At
Tourette Fishing we realize that your guide
plays an integral role in the success of your
African fishing Safari. Tourette Fishing guides
are all professional young men, with a passion
for Africa, her fisheries, wild places, and
unique wildlife.
When traveling with Tourette Fishing, you
can be assured that your qualified guide has
been chosen for his experience in the field,
passion towards his career, professional attitude
and charisma. The value that your professional
guide adds is not merely from a fishing perspective,
but his rich knowledge of flora, fauna and
culture will greatly enhance your experience
of what Africa’s finest fisheries have
to offer.
Guides
Profiles
Keith Clover (BSc Honours, UNP) -
Director and Head Guide
Background:
Keith’s passion for fly fishing and
the African wilderness emerged when growing
up on the family farm Game Pass on the Mooi
River. Stalking wild browns with his Father
and Grandfather in the mountain streams was
his introduction to the beautiful pastime
of fly fishing. The second fish he managed
to hook on fly was a trophy brown which was
lost due to massive inexperience. “At
the age of 8, the joy of hooking such a fish,
the sadness of subsequently losing it, and
the adrenalin coursing through my body during
the brief tussle, left me in no doubt that
fly fishing was to become a major driving
force in my life from that moment on”.
Subsequent to his schooling and during his
tertiary education at the University of Natal,
Keith was fortunate enough to lead mobile
safaris throughout Southern and East Africa.
During these carefree days he had the opportunity
to fish numerous remote inland and coastal
waters between Cape Town and Kenya. Keith’s
passion for fly fishing grew as did his understanding
of Africa’s fauna and flora. In conjunction
with his University studies, Keith completed
his FGASA (Field Guides of Southern Africa)
level three qualifications.
Keith’s keenness for exploring remote
African waterways is tangible. When not busy
in the office or guiding, Keith’s time
is spent researching and scouting venues throughout
Southern and East Africa. Devoting a large
segment of time, money, and effort to exploratory
trips, ensures Tourette Fishing remains at
the forefront of the African sport fishing
frontier. It is through such endeavours that
the trophy fish of Duma were discovered in
2008.
Guiding Log:
Keith has guided extensively throughout Southern
and East Africa and the Indian Ocean islands.
He is an accomplished and respected guide
in both salt and freshwater, writing and contributing
on a monthly basis to both local and international
fly fishing publications. Keith is widely
regarded as one of the leading experts in
targeting tigerfish on fly and has developed
a number of productive, and area specific,
patterns for targeting these ferocious predators.
Landing the first 20lb plus tiger on fly was
the highlight of his angling career; that
was until he guided the first fly fishing
group to Duma where his guests successfully
landed and released 8 fish over 20 lbs in
as many days.
Keith’s attention to detail and thorough
guiding and operations management principles
are appreciated by all who fish and travel
with Tourette Fishing. His relaxed and unassuming
nature combined with his patience and sense
of humour make him a pleasure to be with,
both on the water and off.
Rob Scott (BSc Honours, UNP) - Director
and Head Guide
Background:
Rob has two life long passions: fishing and
African wildlife. These two aspects have dominated
every aspect of his 30 years on this planet.
Rob's childhood on the wild coast of South
Africa exposed him, from the earliest age,
to every conceivable form of sport angling,
whether it was Rock and Surf, Estuarine, Light
Tackle, and Fly Fishing. The offshore opportunities
along the Wildcoast became a constant fascination,
and the promise of being able to explore and
target a wider - and larger - variety of fish,
saw Rob exploring unknown reefs on fishing
kayaks. It was in these young days that he
became a pioneer in the popular sport of targeting
game fish off fishing kayaks, and this remains
close to his heart today.
After completing a BSc Honours at the University
of Natal, Rob spent 2 years guiding photographic
and walking safaris within the Sabi Sands
Private Game Reserve, firstly as a ranger,
and then subsequently as head ranger. Although
these were fantastic days, it was not long
before the lack of a nearby ocean, and good
tigerfish waters, forced Rob to leave the
Lowveld bush, and to pursue his first love,
fishing.
Guiding Log:
Rob is a Director and full time guide for
Tourette Fishing, and has guided extensively
throughout the Salt waters of South Africa
and Mozambique. Although there is a tremendous
amount of salt in his veins, Rob has successfully
made the transition into the freshwater guiding
arena and has since become an expert on the
tiger fishing waterways of Zimbabwe, Zambia,
Namibia, Botswana, and Tanzania. Rob guides
extensively for both small mouth and Natal
yellowfish each year on Sterkfontein and in
the KZN Midlands.
Rob’s vast fishing knowledge and contagious
enthusiasm makes him extremely popular among
all the guests that he has guided. Strongly
conservation minded, his philosophy towards
the sport and his guiding career is to instil
a love for Africa’s Fisheries while
ensuring their future existence.
Leonard Flemming - Guide and Head
Aquatic Scientist - (PhD Microbiology, Stellenbosch
University)
Background:
Leonard’s love for aquatic life and
fishing was evident since the age of three
and has since taken him across South Africa
in search of indigenous and exotic fish species
in remote places where few have been. These
interests, amongst others, earned him a PhD
in natural sciences, a field editor position
at The Complete Fly Fisherman magazine and
eventually a guiding position at Tourette
Fishing. Although he has spent a large part
of his fishing career with all tackle types
and represented the Western Province art lure
team for several years, for the last 5 years
his focus has turned to fly fishing. He has
landed more than 40 fish species on fly and
now enjoys the challenge of targeting the
most demanding of fish species on fly tackle.
Since high school Leonard enjoyed fishing
for trout in the free stone rivers of the
Western Cape. However, besides trout Leonard
is experienced in catching a variety of fresh
and saltwater fish species on fly and has
traveled abroad to Zambia, Madagascar, Zanzibar,
and India in search of desirable fish to target
on fly.
Guiding Log:
Leonard’s knowledge of trout has inspired
many clients on the Western Cape streams and
still waters, especially when it comes to
sight fishing tactics for large individual
fish. He has been a successful guide and fly
tying demonstrator at many corporate events
and he has also assisted clients on professional
guided trips to India for golden mahseer and
the western coastline of Madagascar for assorted
saltwater species. Leonard now makes up part
of the guides team in Tanzania, where he looks
forward to helping guests successfully hook
and land trophy tiger fish on fly tackle.
Leonard will also be playing a major role
in deciphering the feeding habits of the torpedo
like ‘gundu’, and in doing so
working on flies and tactics to consistently
target these fascinating fish in fly tackle.
Lionel Song – Guide and Botswana
Operation Manager
Background:
Lionel has been working as a safari guide
since 1987. He grew up in the old Northern
Transvaal along the Limpopo River where he
completed his schooling.
He started his bush career in the Timabavati
Reserve, after which he specialised in big
game walking trails in the Maneyeleti Reserve
north of the Sabi Sand Reserve. Lionel is
a true bushman and is totally at home in nature
and its environs. Lionel spent time managing
Lloyd’s Camp in the Savuti area of the
Chobe National Park where he fell in love
with Botswana and its wild open spaces.
Subsequently Lionel started a fly-fishing
company up in the Panhandle of the Okavango
Delta, where he specialises in catching tigerfish
and bream on fly.
Fishing has forever been a passion of Lionel’s.
It was however when he entered the Okavango
Delta for the first time that he was introduced
to the joys of fly-fishing by his best friends
father a local legend from the Cape Streams.
Brian gave him an old beaten up Diawa fly
rod that his son Charles had cut his teeth
on, and his lifelong passion for the beautiful
art was born.
Lionel has a strange fascination with water,
be it a pond or the mighty Pacific. He just
needs to know what lies under its glassy surface
and whether its scaly inhabitants can be tempted
into the light of day with a well presented
fly. Lionel’s ingenuity and ability
to fish “out the box” is a precursor
for his uncanny ability to put his guests
into lesser known species. Lionel is at his
happiest when his guests have a fish on the
end of their rod and a smile on their faces!
Guiding Log:
After moving down to the Midlands from Botswana
Lionel guided locally, for both trout and
KZN yellow fish before starting his operation
in Botswana. Lionel has spent time guiding
and managing fly fishing camps in Zambia and
Botswana. He spent an incredible month in
Gabon in the Petit Loango Reserve building
a fishing camp, where he tested his skill
some of remarkable fish including giant Cubera
snapper to threadfin to name but a few. Lionel’s
guiding and fishing have lead him through
all of Southern Africa and to the North America’s.
Lionel is presently on a mission to the island
of St Helena where he is rehabilitating an
historical hotel while tempting the local
fish to take his fly.
People cannot help but be drawn to Lionel’s
infectious personality and his manic zest
for life. The well being of his clients are
his top priority. If its laughter you’re
after while you catching copious amounts of
fish then he is your man!
Bryce Perrett- Guide
Background:
Having grown up in the Kwa-Zulu Natal midlands,
Bryce’s passion for fly fishing was
nurtured fishing in the stillwaters and rivers
of the area for trout from the age of 7. Bryce’s
early exposure to the joys of fly fishing
set alight his lifelong passion for the sport
and the beautiful surrounds in which it takes
place. Through high school his weekends and
holidays were taken up targeting Scalies (Natal
Yellowfish) in the Umngeni and Umkomaas rivers,
Trout in Lesotho, Smallmouth Yellows in Sterkfontein
and various saltwater species in Mozambique
and northern Kwa-Zulu Natal, as well as Tigers
and Bream species in the Okavango delta and
the Zambezi.
Since leaving school Bryce has guided in
a number of destinations, including, Kenya
for sailfish and Tanzania for trophy tiger
fish. Bryce spent 6 month working in New Zealand.
This time giving him the opportunity to experiencing
first-hand the legendary trout fishery of
the Land of the long white cloud, as well
as learn from some of the worlds finest guides.
Yuri Janssen (MA Hons, University
of Aberdeen, Scotland)
Background:
A client once described Yuri as the only person
on earth who can squeeze more than 24 hours
of fishing into a single day! Indeed fly fishing
has been Yuri’s passion ever since he
pilfered his father’s rod at the age
of 5 and cut his teeth on the lakes and mountain
streams of the Southern Drakensberg and Lesotho.
Since then Yuri has turned fly fishing into
a career and an entire way of life.
Guiding Log:
Yuri has an exceptional record as an international
fly fishing guide and operations manager with
some of the world’s most reputable outfitters
and in some of the most exciting destinations
on earth, including Scotland, Russia, British
Columbia and New Zealand. In addition, Yuri
has accumulated an impressive resume of experience
in the big game safari industry, having worked
as a PH, trail guide, game ranger and camp
manager for some of the Africa’s leading
safari companies and destinations including
the world famous Mala Mala. Most recently
however, Yuri was the Operations Manager at
The Northern Rivers Company on Russia’s
Kola Peninsula, the world’s premier
Atlantic Salmon fly fishery and the world’s
first and only internationally recognised
Atlantic Salmon Reserve.
An exceptional guide, charming host and fly-tier
extraordinaire, Yuri’s specialities
lie predominantly in the pursuit of trophy
trout, yellow fish and tiger fish and the
exploration of new destinations and their
waters.
