For those poor unfortunates born in the this soulless new Carboniferous period, I should explain that the Allcocks Wallis Wizard was a magical creature of the 1930’s. An eleven foot all-round fishing rod, made in three pieces. The butt was of whole tonkin cane, and the middle and top were made from proper split cane….

So before I get into this, I’ll say in advance, to encourage further reading, that the hours I spent in the far north of South Africa were some of the most memorable of my life. Here I found fishing, but here too I found proof enough for me that there really is more to fishing…

The road from the bone dry low-veldt rises slowly at first, then more urgently, through 180° alpine hairpin bends that would sore test the unsober. The thorn scrub is left behind as lowland deciduous woodland appears. At a stop to admire the view, an African relative of the blackbird chuckles away, giving the moment the…

The fenced, rhododendron-girt, and lily paved two acres, were to be tantalizingly viewed by ordinary anglers as mere glimpses through the foliage. For them, such high flown pleasures were to be had only vicariously, as the true elite unlocked the gates to gain entry, and studiedly locked them again to keep out the great unwashed….

We should be grateful. The maritime weather of this Sceptred Isle allows the damp and warm Gulf Stream to render winters bearable in our northern islands. Without the Gulf Stream balm, we would return to the joys of a Siberian climate – frying eggs on the pavement in summer, and brass monkeys in the winter,…

My own birthday falls in February, so Iím stuck with permanent double-jeopardy. I figure the best thing to do each year is to distract myself from morbid thoughts by arranging something to really look forward to.In recent years my strategy has been to get as far from the winter gloom as possible, and into the…

My route led me around the southern shores of lake Vättern. Well, that’s what it’s called, but to call this huge body of water a lake is to do it no justice, because Vättern is really a great freshwater sea, with beaches, currents, a climate all its own, and a considerable fishing industry. They say…

Through flatlands at first, with neat homesteads and farms, then up, and up, through the high Hottentot Holland range of mountains, with our ears popping. This is wine country. Ordered rows of vines covered the hillsides as we slid down beyond the mountains. Names familiar from wine bottles past: those gone delights, each with a…

So when the chance came to discover just what the jungle rivers of this huge country could offer the adventurous angler, I jumped at it. The deal allowed for two anglers, so I faxed that illustrious editor, Kevin Clifford, to see if he might be interested – Dear Kevin, is there any chance at all…

And so, to a slightly non-sequetous mixture of soapbox threads; but mostly, wives, modern angling practices, and the close season.My mostly perfect wife, Anna, had on her pitying look, so I don’t think she meant it as a compliment. All the same, I was rather pleased at her pejorative sideswipe, after all, who enjoys their…