Farquhar Blog: 4 – 11 May 2013
The last week of our season had arrived, and along with it Claire and Tony Carter, as well as Gareth Adams (of Stealth Fly Fishing) and a bunch of his buddies. The water was cool, and the GT’s definitely present, especially around some of the larger land masses. Gareth soon caught his personal best GT with a great cast into a very stiff wind. As usual the fishing had begun with the standard Farquhar quality – phenomenal. There is however one story that I should tell you about, if only because it’s not something that you see every day, or every season, or even every year.
For the last half of the week, a large school of bait set up camp very close to the inside bay, and it didn’t take very long for the GT’s, and ultimately the guides to find them. So it was on the last day that I took Claire and Tony to see if we could find them one last time.
Sure enough, as the tide turned, we came upon what looked to be a large patch of turtle grass. Of course turtle grass doesn’t scatter when a school of 16 or so black GT’s moves through it. Claire immediately sprang to action. She cast just to the side of the bait, and the GT’s that were daisy chaining in the middle of the ball shot towards the fly, which couldn’t have been less than 6 yards away. One charged the fly as Claire stripped furiously. The hook didn’t set, but Claire did really well and kept stripping without lifting the rod a fraction. Almost immediately another fish seized the fly and this time the hook set, thanks to Claire driving it into its jaw with a series of violent strips. The fish raced off, but the school of GT’s stuck around, swimming between our legs. Tony, ever the gentleman, had let Claire have a shot first, and was still on the anchored boat. I called him over to have a crack at the remaining fish. He took his time, strolled over and made a long unhurried cast to the marauding fish. Hardly a single strip and he too was on. It all seemed too easy for Tony. The double up made for some fantastic photographs, and of course a great memory not only for father and daughter, but myself as well.
That last day was a fantastic way to end of a truly epic season. So much had to be done in order to leave the island, that it was only while sitting on the plane back to South Africa that I realised how lucky I was to be part of Farquhar, and of course, how lucky I was to be able to come back and do it all again next season.
Till then…tight lines and happy fishing!
James Topham