To all our 2006 members
What a season! We can’t believe how quickly these cold, teeth shattering, finger cracking; icy days have just flown by. It seems like just the other day when Quintin eagerly parked his car so early in front of our doors. 10 points for early birds catching the worm, um fly, er trout. Peter, Martin, Arnold, Riaan, Mark, Brian, Charl and Sarel, and the rest, yes, 05:45 is early and blooming cold!
We would like to say a really big thank you to all who constantly support us here at Oxbow. We appreciate and need all your guidance, advice and knowledge. Especially when it comes to Woolly Buggers, Zonkers, Midges, Red eyed damsels, Walker Killer reds, Mrs. Simpsons and things you would normally think are movie names or comedy shows of some sorts. You’ve all stood by us, helping out with teething problems and reminding us of things we sometimes forgot. Charlie and Gary Glen-Young hats off to you both.
Your fishing endeavours and tall, wide stories have kept us entertained long after you’ve gone home or, stayed. Arnold, Riaan, Tim, Cameron and Quintin (maybe just one more and then I’ll stay), one more cast, retrieve, whiskey, or beer, hey? We love all your quirky habits and sayings and your weird and wonderful breakfast orders. Scrambled eggs, no sausage; toast only; eggs not snotty, and the occasional beer.
Thank you for supporting the Hardy sponsored academy, we hope you’ve picked up some tips and tricks to help improve your fly fishing. Really special thanks to all the instructors who gave up their time to do presentations here: Cameron Anderson, Timothy Babich, Nivada Viljoen, Gary Glen-Young, Mark Yelland, Malcolm Yelland, Rob Van Rensburg, Rohan Koegelenberg and Tim Brewer. We hope that the academy covered some aspects of fly fishing that you may have been struggling with or wanted to know more about.
On the fishing side, we’re sorry for the ones that got away but really impressed with the catch register. We know that some days were tougher than others, and you thought fishing was for the birds. On the other hand, we had a record “trout catch marathon” between Tim and Cameron who respectfully landed 36 and 22 trout on the 24th June 2006. We’ve includeda catch register table with dates and records that many of you filled in. We’ve also included some photographs from this season. We welcome all your shots including trout and scenery, if you’ve taken. Thanks to Geoff and Arnold for theirs, they are beautiful.
We’ve also had some requests and inside stories, thank you to Peter for divulging his secret fishing spot…………………..Sorry! Can’t find the paper Frank wrote it on. Mmm. 10 points for humour and scare tactics. The answer to Gary’s question about float tubing on Sickle dam was, tragically, also on that paper. Funny, how that happened. We also had a request from Shane to start a KOO commission (Keep Oxbow Open) and although we love all of you in winter, we think that sand, surf and sun block will do wonders for a fly fisherman’s complexion.
Thanks again to those of you who were able to enter our competition; we couldn’t have done it without you. We missed those that couldn’t make it. The competition was a spectacular day, the weather really played along well, pity about those sneaky trout. Lucky for some the bass were out in full force, ask Leslie. Unlucky for others, our jetties seemed to move out from under one of our competitors who whilst landing a trout, landed himself splash bang, into stocky pond. BRrrrrrr. A massive thank you to all our sponsors; Fishing Owl, (Terry, Tim and Sue Babich) Stealth, Optimax, Vision, Xplorer, and Bells, we are truly grateful.
Thank you all for your letters, comments, praises and advice, it’s what keeps us getting out of bed at 05:30am to unleash these crystal, mythical, sparkling waters upon you, for birthday wishes and kind words. Ron and Rina, Nivada, Leslie, thank you. Who ever said fly fisherman aren’t charming had it all wrong, Ian and Dave, you guys keep our hearts pumping and pulses racing!
Keep us posted on all your news and views, have a tremendous summer. We look forward to having you all here next year again!
Kind regards,
Frank, Alison, Jade, Kyle, Amos and Mandla and the Oxbow Team