About the Cactus Muddler Trout Fly

This can be good at any time for big Rainbow, but I find it outstanding at the start of the season, as do my customers, going by the orders I get! Sadly our dam is suffering from over-stocking, and the fish coming out look like eels, they are so thin. Two years ago, I took my brother-in-law up to Gubu Dam. It was too windy for John to fish,as he was a completely inexperienced angler.It was blowing a gale. However, I decided to find a sheltered spot on the dam, and found one right in the corner of the dam wall, where the marker for the water level is. My intention was to leave John there. I was going to carry on a further five hundred yards around the forest, where there was very deep water. Before I started off, I fixed up a rod for John, and asked him to choose a fly. He chose a red Marabou fly with a pearl cactus muddler body. I tied this on for him.I then started walking around the path. I tried to fish into the teeth of a gale, and between the wind blowing my line high and my hat being snatched off, I accomplished nothing! Just then, I saw this figure in the distance, coming towards me with his hands in the air, jumping up and down, and yelling with excitement. By this time, I recognised John, and saw that he was holding aloft a very large trout in one hand, and the rod in the other. It was so funny to see, that I dropped my rod, as my hat blew off. When he reached me, he started telling me how he caught this six and a half pound Rainbow hen fish. He said that because of the trees behind him, he threw the fly into the surface of the water, where the fly landed about three feet from the bank. As he went to pick up his rod from the bank, a large trout came from nowhere, and seized the muddler, shooting out for the overflow of the dam, about a hundred yards out.He remember what I had told him to keep his rod up at all times! He did this, and let the fish take line. He let this happen, until he could see the orange backing line getting smaller and smaller. Then he saw the fish jump out of the water, and the line became slack. So he reeled and reeled, and eventually got his line back on. He thought he had lost the fish, until he realized the fish was coming towards him. He kept on reeling. He had no net. He wondered how he was going to land such a big rainbow. So he decided that when he got it in close, he would jump in the water and throw it out onto the bank! It came in right close, and just when he was about to jump in the water, it swirled and went back out again, with the same performance as before. It jumped a few times on its way out, and he then decided to bring it in again. When it was in close, he dropped his rod, and jumped in the water, and threw the fish up onto the bank! Needless to say, the fish was well hooked. He dismantled his rod, (he had no permit and was fishing illegally anyway!) and came looking for me. He said he had never had such a thrill in his whole life. He was seventy two at the time. That fish was frozen here , and went back to Ramsgate on the Natal South coast a week later. Every visitor to the house was shown the trophy. A few months later, I was on a plane to Durban, when I sat beside the town clerk of Ramsgate.I asked him if he knew John. He said yes! And that was a lovely trout he caught! It seems that everyone by this time had heard of John's catch!

Expert Tip:

I was alone, some 6 to 7 km from the car, withfishing being so absorbing that I failed to notice that I was encroaching on a troop of baboons. It was quite obivious that no one had been this way for a while and my invasion of the territory led to an incredible performance of barking, stone throwing and boulder rolling. Needless to say, discretion was the better part of valour and I retreated post haste down the kloof to the safety of my vehicle and civilisation. Robin Fick

Creator of this trout fly: Harry Stewart

Tier of this trout fly: Harry Stewart

Country of origin for this trout fly: South Africa

This trout fly is designed to be fished on Dams & Reservoirs, Still Water fish

Dressings

• Hook : 4 - 10
• Thread : Black
• Tail : Olive marabou and a few strands of flashabou
• Body : Cactus chenille
• Wing : Black marabou
• Head : Spun deer hair

Trim the spun deer hair to the required shape.