The final leg of the trip finds you tucked away in the Drakensberg mountains of South Africa. Sani Valley lodge, situated at the foot of Sani Pass has beautifully appointed cabins on the bank of a 260 acre lake teaming with rainbow and brown trout. African Horizons of South Africa specializes in upmarket, tailor made…

The Fishing The lakes are stocked with Brown & Rainbow Trout and Tavistock Fishery has held the ‘British Record’ for the largest cultivated Rainbow Trout at 30lb 12 oz (caught by Tony Flower from Newquay on Yellow Cat’s Whisker). The record Rainbow for the 2000 season was 26lb 10oz. The record Brown Trout at the…

MINI LIST – WEIGHT UP TO 1 LB Species ozs drms kilo-grms Date Captor Location Anchovy Engraulis encrasicolus 1 8 .042 1979 R.H. Wilcox Port Talbot, Glamorgan, Wales Argentine Argentina sphyracna 5 3 .147 1978 Miller Loch Long, Arrochar, Scotland Barracudina Paralepis coregonoides 1 14 .054 1987 D. Gillon Newton Shore, Ayr, Scotland Blackfish, Cornish…

There is a tendency to believe many techniques available to the modern angler are recent innovations. In fact a little research will reveal that there is much to be learnt from our forefathers. Over the summer I quoted from the Compleat Angler to illustrate that in Isaac’s day baits such as chopped worm and sophisticated…

The other day, when I was fishing with the Poet LaureateÖ Now, if that isnít the ultimate throwaway line for any dinner party, I donít know what is. Anyway, Iíd said it before I realised that it might be taken as a bit of a name drop.It put one in mind of some other throw-away…

You’ll remember in the last article that after the first day’s fishing, myself, and a few others were a little disappointed. Not with Alaska itself, but with the fact that the silver salmon we had come to catch tended to be in the slower water, not the type of (fly) water so beloved of salmon…

After well over fifty major fishing expeditions it still surprises me how even relatively experienced anglers will get things muddled and make mistakes and omissions. I thought it might be useful for all of you if I just detailed some of the major points that I, anyway, feel are important. Letís regard it as a…

Watching a seven or eight foot long fish launch itself ten feet into the air after a blistering hundred yard run does tend to set the adrenaline flowing. And I can confirm that complacency still doesn’t set in even after it happens several times in the same week. When a fish this size is greeted…

The 12 acre estate lake has a well established breeding zander population that makes Bury Hill the water to catch a zander.I visited Bury Hill to meet up with the in-house predator expert Eric Bailey. Eric gave me details of both swims and tactics. After a terrific breakfast in the small cafe, I walked out…

It all started a few years ago when I hooked and landed my first Catfish whilst targeting Carp in a local Stillwater. It was the best scrap any fish had ever given me and it only weighed 15lbs. At 43lb I thought it was big ..but they kept getting bigger (55lb).. ..and bigger (56lb)… ..and…