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My  Conversion To  the  Fly

28/3/2014

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If you are an avid fly fisher, you'll know what I mean when I talk about that moment of conversion.  That one day you experienced fly fishing and said to yourself "This is the only way to catch fish!"  

I like to believe that most of us who have had that experience can remember it.  Whether it was at a young age when you watched someone close to fly fishing, or later on in life when you experienced it for yourself and your inner skeptic swam off like a freshly released fish.

I remember my conversion very clearly, and oddly enough, I had been fly fishing for a number of years before it.  However, it came to that point where I knew that I knew fly fishing was the only way forward for me.

It was during my first trip to the Okavango River in Botswana.  Catching Tigerfish on the fly was something I had dreamt about and finally was going to do.  I was so determined to catch a tiger on the fly because a number of people had told me how impossible it was, and how miserable it was to have your palm burned while palming your fly reel on a running fish.

The first day I fished the Okavango I went out for just the a few hours.  I had driven about 400 km that day, so just had the afternoon to fish.  I thought I should feel these fish on the spinning rod before I try for them on the fly.  You know, get an idea of what I was up for.  So I rigged only my spinning rod and went out on the river with a local guide.

This was my first time on the Okavango and it was an awesome experience to drive along these channels walled in with 10 foot tall papyrus and reeds and pass by islands covered in palm trees with African Fish Eagles calling from them.  It was paradise and I hadn't even wet a line yet.

My guide brought me to a hole, anchored and I started fishing.  It wasn't long before I had caught my first tigers and lost a number of them as well.  I was blown away by how strong they  were.  Every fish I hooked I imagined was at least double if not triple the size it was by the time I got it to the boat.  

After a couple hours however it was time to head back to camp and after getting a small taste of those fish I couldn't wait to get my fly rod rigged up for the next day. 

I can't remember if I slept at all that night I was so excited.  Fly rod rigged, breakfast had, I was ready to go.  I got in a boat with my guide, Smally, and all the drive in the world.  I was going to get a tiger on the fly today!

8 hours later, I was exhausted and skunked!  I knew catching a tigerfish on the fly was going to be a challenge, but really?  Nothing all day?  But I wasn't going to give up.  Especially since Smally wouldn't let me touch my spinning rod.  With a number of years experience guiding for tigers he had seen first hand how much more exciting it was to catch tigers on the fly and promised me it would happen the next day.

I slept better that night.  I think mostly just because I was so exhausted and a little defeated.  But I by the time I woke up that next morning my determination was back.  Smally took me to the same area we had fished the previous day, where again I felt the hard hits of tigers, but never hooked up.  It was then Smally was convinced the fish in that area were just too small and thus wouldn't stick to the 2/0 hook of my fly.  But he had a trick up his sleeve.

Smally took me down a secondary channel past some of the most beautiful scenery I had ever seen.  Islands, flood plains, and birds of every shape and colour all over the place.  Eventually the secondary channel re-joined the main channel and it wasn't long after that Smally put me onto a small Catfish run.  It didn't look like much at all, but after watching it for only a couple minutes we began to see bait fish being smashed on the surface by monsters with bright orange fins.  Now was my chance!

I got up on the bow and dropped my fly a foot from the papyrus and started stripping like heck.  Two strips and the line went tighter than tight and audibly cut through the water toward the main current as the tiger on the end of my line jumped in the middle of the river.  I was on!

I think my body released every last drop of adrenaline into my veins as I realized I had a tiger on the fly!  It's power was awesome and it's acrobatics unbelievable.  I got the fish to the boat where Smally landed it and it was all smiles and high-fives.  After a quick photo we released the 6lb tiger and I got back in the game.  The very next cast I hooked up again!  And that was it - "This is the only way to catch fish!"

I sincerely believe that God designed Tigerfish specifically for fly fishing.  To feel their power, experience their agility, and awe at their acrobatics while hooked up with them, line in your hand, is an experience like no other.  Since that moment I've had this experience over and over with many different species.

Whether carp, bass, salmon, steelhead, tigerfish, etc. there is something about fly fishing that seems to connect you to the fish that you experience them in a way that is more true to their design...
This is the only way to catch a fish.

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Humble Beginnings

21/3/2014

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Nearly every client I have had the privilege to guide have all asked me the same question - "how did you get into guiding?"

Admittedly it's a question that I love to answer.  Not because I get to tell the story of how things happened, but because it always serves to remind me of my humble beginnings.  Here's the short version of the story...

I graduated in 2004 with no idea of what I wanted to do with my life.  After one year of college I found a short-term volunteer opportunity with a small organization in the country of Botswana.  My reaction probably being the same as yours right now - Botswana?  Is that in South America?  It's not.  Botswana is a small country right smack in the centre of southern Africa, directly north of the country of South Africa. 

Of course the first thing I did when I decided to go was to see what kind of fishing was available there.  Knowing that most of the country was arid savannah I had low expectations, but got pretty excited when I began to read about Tigerfish on the Okavango Delta.

I first landed in Botswana in April of 2006, but it wasn't until October 2008, when I desperately needed a vacation, that I finally made it to the Okavango Delta.

I will never forget driving 1200 km across the Kalahari desert in my Toyota Venture with no air-conditioning in 45 degree plus weather.  Arriving on the banks of the Okavango after such a trip was something I will never forget.

I spent 5 and a half days fishing, and it was a dream come true to not only just see and experience the Okavango, but to get to fish it.  It was truly a magical place.

The first day I was there I met a couple of fly fishing guides from South Africa.  Each day in the evening I spent some time with them and got to know them.  They were great, offering me a lot of advice, gave me some flies and even invited me to have dinner with them and their clients a few nights.

It was the evening before I left that I was having a drink with them at the bar and the head guide of the outfit, John, turned to me and said "Luke, why don't you come back next year and guide for us?"

I about fell off my stool.  Me?  A 22 year old kid from Canada guide on the Okavango river in Botswana, southern Africa?  This can't be for real!  But John meant it and the next year I began my fly fishing career guiding on the Okavango River.  

I didn't ask for it, did nothing to deserve it, and never dreamt it could even happen, but it did.  I spent the following 3 unforgettable  seasons guiding with John who taught me more than I can ever thank him for.  

Unfortunately, after the third season I had to come back to Canada to take care of my hip problems.  

I don't know if I will ever make it back to guide on the Okavango, but would love to some day at least go back and fish it with a few friends.

Below is a small gallery of photos from that first trip.

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Coming Full Circle

14/3/2014

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5 years ago, half way through the 6 unexpected years I spent in southern Africa I began fly fish guiding for Tigerfish on the Okavango River in Botswana.  It was a dream come true to start guiding, but more than a dream to be guiding over 16,000 kilometres from where I grew up. 

I had an amazing head guide during the 3 seasons I worked there.  John van den Berg of Mpafa Travel taught me more than I could have imagined I'd ever know about the Okavango, it's fish and wildlife.  It was some of the best times of my life, and those memories will never fade.

2 years ago I was forced to come back to Canada as the hip problems I grew up with came back to haunt me.  It was time to get them taken care of again.  

I initially had one replaced late 2012 and thought I could manage with just that.  Unfortunately, having only one hip done put me horribly off balance and gave me major back problems forcing me to leave a guiding job in the Spatsizi Wilderness and having to cancel my last opportunity to return to guide on the Okavango for Tigerfish.

It's been a very long and tough physical and emotional process, but March 5th, 2014 I had my second hip replaced, and can finally start to look forward.

On my 28th birthday, 6 days after the procedure, I was back home laying on my bed, when our neighbour from a few houses down came by for a visit.  Bob Hull and his wife Jill have run a fly fishing operation on the Bulkley River for Steelhead for a number of years called Steelhead Excurisions.

Bob came by not only just to chat, but to offer me a job guiding with him this year on the Bulkley River.  I had to think over a few things, but later called him back to say I'd take the job.

For over half my life I always thought it'd be cool to be a fly fishing guide.  And that dream came true 16,000 km away from where I am sitting writing this.  However, as fate would have it things have come full circle and this fall I will be guiding here based out of my home town of Smithers BC, Canada.  I will also be returning to guide in the Spatsizi July and August.

I am incredibly grateful for those who helped me get to where I am despite the physical challenges I've faced. 

Major thanks to John at Mpafa travel, as well as Billy Labonte and the Collingwoods at the Spatsizi Wilderness Lodge. 

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    More about Luke Saffarek here.

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