Let me apologise upfront for the lack of correspondence and the overdue membership cards.

The truth of the matter is that the club does not have a Secretary. So if there is anyone out there that would like to join the committee as Secretary it would be much appreciated.

Our 2011 Gathering was once again a financial success in that we can stock our dams, albeit a reduced number of dams.

From a social point of view it was a roaring success and once again our Sponsors, who were individually thanked and given exposure, came to the party in a big way. A special thanks to Kia and Queens Casino once again.

Unfortunately limited success was achieved in the fishing arena. This could be ascribed to two possible reasons. Firstly the copious rains had an effect on all our waters and as a result we put all participants on the Thrift dam as all our club dams were converted into large mud pools by the volume of rains. This in itself was not problematic as we know what Thrift can deliver in terms of fishing. However, there was a suspension (algae) in the water that may or may not have contributed to the relatively poor catches. The largest fish was 65cm, and a total of 44 fish were caught by 24 participants – not exactly a feeding frenzy.

In my humble opinion I suspect that the main factor which contributed to poor catches was the water temperature which had not really reduced yet from the hot summer as the gathering was held in March this year in order not to clash with other events.

The event was won by Nick Biggs with a fish of 65cm and other notable catches were made by Wayne Voogt and Mark Rasmussen, previous winners as well. Next year the committee has decided that the gathering will take place in the colder months of June / July and the dates will be made known in due course.

Please make contact with myself or Stefan Cloete on the telephone numbers provided if you have any suggestions or constructive criticism. Input on preferences for a one or two day event will also be appreciated.

It was good to see some new and some old faces present at the gathering and I see Ronnie Vehorn has made a comeback ! Welcome back Ronnie! A man of many talents, he proved to be quite an accomplished auctioneer on the Saturday evening.

Thank you to all those who participated and we hope to see you back next year.

Please encourage fellow members who have not yet paid their subs to please do so. We need every cent to put towards an intensified stocking program after many fish were lost due to excessive rains when the volume of water over the various dam spillways caused many large fish to be attracted too close and were lost over the edge.

The committee also appeals to all members to associate and align themselves with fosaf by becoming individual members at a rate of R215.00 per annum. You may ask the question why you should join? The short answer is that without fosaf and it’s intervention regarding the gov. alien invasion species lark, on behalf of all flyfishermen, we would most likely have had a total ban on trout stocking, breeding and fishing. You can read all about their activities and benefits on their website : www.fosaf.co.za.

As a club we will be giving R30.00 on behalf of each member to the Eastern Cape chapter of fosaf towards running costs and other expenses. Of this amount 25% will go to fosaf national. These proceeds will come off of members annual subscriptions to the qffc and we will ensure that these monies are paid across. This is in addition to individual membership which each member of qffc and hopefully all flyfishermen will take up directly with fosaf through their website.

Please doe not dismiss this request as just another ploy to extort money form you. If we don’t start taking responsibility for our sport we very soon may not have one. I suppose we can always revert back to “gooing pap” at carp!

Please visit the improved, faster qffc website and give us feedback. Ian Oldham continues to serve the club as webmaster. All suggestions can be passed on to me and the committee will in turn pass them on to Ian for implementation.

That’s it for now. Due to the massive rains that fell in June in our area very few if any dams are fishable and it is best to first contact myself, Stefan (numbers above) or any committee member to ascertain what the conditions are before visiting one of our dams.

Kind Regards

Andre Naude | Chairman