My home in Victor, Idaho received 12” of snow today, but I woke up to singing birds and a 5:45 AM sunrise. I’m at Nooitgedacht Lodge in South Africa for the World Masters Fly Fishing Championships and in the Southern Hemisphere its summertime. I’ve been looking forward to this morning ever since I left here back in November when I finished up my recognizance mission for the Team USA Fly Fishing Masters.
Not all the team is here yet because we have a week before tournament. Pete Erickson and Mike Sexton arrive in a couple days but our sponsor/manager Jerry Arnold is here as is anglers Scott Robertson and Lauren Williams. We also brought along the coach of the Youth Fly Fishing Team, Kalvin Kaloz. Jerry brought Kalvin along as a reward for all his hard work with the youth team.
We are with our great South African host and guide, Daniel Factor. Jerry and I fished with Dan in November. After breakfast we inflated boats Dan organized and headed fishing on the lake in front of the lodge for practice. We have an excellent game plan but it helps to swing a rod after being indoors speaking at shows since December. Its also nice to be here early to kick jetlag.
I won’t elaborate too much about our day other than in the morning we crushed fish on simple flies like wooly buggers and small streamers. I fished with Kalvin and Scott and Lauren fished in the other boat. Jerry wont fish the competition so he and Dan went somewhere on foot.
The afternoon session was much slower. We dealt with some weather and I’ll be honest, this 9 hour time change from the US probably inhibited our efforts some. We were tired. Nonetheless we landed a few.
We’ll practice fish the area here around Dullstroom over the next five days before the World Championships start. We’ll also relax and take in Dullstroom. Tomorrow we have access to a private lake named Brookwood Damn. I’m planning to stick some pigs on dry flies. Now I can hardly keep my eyes open. The long ride from Idaho to here takes a few days to recuperate from. Stay tuned!
Be sure to keep track of my upcoming travels around the world!
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Congratulations to you Jeff and the entire US team, we are so proud of all of you!
Jack & Suzanne Meredith