FATBIKING FOR THE LOVE OF A FISH

For saltwater fly-fishers, not all target fish are equal. Importance is measured in strength, catch difficulty and location, among other factors. The giant trevallys (Caranx ignoblis), or GTs, of far-northern KwaZulu-Natal tick all the boxes and then some. To bring a good-sized Maputaland GT to hand, without having to stamp your passport, is holy grail stuff, the tales of which are whispered in hushed tones and linked to names like the late, great Paul Weingartz, Arno van der Nest and Ben Pretorius. The 100 Club is a very official, unofficial list of all those who have caught regulation-sized GTs on a fly rod in South Africa. That’s where I wanted my name.

I also wanted an epic battle tale to tell magazine, who had instigated this, er, mission. But really, as a Geet virgin (‘Geet’ is the colloquial term for a GT and what you use in the company of fly-fishers who know), I would be well content to catch-and-release a specimen of any size on this trip. But first, we had to get to them. By fatbike…