both in the intermediate water layers, as the nymphs make their way to the surface, and at the surface. This is often when trout can be seen bulging just below the surface, ignoring traditional patterns. Small nymphal imitations from #16 to #18 can be extremely effective but are not infallible. When the visibly bulging trout are gulping nymphs or spinners in the surface film yet still refuse suitable imitations, the White Death alone will, for some inexplicable reason, still take trout. Read the rest of this entry »

How to make one:

1. Tie in a length of fine chenille above the barb of the hook and return the thread to a position behind the hook eye. Wrap the chenille to form the body, tie off and trim the excess.
2. Tie in four or five strands of Krystal Flash above the body and trim the excess. The strands should extend to or slightly beyond the hook bend.
3. Tie in a clump of marabou above the Krystal Flash strands. The marabou fibres should not extend beyond the hook bend. Form a small thread head, half-hitch and trim. Apply head cement to the thread wraps.

The rise I could see from my position some ten yards off the bank was the kind associated with a troutsipping midge pupae at the surface. Dusk had settled over the lake several minutes earlier, and although fish were moving at the surface it became increasingly difficult to see them in the fading light. Read the rest of this entry »

In the dying rays of the afternoon sun, I watched as trout porpoised softly on the surface. A Suspender Midgehad produced several fish up to two pounds in size, and earlier a large fish had stitched my leader through a thick mat of floating weed, forcing me to paddle over to the growth to retrieve it. The fish had been working a hatch of tiny midge pupae in the surface film, providing several hours of exciting fishing.

As it began to get dark, a warm, gusting wind started to blow, effectively ending a superb afternoon’s fishing. My three companions, all of them from the Cape, had failed to capitalise on the frenzied surface action and between them had released only a few of the lake’s residents. It had been a learning experience for them, as the lakes of the Western Cape do not provide anything like the consistent surface action of those in KwaZulu-Natal.

When the wind began to blow consistently and my companions in their float tubes displayed their obvious intention to head for the bank and call it a day, I realised that the midge fishing was truly over. Read the rest of this entry »