Leisure Boating: You are one of the pioneers of saltwater fly fishing in South Africa, when was it first discovered that saltwater fly fishing was possible?
Rob Naysmith: Fly fishing has been around for a very long time but salt water fly fishing started off as a shorebased sport, probably in the US, and the originators thought it would be fun to try salt water fly fishing – and that started the ball rolling.
In South Africa, I remember, probably in the 80s, the first guys coming down to the rocks with fly
rods and thinking it was a joke. These guys lost so many lines and I didn’t see them land a single fish in the beginning. But, they were trying, off the rocks and in the surf. They did had some success
off the jetties and piers though.
I got the idea of fly fishing from a boat from a very good fly fisherman called Guy Kedian and he suggested we try fly fishing from my boat. We possibly weren’t the first, as fly fishing had already been done from boats overseas. I went out to try and buy tackle and I had to go as far afield
as Durban to find the tackle I needed at an outlet called King’s Sports.
