The FOSAF January fly of the month is the AHA fly, Alan Hobson’s Attractor Fly, which is a generic Chubbyhead barb (Barbus anoplus) imitation, one of the main food sources in many of the rivers in South Africa. Many of the great still waters in the Eastern Cape hold Chubbyhead barbs in their millions, literally. Interestingly the colouring of the Chubbyhead barbs vary from place to place and change throughout the seasons, depending on the surrounding environment and conditions. For Thrift dam I am now on my eighth variation of flies imitating the Chubbyhead barb. Hence, my AHA Fly being called the generic as it seems to produce fish most consistently throughout the year.
How to tie it.
As a side note, the Holmes family was fishing Thrift dam earlier this year. The wife Desire’ happened to pick up one of my AHA flies someone had dropped near the cottages. She promptly tied it on and proceeded to land a beauty estimated at twelve pounds! (photo below).
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