The Xplorer UHTFC Festival 2017
Having hosted a very successful (inaugural) fly fishing festival in 2016, we (the UHTFC committee) decided to build on the event by hosting our second festival in 2017. We updated the format, extending the festival by a day to 2 days, and then threw in a formal dinner and braai. Although Neill and I were fishing in the festival, we were also partially responsible for putting the event together, and therefore had to do our due diligence. As such we drove up early on Friday morning and spent the day checking the condition of the festival waters, unlocking the various gates and boat houses, packing goodie bags, and setting up the evening venue. One of the waters was slightly off-colour, and we therefore removed it from the festival, otherwise all was looking good. With…
The Boston Fly Fishing Festival 2017
Arrival and Registration The 7th annual Boston Fly Fishing Festival was once again held on the weekend of the 16th June. And for the 5th year in a row this meant missing my wedding anniversary in favour of the event. Thankfully I have a forgiving wife, and had booked a week-long family holiday at Castleburn, and was therefore given the much needed pink slip. Baha Fly Fishing entered the same 2 teams of four as the previous year. The South coast team was once again made up of Dave, Dan, Andrew and Richard, while the Durban team consisted of Neill, Bruce, Keegan and myself. Now while I named the team's Baha North and Baha South, the South Coast boys had other plans. They arrived at the festival early and used…
The Xplorer UHTFC Festival 2016
This year the UHTFC decided to host it’s inaugural UHTFC Xplorer Fly Fishing Festival. Apparently the club has hosted festivals in the past, but these were well before my time and have long since been forgotten by club members and the committee alike. Bruce Taylor put his hand up and did the majority of the planning and leg work, while I organised the advertising and online registration (and presence) for the event. In the end we opened it to 25 teams of 2, as well as 2 Xplorer teams, meaning we had 54 anglers. Alan did a great job organising the waters and we were privileged to include venues like Sani Valley Lodge (Lifton Lake), Giant’s Cup, Lake Naverone, and Castleburn in amongst the lineup of club dams. The committee made the…
The Boston Fly Fishing Festival 2016
"I can safely say that the Boston Fly Fishing Festival is by far my favourite festival." Yes, it's a line that I often start my annual Boston post with, but it remains true. And this year was no exception, despite what were very tough fishing conditions. We got off to a great start by entering two teams instead of our usual one. The more the merrier proved to be true, although sadly we were unable to find a farmer who was able to accommodate all eight of us at a single venue. Neill, Bruce, Keegan and I therefore stayed with Helen, who had put up Team Baha for several years, while Andrew, Richard, Dan and Dave stayed in what became known as cat cottage. Now I'm not 100% sure what that…
The Boston Fly Fishing Festival 2015
I can safely say that the Boston Fly Fishing Festival is by far my favourite festival. Yes, I will admit it's the only festival I fish regularly, but I'm utterly convinced this is irrelevant - it's just that good - and this year was no exception. Will I be back next year? Definitely, but I'll be packing a set of bolt cutters. Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself, so let's start from the beginning. With Nick, a key Baha Boy and team member, having left SA for Australia I was forced to relook at Team Baha for the 2015 event. Neill and Bruce had both secured their places after dominating the 2014 festival, which meant there was just 1 space left to full. Coxy's mom might have prevented him from coming and Alan…
UHTFC AGM And Fishing Festival 2014
A few months ago I received a phone call from Alan asking me to be the guest speaker at the UHTFC AGM. I happily accepted, feeling honoured that I'd been asked, and began planning my speech. The months flew by and before I knew it I was packing my bags (and laptop) for the trip up to Underberg, hoping my talk would be well received. I arrived at Twin Springs, just outside Underberg, at around 3 in the afternoon. It was overcast and misty, with temps in the single digits, and sporadic drizzle passing in waves. Neill and Derek had spent the morning on the water and were looking a little worse for wear, although they had picked up some lovely fish for their effort. We therefore decided to relax…
The Boston Dargle Fly Fishing Festival 2014
My wedding anniversary was once again upon me, which also meant that it was time for the annual Boston Dargle Fly Fishing Festival. As Team Baha we'd fished two of the three events, missing out on only one since my wedding was on the same weekend. We'd also won the event in 2013 and were hoping to defend our title in 2014. I took the Friday off even though we only needed to be in Boston at 6pm as it gave me a chance to bash off one last run (prior to endless night's of great food, beer and rum), and to pack at my own leisure. So after a relaxed morning I picked Nick up from Racetech and we headed for Boston. Being a little early we decided to…