An ode to the Cormorant

Fred Steynberg is recognised among his peers as one of the finest fly fishermen this country has produced. MARIO DU PREEZ recounts his experiences with Fred.

He fishes like a cormorant!” said the Argentinian head fly fishing guide to one of Fred’s fly fishing companions. He was guiding, or, more precisely, accompanying Fred Steynberg and three of his mates while fishing the Malleo River in northern Patagonia. The guide had developed a migraine. This condition must have been brought on by the stress of guiding South Africa’s top fly fishing guide. Overcome, he eventually had to lie down on the reclined front seat of his double cab while Señor Fred continued to bully the resident trout and advise his friends.

Closer to home, an attendee at the recent Lourensford Fly Fishing Festival overheard the doyen of South African fly fishing, the inimitable Tom Sutcliffe, tell a neophyte that Fred is the best fly fisherman in the country and if he had to bet on any angler in SA he would put his money on Fred. Before the untimely closure of the Rhodes Hotel, further anecdotal oral evidence of the man’s unbounded talent, or a spontaneous character reference, could be got from many of the pub’s patrons crowding the DeWydeman Bar on a Saturday night. High praise indeed.

There is something in Fred’s mastery of the art of fly fishing (and guiding) that defies the precision and clarity of simple descriptive language. I will, however, try to partly explain the origin of Tuqui’s (the Argentinian head guide) severe headache.