Fly Fishing the Smalbaar River(Mark)
My birthday present from Bebeth was a day out with a local fly fishing guide. Due to traveling, work, and availability we hadn’t had a chance to do this till yesterday. We took off from Cape Town at 6am and headed out the N1 highway. After passing through the wine country and through the Huguenot Tunnel (which is 3.9km long) we emerged in a amazing narrow river valley. On either side of us the Du Toitskloof mountains jutted up out of the earth like something out of Lord of the Rings. Below is a picture of Bebeth waiting for our guide, behind are the mountains.
We met our guide, Phillip Meyer, who is the South African Fly Fishing champion, around 7:15. The Smalbaar river is a small freestone river maybe 40 - 60 feet wide at most. Crystal clear water called for long tippets and stealthy approaches. Most of the fishing was done kneeling or crouching behind boulders and at very short ranges, maybe 15 ft at most. The fishing was very difficult, we caught only three fish, saw a few more, and every fish required a lot of work. At one point I found three or four fish feeding, and I spent probably a good 45 minutes trying everyone’s patience switching flies (mostly the guide’s since he was the one tying on the flies for me) until I finally caught one. In the picture below I’m battling the fish, and if you look just next to my right shoulder you’ll see a white spot, that’s the fish airborne!
Here I am removing the hook and posing for a picture.
It was refreshing to be back on a river fishing. There’s nothing quite like it.
Mark
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http://www.steudel.org/blog
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