Thursday, 14th February 2013

It is of course St Valentine’s Day today, apparently St Valentine having been imprisoned healed his jailors daughter and later just prior to his execution left her a note saying “From your Valentine”.. which supposedly has lead us to the association of the festival with romantic love. However it is also the anniversary of the St Valentine’s Day Massacre where in 1929 seven mob associates were murdered as part of a conflict between the gangs of Al Capone and Bugs Moran. Whether your day turns out to be one of love or violence might depend on whether you remember to pick up some choccies on the way home. You have been warned.

I was out on the streams in the past week and remarkably the fishing was really rather good, or at least it was really rather good for the first couple of hours and then the heat seemed to put paid to much of the activity. However in the morning there were fish moving quietly sipping in tiny insects from the film and we rose four or five in a matter of twenty metres or so. It is very much a case of going quietly, watching carefully and making accurate and delicate presentations when opportunity arises but there is fishing to be had. The days you will have noticed are starting to close down and we did have a bit of rain over the past weekend. All in all the fishing can be expected to pick up from now on as hopefully the waters cool a little. It has been dastardly hot for a while now and the fish on the lower beats must be absolutely gasping. Then of course you can always switch your attentions to the bass which seem numerous and particularly so if you switch to larger flies.

As we head into March we can normally expect a little bit of rain which should help to cool things down and of course on that front I have to point out that despite Jean’s apparent disbelief that rain was predicted last week Yr.no turned out to be correct and my garden received a good watering without having to turn on the irrigation pump. How they manage to be so accurate when our TV predictions are decidedly wayward is anyone’s guess. The forthcoming weather according to Yr.no is shown lower down on this newsletter.

Long leaders, tiny flies and quality presentation will still yield results, particularly earlier in the day.

THE WEATHER:

For some reason the Yr.no English isn’t coming up but I suspect that you will be able to see enough to understand what is going on. Apparently some rain due for today which could prove to be advantageous but high temperatures continuing thereafter.

Note of thanks from John Payne:

I did receive a very nice note from John Payne, a regular correspondent, just to say “thank you” for the efforts in producing the Newsletter each week. Thanks John, it is great to be appreciated.

Rods for sale from Dirk De Villiers:

Also a note from Dirk De Villiers who has two very nice Sage fly rods for sale:

Sage ONE 9' #4 line custom built to factory specifications with a darkened nickel silver Struble reel seat, factory identical Hopkins and Holloway guides and a black aluminium tube. R4000

Sage TXL 7'10" #1 line factory built rod with original bag and tube. R3000

Both rods are as new, having only been used once or twice, you can contact Dirk on the mail dirkav@gmail.com

Letter from the Chair:

Information from Graham Avery.

Unfortunately Graham’s correspondence arrived too late for publication last week but here it is now. It relates primarily to the wonderful work undertaken by Denise Hills in sorting out our library which is now once again open

for business. It is a tremendous resource and has been wasted of late, so a BIG thank you once again to Denise for her efforts.

Dear CPS Members,

Library Access Herewith the rules for use of the CPS library. Please enjoy this resource.

CPS LIBRARY RULES

1. Access to library limited to C.P.S. members.

2. Members may take out a maximum of 2 books and 1 DVD at a time.

3. Loan period: 2 weeks.

4. Books may be re-issued for a further 2 weeks provided they have not been reserved.

5. Late returns will be fined R2 per day.

6. Late returns will be circulated in monthly newsletters.

7. Lenders will be liable for the re-purchase of lost or damaged items.

LIBRARY HOURS: MONDAYS – FRIDAYS 10AM – 2PM

Functions Coming Up 28 February: An Evening with French Flyfishers Pascal Cognard and Said Yahiaou.

Pascal and Said will tie some “Killer” French flies and entertain us with stories and anecdotes from their extensive international experiences in a ‘question and answer type of format. This promises to be amazingly different and an opportunity for us to meet and talk with two of the best.

11 April: Athol Surtees will show and tell us about his fishing trip to Mongolia last.

Please let me have any ideas you have for potential speakers or subjects. I’d welcome an offer to report on your own travels. We’d like to hear from you.

Graham

IMPORTANT NOTE FROM ME: Denise Hills, who just worked long and arduous hours to sort out the club’s library books is currently preparing to captain the Western Cape Ladies Fly Fishing Team and she really needs some help. Particularly just with fishing partners who are willing to spend a day with her on the water. Denise currently fishes frequently on her own which may well not be the best or safest option and I am hoping that some of you may feel willing to assist in this regard and help make Denise’s preparations more effective and safer. You don’t need to be coaching her, although I am sure that she would welcome any advice but mostly just share a beat with her. She is available to fish most days I believe including week days. So please do see if you can find the time to share your experience and help her with her preparations. If you are able to assist please drop me a line and I will pass on your details to Denise. I think that after all the work she has done on the library it is reasonable to hope that a few anglers are prepared to offer something in return. You can mail me on rolston@iafrica.com

Information from Craig Thom at Stream X:

New Items from Montana Fly Company. Part function, part art, kinda like your cast. River Camo Aluminium Fly boxes Aluminium, rugged, and graced with art that is simply too beautiful to hide in some dark vest pocket. Artworks are: Sundells 'Brookie Skin' (top), then Sundells 'October Brown', Sundells 'Starlight Rainbow', Maddox's 'Not Over Yet' and Udesen's 'Montana Brown'. Available in 10 compartment, or slit foam. Also available are River Camo Nippers, as well as a range of Scissors, Forceps, Vacuum Coffee Mugs and Scissor forceps combos to match.

New Video on Bassas das India Uncharted Waters You could fish the well known flats of the Keys, Seychelles, Mexico or Bahamas.. But what would you find if you came across a completely uninhabited atoll in the middle of the Indian Ocean, a submerged

volcano rising from 3000 meters below you. Join a group of friends on an expedition to the unexplored, out of their comfort zones as they undertake the journey of their lives. Share their home for 12 days of solitude, a 46 Foot catamaran far from the reaches of sanity and civilisation, but smack bang in the middle of Jurassic Park. Watch as they push themselves and tackle to the very limit on Bassas Da India. Click on image to buy online at Netbooks.

Finally:

There have been a few new postings on my blog at http://paracaddis.wordpress.com recently which you may enjoy, if you do you can of course subscribe to the blog and receive notifications of new posts via e mail. Just click on the relevant links on the blog.

Getting your Mojo back, perhaps it is a case of some practise or maybe just doing what you know needs to be done on the stream but recent events had me back in the groove, catching fish and enjoying the process.

A repeat encounter with Wallace and Grommet’s film “The Wrong Trousers” had me reminiscing about all those various clothing designs which we have tried out for stream fishing. You may remember some of these less than fashionable innovations.

For more posts or to subscribe visit http://paracaddis.wordpress.com

With Valentine’s day hopefully absorbing your attentions right now if you play your cards right you may well be out on the river over the weekend. As always “Be Careful Out There”.

Tim