Robert Kirby
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/ 28 November 2003

Six of the Sutcliffe best

In seeking out the ”indispensable” fly patterns of the experts, I had inevitably to approach the grand daddy of South African fly-fishers, the always willing Dr Tom Sutcliffe. In the fashion of fly-fisherfolk he is of an eternally optimistic youthfulness that defies easy categorisations like age.

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/ 4 June 2003

The screaming of the fishes

The bunny-huggers – in this mutation, fish-fondlers – are upon us again. A study group in Birmingham, led by a Dr Lynne Sneddon, is claiming that there is such a thing as ”trout trauma”. Experiments have proved that fish feel pain and suffer stress when being caught by hook and line

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/ 23 April 2003

A fly waiting to be snatched

Fly-fishing as a valuable attraction and national asset is not yet being exploited by South Africa. This country’s game parks, mountain resorts and beaches are among the best in the world. Our fly-fishing waters, too, promise a memorable
experience for the foreign tourist.

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/ 11 December 2001

A grovel Mugabe would love

Over the last six months or so, SABC television’s current affairs programmes have been showing encouraging signs of independent thought. This perception was smashed into dust last Sunday when on SABC2’s Newsmaker programme we had to grit our teeth and put up with 15 minutes of Mr McCaps Motimele, the Unisa senior something-or-other who, according […]

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/ 12 November 2001

All shook up by Monet channel vision

Playing the part of a cultural tour leader, Andrew Graham-Dixon began an interesting three-part series on BBC World last weekend. Called Art that Shook the World, the series began by examining the effect of the work of French Impressionist Claude Monet. In particular Graham-Dixon speculated about Monet’s 1872 painting Impression, Sunrise. The painting is credited […]