Why you need to stay fit when going fishing.

I have finally found the perfect excuse for why I missed the strike when a fish rose to my fly.

This is how the conversation normally goes when my fishing buddy Roland and I fish a small stream together.

Roland  : "You slow bastard. You completely missed that fish. Do you want me to wake you up next time I see a fish?"

Me : "Shut up. The glare on the water was blinding me. Anyway your loud scream of excitement  gave me a fright"

Well no more. From now one I will be saying the following.

Me : "I was keeping an eye out for those Leopards roaming around wild. Someone has to make sure they don't come and eat your lazy ass"

It used to be that we only had to keep an eye out for the occasional baboon or snake when we went fishing on some remote little mountain stream down here in the Cape. Well, ignorance was bliss as it was recently found that the Endangered Cape Leopard is alive and well in the mountain ranges that we fish.

Read full story here

 The above Leopard was captured on camera by the Cape Leopard Trust on the beautiful Lourensford Estate

I know it is a fair distance between where the Leopard was spotted and the ussual places we fish, but it is part of the same mountain range after all.

And why would a leopard chase another wild animal if all he has to do is sit in wait next to a trout stream and wait for a fly fisher to show up packed full of goodies. I am pretty sure he wont mind the size 20 parachute Adams or Elk Hair Caddis's that he inevitably would need to spit out.

So why do you need to stay fit to go fishing I hear you ask.

" So that you can run faster than your buddy"