Fly Fishing in Egypt

 

April 18, 2010

No recent posts on the blog are a sure sign of two things. First, I have done little or no fishing. That’s bad news. Second, I’ve been working and had little time to fish and write the blog. That’s sounds bad, but it’s really good. To sum things up, I spent most of the last month at home catching up on art projects. I had one quick trip out of town in which I spoke to Mid South Fly Fishers in Memphis, TN. That was a fantastic trip. On any normal club visit, I would stay and fish a few days, but after a walk down Beale Street and some outstanding barbeque I returned home and kept up on my work goals. 

Lucky for me, periods of hard work generally lead to a major fishing escape and today I find myself on the long journey to Egypt’s Lake Nasser. I will be fishing through the African Angler for Nile Perch, tigerfish, vundu and bagrus catfish. This will be my third trip to this incredible and unusual fishery and I can honestly say it is one of my all time favorite fishing destinations.

Joining me on the adventure are American anglers Mikey Wier and Brent Dawson (Warpath). Mikey is the genius behind several popular fly fishing movies including the very popular “Soulfish”. In fact, Mikey will be filming on the trip for a segment for his next flick. Warpath is one of the most talented custom fly tiers of our times. If you want high quality flies, Warpath is who you want to make them. We all became close friends on an epic exploratory float trip in Mongolia in 2008.

Mikey's movie and stripping Warpath Flies all depends on us getting to Egypt. The volcano in Iceland has played havoc with our travels. The three of us were supposed to meet in Amsterdam today but with nearly all flights to Europe cancelled including ours, we find ourselves a day late praying to board a direct flight to Cairo out of NYC tonight. At present, Mikey and I have our boarding passes for the 11 hour 30 minute flight, but Warpath is desperately fighting for his. It would be a huge disappointment for us all if Warpath gets left behind.

The host of this trip is my South African friend Jonathan Boulton. I was fortunate to get our threesome on board because Jonathan had some extra spots. Jon and I first met when he and his friend Craig joined my group to Egypt in 2007. I’m also looking forward to spending time with Tim Baily, owner of the African Angler and the pioneer of this magnificent fishery. Tim is full of information about Nile Perch and their behavior as well as many stories ranging from 200lb monster perch to 18ft long Nile crocodiles!

If you look at a map, Lake Nasser is the massive lake in southern Egypt formed by the famous Aswan dam on the Nile River. We will be living out of a houseboat armed with several smaller boats in which we sleep on and travel to our fishing locations. I personally prefer to get out on shore for most of my fishing. It is not uncommon to see huge Nile Perch foraging the shallows in search of spawning tilapia. Our group consists of all fly fishermen and I’d say the Nile Perch are in trouble. I will not have access to the internet during the trip. Therefore, I will launch my day by day accounts upon returning home on April 28th. For those who kept up on the March Amazon trip, it will be done the same way. Be ready for some incredible fishing stories and photos to come.

 

Jeff Currier Global Flyfishing Web Site