The Mission Fly Fishing Magazine

24/01/2025

T H E • J E R K • C H A N G E R

Fresh from targeting tigerfish at Matoya Fishing Lodge in Zambia, Conrad Botes takes us through all the steps for tying Blane Chocklett’s Jerk Changer, in our latest YouTube video.

According to Blane’s original design, the Jerk Changer is an articulated fly that when stripped, displays a ton of erratic movement due to the multiple linked shanks in its build.

Conrad says, “The key is to try to make the tail portion the same length as the head portion. This will ensure optimal movement, where the tail follows the head of the fly as it’s stripped.”

Here, Conrad ties the Jerk Changer, intended for targeting freshwater streamer-eating fish, using Blane’s Chenille as the main body material. Check out how he ties them in our latest step-by-step on YouTube.

According to Blane Chocklett's original design, the Jerk Changer is an articulated fly that when stripped, displays a ton of erratic movement due to the mult...

22/01/2025

T H E • A P P R E N T I C E

Not since Neil Strauss in "The Game" or pretty much everyone in "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" has a man peacocked so hard. At least, that’s our opinion of Deon Meyer’s experience at Agua Boa Fishing Lodge in the Amazon, where he kept up with the pros, drank almost all the beers, and only slightly melted his brain.

"Trips to exotic destinations are often written by people who appear to fly fish for a living, guys who know their Homer Rhode from their Homer Simpson – professionals. That’s not me. My story is one about a working-class ou, dad and fly fishing apprentice who went deep into the Amazon jungle. Although I may be a relative noob, I did go there with three Jedi-level fly fishing pros: Johann Rademeyer (Mavungana Flyfishing guide), Mike Dames (Mavungana Flyfishing and African Waters guide) and Tyron Knight (who guides from time to time when he’s not doing other stuff).

"My infatuation with the curse of fly fishing began only about five years ago when Johann took me under his wing. I’ve known him since we were groms in our competitive surfing years. We’ve remained connected and share a similar passion for anything to do with fishing. From my first wet-behind-the-ears grunter sessions on the Garden Route, to klapping tigers on surface flies at Pongola and numerous other missions in between, Johann is the reason I fly fish. "

Full story and pics at the link.

Not since Neil Strauss in The Game or pretty much everyone in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert has a man peacocked so

15/01/2025

I S S U E • 4 9

https://themissionflymag.com/magazines/issue-49/

Halala, salutations and jubilations all round! We hit the ground running this year with our customary celebration of the best fish from last year. That’s right you moustachioed muchachos, our Jan/Feb 2025 issue features the Feathers Award, and boy did 2024 serve up some absolutely mind-boggling fish caught on fly on the African continent. Massive grassies, titanic tarpon, behemoth blue yellows, koi, belman, unidentified weirdos and more.

What else, you ask?
• There’s “The Apprentice”, Deon Meyer (not that Deon Meyer) and his peacock bass adventure in the Amazon with Agua Boa, which our cover illustrated by Simon Berndt celebrates.
• Then there’s MC Coetzer in “The Virgin”, where he finally gets his tigerfish wings at Matoya Fishing Lodge on the Barotse floodplains after a lifetime spent in a piscatorial chastity belt of his own poor judgement.
• We also have Leonard Flemming’s “A Clockwork Orange”, on the brilliant fishing at Ghkui Gkhui on the Orange River.
• Editor Tudor Caradoc-Davies’s “Same Same But Different” experience in Tasmania with Aussie Fly Fisher chasing top quality trout in a range of different conditions.
• A High Fives with bespoke mullet owner Eddie Rall.
• A Lifer with condensed milk adventurer Andy Coetzee.
• And Stu Harley’s Undercurrents on our moronic obsession with size.
• Not to mention a lust-worthy Wish List Fish, mountains of clobber, beats and more.

Read The Mission Issue 49 online for free, or, if you live in South Africa, you can grab a free copy from your nearest STOCKIST this week.

08/01/2025

Y E L L O W T A I L • O N • M A R S

Caught between worlds – that of heathens and clowns, and any puritanical fly-only instincts he might have once held – LeRoy Botha had to make a call. What’s a soul worth anyway?

📸 Dougie Engelke, LeRoy Botha. Full story at the link in bio.

"Have you ever imagined fishing on Mars? The Red Planet as it was millions of years ago when it still had oceans… Can you see it? The sky was platinum-white with splashes of green and gold and violet; the sun and its aura pierced and painted the thick atmosphere with swashes of burning silver and peach and red, all in shades not yet named and impossible to describe. Across the horizon the sky blended into a sea of mercury and turquoise, so vibrant as if someone had turned the saturation dial to 11. It was either Mars or heaven. It was not the sea that I knew.

"Dancing in the distance, in the blending zone between ocean and sky, was a flock of terns. I squinted to make sure I was reading them correctly, and informed the skipper. He didn’t hesitate. The boat turned sharply to port, and we flew for the horizon.

"The skipper, Dougie, and I have been mates for a while. We’ve had endless discussions about fly fishing, music, life and death, but it’s rare for us to fish together. Like most of my friends, Dougie knows that I’d give my left nut to catch a yellowtail on fly. Sadly, I can’t get it back from the previous person I gave it to and would rather prefer to keep the one I have left. So, it was a most fantastic thing when Dougie called to say that the ’tail were firing off Brů’lsyxtrar, which is of course on Mars, and that all I needed to do was grab some flies and a rod and get to his place pronto. He’d do the rest. That’s nuts. I obliged."

Caught between yellowtail worlds, LeRoy Botha had to make a call. What’s a soul worth anyway?

23/12/2024

B E R G • B U D D I E S

The Berg River's carp are strong, sleek and tricky to target with a fly.

In our latest short movie, The Mission editor Tudor Caradoc-Davies and his buddy/Feathers & Fluoro carp expert Platon Trakoshis go to the Berg River near Paarl to take on these infamous bottom feeders, aka Paarl permit, cementing their love for carp (and each other) ever more.

Learn all of Pla's top tips for fly fishing for river carp and what flies and techniques he uses on his home waters to snag these on the daily.

🎥 Matt Kennedy ()

The Berg River's carp are strong, sleek and tricky to target with a fly. Berg buddies Platon Trakoshis and Tudor Caradoc-Davies take on the infamous bottom f...

13/12/2024

H I G H • F I V E S

From captaining boats in the cliff wash off the Omani coast while targeting Africanus permit to tickling behemoth nighttime Nile perch in Cameroon and playing with dry fly-sipping yellows in Lesotho, the guiding life of Greg Maxwell is as varied as they come. He’s our High Fives profile in The Mission Issue 48 (Nov/Dec 2024).

“Is my hair receding because I have worn a hat constantly for 16 years?”

“Every day is a school day.”

“Some of the places I have been privileged enough to work in serve as a reminder that we need to look after our natural areas.”

📸 African Waters, Ocean Active Fly, Jess McGlothlin, Oliver Santoro, Maxine Piron

From captaining boats off the Omani coast to tickling behemoth nighttime Nile perch in Cameroon, Greg Maxwell’s guiding life is varied.

10/12/2024

F O R G I V E N E S S • I N • I B E R I A

Andre van Wyk finds redemption and forgiveness in the pleasures of gypsy barbel in Iberia:

“We seem to derive a weird sort of pleasure from difficult fish. Forgiving fish aren’t really held in high esteem. Well, when you’ve had a pretty average last two years on the fishing front, a forgiving fish starts sounding pretty damn good.

"Ok in all honesty, 'pretty average' is putting it mildly. 'Dismal' would be closer to the mark. I’ve fished less over the last 24 months than I have in the past 20 years. And the wee bit of fishing I have done, hasn’t exactly been fireworks. There have been some good sessions here and there, but one look at my Instagram will show you how rapidly I went from a couple VERY good years, to 2 very slow ones.

"So, a couple weeks ago when I jumped on a flight from Heathrow to Gibraltar after a 10-day work trip to London, even though the prospect of a little fishing for Andalusian barbel ( also known as gypsy barbel) with my buddy Dylan on the Iberian Peninsula was on the cards, I didn’t have my hopes up to high. Rach was flying out to meet me, and we were gonna spend 10 chilled days in the south of Spain with our friends, chilling, eating, getting some sunshine after the long cold Cape winter, and if the chance arose to do a bit of fishing, walking along a river with a rod in hand was plenty enough I told myself."

Read the full story at the link/s in bio.

After a long drought for both Andre van Wyk and the barbel he was targeting, he found forgiving fish in the upper reaches of an estuary.

02/12/2024

S L A P • & • W I G G L E

A remote stretch of the Lower Vaal River run by Diamond River Outfitters – waters, bejewelled with history, that once lured prospectors and mining companies – beckoned Platon Trakoshis and Jazz Kuschke with an entirely different kind of treasure: Big, elusive largemouth yellowfish, and other hidden gems. Full story at the link in bio.

"The air was still heavy with the night as I lay buried beneath a thick duvet and three blankets to ward off the zero-degree chill in the Diamond River camp. Outside, the Green Kalahari bush slowly unfurled into dawn. The ubiquitous doves cooed their urgent morning song, while Cape francolin called out like sentinels of the scrub (is there a more classic African bush morning sound?). A jackal’s eerie howl cut through the stillness before dissolving into the gentle murmur of the Lower Vaal River not 20 metres away. Then came the sudden sploosh of water – a violent splash: unmistakably a predator at work, not the schooling surface ripple of a baitfish – a reminder that the river is always awake, always moving.

"In the predawn cacophony, the place felt timeless, yet human hands had shaped it. Alluvial diamond mining had once scarred these channels and banks, roughing up the land in the hunt for wealth. Now, nature had softened the wounds, reclaiming its space and creating varied yet ideal pools, riffles, and runs for small- and largemouth yellowfish, along with a few other choice species.

"In the other cot of our shared safari tent, Platon 'Pla' Trakoshis muttered in his sleep. Had he subconsciously heard the largie eat and was now fighting it on his 7-weight in dreamland? Or was he dreaming about the grassie-on-dry action to come later that day?"

The Lower Vaal River run by Diamond River Outfitters beckoned Platon Trakoshis and Jazz Kuschke with largemouth yellowfish.

28/11/2024

B I K E P A C K I N G • & • F L Y F I S H I N G • 1 0 1

Taking your life with you on a bike means minimising your setup to the bare essentials, and if you’re making films and fly fishing like Will Phelps, that means making compromises. Here’s everything you ever wanted to know about bikepacking and fly fishing as featured in The Mission Issue 48 (Nov/Dec 2024). Link in bio.

"Pretty much every bikepacking trip I go on, I learn something and apply it to the next trip, especially when there’s fly fishing involved. What can be improved? How can my weight be distributed better? Maybe I need more mounting points in the rear? When I prep, I normally try to go to as lightweight as possible, especially as a filmmaker. I carry a lot of heavy camera gear, so I have to make sacrifices in other areas. That might mean bringing one less shirt or one less pair of pants or one less change of socks, just to account for the extra gear that I have to bring.

"The thing with bikepacking is that you’re committed to the area that you’re going to. So I keep it simple. That’s the idea behind bikepacking in the first place, living simply. You’re cutting out the house, the car, and all these things that you’re used to living with and really chiselling it down to only the things you need to get the job done.

"You can also travel at a slower pace than in a car and actually take everything in. You’re forced to talk to people, you’re forced to ask for help, you’re forced to take stops. So if you’re biking next to a river, you might actually see the fish rise rather than going 20/30 miles an hour by it in a car. Spot a fish? Just park your bike, grab your rod and catch it. That’s the beautiful thing about bikepacking.

Will Phelps' bikepacking and fly fishing 101 as featured in The Mission Fly Fishing Magazine (Nov/Dec 24).

26/11/2024

E N T E R • T H E • F E A T H E R S • A W A R D

Was it Maximus Decimus Meridius in "Gladiator" (the OG one) who said, “What we do in life, echoes in eternity”? Perhaps that’s laying it on a little thick, but of all the things this mildly serious magazine engages in, the Feathers Award is something we see as echoing at least in the brain cells of any fly angler with a pulse for at least a decade or two.

That means we need you – if you believe yourself worthy – to send us your best fish caught on fly in the last calendar year on the African continent.

“Best” means a lot of things to a lot of people. Sure, size helps (that’s what your mum said), as does rarity and difficulty too. Make it a combo, e.g. a 300lb escaped sturgeon from an isolated fish farm on a Mozambican inselberg, and you present to us a delectable choice. Past winners include Ed and Barns Ghaui with their Niger barbs in remote Gashaka, Nigeria, Leonard Flemming with his massive Clanwilliam yellowfish, David Falck and his nocturnal Overberg musselcracker and Franna van Zyl and his wayward dorado caught on foot in Gqeberha.

To enter the 2024 edition, simply send us a few pics and the story of your most special fish from the last year by the 15th of December. The Mission’s brains trust will do the rest.

Info here: https://themissionflymag.com/the-feathers-award-entries-2024/

22/11/2024

B R E A D • H A T C H • I S • L I V E • O N • Y O U T U B E

https://youtu.be/OV4uQKXIFIo?si=nnpn-6UHrnwCBGrT

🎥 Matt Kennedy () and Camm McDermott

18/11/2024

M E E T I N G • T H E • K I N G

We sometimes tell ourselves that we have no expectations from a trip and that, whatever happens, we will be happy just to be there. That was Ewan Naude’s approach on a recent trip to Gabon, but then tarpon pitched up and everything changed.

"This trip was a slight gamble in that it was before the arrival of the summer rains in Gabon which are so vital for the ecosystem and the fishery, but we had a great tide timetable and were confident that, if we worked hard, we would find some fish. There was also the hope that the “mullet runs” that happen at this time of year would coincide with our week and bring the predators close to the estuary mouth. Personally, I had no fishing goals for the trip and just wanted to fish the conditions and hopefully catch some of Gabon’s iconic species which include the cubera snapper, giant African threadfin, longfin jack and of course the tarpon. Of all those the tarpon is undoubtedly the toughest to hook, let alone land, but I wasn’t fixated on catching one… until I saw that beautiful bastard of a fish for the first time."

We sometimes tell ourselves that we have no expectations from a trip. That was Ewan Naude’s approach on a recent trip for tarpon in Gabon.

13/11/2024

R E C U R R I N G • D R E A M

Some places change you forever, because what you experienced there is so transformative your memory plays the highlights on an infinite loop calling you back till the end of your days. For guide and photographer Álvaro G Santillán that place is New Zealand. We kick off The Mission Issue 48 with his recurring wet dream about South Island. The Spanish photographer takes us through the deep juju of its rivers and the phenomenal brown and rainbow troot fishing he’s experienced there. Link in bio.

“The fish are no more than an excuse to travel to and get lost in some of the most beautiful landscapes on our planet.”

Some places change you forever, because what you experienced there is so transformative your memory plays the highlights on an infinite loop calling you back

05/11/2024

I S S U E • 4 8

https://themissionflymag.com/magazines/issue-48/

What’s going to keep you company as we rocket into the festive season in search of feet-up, kicking-back downtime (interspersed with as much fishing as you can get)? What’s got a staggering mix of stories featuring local and exotic species, brilliant characters, hardship and failure (with just a smidgen of success), plus tons of clobber, advice, tactics and more? You got it champ – no matter what the next few months throw at you (droughts, floods, drunk uncles, elections, Christmas carols on repeat), The Mission Issue 48 is here to keep you entertained. Link in bio!

We kick off with Álvaro G Santillán’s recurring wet dream about New Zealand’s South Island as the Spanish photographer takes us through the deep juju of its rivers and the phenomenal brown and rainbow troot fishing he’s experienced there.

Then we’ve got the veritable smorgasbord Ewan Naude experienced on the beach in Gabon with Cubera snapper, giant African threadfin and jacks followed by a main course of titanic tarpon (on foot, of course).

What else?
• LeRoy Botha’s crisis of conscience as he picked up (and put down) the heathen stick in search of yellowtail on Mars.
• Jazz Kuschke znd Platon Trakoshis’s excellent yellowfish and carp adventure on the Lower Vaal.
• Filmmaker Will Phelps’s hard-earned advice on bikepacking and fly fishing.
• A leaden labeo Wish List Fish with Garth Wellman and Christian Fry.
• Mr Seafood JD Filmalter serving up a calamari step-by-step.
• A High Fives with Greg Maxwell (tracked down somewhere between Oman, Cameroon and Lesotho)
• A Lifer with smallscale and largescale yellowfish legend Horst Filter; plus tons of clobber, booze, beats and more.

Read The Mission Issue 48 online for free, or, if you live in South Africa, you can grab a free copy from your nearest STOCKIST this week.

new zealand trout on fly and more

25/10/2024

P R E S S U R E • D R O P

We're not sure The Mission would exist if it weren't for Steve Duda. So we advise you to get your hands on what is easily the best fly fishing book of the year: Steve Duda's River Songs (Mountaineer Books), with illustrations by Matthew DeLorme. An excerpt, plus some lyrical waxing from us, at the link below.

"It’s hard to just sit there – waiting. Nothing to do. Drink some more water. Drink a Kalik, but don’t make too much noise rustling around in that cooler. Ponder the fly box and attempt to hide from the determined Bahamian sun. Fret about the wind and the clouds but cheer at the thought of the fried conch with rice and peas that the ladies in the lodge kitchen, fattened by kindness, have in store for dinner. Tend line for Kasper, the fishing bum from Sweden, who won’t stop twirling that pink-assed bonefish fly between his fingers. Comment on the wind. Say something to break the silence: 'Man, this point sure looks fishy.' No one responds. Mutter something else to the guide or to Kasper or to the wind. Try to remember the lyrics to “Pressure Drop” by T***s and the Maytals. The Specials covered that song. Keith Richards had a go. So did The Selecter. The Clash put out a ripping version too. It’s the perfect song for a bonefish skiff. The song’s writer, T***s Hibbert, said the song was about karma. The lyrics are straightforward. The melody is insanely catchy, and once your brain queues it up, it won’t stop playing it: '. . . pressure drop, oh pressure.'

"Since grabbing the first bone on the first cast of the morning, I view forty-five minutes of Kasper’s failures, flubs, screwups, and fumbles as a personal attack – a conspiracy to keep me not fishing while he takes forever on the boat’s casting deck. But I shut up about someone else’s bad luck. It’s bad luck to talk about bad luck. It’s even worse luck to take pleasure in someone’s bad luck. It’s fly fishing karma."

An excerpt from River Songs by Steve Duda as featured in The Mission Issue 47.

21/10/2024

T H E • V E G A N • M E A T B A L L

Combining milkfish fly tying theory with the behaviour of his local, shallow-water, algae-munching Vaal River smallmouth yellowfish, Peter Coetzee veered off the path of throwing nymphs and came up with the Vegan Meatball (which we tried to get him to name Satan’s Snot or the Sugar Bo**er). The results – big fish (smallies, carp and grass carp) ignoring thick tippet and chasing down this odd algae/bird poop/bloodworm fly – speak for themselves.

"The fly was so absurd that it took me many fish to convince myself I was in fact onto something. Some fish turning and following far downstream before eating. The best bit for me? Two things:

"The fly is large enough that a eat is extremely visible. The fish seem far less leader-shy due to the big fly and less delicate presentation.

"It's a pattern that has transformed my shallow water fly fishing for smallmouth yellowfish. Its also seen success on common carp, mirror carp and grass carp (and of course, milkfish, although that version has some UV flash in)."

I’ve been on the fence about writing this one. There are three distinct patterns I’ve come up with that have had a profound effect on