To me, there’s nothing quite like catching a fish on a dry fly… It’s cliché, I know; but being able to present your fly accurately, and watch the fish break the surface as it sips your #18 CDC emerger is worth every second you spend prepping, reapplying floatant, degreasing your leader, and watching that tiny […]
Whisky (and whiskey) and flyfishing have a long history. In remote northeastern Scotland lies an area ruled by frosty North Sea gales. Summers are fleeting, winters long and turbulent. It is the coldest place in all of Britain. When not blanketed in snow, it’s a place of rolling green hills and big rivers. Harsh as […]
Sometimes its not a matter of thinking outside the box, its simply getting a new perspective. Here we’ve drawn from the knowledge we’ve acquired not just from extensive trout fishing around Dullstroom, but more so from the fishing and guiding we have done for the variety of species we’ve been targeting around Southern African the […]
Take your mind out the gutter! This is not that kind of “how-to” guide…. Although swinging flies is regarded by most, as a technique reserved for targeting anadromous fish while wielding large 14ft double-handed Spey rods in the northern hemisphere. It is a technique that has been adapted and tweaked the world-over for a plethora […]
“The sheer aggression and vast scale of the naked geology is intimidating, yet this landscape inspires a near-spiritual devotion in many who explore it” – Scott Ramsay on the Richtersveld in ‘South Africa’s Wildest Places’ Our guides are among those with that near-spiritual devotion Scott speaks of so eloquently in his beautiful book. So when […]
A good pair of sunglasses is one of your most important pieces of gear, but with so many options out there, it can be a little difficult to know what to choose. Here are some insights (see what we did there) to help you make the informed choice: It’s great having a world class guide […]
Tidying his office and fishing room during the downtime, founder Jonathan Boulton came across a dusty old hard drive. On it he came across this clip he and his brother featured in many years back on Pongola. “Like the dusty hard drive, the drought took Pongola off our radars for three years and now we’re […]
This a quick and simple pattern to tie and one of my favourite patterns for Tigers, especially at Pongola where there is a large population of Tilapia. MATERIALS Hook: Gama B10s #2-1/0 or Gama SL12S short #2/0-4/0 Thread: Red or orange 140D Danville’s Weight: Lead wire 0.02 Tail: Fishient SF fibre, bucktail to prevent wrapping […]
Jack Lotter swears by the Dingane when targetting GTs in Northern KwaZulu-Natal. Just before lockdown, Gareth Reid sat down with Jack at our Johannesburg store to chat through the pattern and get a better understanding of Jack’s tying process as well as the factors (density, shape and hook-keeling, among others) which he believes makes this […]
There are two very important aspects to a quality grip-n-grin ‘hero’ shot. The ability to take a great picture is one of them. Being on the opposite side of the lens as the subject is the other. Before you think this is some cheesy ‘how to’ guide on the best way to capture your good […]
As anglers we often debate our favourite species, but for me its more than just the fish, its the where and the how, the environment in which you pursue them and the technique used to fool them. One of my favourites is Tigerfish, more so the home-grown version, right here on Pongola dam with Rhino […]
It takes the proverbial ‘village’ as they say, here is a look at the people who make Mavungana such a slick operation. Jonathan Boulton Jonathan Boulton AKA The Boss. Jonathan started the business way back when Brad Pitt was still soaking wet after being dragged down the Blackfoot River in Missoula. A Zoologist by qualification […]
“Don’t shoot what it looks like. Shoot what it feels like” – David Alan Harvey Much like telling a story, ‘evoking an emotion’ is the holy grail of photography. In order to achieve this you need to strike a balance between technical ability and creative license. To get the most out of your gear (so […]
If you had to by one fly line and one fly line only, let it be a floating line One of the most common questions we get asked is, ‘what line should I get?’ The answer, of course, will depend on various factors, and the ideal is to have a variety of lines to cover […]
Originally created by Drew Chicone for Tarpon and Snoek, this fly has wound its way through many different fisheries with great success. So it’s no surprise that we were keen to put it to the test on our very rare and often hard-to-temp Largemouth Yellowfish (a relative of the Masheer) on the remote Orange River. […]
Flyfishing takes us to some incredible places. Whether it be a local river not far from home or the remote depths of the Amazon Jungle, we’re always surrounded by amazing elements of natural beauty. This and the fact that catch-and-release is standard practice these days, only further motivates the need to have a decent understanding […]
Winter is the best time of the year for trout fishing. You’ll hear that often, but in truth many experienced fly-fishers much prefer the pre- and post-seasons to the dark months. Autumn really is a great time of the year to target aggressive, trophy stillwater trout… Read on to found out why (and how to […]
“As a flyfishing guide, I often used to sit at my fly tying desk before a trip and before I know it, I’m battling to find materials, scissors, beads and the like,” says guide Rowan Black. According to Rowan, he used to sit down at the vise and start with one pattern only to find […]
We did a quick trawl of the archives to show that Pongola is not just about the sheer number of fish you can expect to catch (and the potential of epic surface action), but quality of fish too. Here are a few of the good ones from over the years… Some tips and tricks […]
This super quick and easy tie has accounted for some spectacular fish on Jurassic Lake and on our home stillwaters. MATERIALS Hook – Grip 14731 caddis Thread – 70D Danville’s red or orange. Body – Tan scud dub or natural dubbin sand, Brown back strap or Kiley’s nymph skin. Tail – Saddle hackle Rib – […]