Back in Joburg ,..

As I am sitting here in the back office typing , the second group of guys are heading down a narrow mountain pass to the mouth of the Sixiola river in Costa Rica.  What a really crappy feeling ! , not going down the pass , but typing this while I know what is going to happen once your fly hits the water,...

In the past eight years our travel side , FlyTravel , has taken us and a bunch of really great guys and girls to some of the globes most exotic , far away places one could whish to visit. The best part of this , but definately not the most important , we always had a fly rod in somewhere in the bag.

With 2012 nearly kaput , i look back at some of the highlights we had.

Sterkfontein ,  where else in the world could you sight fish to golden yellow Small mouth and bullet silver Large mouth yellow fish. As your Good Doctors Beetle hit the surface , the yellow accelerate and literally nail your fly as if he wants to kill it !

Then I was of to CUBA , this was my 3rd season to the land of Bonefish, Permit , Tarpon and the Salsa. Not to forget the Cuba Libre's , Mojitos and White Daiquiris ( men don't do pink drinks). Unfortuanately we had a really bad patch of weather, the clouds were very low , thus we could not sight fish to cruising Tarpon.

This wasn't all bad , we had unbelievable Bone fishing ,  the last time i saw a 10lb bone half out the water was back in Farquhar 2008. ( No Wayne , this is not the type of bone..r    you are thinking of ).

My fingers are all typed out now . I will carry on with Bolivia , Zambia and Costa Rica tomorrow, ...

Hopper magic

On our recent trip to Sterkfontein we found the Yellow's were not really eating the conventional flies we always used. Well we had a surprise up our sleeve's

Notice the nylon loop tied in at the hook bend. Most of you are familiar with static nymphing for trout. One would suspend a team of nymphs ( flies) below a strike indicator or a high floating dry fly.

Well with this loop , one would tie your team and the just loop to loop it to the BIG hopper. Some fish even had a go at the hopper!

The end result!

BIG Yellows

This is some of the Yellow fish Paul Fick landed the past season.

Location X

6kg Small mouth Yellow fish

Large Mouth Yellow

5.5 Kg Small Mouth Yellow

7 Kg Largie

Thanks Paul , awesome fish!!

A bit more Yellow

Ted , thank you for the update. It's always a pleasure to get some photo's of you and the awesome yellows you catch.

Well done !!

You can see the " width " on this fish , a proper one!

Large mouth Yellow

Large Mouth Yellow Fish

Gerhard landed the awesome Largie yesterday on the Vaal. This fish took a Copper Brasie # 14 tied to 4X tippet.

This just make you realize , if it's your fish , you will catch it !

Well done , Mnr v Vuuren

Amper Klaar 2010

Well ,well as the heading put it, nearly done. What a year we had ! Some serious fish and some really good friendships.

From the Tarpon and Bone fish caught in Cuba , to the Tigers on the Zambezi at Sekoma , even a few Yellow fish from Israel and a trout or two from Tasmania.

2010 will also be remembered as one of THE Costa Rica Tarpon Experiences , 199 Tarpon Jumped and only 61 boated , the biggest being 168lb , smallest 22lb.

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In two weeks time we will have our 6th Inter Galactic Yellow Fish Challenge at Wag n Bietjie. Last years champions will be served by the losing team , cant wait! This event started of in 2004 with 4 guys , now we fish with 28 anglers , who knows maybe next year we will be 50 ( unfortunately this is a " by invitation only " event)

Wayne O with a 4.7 KG small mouth Yellow fish he landed at last years event.

Graham is currently fishing Sterkfontein , well I hope he is...I will give you some feed back upon his return. Also to let you know , if you need any Sterkies or other flies , we run a CUSTOM tying section in store.

The long awaited FOSAF guide to venues is available at the shop. A nice stocking filler .

And then , i must compliment the Sharks on their win over WP . Well done.

Best,

Ricko

Vaal river once again

We were out at Woelwaters on Wednesday morning. Not to many yellows , but a whole heap of MUDDIES.

This was the average size of the yellows caught ,..

Some spawning Muddies , they were all over the river!

The bullets

Yellows for Youngster's

Thank You Morris,

I actually do not know how to start this blog post, but like Gary Borger said , a good place to start is at the beginning.

Being in the FlyFishing industry one do get the odd invitation to visit some really excellent waters. The stuff you normally only read about in the magazines or hear about the guy with a mate , whom has a spot on a friends farm , ...

Well , we have one of those .

Also being very blessed with a son who is MAD keen on FlyFishing it is never a problem to get permission from the wife.

Thanks Morris

A very Proud Dad and a very happy son.

Classic Fly Fishing Shots - Gary le Grange ( Sterkfontein)

Thanks Gary , awesome photos.

Sterkies on the Menu - Gary le Grange

Gary , Lionel & Mark was guided by Dave Weaver this past weekend at Sterkfontein dam. The guys had some really bad weather , but once the weather lifted the fish was on.

Gary and GOLD

Mark and his BIG sterkies Yellow.

Gotcha