Queen’s teacher also a master of fishing, fly-tying
Darren Boucher, who is one of the teaching staff at Queen’s College junior, is also a keen fly fisherman.
He has been on the committee of the Queenstown Fly Fishing Club for several years.
In his off time, his great passion is fishing for trout and yellow fish in the rivers and dams of the Eastern Cape with flies he has created at his flytying station. A small, dedicated group of fly tyers meet regularly to encourage and challenge each other to tie beautiful flies from a range of natural and artificial material.
This month, they presented the fly of the month nationally on the Federation of Fly Fishing of South Africa web site.
Boucher is part of the South African National Fly Fishing B team and next year has been promoted to the National A team. To prepare for trials, some 200 flies need to be made up and Boucher said he does not always manage that number.
Trials for the B team were held on the rivers of KwaZuluNatal this year and it was tough fishing. Every fish caught is measured and weighed and counts towards the tally for the competition. All hooks have their barbs removed so fish have the least damage from the hook.
The trials for the A team next year will be on the Barkley East rivers and dams. The teams fish for yellow fish and trout.
We look forward to hearing the results of the Barkley East trials in the New Year and we will be rooting for Boucher as one of our own.