Editor’s note: After the 2012 festival and associated publication of the WTA’s guidebook, I set about scratching around amongst old files in an external hard drive used for storing such material. I was absolutely delighted to find a copy of a speech made at the 2002 festival by the late Brian von Holdt in celebration of the 10th Anniversary of the WTA. In view of his monumental contribution to flyfishing in both the province and in the Eastern Cape Highlands, I thought it to be right and fitting to publish Brian’s speech and sadly, a copy of his obituary that appeared in the September edition of Flyfishing magazine in 2003. Ed Herbst kindly recorded the 20th anniversary of the WTA while Miles Divett kindly penned an article for the 30th anniversary that have also been included in this edition.
10th Anniversary Speech by the late Brian von Holdt made at the 2001 Wild Trout Association Fly Fishing Festival at Rhodes
On the 18th April 1991, what was then known as the Barkly Wild Trout Association was born at a meeting held at the Drakensberg Hotel in Barkly East. We are now celebrating the 10th anniversary of this organization.
What made it happen? Who was the architect?
It started when a Welsh alien from Abberdaby arrived on our shores some years previously, and being unable to read, (or write, I am told) experienced great difficulty in finding a place to fish for trout. He dabbled with eels and other aquatics for a while, before finally discovering that trout had been introduced into Southern Africa nearly a century before Martin Davies had arrived!
He set about fishing for these trout with a will. He discovered the North Eastern Cape but encountered difficulties with access to large parts of the regions` fishing. He started thinking, (a new experience for him) and figured that a hatchery should be developed to serve the needs of the area, as Grahamstown was too distant to be viable.
Brutal Celtic pressure was brought to bear upon Graham and Margie Frost at Balloch. The hatchery was duly built.
Martin’s devious and fertile mind concluded that riparian owners were the key to assured accessibility to these marvelous waters. Various landowners in the New England area of the Barkly district were accordingly approached, and persuaded to become part of this new development. Prospects for marketing not only their angling assets, but also
accommodation and other services as well, triggered a nucleus of enthusiastic interest in the project.
Then came that infamous night at Gateshead³. It was there that Martin met Basie Vosloo and a wayward Freestater, Dave (Ficksburg) Walker, complete with his Big Iron on his hip². They all looked too deeply upon the bottle that night, and as so often happens, from the amorphous jumble of incoherent mutterings, a new idea was born, and the guntotin` Freestater was soon overwhelmed by the Welsh gabble. In order to broaden his income base from greywing shooting alone (a mere three to four months a year) Walker was persuaded to incorporate trout fishing into his portfolio of Highlands sporting pursuits. Dave attended the inaugural meeting on the 18th April, and for his troubles ended up chairman of the newly constituted B.W.T.A. Forty odd kilometres of quality stream and river fishing plus a couple of dams for a rainy day had been acquired. The Vlooikraalspruit, the Joggemspruit and some attractive reaches of the Kraai had now been opened to fly-fishing by visiting anglers.
Martin Davies` vision of making these superb trout waters accessible was taking shape and relentless expansion of available water in both the Barkly East and Rhodes regions of the Highlands was undertaken. Exciting new waters on the Sterk-and Bokspruits and also along the Bell and Kraai Rivers were also opened to the fishing public*.
Dave Walker meantime, had put his shoulder well and truly to the wheel. To increase awareness of the regions` attractions, he set about staging an Expo along FOSAF East Cape lines in Barkly East in 1992. A co-operative effort by all saw the big names in fly-fishing attending in droves**. Dr. Willie van Niekerk was the invited speaker at the official opening ceremony. Good Morning South Africa and the 8pm. SABC news bulletins included coverage of the event, and went a long way towards opening the general publics` eyes regarding the attractions of this region. Several articles were subsequently published about the piscatorial attractions of the region. Attendance by B.W.T.A. at all of the “Hooked on Fishing” and four “Indaba” shows helped to further promote the area. Flyfishing magazines, newspapers, and sundry other popular publications have carried articles about B.W.T.A. and the North Eastern Cape Highlands. The Eastern Cape Tourism board has also played its part in making the attractions of the region better known. The Drakensberg Regional Services Council put their money where their mouth was and launched Project 2000 to rescue the fishing from the devastation of the drought of `92.
FOSAF East Cape acknowledged B.W.T.A. and its activities as an ideal vehicle for promoting its ideals whereby more and more quality fishing for the rapidly burgeoning numbers of flyfishermen looking for somewhere to fish, be made accessible, available and affordable. Martin Davies` objective of containing the creeping spread of syndication through an association of landowners was also succeeding.
Further expansion by B.W.T.A. to areas outside of the Barkly district including Lady Grey, Maclear and Ugie necessitated a change in name to the Wild Trout Association. More than 300 Km of stream fishing and +-100 ha of still water fishing had been made available in the Highlands. What an achievement! Nowhere else in Africa had as much quality trout fishing water been opened to the average flyfisher ever before.
The W.T.A`s activities expanded, thereby increasing the pressure on management. Computer technology to meet this challenge was therefore contemplated. The GIS (Geographical Information Systems) was therefore introduced with technical assistance obtained from the Geography and Ichthyology Departments at Rhodes University and substantial financial assistance coming from FOSAF. Leonard Olyott a graduate student in Ichthyology was co-opted to implement the system. Day permit sales for the various river and dam beats have steadily increased over the years. Widespread accommodation of good quality throughout the area has contributed to the regions` attraction as a holiday venue. Other pursuits such as mountain biking, hiking and rock art viewing have been introduced. Flyfishing events such as the Bells Wild Trout Festivals at Rhodes, the Glen Fiddich Karringmelk Clinic near Lady Grey and the Pajero Ladies Flyfishing Festival at Ugie, have become annual attractions. The North Eastern Cape Highlands and the W.T.A. have become household names amongst flyfishers countrywide. Turning this goodwill and widespread acclaim into future success is the challenge now at hand.
The future strategy of the W.T.A. will revolve around the potential of its well-developed GIS system of management in its efforts to achieve the ultimate goals of the organization. The sportfisheries information and management system (SFIMS) at present centered around Rhodes and Barkly East has reached a very sophisticated stage of development. FOSAF through its East Cape Chapter will be assisting and motivating the W.T.A. in its efforts to bring the project to a successful conclusion.
A website has been activated by the W.T.A. which is being used for the benefit of its administration. It is intended that the end user, you the flyfisherman, should also benefit from it. Basic information plus data obtained from our standardized catch returns will be used to provide you with the necessary information required in planning and arranging your fishing holidays to the Highlands. Riparian owners will be encouraged to acquire their own web page for frontline advertising on W.T.A.`s very highly rated website, thereby taking their destiny into their own hands. The aquatic
scientists at Rhodes University will be able to utilize data from the catch returns to implement fisheries management on all the waters from which the catch returns have been obtained. Scientific management strategies emanating from the scientists will assist in limiting fluctuations in the performance of the various waters concerned.
The W.T.A. has achieved wonders in the North Eastern Cape in the last 10 years, I therefore have no hesitation in announcing to the world of flyfishing and the many thousands of flyfishers who hitherto have not experienced the beauty, the incomparable landscape, the companionship of a babbling stream, the surge of strong water, and the mesmerizing moments of a wild rainbows take in these silvery streams, that it is all there and waiting for you.
Mark Yelland, in reply to my question as to why he had come all this way to fish, said “I have come down here to catch real fish”
Let us salute Martin, Dave, Basie, Leonard and the many loyal riparian owners who have believed unflinchingly in their future.
Footnotes
1 Walker was somewhat smitten by a delightful young lady whom he had invited to spend the week-end at Gateshead. Vosloo conveyed a message that a friend of his would be coming up to fish but which shouldn’t disturb the amorous intent. Needless to say, Davies fished until dark and concern was expressed for his safety. A call was made to Vosloo who agreed to come up and join the search. In the meantime, Davies appeared out of the dark followed shortly thereafter by Vosloo who had brought a bottle of Scottish medicine with him. The rest is history and the young lady was never to be seen in these parts again!
2 Legend has it that one should never ruin a good story with the facts, but this is taking poetic license a bit far!
- Obtaining footage for screening was a major logistical nightmare at that time. What is taken for granted nowadays was a serious nightmare back then. For example, Barkly East still had a manual telephone exchange in those days and the digital transfer of data was still firmly in the hands of the military! Fortunately the age of video recording had dawned but which still necessitated using “hard copy”. Footage of the event was to be filmed by Mike Procter-Sims, an SATV news reporter, who was based in Port Elizabeth. The late Leon Isted, local farmer and member of the WTA, offered to fly to Port Elizabeth to collect and deliver Procter-Sims after completing the assignment. Isted duly took off from the farm landing strip in his Cessna 182 and headed for Queenstown to re-fuel en route to PE. Shortly before reaching his destination, the big fan on the front of the aircraft that keeps pilots from sweating stopped with a bang. He promptly broke out into a prodigious sweat but fortunately, he was on his final approach within sight of the Queenstown airport and glided in to make a safe landing! Arrangements then had to be made to get Proctor-Sims from PE to Barkly and back to meet the deadline. One way and another, a plan was made and extracts of the opening address were screened.
4 It subsequently emerged that as Walker had come to the area to develop a tourism-based career, he had been identified as the person to do the job and was set up to do so at the meeting.
5 The establishment of the Barkly Wild Trout Association was met with great opposition by some members of the Barkly East Angling Society (BEAS), The local community had had the run of trouting waters in the area and the BWTA was perceived to be a threat to their fishing activities, i.e. they would now have to pay for the privilege of access to the water. The perception was correct as rod fees were applied of which, the major share accrued to the riparian member. A public meeting was held in the Barkly town hall in the very early 90s and as it happened, the late Robert Kirby, satirist, playwright, comedian, novelist, columnist and musician was in the district collecting information and with Peter Pickford, photographs to illustrate their coffee table publication “Fly-Fishing in Southern Africa. Vitriol flowed from the BEAS representative and in his inimitable way, Kirby soon staunched the flow with a few very pointed and objective observations! ** The event included captains of industry flying to Aliwal North and being transported to Barkly East on a train drawn by a steam engine. Walker persuaded Northeast Cape Railways (Necrail) to run their train to Barkly and park at the station. It also served as accommodation. Gerald Spilkin, owner of Spilco Hotels that included the Drakensberg Hotel in Barkly East and director of Necrail concluded the arrangements. Unfortunately, by the time the festival took place, his manager, Barry Kalish was left in charge and reneged on several of the Spilkin commitments, one of which was to have the carriages cleaned and beds made up by his staff. Necrail was obviously out of practice as the train left Aliwal late due to the locomotive’s fire not having been lit early enough. Time was wasted whilst it built up a head of steam. Necrail also used carriages that did not have suitable toilet waste
collection systems. Rubbish bags had to be secured to the toilet outlets to deal with the effluent! Although some have returned, several of the participants have, unfortunately, never been back again! Also see page 123 for an extract of a copy of the opening speech made by the late Dr Willie van Niekerk published in the Daily Dispatch on the 17th April 1992.
The late Brian von Holdt, pleased as Punch with a Karoo trout
Obituary - Brian Hilary von Holdt by Martin Davies
Few people have been as dedicated to the sport of flyfishing as Brian von Holdt. A passionate man in everything he did, Brian has left an indelible impression on those who knew as well as those less fortunate who did not.
Brian’s early days were spent in Cape Town where his father was headmaster of SACS, but it was not long before the von Holdt family returned to their roots in the Eastern Cape, to farm near Somerset East where Brian attended high school at Gill College. Another happy period followed at Stellenbosch University with him graduating with a BSc degree, as well as with unwavering interest in rugby, cricket and not least of all, flyfishing.
Brian joined the Metal Box Company in Cape Town in 1959 and was transferred to Johannesburg in 1961, after which further rapid promotion took him to the position of sales director. In 1965, he left Metal Box and married Sophie, and they went off to farm tomatoes near Hartebeespoort Dam. In 1970 the lure of the Eastern Cape brought Brian to and his young wife back to Somerset East where they built up Brakfontein farm and reared four sons.
Although the family spent vacations fishing at their holiday home on the coast at Rebelsrust, west of Port Elizabeth, Brian was very keen to create good fishing for rainbow trout close to home. Through sheer determination and a never-say-die attitude, he established trout fishing in this part of the Karoo – a feat not achieved before, thought at the time to be impossible, and yet now relatively commonplace.
Brian was a pioneer in the true sense. He founded and chaired the Somerset East Angling Society from 1971 to 2003. The Bankberg Trout Angling Club from the late 1980s and was also chairman of the Eastern Cape Chapter of FOSAF for the past 12 years. Under his leadership and guidance, the province witnessed spectacular growth in the sport, not only in saltwater but more especially in rivers, streams and still waters.
Here was a man who had vision, saw the big picture and devoted his time and boundless energy, enthusiasm and personal finances in a well-organised, unselfish and dedicated manner to the sport of flyfishing, especially for trout. He was also a philanthropist who helped raise finance for research and development, for example to enable a computerized Sport Fishery Information System to be established in the North Eastern Cape by the Wild Trout Association.
He also forged close links with the Department of Ichthyology and Fisheries Science at Rhodes University. These links became even closer in 1999 when Brian and Sophie “retired” close to Grahamstown where they set up a very successful ostrich feather business and a nursery.
Although plagued by ill-health in his latter years, this had little or no impact on Brian’s ability to lead and to link the needs of his chosen sport in his chosen province with FOSAF’s national mission.
Brian will be remembered for his passion, authority, courage, energy, unselfishness, clear vision, dedication, hard work, stubbornness, coffee at 137A High Street and parties by the fire at home as well as in the African bush.
God bless you, Brian.
Fond memories – by Dave Walker
I first met Brian and Sophie von Holdt in 1991 when they ventured to the area and I was immediately inspired by the enthusiasm with which he embraced everything surrounding him, albeit fishing, food processing or whatever topic arose. Brian could address most topics with great authority and many a meeting that he attended in our area was infused with his insight and vision. He was also not backward in coming forward to set folk straight and he did this in no uncertain terms. He certainly didn’t suffer fools gladly but did so in his inimitable way where the duly chastised even enjoyed the trip to the hot place!
His advice and support was invaluable in the preparation for the very first WTA event that I organized in Barkly East in 1992 and which is more than adequately covered elsewhere in this guidebook.
In the early years of setting up the development of the WTA, he, Sophie and I made a pilgrimage to the Karringmelkspruit to meet with riparian owners to discuss their involvement with the WTA. On this occasion, it was near lunch-time so to avoid disturbing the targets, we stopped alongside the Karnmelkspruit and settled down to a splendid picnic lunch that popped out a cool-box or two – pickles, cheese, fresh bread and liquid refreshment to wash it all down. What a wonderful moment it was, the stream burbling by, birds going about their business and wonderful company, even when the conversation dwindled to nothing!
And that was but one of many trips that I had the privilege of sharing with down-to-earth great people because, as they say in the classics, “moenie vir Sophie miskyk nie”. Also a source of great inspiration and an essential ameliorating influence on Brian. Often our discussions would become quite animated, especially with regard to the development of the WTA where we each had our own ideas about how it should be done. On occasions quite divergent but with Sophie’s leavening effect, we’d eventually concede that we were in fact talking about the same thing but with different semantics! In retrospect, it may well be that it was Brian who knew the answer but wanted me to find it! Alternatively, he loved a good debate – and I had the singular pleasure of being an occasional “debate”! Tipperary, the farm where I lived in the early years, was regularly the scene of much discussion, memories aided and abetted by it being a paraffin palace at the time, Eskom not having got there yet. Hurricane lantern illumination creates a special cosiness about the light it casts that, to our detriment I think, has been replaced by the Eskom Ogre! Dinner was generally served in the kitchen and of course, the preparation of the meal was a “family affair”. Those present were occasionally tasked with peeling a potato and such. The kitchen was a spacious place and it all happened right there. A cold-ish frosty or three promoted lively discussion albeit on the days’ lost fish or the predictions about the first Gulf War that raged at the time.
Subsequent to the 1992 event, it became part of the “Expo” learning curve so off I went to participate in a FOSAF, Eastern Cape Expo in Somerset East. This was yet another memorable occasion where the “Plattelandse gasvryheid” shone through like a lighthouse.
And time went by and Brian soldiered on dealing with the then FOSAF executive regarding funding for the GIS project, inspired by an American academic who worked in Zambia at the time and who was involved in wildlife management. He had been directed to stay at Walkerbouts by Martin Davies. In the course of his visit, he described this, to me, unheard of technology that had great potential for a fishy application. Brian was subsequently sold on the concept and took up the cudgels on our behalf. The word has it that acrimonious debates at Exco meetings took a serious toll on his health but being Brian, he persevered and eventually extracted R40 000 for the project that was administered by Rhodes University’s Department of Ichthyology and Fisheries Science. Many a minute was spent on the wind-up telephone system in the course of the campaign and Brian, as always when “on your side” remained steadfast throughout.
Another fine memory is accompanying Brian and Sophie on a fishing expedition to the Sterkspruit where I, by good luck rather than good management, landing a very reasonably sized smallmouth yellowfish. As on many occasions before, we ended up at the von Holdt’s indomitable VW kombi, opened the cool-boxes, stripped them of their contents and sat reminiscing and the like. Needless to say, of course, both Brian and Sophie had each taken their toll on the rainbows that day.
Many years later, once I had moved from Tipperary in the Bokspruit and set up shop in Rhodes, Brain and Sophie came to visit. Several great days were enjoyed and on departure, Brian, out of the blue asked how things were really going at Walkerbouts. My response was on the lines of “remarkably well thanks Brian”. His response was simple, he said “Yes, I can see that” to which I replied “How?’ His answer was again to the point. He said “I can see it in your demeanor”. What a surprise it was and as they drove away, my eyes were wet prompted by both great affection and being humbled.
On a much later occasion, I had occasion to visit them where that had settled near Grahamstown. Brian took me on a grand tour of their hydroponic vegetable growing area. My word, what an education! All just so and ship shape, from seed planting to packaging. And towards the end of the tour, we stopped and I stood admiring the setup. As usual Brian came up with one of his inevitable inspirational comments. “Whatever you do, do it with pride” was the gist of what he said. To this day, this has been a guiding mantra because in essence, Brian became a surrogate father to me and is remembered with all the fondness and love accorded to the biologically related version! Ironic that this was also the place where Brian met his maker – he’d taken a stroll to inspect the day’s labour, didn’t return as expected and was found in the nursery, having had a massive heart attack. But what a way to go! Right there in the midst of your creation, here one minute, gone the next!
A short while prior to Brian’s demise, he and Sophie had invited Susan and I to accompany them to their family “fishing shack” at Rebels Rust, an absolute gem between Cape St Francis and Oyster Bay. Excitement mounted as we prepared ourselves for this momentous event. Alas, it was not be as the very sad news of his sudden death preceded our visit. But Sophie, being Sophie hadn’t forgotten and we had the privilege of accompanying her to the hideaway thereafter. What an absolute pleasure it was indeed, fresh seafood and great company in an absolutely idyllic spot almost within casting distance of the sea. And yes, we all missed Brian’s presence, especially of an evening whilst preparing dinner, enjoying the meal and accompanied by the mellowing influence of “wee drams”.
My greatest regret is that almost no photographs were taken to record the auspicious and many other memorable moments that have meant so much to me.
The von Holdt Story continues – the next generation by Dave Walker
For many years, one of many rural legends floated around the pubs in Rhodes and the area. The gist of it was that a group of friends wanted to visit the village and one of the cohort knew folk who had a holiday home in Rhodes.
The party, literally and figuratively duly arrived in the village and armed with the house-key, found a house where the key opened the door without any problems and they duly settled in. Festivities eventually came to an end and the trudge back to “civilization” was concluded.
On returning the key, the owner enquired as to the visit and of course the house. The reply was that a great week-end had been had by all, great fishing, great braai-ing and things like that. As far as the house was concerned, the wood/coal burning kitchen stove had been a nightmare but which they had eventually mastered. The owner was horrified and immediately pointed out that their house did not have a stove in the kitchen!
But such was Rhodes “back in the day” when one key fitted all doors and oh yes, one of the late Brian and Sophie von Holdt’s sons, Jo in particular, was one of the merry band of “home invaders”.
An iconic image, Brian, Sophie, and Hilton Lewis