The South African fly fishing and fly tying Expo 2017
It is winter, a dull time of the year for most river-addicted fly fisherman in South Africa, but a convenient time for a fly tying expo! The 1st expo that took place on Lourensford Farm in July 2016 inspired Gordon van der Spuy, the founder and event’s organiser, to continue with his fly tying expo concept by ‘creating’ […]
Fundamental Fly Tying – part 4: Materials
Words by Gordon van der Spuy Photographs by Leonard Flemming Materials maketh the fly. Most people buy fly tying material the way they do groceries. People walk into a shop with a fly tying ‘grocery’ list, picking packets off the shelves like one would do when visiting Pick’n Pay. The problem with fly tying material […]
Fundamental fly tying DVD
Most of our readers will know Gordon van der Spuy by now – search ‘Fundamental Fly Tying’ on this site to see some of his articles that have featured so far. Gord is a proactive fly fisherman and he has just released a fly tying DVD. He strives to make better fly tiers out of all the […]
Fundamental fly tying – part 3: Thread
By Gordon van der Spuy, photos by Leonard Flemming In the last issue I spoke about hooks. This time I want to tackle thread. Thread is possibly the most neglected aspect in tying today. Most tiers don’t give it the attention it deserves, probably because they don’t understand thread and its application properly. “What’s there […]
Para RAB
By Gordon van der Spuy The parachute RAB (para RAB in short) must rate as my all-time favourite fly. It is delicate and everything I look for in a dry fly is optimised in this pattern. I love tying it, but more importantly, I love fishing it. When trout commit to this fly they really […]
Fundamental fly tying – part 2: Hooks
Text by Gordon van der Spuy, photos by Leonard Flemming In my last piece (Tools of the Trade) I spoke about fly tying tools that will make tying life easy. Initially I thought of doing a piece on hooks, threads and basic materials but in retrospect I’ve decided against it. I’d rather cover each separately and […]
Fundamental Fly Tying – Part 1: Tools of the Trade
By Gordon van der Spuy This is a series of articles that will feature on fly tying made simpler, better, faster… Fly tying, like heart surgery, requires the right set of tools for the job. Attempting heart surgery with a steak knife sounds crazy but you’ll be surprised how many guys do the equivalent when […]
