The Blog

Indaba Rods are a custom fly fishing rod and general rod building outfit, however their strength is very much in the Fly Fishing rod building side of things.

They build rods to very specific client requirements, from the choice of the blank all the way down to what colour wrapping thread the client would like on the rod. They also offer a range of rods pre-built which rival any of the high end factory built rods at a fraction of the cost.

Two of the rods that have been fished with are the 9’6″  #6/7wt Assegai Rod which is built on a Harrison blank, is rated as a fast to medium rod with good action. This rod has all lined eyes and from when we were using it, it cast like a dream allowing for some decent line to be put out as well as working well up close.

The other, Iklwa rod is a light weight fast action rod, again built on a Harrison blank, at 6′ and #2wt this is the ideal small river rod. It casts like a dream, is feather light in the hand and the even the smallest of river trout will be a lot of fun on this rod.

The Assegai Rod is retailing for £250 and the Iklwa Rod retails for £175

Fly Auction is able to offer these two Rods at £200 and £150 respectively, a great price to pay for some amazing craftmanship with a fine attention to detail.

Assegai Rod

Iklwa Rod

The Daddy Snatcher pattern is proving to be a top seller for Fly Auction, this fly works really well almost all year round on small and large still waters and has also taken a number of trout from rivers both in the UK and South Africa.

Rumour has it that there will be some interesting variations on the theme coming out shortly so keep your eyes on the auction site and look out for twitter and facebook announcements when this happens.

Daddy Snatcher

We received the following confirmation from of the funds making it to the Msunduzi Hospice Association. I would personally like to thank everyone that took part in the auction and those who donated the items which got auctioned off.

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Dear Peter

On behalf of the Msunduzi Hospice Association, I would like to thank you most sincerely for the R5 402.11 that was paid into our banking account on the 20th April 2011 in memory of Mr Vic Pellew.

Our fundraising projects are ongoing and seek community support to enable us to sustain our services, which we provide, free of charge to the communities we serve.  The funds raised from these projects enables us to take care of more people who are struggling with the loneliness of illness.  Fundraising however continues to be an uphill battle and we need all the help we can get.  A donation like this is therefore very much appreciated and valued.

Thank you for your generosity and kindness. Your donation will enable us to continue and advance the work of our Association and we would like to express our sincere appreciation to you for believing in us and for supporting us in our journey.  I trust and hope that we will be able to rely on your support for many years to come.

With warm regards

Judy Coghlan

Manager Income Generation

Natal Fly Fishers Club NFFC – Trout Fishing in the KwaZulu Natal Midlands.

This club is definitely worth making contact with when you find yourself traveling to South Africa in particular to KZN. As a foreigner you are able to get a temp membership, which is not something which locals can get, and they have access a good range of rivers as well as still waters.

They are very friendly and I can highly recommend them.

Albury Estate Fisheries. A trout fishery I can highly recommend. Great grounds and great fishing!

Well the time is here for the long awaited Hospice auction. This auction is being run to raise money for the Hospice in Pietermaritzburg in South Africa. The reason for selecting them is based on my experience of seeing the amazing work they do for not only terminaly ill patients but also their families. What really hits home is how they do this amazing work on little to no funding most of which comes from donations. Chances are we probably all know someone who has been affected by cancer, either winning the fight or in the unfortunate case losing the fight and an organization such as the Hospice can really make a big difference on to the quality of life of everyone involved. So please reach deep in your pockets and bid, if you would like to donate some money rather than bid on the lot being auctioned, then please donate to the following address: flyauction@38boxes.com on paypal http://www.paypal.co.uk (please mark the donation: Hospice) even the smallest donation can make a big difference.

So onto the contents of the auction and a very big thank you to all of those people who have kindly donated items it is very much appreciated and we at Fly Auction are completely blown away by what people have been prepared to send in for the auction.

The Auction can be found here: http://fly-auction.com/item.php?id=169

So far we have 179 trout flies that cover a wide range of patterns, from dry flies to lures, which should cover pretty much every eventuality that may present itself to you. We also have hand tied furled leaders as well as days guided fishing on the River Nidd in Yorkshire (England). So we would like to thank everyone who has donated and in no particular order:

Andrew of TAFFBARGOEDFLIES (http://www.taffbargoedflies.co.uk) for their collection of flies.

Gary Hyde of West Yorkshire fly fishing services (http://www.westyorkshireflyfishing.co.uk) for his donation of flies as well as the days guided fishing.

Eddie O’Neil (http://www.hawkeyeimaging.co.uk) for his collection of flies.

Mr Trout for his furled leaders.

Peter Cockwill of Albury Game Angling (http://www.alburygameangling.co.uk) for his donation of flies in the great silver presentation tin. These flies were given to Peter Cockwill by the person who taught him to tie flies some 50 years ago.

Peter Louw for his Killer Collection

John Horsfall for his collection of 30 flies  – this contribution now brings the total to just under 180 flies!

We are still waiting on the arrival of another batch of flies which unfortunately have not yet managed to arrive thanks the postal service, once these arrive they will be added to the auction, however as once the auction starts we can not actually edit it, the extra flies will be detailed and displayed here in this blog post.

So here are the photos of the donated items which will be posted to the winning bidder at no cost to them. For the days guided fishing the winner will be put in contact with Gary Hyde to arrange the time and dates, Gary will also provide all of the required fishing gear if needs be (I think it would be the perfect way to try out some of the flies you would have won!)

Here is a high resolution gallery of the items being auction (these are big images):

For those on a slower connection here is lower resolution version;

Well had a great days fly fishing on Saturday down at Albury Estates.

I arrived at around 7am to find myself and only one other person there at Weston Lake and what a stunning morning it was with just a gentle breeze every now and then coming through and the early morning sunshine warming my back.

Taking a stroll around the lake to see if I could spot where the fish were I happened to notice a few rises up at the far end from the car park so headed in that direction. What a sight, a school of rainbows feeding in the top layers and off the surface made the heart beat faster as I stripped out some line and gently placed one of the home tied creations, a daddy crucher of sorts, directly over the school. A gentle twitch of the line to give to bring some attention to the fly and BANG a lovely take and I was into a 2.5lb rainbow which put up a good fight on the light tackle I was using (7’6″ Greys #3).

The fly that did the damage

2.5 lbs of fun

The day continued pretty much like this with a couple more taken on dry flies and one the an orange blob variant. All the fish were in great condition and put a good fight. I do love the early morning fishing sessions with no one else around and just being able to take in a absorb the beauty and tranquility of the scenery.

I have put a collection of the flies that were the most effective on the day up for auction on the http://fly-auction.com website and can be found here: Killer Collection

To everyone we can now be found at http://fly-auction.com a lot short and a lot easier to remember! Pass on the word, and of course please do not forget about the Charity Auction we are going to be running from the 18th of March 2011. This is for a great cause http://flyauction.38boxes.com/blog/?p=47

We are going to be running a charity auction for the South African Hospice based in Pietermaritzburg in KZN South Africa. Having seen the amazing work that this organisation does for those with terminal cancer, something which has recently been something very close to home for a member of Fly Auction, and the limited budget they have to work with (mostly from donations). We feel they are a very worthy organisation that would greatly benefit from a donation as the result of an auction run on (http://flyauction.38boxes.com).

So we are looking for people and companies to donate equipment, flies, day tickets on either rivers or still waters etc… towards the auction. All proceeds from the auction will be going to the hospice and so we are hoping to put together a great package for people to bid on.

If you would like to donate to this auction or know anyone or an organisation that might be willing to donate then please do get in contact via – flyauction@38boxes.com with the subject line Hospice Auction.

Your support is greatly appreciated.

The Fly Auction Team

This the organisation for those interested: http://www.pmbonline.co.za/index.php?option=com_mtree&task=viewlink&link_id=35&Itemid=28

Natal Fly Fishers Club NFFC – Trout Fishing in the KwaZulu Natal Midlands.

If you are planning a trip to South Africa in particular KZN then make sure to get in contact with the NFFC. Jim and Pam Read are two of the friendliest and most welcoming people I have met.