Treeferns is proud of  its serving the community. We are so blessed by the Lord that we want to share His Grace with all. We therefore pray to the Lord that each and everyone visiting us experience His Holy Presence abundantly in a very personal way. Consequently we practice leniency in satisfying the expectations of our customers. Of course we can’t do it for free for all as our upkeep needs funds. At least we can try to accommodate deserving  instances as far as we can, eg. pensioners, church, and school groups, and children qualify for a discount.  Groups of 20 plus people are also considered for rebates. You are well advised to book now to avoid disappointment. Looking forward to hearing from you.  See what you will be missing if you pass on this :

Good news for trophy anglers!

We now have our own trophy dam. For those who know the set-up, it is the dam on  the hill, where the water is so clear you can see your trophy, but beware, he can see you too. Right now, the sizes vary between 3 and 4 kg, rainbow and brown.

This is the good news. The not so good news is that a control system will apply :

1. The gate to the dam will be locked

2. Fishing the dam will be on appointment only for a 1 hour session

3. No CAR will be allowed

4. The cost will be R100 per kg for the first 3,9 kg’s, thereafter R500 per fish

5. Mounting arrangements are available.

How about this!

Official newsletter of the Belfast Fly Fishing Association

“THE WATERS, THE FISH, THE BEST”

PO BOX 799, BELFAST 1100.

TEL. (013) 253-0748 FAX  086 502 9280

EMAIL:  bffa@lantic.net

_______________NEWSLETTER NO. 56 __MARCH 2011________________

Dear Bel-fly Readers

Looking out the window at the trees after a sudden shower of rain, one can see almost fairly-like little lights on the leaves from the sun shining on the raindrops that still hang on the leaves. What a magical sight!

Just for a moment, before reality kicks back in and facing the current situation almost hits you right in the stomach! There is nothing magical about the dire state of the financial situation of the BFFA. For the last two months we have not been able to pay a salary to our administration officer/Secretary Magda. Maintenance is being paid for by various members of the committee to pay the workers to clean the dams. The stocking costs for one dam have already been paid for by a committee member. March’s stocking of dam 7 is also to be paid by a committee member and a member of the club is sponsoring the cost of stocking for the ladies competition in May.

Urgent repairs are needed to the jetties, fencing is required and paints for the club house just to name a few. Where do we start, with only 64 members having paid their subs for the financial year, 01 07 2010 to 30 06 2011? Must we look to closing the club or are you all going to bring in members, sponsors and corporate days to increase funds. We, the committee, can no longer do it alone without the help of other members.

We have also been faced with the need to increase rod fees and cutting the number of fish taken in view of the ever increasing cost of trout, with effect from April 1^st 2011.

Even if you are a man, get ladies involved in the Ladies Competition, and ladies, please support our venture as most members never support competitions and they are our main fund raisers.

A huge hug of appreciation to our Curamus friends that have once again chosen to visit BFFA on 26 March 2011 for their closing function as well as their continuous support to the Club throughout the years.  We are looking forward to having a small group of you here for the day and we hope you will once again enjoy our hospitality and a great day of fishing!

Please note the Wing Shooting Competition to be held on Saturday, 9 April 2011, as a fundraising effort. Your support is vital.  If not possible to enter please tell your friends about it.

Please respond to this news letter and tell us what YOU think should be done and what YOU can do to get YOUR Club back on its feet.

Regards

From Your committee.

2010 / 2011 Committee

Chairman: Johan Visagie;  Treasurer: Janet Hendrikz;  Secretary: Magda Visagie

Members: Basil van Loggenberg, Gerhard Visagie, Kevin Harvey, Heather Harvey, Dave Hepworth,

Allan Groves, Louw Alberts.

SUBS

Please note that yearly subscriptions were due from July 1^st 2010.  A reminder to pensioners 60 years & older of the 30% discount!

PERMITS

As mentioned the committee have been faced with the need to increase rod fees and cutting the number of fish taken in view of the ever increasing cost of trout. Bags will now be limited to one, two or three fish only taken per day to encourage anglers to practice catch and release. When purchasing your permit for the day you will select and pay for your bag limit. The new structure will be as follows:

Members:                    R50 for one trout;       R100 for two trout;     R150 for three trout

Non-members              R100 – one trout;       R150 – two trout;       R200 – three trout

UPCOMING EVENTS

26/03/11:                    Curamus Year End Function

09/04/11:                    Wing shooting Competition (See attached leaflet)

21/05/11 :                   Belfast Ladies Competition  (See attached entry form)

25/06/11 :                   Curamus Competition for Disabled persons

30/07/11 :                   ‘Jack Frost’ Floating Trophy Competition

30/09-02/10/11 :         September Fly Fishing Festival & BFFA AGM

MPUMALANGA FLY FISHING ASSOCIATION

A notice was recently sent out to everybody regarding a meeting to be held 26/02/11 about the formation of the Mpumalanga Fly Fishing Association. At this meeting a steering committee was elected to do the ground work like affiliate to SAFFA, register the constitution, open a bank account and so on, so that the benefits of the sports act can be accessed by all anglers. If more people affiliate to the Province we will have a bigger say on the issue of trout being an invader species and the Government’s effort to eradicate them. The trout industry in South Africa contributes millions each year towards the economy. This will also improve facilities for junior, ladies and disabled anglers. Mpumalanga has been subdivided over the years and we need to unite it so we can be the top province in South Africa. The formation of the MFFA will be instrumental in reaching these goals.

The following persons were unanimously elected to positions on the steering committee:

Lyle smith (Chairman)

Terry Babich (Vice Chairman)

Magda Visagie (Secretary)

Russel Komlosy (Treasurer)

Tom Bouwer (Development and Advisor for the disabled)

Sue Babich (Marketing/ Liaison Officer)

Paul Valet (Safety Officer)

For more information please feel free to contact Lyle Smith 083 395 1134

Okavango Adventure and the Delta Spa Treatment.

“What do you mean you don’t have a torch?  Surely you have a radio?  There must be cell phone reception here?  No first aid kit?  No flares?  No islands to camp on?”

These were all the questions we had for our guide when our friend’s boat broke down and we had to tow it back to camp through all the tiny channels in the Okavango Delta – at night!  Luckily our guide knew the route well as one wrong turn would have left us stranded out all night with the hippos and crocks.  The papyrus is over 2m tall and lines the narrow channels where there are no landmarks with turnoffs into dead end channels left and right. Our guide grew up in the area and knew the route out from the lagoon where our camp was onto the main river.

Our friend’s boat broke down just as we were heading back from a brilliant days tiger fishing the “barbell run” in the main river.  It was the first of 4 days fishing.  There were no little islands on to which they could tie off the disabled boat, so we had to load all the people into our boat and tow it back to camp.  We looked like refugee “boat people”.  The trip should have taken 45 minutes at normal speed, but it took 2 hours and we traveled most of the way in the dark.  Maybe it is just as well that we didn’t have a torch as we might have seen all the eyes of the lurking crocodiles staring at us sizing us up for a meal.  A torch would have helped to avoid, what we later called “the delta spa treatment.”  The “papyrus peal” was when your face was, not so gently, abraded by shooting through stands of papyrus that you could not see.  The “insect mask” was a mixture of goggos that smashed into your face (and hair and teeth) and later when washed off revealed the rejuvenating properties of bug juice.  The “adrenaline rush” caused by the uncertainty of making it through the night, was great for the heart and made you feel extremely youthful when we actually did make it through the night!

But as they say, an adventure is something you talk about, but a tragedy…. well, it could have been, but luckily it was just another adventure!

When the spa was over and we reached the camp, the owner had just sent out a rescue boat.  We were offered a free day’s fishing, which was kind, but what we really all needed to finish off the spa treatment was a really stiff drink, without the umbrella in it!  The other 3 days fishing went well with minor incidents, like running over a crocodile (he looked fine, but we think he had a bad headache), having the net break (with a fish in it, that got away), having the anchor break that we were then unable to anchor to fish, being boiled by the 40+ degree heat, using the loo break island after carefully checking for crocodiles to have one slip off the island into the water, just after having a leak and hitting a “road block” – where the papyrus had closed a channel and the only way through was to gun it and take
the mess out of the propeller while the hippos were watching!  Other than that it was “plain sailing”.

Maybe it is “just my luck” as I remembered a freak boating accident I was involved in, in the middle of winter in the cannels of Amsterdam, just after asking the boat pilot, “Have there been any accidents?” and being told that, “No, it never happens here!”  In that incident we were rescued and dried off in a pub with lots of free drinks, maybe that is why I expected another drink at the end of our Delta adventure!

Heather Harvey

2010/2011 ANNUAL SUBS RENEWAL.

BFFA    P O Box 799, BELFAST 1100.  Email: bffa@lantic.net

Banking details for direct transfers:

ABSA Belfast, BFFA Cheque account no. 750 149 960

(Fax deposit slip to:  086 502 9280  with Member number as reference)

SUBS:

* Registration Fee – New members                                                                           R 100-00

* Adult Member                                                                                                          R 400-00

* Spouse                                                                                                                      R 270-00

* Juniors and Full-time Students ( If part of Family Membership).                                   R 230-00

* Juniors ONLY.( If NOT part of Family Membership).                                            R 250-00

* Country Member (Outside 400 km radius of Belfast)                                             R 250-00

* Yearly Rod Fee (per person) Optional                                                                    R 400-00

PENSIONERS: 60 YEARS AND OLDER GET 30% DISCOUNT

Provincial Licence NB: MUST be a Mpumalanga Prov. Lic. @ R 20 p. p. 16 Years of Age and OLDER. NB; Prov. Licences will be issued by the B.F.F.A., if payment is included. You MUST sign it on receipt thereof. If you already have a valid Provincial Licence please enter number and expiry date……………………………………………………………………………………….

(NO Member Card will be issued without a VALID Provincial Licence number, if 16 years or older)NB: Member Cards will NOT be POSTED and are to be collected at the Office.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

Invitation and agenda for the a route development meeting in the Nkangala District

Facilitator:  Thiofhi Ravele from Open Africa

Date: 28^th February 2011

Time: 14:00 pm – 16:00 pm

Venue: Mayor’s Boardroom, Emakhazeni Local Municipality

Agenda

1.               Introductions & attendance

2.               Overview of Open Africa and the route concept

3.               The proposed project and potential parameters

4.               Feedback on desktop research for the Situational Analysis

a)     Marketing aspects

b)     Community aspects

c)     Environmental aspects

d)     Technical aspects

5.               Identification of possible partners in the route development/support process

6.               The way forward

Dear All

The new FOSAF Guide to Fly-Fishing in Southern Africa

The eagerly awaited FOSAF Guide to Fly-Fishing is now on the shelves of fly-fishing tackle stores and leading book stores. Most people will be aware that FOSAF (Federation of Southern African Flyfishers) were very successful with the Nedbank Guide series of which the fifth and final edition came out more than five years ago so there is certainly a place for an updated product with contributions from some of the country’s leading experts. However, the new book which covers both fresh and saltwater species is not just a copy of the old guide, but as several reviewers have noted, it represents a significant improvement on what was a very acceptable format.

Tom Sutcliffe states that the FOSAF Guide will be as necessary a piece of equipment for a fishing trip as one’s rods, reels and wading boots while Ed Herbst describes it as playing a similar role for fly-fishers as does the Roberts Birds of South Africa for bird watchers. Much emphasis has been placed on ‘reading the water’ and identifying ‘fishing hot spots’ in Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands while the larger page size lends itself to more detailed maps. Beautifully illustrated in full colour the book makes an ideal Christmas present.

The new book will be sold through leading book stores and fly-fishing tackle shops at a recommended retail price of R249,90 but paid up FOSAF members will be able to purchase this book and the popular Favoured Flies series at special prices.

Kindly see the attached F Guide Front Cover Kindest Regards,

Silvia Mahlangu
Tourism Officer
Cell: +27 (0)76 809 2952
Fax: +27 (0)86 610 8663
Email: silvia@emakhazenitourism.com
Web: www.emakhazenitourism.com
www.facebook.com/ Emakhazeni Tourism Association
http://www.facebook.com/silvia.mahlangu
skype: silvia.munkie.mahlangu

Matthew 19:26 With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible

On behalf of the chairman of the FOSAF Northvaal Chapter I have pleasure in ( announcing) the launch ( of) the eagerly awaited ‘FOSAF Guide to Fly-fishing in Southern Africa’ which replaces the very successful Nedbank series. The objective of this book is to promote fly fishing in Southern Africa and all funds generated from the sale of FOSAF books are used to finance the organisation’s many admirable projects including the Yellowfish Working Group and the ongoing negotiations with the authorities on the National Environmental Management:Biodiversity Act, particularly with regard to the effect it may have on the trout fishing industry.

The launch function will be held on Thursday 25th November at the Wanderers Golf Club in Johannesburg. `

Peter Arderne

FOSAF Northvaal Chapter

15 November 2010

T

he Editor of The Complete Fly Fisherman (TCFF), P.J. Jacobs, lodged objections to the responsible authority, The Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, against the listing of trout as an invasive species. He also invited concerned parties to contribute to the campaign by sending their support by e.mail to TCFF, magads@gonet.co.za. The letter follows :

The Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism
Attention: Bonani Madikizela
Fedsure Building
315 Pretorius Street
Pretoria

30 April 2009

By e-mail – bmadikizela@deat.gov.za

Dear Mr Madikizela

This letter serves as the lodging of a formal objection to the proposed
regulations for the NEM:BA Act 10 of 2004 (as published in the Government
Gazette on 2 April 2009), on behalf of the Complete Fly Fisherman Magazine,
its employees and shareholders, and specifically as far as the listing of
trout is concerned.

We wish to place on record the following:

1.   Trout are non-invasive in South Africa, and there exists no scientific
proof to the contrary. Its present listing as “alien invasive” in terms of
Schedule 3 is therefore incorrect, and can only be based on incomplete,
incorrect information or assumptions. This is contrary to the requirements
of the Act.
2.   Where they presently occur, trout present no threat to any indigenous
species and are naturalised.
3.   Trout are self-regulatory and need not be zoned. Zoning and the permit
system will have a detrimental effect on the trout industry.
4.   The present listing of trout will do great harm to the trout industry,
with a consequent substantial loss of jobs, especially in the lower income
segment.
5.   Trout fishing is a way of life for many South Africans, and the present
listing infringes this right.
6.   Trout contribute enormously to the economy, and the present listing
will limit that contribution in the future. It also impairs the right of the
industry to expand and grow.
7.   The listing is flawed, in that correct procedures were not followed as
stipulated in the Act, inter alia in so far as not enough funding was made
available to properly research the status of trout prior to and leading up
to its listing as “alien invasive” in terms of Schedule 3. Many interested
and affected parties were not consulted or invited to workshops,
insufficient workshops were held and evidence presented at workshops were
not procured or evaluated as is prescribed in the Act.

Consequently, we request that trout be re-listed as non-invasive in terms of
schedule 1.

We reserve all rights.

Yours faithfully,

PJ Jacobs
Editor

See also the Editorial of the December/January 2008/2009 issue of TCFF

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This post contains news items, events, and general info of interest:

1 November 2010 :  Our new reception and kiosk was opened on  1 November, and our  selection of flyfishing items for sale at the KIOSK updated. Contact Morne, 072 403 1895

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30 November 2010:  Our web site is still very much alive, and we have added some more info under accommodation, with special reference to the surrounding towns as experienced by some of our guests, local attractions, etc.  You are more than welcome to share your adventures at Treeferns with  visitors to our web site.

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30 November 2010 :  Product owners of trout facilities are required by law to have permits to stock trout in their dams. Treeferns Trout Lodge had been issued  permits for many years, and is therefore a legitimised operation in the Trout Industry.

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31 October 2010 :  A very successful flyfishing competition was held on 30 October 2010, and 185 fish were caught and released. The winners of the longest fish were Eben du Plooy and Craig Richardson, and John Hunter won the prize for the longest bag.  We thank all our sponsors for the prizes.  We are looking forward to the next one.

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