 FROM THE EDITOR — by Sheena Carnie
SUMMER is here! With that warm, cheerful thought comes the thought of planning flyfishing outings to make the most of the good weather and the holidays that lie ahead.
In this issue we cover a variety of fishing venues around the world — from our own Sterkfontein Dam to Alaska and Argentina. If you’re fortunate enough to get a good bonus at this time of year, you might want to put it aside and save it for a trip to one of these far-flung foreign fishing meccas. They don’t come cheap, but by all accounts, they’re well worth the money spent.
If your pockets aren’t that deep, why not take a trip to Sterkies and test David Weaver’s theory on not striking for yellows.
For those hardworking types who don’t get much fishing time during the daylight hours, Bruce Black gives you some tips for fishing in the salt after dark. There are numerous species that are very active at night and which actually feed better then than in the day time, so give it a try.
Of course, there are bound to be some days when you can’t get onto the water for one reason or another, and then you can get stuck into tying some flies. Arno Laubscher details how to tie the Largemouth Bugger, especially for largemouth yellowfish, and Peter Brigg discusses Stewart’s Black Spider for trout.
Until next year, happy reading ...
IN MY OPINION — by Dave Rorke
“THE course of true love never did run smooth,” said Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I’m sure we can all agree with Shakespeare’s observation: who amongst us has not traversed this bumpy road?
However, before you think I’ve gone all Mills and Boon on you, relax and think fishing, specifically trout. As reported in this magazine, earlier this year the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT) finally acknowledged the economic worth of trout to this country, so it tasked the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) with the hosting of workshops in affected areas in the formulation of the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act (NEM:BA). The intention was to communicate the trout zone mapping process to stakeholders, explain the scientific basis for the delineation of zones, consider recommendations regarding trout species, and identify problem areas that may require further consultation.
Following the workshops, everyone was singing from the same hymn sheet. “The mapping will be coordinated by SAIAB (SA Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity) and undertaken by the provinces with stakeholder participation. It will be important to ensure stakeholder scrutiny and consensus of the final maps,” said FOSAF. Above all, however, the seeds for mutual trust had been sown, and though a course of true love wasn’t yet imminent, a courtship of a kind had begun.
Upon the completion of the workshops, SAIAB’s Dr Ernst Swartz, the coordinator of the mapping process, posted preliminary maps for the NEM:BA “category 2 alien invasive fish species” on the SAIAB’s website. That’s when the course of the courtship suddenly hit a very rocky patch. Trout stakeholders were up in arms as, in the words of Wolf Avni, “... at the stroke of a pen they effectively wipe out the entire KZN trout industry. Every core, every production facility and every significant trout area shows up as either contested or excluded.
“The information … is so incomplete as to be worthless.” He accused the coordinator of misinterpreting his brief in such a way that his product contradicted every single agreed principle for defining zones, and flew in the face of every good-faith assurance that SANBI had articulated to stakeholders.
Ilan Lax, National Chairman, FOSAF, emphasised that “but for our insistence on developing principles that would guide the exercise and which you have indicated you are in agreement with, there would be no framework of any description against which to try and understand what it is that you are doing. As far as we can see and without any clear explanation, you appear not to be following the agreed principles, despite your assurances to the contrary.” The relationship was on the rocks.
After much to-ing and fro-ing of correspondence, I’m pleased to report that the relationship is nearly back on track. See http://www.saiab.co.za/newsitem.php?nid=15.
Fly for now! |
|
