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FREE Fishing Report An On-Site Assessment of Punta Allen Fishing Club Don Causey Note: Here we go again with still another FREE Fishing Report by one of our Online Extra subscribers. This one is from subscriber Dennis Morgan, who recently spent a week at Punta Allen Fishing Club in Punta Allen, Mexico, in return for providing this report about his experience. All you have to do to get in the running for trips like this is upgrade your subscription to Online Extra. You can find out more about our FREE Fishing program and Online Extra subscription on our Web site, www.anglingreport.com.
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his past November I joined three longtime fishing friends for a week at Punta Allen Fishing
Club in the Mexican village of Punta Allen. Punta Allen Fishing Club is one of at least five fishing lodges operating in or near Punta Allen. Although the lodge has been in operation since 2008, most North Americans are unaware of
it, as it has never been advertised to North American fishermen. To date, owners Tiziano Rizotto and Pascale LeBlanc have catered almost exclusively to Europeans. They are hoping to change that soon by attracting U.S. cli-
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February 2013 Vol. 26, No. 2
ents, hence their offer of a FREE fishing trip to a U.S. fly fisherman. As a group, my friends and I are relatively inexperienced at saltwater fly fishing. One of my friends (Mike) and I once spent a week at Tom Woodward’s old Paradise Lodge, and I once fished a week at Pesca Maya, just north of Punta Allen Fishing Club. The other two anglers in our party, Jim and Bill, had never fly fished in saltwater prior to this trip. We have been fly fishing together somewhere, usually for trout, at least once a year for the past 20 years. The four of us spent one night in Cancun on our arrival in Mexico. The lodge had arranged for us to be picked up at 9 a.m. the next morning by a shuttle service they hire to transport anglers between Cancun and the lodge. We were met promptly at 9 a.m. by a driver with a large, comfortable van. Two of our bags had not arrived with the rest of our luggage but were due into the Cancun airport at noon. The driver agreed to wait with us until the bags arrived. At noon, luggage in hand, we began the drive to Punta Allen. Fortunately, the notoriously rough road between Tulum and Punta Allen had just been graded. It was unexpectedly smooth; the entire drive took only three hours. We were welcomed on arrival by Tiziano and Pascale, who showed us to our rooms and gave us a tour of the facilities. Punta Allen Fishing Club is located on a side street on the south end of the village of Punta Allen, about three blocks west of the beach. The lodge consists of five two-person guest rooms on the lower level, plus a large, thatched-roof, open-air palapa on the second floor. The palapa contains the kitchen, a hardwood bar, and a dining
THE ANGLING REPORT table, plus several tables and seating areas for relaxing, playing cards, or tying flies. The guest rooms all had two twin beds and tables and stands for storing clothing and fishing gear. Each room had an attached bathroom with a large vanity, sink, toilet, and walkin shower. The rooms were not air conditioned, but they were equipped with ceiling fans and several screened, louvered windows that provided good cross-ventilation. The rooms were comfortable and large enough to easily accommodate two fishermen and their gear and clothing. Electricity was provided by the Punta Allen village generator and by the lodge’s own generator. Power was available from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 5 p.m. to midnight. The capacity of the lodge is eight to 10 guests. It is open each year from November through the end of May. The daily routine here began with breakfast at 7 a.m., consisting of coffee and juice, fresh fruit, pancakes or French toast, made-to-order eggs, and a platter of assorted meats (prosciutto and salami). At breakfast we placed our orders for lunch. Choices were fresh salad and/or sandwiches. Sandwich options varied each day, but they were always on fresh-baked rolls. In addition, fresh fruit, chips, cookies, and an assortment of beverages were provided. At 8 a.m. we walked to the beach, met our guides for the day, and
headed out to fish. The fishing day typically ended around 4:30 p.m., as it was quite dark by 5 p.m. Upon our return to the lodge each day, our rods and reels were collected and rinsed by one of the lodge employees. After a hot shower and a change of clothes, we would assemble at the bar in the palapa, where the chef, Shayla, would serve hors d’oeuvre. Cold beer and mixed drinks (included in the basic price) were available. The appetizers varied each day; we had ceviche, tamales, nachos, and grilled sausages. All were excellent. Dinner was served at 7 p.m. and consisted of a first course (we had several homemade soups, I recall, and a lobster salad one day), a main course (steak, lobster paella, chicken mole, fresh fish), and dessert (typically a French pastry, often with grilled fruit). Chilean white and red wine were served with dinner. We all considered the food to be excellent. While simply prepared, it was fresh and very flavorful. Portions were more than adequate. Tiziano joined us each day for appetizers and dinner. He asked about our day and entertained us with fishing and travel stories. His passion for fishing and talent for storytelling made dinners enjoyable. As for the fishing, two of us were assigned to a boat each day with a head guide and an assistant. The boats
Honor Roll Subscribers The Angling Report encourages subscribers to file reports on great places to fish and important news developments that help the rest of us decide where to go—or not to go—fishing. Subscribers who file unusually important and useful reports are placed on our Subscriber Honor Roll and sent a complimentary Angling Report Honor Roll fishing cap. Honor Roll subscribers also get special consideration for FREE trips. Our new Honor Roll subscribers
February 2013
this month are Dave Shorett and Bill Owen, respectively, who wrote the reports on Kosrae and Slovenia that appear in this issue. If you have been on an interesting trip recently, send a letter-length report to see if you can get on our subscriber Honor Roll. E-mail it to doncausey @anglingreport.com. You can find the complete list of Honor Roll subscribers on our Web site, www .anglingreport.com. Click on “Honor Roll subscribers.”
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THE ANGLING REPORT EDITOR
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How can we help you? New Subscriptions: A one-year subscription costs $49. Add $11 per year in Canada/Mexico. $ 2 9 o v e r s e a s . Vi s a / M C / A m e x a c c e p t e d . Contact us on the Web (www.anglingreport .com), by phone (305-253-5301), by fax (305253-5532), by e-mail (mail@anglingreport .com), or by mail (The Angling Report, 12182 SW 128 Street, Miami, FL 33186-5230). Online Extra Upgrade: One year costs $24, in addition to regular subscription fee. Puts one on list to receive e-mail invitations to go fishing FREE in return for filing a report. Also, invitations to review (and keep) fly tackle. Unlimited access to our Trip Planning Database also included. Plus, e-mail and hard copies of monthly newsletters. Same contact details as above. Trip Planning Materials: Same contact details as above. By phone, fax, e-mail, or mail. Do your own searches on our Web site, www.anglingreport.com. Click on “Trip Planning Tools.” Thousands of pages of subscriber reports and previously published articles. Subscription Questions: Same contact details as above. On our Web site, www.anglingreport.com, click on “Subscribe.”
Volume 26, Number 2
THE ANGLING REPORT were the typical 23-foot pangas found in that part of Mexico. Ours were powered by 50-horsepower outboards. The four of us alternated with each other every day, so I had the opportunity to fish with both pairs of guides. On our fifth day, a group of four fishermen arrived from France, and we were given a new guide team. Although the personalities of all three guides varied considerably, they were all exceptionally competent. They had an incredible ability to spot fish and help us catch them. All of the guides spoke enough English to prevent any language problems. The improvement in the capability of the guides was a significant difference from my previous two trips to the area. Despite our limited experience at saltwater fishing, we caught a lot of fish over the course of the week. The first day we all focused on bonefish, and despite difficult conditions (very windy, cloudy, and a heavy chop), each boat managed to land 15 to 20 bonefish. For the week, we landed 150 to 200 bonefish. Most weighed about one to one-and-a-half pounds, but we also caught some as large as three or four pounds. In addition to bonefish, we caught a large number of jacks, quite a few snapper, a couple of ladyfish, several small barracuda, one tarpon, and a very large 38-inch needlefish. The guides said it was the largest they had seen landed. We spent several mornings looking for permit and had a lot of shots at fish. Early in the week, one of our group hooked and lost a nice permit. Another member, Bill, had a large permit turn and charge his fly, only to turn away at the last moment. On the last day of fishing, Mike landed two small permit and Jim caught one nice permit. After the first day’s clouds and wind, the weather cleared and we had nearly ideal conditions with temperatures in the low 80s, moderate winds, and generally clear skies. During the week, we fished all the way from the lower end of Boca Pailla Lagoon to the southern reaches and western side of Ascension Bay. Trips to the southern February 2013
reaches required a boat ride of an hour or more each way, while the western side was less than 30 minutes away. Although we often encountered boats from other lodges, the waters were never crowded. We spent a lot of our fishing time wading. When we did, we often did not see another angler for hours. For me, one of the pleasures of fishing Ascension Bay is the incredible variety of bird and fish life. We had up-close views of osprey, frigate birds, roseate spoonbills, flamingos, pelicans, sea turtles, and stingrays. One memorable moment occurred on our second day. I was fishing with Mike. We were stripping streamers over a bed of mangroves that held a school of jacks and some snapper. Mike hooked a foot-long snapper. As he brought it to the boat, a four- to five-foot-long
barracuda grabbed it and leapt completely out of the water. You could see the snapper in its mouth. So where does Punta Allen Fishing Club fit in the spectrum of Ascension Bay lodges? It probably is not for everyone. For one thing, it does not have a beachfront view or offer white linen dining. On the other hand, it offers excellent value. The cost for a full week here, seven nights with six days of guided fishing, double occupancy, and two anglers to a boat, is only $2,800 this year. The price for next season will be $2,990. Just be aware, that fee includes transfers from Cancun, plus all meals/snacks and local drinks. The only additional expense is a cash fee on arrival of â‚Ź200 (or the U.S. dollar equivalent) to cover
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extras such as guide, staff, and driver tips, bicycle rental, Internet, laundry, and so on. Unless you choose to buy a souvenir hat or t-shirt, the payment of this fee assures you there will be no charges at any point. A positive thing about this lodge is the level of personal service that is provided and the amount of positive interaction you get with the owners. Both Tiziano and Pascale attend to every detail of your stay. They interact with guests both morning and evening. While the lodge is not luxurious, it is very comfortable and the owners work hard to meet personal needs and requests. On my second day there I developed a sinus infection. I have a lifelong tendency toward sinus infections and although the condition is not serious, it typically leaves me feeling too tired to fish. Pascale took me to a clinic in Punta Allen after dinner, translated to the doctor for me, and I received a shot of antibiotics. He took me back the next two mornings to receive follow-up shots. Thanks to those treatments, I was able to continue to enjoy my vacation. Without them, I would likely have spent the last four or five days lying in bed. The European background of the owners of this lodge and the presence of European clients add something special to the experience here, in my view. The first four days we were at the lodge we shared the premises with a fisherman from near Paris. After he left, three men and one woman from another part of France arrived. We enjoyed the opportunity to share experiences with all of them. Tiziano pointed out to me that the fishery is essentially the same no matter which lodge you visit. Anglers trying to choose a lodge would do well to decide what level of luxury they want. You can pay a lot more for a week at some of the lodges and likely get somewhat more luxurious accommodations and food. At some of them you will also get an additional charge for every beer or alcoholic beverage you consume. Punta Allen Fishing Club is a serious fishing lodge that provides a Volume 26, Number 2
THE ANGLING REPORT high level of personalized service. For calibration, I would say the food and accommodations are similar to what I experienced at Pesca Maya when I was there. I can best sum up our experience by saying that our group agreed it was our best fishing trip ever. And that is saying a lot because we have had a lot of memorable times together. Enjoy!—Dennis Morgan. Postscript: The exclusive agent for Punta Allen Fishing Club is Planet Fly Fishing, a fly-only fishing agency in Paris, www.planetflyfishing.com. Ask for Olivier Lauzanne, who is fluent in English. You can reach him by e-mail at olivier@planetflyfishing.com. Lauzanne says an English version of his Web site describing all his destinations worldwide will be available soon. In the meantime, he has an Englishlanguage brochure about Punta Allen Fishing Club that he sends out upon request.
when my wife, Kit, flew to South America to meet me in Patagonia. Her plane was 30,000 feet in the air when she struck up a conversation with a fly fisherman seated next to her. He inquired of her what type of fishing I preferred, to which she responded, “spring creeks and sighted fish.” His response was “tell him to go to Slovenia.” When Kit recounted this conversation to me, I confess that I knew nothing of Slovenia or its fishery. Intrigued, I did some research on the country, which turned up some interesting facts. Slovenia is a small independent country about the size of New Jersey with a population of two million people. It was formerly a part of Yugoslavia. Its neighbors are Austria and Hungary to the north and Italy and Croatia to the south. Slovenia is not to
DATELINE: Europe
Honor Roll Report The Charms of Slovenia: An Eye-Opening Report Don Causey Note: One of the great pleasures of editing The Angling Report is the chance it provides to interact with a subscriber like the author of this report, Bill Owen, who has a love and understanding of a little-known fishery and the ability to put into words what he has seen and done. This report, I guarantee, is going to awaken a sense of wonder about the quality and variety of fishing available in the small European country of Slovenia. And it is going to make you want to go there. Read this report slowly. Savor it. I am putting subscriber Bill Owen on our subscriber Honor Roll for taking the time to file this report. See page 2 for more details about our subscriber Honor Roll.
I
n the fall of 2011 I took a fishing trip that was more than 17 years in the making. It all began in 1994
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be confused with Slovakia, which was formerly a part of Czechoslovakia. Portions of the country are mountainous, notably the Julian Alps, which are primarily limestone and sometimes referred to as the southern Limestone Alps. The countryside is dotted with picturesque villages. Its capital, Ljubljana (Lube-lee-ah-nah), is a quaint but vibrant city with a population that exceeds 400,000. The official language of Slovenia is Slovene, but most Slovenians are fluent in English, having studied it since primary school. Slovenia is a member of the European Union and its currency is the euro. As for the fishing there, Slovenia’s Soca (sew-cha) River system is home to a unique variety of trout, the marble trout (Salmo marmoratus), which is
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related to the brown trout and grows to mammoth proportions. The world record marble trout exceeded 55 pounds. The marble trout’s distribution is limited to Slovenian and northeastern Italian rivers emptying into the Adriatic Sea. Most of these rivers are part of the Soca River system. Photos of the Soca River and its tributaries intrigued me. The water appeared to be comparable to New Zealand’s “air-clear” waters, and the scenery of the Julian Alps (from which the Soca flows) struck me as spectacular. Years before, I had set for myself a personal goal of catching a trout on every continent save Antarctica. On learning about Slovenia, I immediately put it on my bucket list under the European heading of my continental slam. I will not go into the details of planning a trip to Slovenia. Suffice it to say my wife is a bicyclist and it turned out that organizing a bike tour to Slovenia that included days in Austria and Italy and ending in Venice was politically the easiest way to act on my desire to fish in Slovenia. We booked the bike trip through a company called VBT (www.vbt.com) and I booked my fishing (four days in all) with Slovenian fishing guide Rok Lustrik (www .lustrik.com). I will skip over the complications that arose as a result of a bike accident I had shortly before our planned departure date and simply note that I decided to proceed as originally planned since my fishing buddy, Doug Camp, was scheduled to meet me for the fishing and our wives already had firm plans to hike and sightsee. I could only hope that the shoulder injury I suffered would allow me to fish. After arriving in Zurich, we took the short flight to the Slovenian capital, Ljubljana, a picturesque city with a lively historic center. At the airport we picked up our rental car and drove 45 minutes to scenic Lake Bled. There, we checked into our lodging, the lovely Pension Lukanc (www.lukanc -bled.com). After check-in I strung my rod and took it out on the lawn of the Pension. It felt good in my hands and I Volume 26, Number 2
THE ANGLING REPORT had only minor pain in my injured arm when stripping line or reeling against resistance. At breakfast the next morning Rok Lustrik appeared as scheduled, right on time. He is a tall and energetic man with a likable personality, a fluent command of English, and a vast knowledge of the local fishery. When I told him about my shoulder injury, he saw no reason not to venture forth. In fact, he wanted to do so immediately and not return until 7:30 p.m. Only later did I realize that Rok’s time windows were tied to a train schedule. Shortly after departure we pulled into a nearby train station and loaded our vehicle onto a flatcar. The train would take us south through the Julian Alps via an 11-mile-long tunnel, he explained, out of the Sava River drainage. On the other side, after a 45-minute train ride, we unloaded the car in the Soca drainage and took a short drive to the small town of Tolmin. There, we purchased our daily permits to fish. The transaction provided me some insight into the way Slovenia manages its fisheries. The permit was not issued by a government agency, I learned, but by the famed Tolmin Fishing Club, which was instrumental in preserving the pure strain of marble trout in the Soca through a program of eradicating introduced brown trout and hybrid brown/marbles and re-planting genetically pure marble trout from headwater streams into their original environment, the main stem Soca drainage. Many of Slovenia’s prime fisheries are managed by fishing clubs under supervision of the government’s Fisheries Research Institute, Rok explained. There are 64 fishing clubs in Slovenia. Clubs may present a fisheries management plan to the Fisheries Research Institute. If the plan is approved, the club is licensed to manage the fishery in accordance with the approved plan. The institute monitors compliance with the approved plan and determines whether the club will be permitted to continue management in the future. As we were waiting for our daily February 2013
permit, we eyed the large mounted marble trout hanging on the Tolmin clubhouse wall. Rok said that the fish weighed more than 50 pounds and was the largest marble ever caught on a fly rod. He also stated that this fish would never be equaled on a fly rod because “the river gave the fish to the angler.” When asked for an explanation, he told us that when the fish was hooked it launched itself onto a gravel bar at the angler’s feet. The angler, an Italian fisherman, recognized the opportunity and leaped on top of the fish and, in a mud-wrestling match, subdued it. Rok noted that this fisherman is held in high regard locally because he donated the trophy mount to the Tolmin Club and then magnanimously hosted a celebratory feast for all the club members. With our daily permit in hand, we
departed for the Tolminka, a nearby tributary of the Soca. The permit stated that fishing is catch and release and the angling method is limited to a single barbless fly with no added weight. As a consequence of the no-addedweight restriction, most of Rok’s subsurface fly patterns have oversized heavy tungsten beads to quickly sink the patterns. Rok rigged us with nymphs under small white foam indicators and we walked to the first pool. There the Tolminka ran crystal clear with sizeable rainbows and Adriatic grayling clearly visible. There was no surface activity so we began to cast to individual fish. On my third cast, a rainbow of about three pounds took my fly and proceeded to put up a strong fight before
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it was netted. After this initial success, our offerings were ignored and Rok announced that we would move on, this time to the main stem of the Soca upstream of Tolmin. This stretch of the Soca is a sizable river, running a beautiful turquoise due to limestone silt from the towering Julian Alps. We had success there, mostly blind casting our nymphs into riffles. Again, the fish were strong and bright in color. It was there that Doug hooked and lost a large marble trout, our only major disappointment of the day. Altogether on the first day we fished four rivers, all part of the Soca drainage. In each river we were impressed by the size and number of fish. On our third river, a small tributary stacked with rainbows, we learned a second lesson concerning the Slovenian fishery. To reach this stream we walked a considerable distance through an agricultural field. I remarked to Rok that I had not seen any “no trespassing” or “posted” signs on any of the streams. He responded that I would not see any in Slovenia because all the rivers are owned by the government, and anglers have the right to cross private property to access the rivers. After a full day of fishing, we caught the last train back through the Alps to our Pension at Lake Bled. At dinner, Doug and I recounted the day. Doug is a fly fishing guide in southern Colorado and we have both fished many noted trophy trout destinations. We both were impressed with what we had seen on our first day. On our second morning Rok announced that we would stay close and fish the nearby Sava Bohinjka. The Sava Bohinjka is a major tributary that joins with the Sava Dolinka near Lake Bled. Downstream of the juncture of these two large tributaries, the river is simply known as the Sava. The Sava eventually drains into the Danube, which ultimately empties into the Black Sea. There are no marble trout in the Danube drainage. Thus, our primary focus for that day would be rainbow Volume 26, Number 2
THE ANGLING REPORT trout and Black Sea grayling (Thymallus thymallus). We might also get a glimpse of the major predator of the Danube system, Rok informed us, the “Danube salmon” (Hucho hucho). The Danube salmon is not a salmon, but rather a relative of the river-dwelling Mongolian taimen (Hucho taimen), which grows to as much as 50 pounds. The fishing season for this species is November to February. The second day of fishing was as remarkable as the prior day. After a stop to pick up our daily permit issued by the Sava Bohinjka club, we pulled off the road overlooking the river. There, below us, in crystalline water, were large rainbows lined up in the current. Again, there was no surface activity. And again we would fish with weighted nymphs under foam indicators. We waded into the river and made long casts to sighted fish. For most of the morning we had steady action. These were subtle takes by big fish. Our largest of the morning was a strong rainbow that I landed after a good fight. We estimated the weight of the largest fish at eight pounds. Doug landed a rainbow of six pounds, but most fish were between one and three pounds. We both hooked strong grayling, too, which provided spectacular aerial displays but ultimately got away. Late in the morning Rok signaled for us to follow him through the underbrush on a high bank overlooking a deep pool. There he pointed out a large shape lying on the bottom. He said that it was a Danube salmon that he thought was at least 35 pounds in weight. With that, he tossed a large rock into the stream and the shadow streaked downstream and out of sight. Our afternoon of fishing was less productive, as the fish seemed to turn off. In addition, we came to the conclusion that the fishing there has its challenges. The fish are pressured. Club members, in exchange for their annual membership fee and a certain amount of volunteer duties, are given a specified number of fishing days. In addition, anyone paying the daily February 2013
permit fee can fish. Many Italians fish in Slovenia, Rok explained, because of the quality of the fishery and its accessibility. Much of Europe is unavailable to the average fisherman, he continued, due to private property restrictions that block access. Poor fisheries management is a problem, too, in many parts of Europe. Because the Slovenian fish are pressured, it is a technical fishery. Good presentation is critical. I would compare it to spring creek fishing in Montana in terms of its technical demands. In our two days of fishing we saw only a few other anglers, but that was probably because there is so much water available. Still, there is no doubt that the fish in Slovenia see fishermen. Some of them, as a result, are quite wary.
The next morning we were met by a replacement guide, Sebastian Podbevsek. Rok had a family emergency that day so he arranged for Sebastian to guide us. Sebastian announced that we would drive north and cross the high Alps at Vrsic Pass to access the upper Soca River drainage. If we had done nothing else that day, the drive over Vrsic Pass alone would have made the day memorable. The road was built during World War I by the Austro-Hungarian army using Russian prisoners of war as slave laborers. The narrow road travels up an incredibly steep escarpment with 25 hairpin turns on either side of the pass. On the north side there is a Russian chapel to commemorate the men who died building this road. Many of
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these Russian prisoners were victims of avalanches. At the top of these Alps, in what was known as the Soca-Isonzo front, the Austro-Hungarian army faced off with the Italian army. For 26 months the two forces slugged it out in classic trench warfare. Neither side gained more than a few yards until the Italian line was breached and the battle lines shifted far to the south, almost to Venice. During the stalemate, it is estimated there were more than a million casualties in the valley of the Soca. Though the details of this brutal conflict are not well remembered in the West, there were some notable participants. Erwin Rommel fought on the Austro-Hungarian side and later earned fame as the “Desert Fox” of Germany’s North Africa campaign. Benito Mussolini fought on the Italian side and later ascended as “Il Duce,” dictator of Italy. Another person of note in this conflict was the young Ernest Hemingway, who drove an ambulance for the Italian side and was wounded in the fighting. Hemingway described the Italian retreat in his novel A Farewell to Arms. As we descended from the pass into the upper Soca, I was jolted by the incredible scenery, the white limestone of the Alps, and the sapphire blue of the upper river. We stopped at a tavern where we were issued our daily license. Without moving the car, we followed Sebastian from the tavern for a half mile to a small feeder stream. There the stream was about 15 feet wide with a few pools that appeared to be four or five feet deep. Numerous trout and grayling visibly finned in the crystal water. It was about 10:30 in the morning and a sparse mayfly hatch was underway. Two large trout were surface feeding along a rock wall. One of the two feeding fish was noticeably darker than the other fish in the pool. Sebastian thought that it was a marble trout and we concentrated on it, casting small dries. I put several good drifts over the marble and it showed interest but reVolume 26, Number 2
THE ANGLING REPORT jected pattern after pattern. After each rejection Sebastian tied on a new pattern. Within the next 30 minutes or so the fish rejected five patterns. After the fifth rejection, Sebastian announced, “We change again, he will make a mistake.” The sixth pattern was a size 20 classic upright, a simple tie with a thread body, hackle-tip wings and sparse hackle. And sure enough, the trout made the predicted mistake. On the first drift, the fish slowly rose and confidently took the offering. When I finally landed the fish, I was exhilarated at the sight of this specimen of the rarest of trout species. The fish had darkly mottled olive coloring, was about 20 inches in length, and had an unusually large head and slender body. Sebastian explained that marble trout convert from insect eaters to fish eaters at about this size. Consequently, pursuit of larger marbles is usually limited to casting large streamers to sighted fish. The larger fish are, however, more nocturnal in their feeding habits and they tend to conceal themselves under large rocks or undercut embankments during daytime hours. In addition to the marble, Doug and I landed several nice rainbows in this small tributary. At this juncture, Sebastian worked with us both on some nymphing techniques and he promised some additional education in the afternoon, when we would fish the main stem, after beers and bratwurst at a tavern. Well fed, we drove a mile up the main stem of the Soca. There the river was 50 to 60 feet wide with visible fish along the far bank. Sebastian demonstrated a technique for this water. He cast quartering upstream with a weighted nymph about seven feet below an indicator. As soon as the line hit the water, he made a quick downward flick of the rod with his wrist. The rod tip dipped from about the 11 o’clock position to 9 o’clock. This quick movement sent excess line out toward the fly to minimize drag from intervening currents. I tried to replicate the effect with a typical mending February 2013
motion but found that his “flick” mend was far more effective. Of equal importance to the flick was the next move. Sebastian immediately raised as much line off the surface as possible without disturbing the drift. He explained that grayling are “quick strikers.” Hooking percentages dramatically improve when you maintain as little line on the water as possible while maintaining a drag-free drift. Doug and I worked on these techniques for a couple of hours. Just as we were becoming proficient at the flick mend and line lift, the sun sank behind the towering peaks and it was time to return to Lake Bled. As we were walking back to the car I asked Doug if he had learned anything today. He responded, “I learned that
I’m not as good a nymph fisherman as I thought I was.” I learned the same thing. The next morning, his family issue resolved, Rok picked us up for our last half day of fishing. In the afternoon Doug and I would pay penance for our fishing days by joining the bicycle tour group at our hotel in old town Ljubljana. But for half a day we would fish on the big river, the Sava. There, Rok promised we would be fishing for big, strong rainbows and Black Sea grayling. There are also some browns in this section of river. Our morning of fishing was again eventful. On this river of about 200 feet in width, Doug and I worked on our flick mends and line lifts. We hooked and landed some very strong
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fish, deep-bodied rainbows, grayling, and a single large brown. As we fished, I felt that my hooking percentage had dramatically improved. I started daydreaming about how I would use the flick mend and line lift techniques on my home waters of the Rio Grande and Conejos of New Mexico and Colorado. Doug and I wound up our half day on the Sava staring down from a bridge as Rok pointed out two large Danube salmon lying side by side in a deep pool. Not far away we could see a rainbow that had to weigh at least ten pounds quietly finning in the current. Another memorable river, another memorable day! Our stay in the medieval center of Ljubljana was not a letdown. There on the banks of the Ljubljanica River, the old town is a lively mix of riverside restaurants, open-air music, and winding alleys and pedestrian ways through medieval architecture. And overlooking it all is an impressive hilltop castle. Altogether we spent two weeks in Slovenia, which included several days bicycling along the Julian Alps and then into Italy and Austria. Along the way, we passed impressive ski resorts and extensive bicycle trails. We also visited southern Slovenia’s wine-producing region and limestone “karst” area of impressive caves. In addition, we took in a performance in Lipica at the Lippizzaner horse stud farm originally established 1580 by the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand. Finally, after a few days in the small but scenic coastal town of Piran, we left Slovenia for a three-day stay in Venice and our flight home. All in all, Slovenia and its neighboring countries offer many attractions for the traveler, but for a serious angler, none rival the beauty and quality of the rivers and fishery of Slovenia. As Kit and I flew home, I fondly recalled how this wonderful travel experience started on an airplane flight many years ago with the statement from a fellow fly fisher to “tell him to go to Slovenia.”—Bill Owen. Volume 26, Number 2
THE ANGLING REPORT Briefly Noted Things to Do . . . Places to Go . . . New Developments Remember those two new fishing areas on the north coast of Cuba that we told you about in the August 2012 issue, Cayo Santa Maria and Cayo Paredon? The former is a worldclass tarpon area and the latter is a permit area with goodly numbers of bonefish and some tarpon. We told you they were both going to be developed by Fabrizio Barbazza, the entrepreneur who developed the Cayo Largo fishery, which is known for outstripping all others in Cuba in Grand Slams. Although that information was correct at the time, it now seems that Avalon, the dominant player in Cuban fishing and the company that currently hosts fishermen on Cayo Largo as well as on and around Isla de la Juventud and the Queens Garden Archipelago, is going to take over Cayo Paredon. The politics behind the move are impossible to fathom. Suffice it to say that Avalon is a longtime operator with excellent government connections. They have operated in Cuba longer than anyone else, and the scale of their operation there is far larger and more successful than anyone else’s. Avalon, in fact, has grown of late into a very large recreational fishing company with a fleet of motherships and skiffs that is almost certainly second to none anywhere in the world. Cayo Paredon is a significant addition to Avalon’s total fishing area, as it encompasses some 366 square kilometers. It has been fished lightly by another company in recent years, but the pressure has been slight. Avalon, in its news release about taking over this area, is correct in describing the area as “virtually untouched . . . and one of the cleanest and most biologically diverse ecosystems we’ve ever fished.” For sure, the area is going to be a major permit destination. Much of the area has a very firm bottom, creating February 2013
the opportunity for wading fanatics to fish for permit successfully on foot. We hope the first subscribers into this area in search of permit will file reports. Send them to doncausey@angling report.com. The downside to this area, at present anyway, is the lack of experienced guides. Avalon admits to this problem on its Web site, requesting patience of clients while the guides are trained and skiffs are upgraded. On a transitional basis, Avalon plans to bring in experienced guides from Cayo Largo, who will be in charge of training and instructing those already on site. Interestingly, Avalon plans to accommodate fishermen here at
Hotel Casona de Romano in the town of Brasil. Avalon calls it the most unusual fishing lodge they have ever had the good fortune to fish from. The Avalon Web site describes it as a stately house built in 1919 for the owner of the town’s sugar cane factory. It has been fully renovated recently and upgraded to contemporary tourist standards. “The house has six double rooms and two single rooms, two of which have balconies overlooking the courtyard and church,” Avalon says. “The beds in each room are new and very comfortable. Each room is fully equipped with a private bath with lots of hot water, along with plenty of lights for reading at night
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and a small fridge for cold drinks. Each room also has an excellent A/C unit, along with a TV, just in case you feel the need to watch some absolutely dreadful Cuban television. The dining room is located on the first floor. It serves a variety of traditional Cuban food, with dinners ranging from fish and seafood to roast pork and chicken. The bar area is located just inside the main entrance to the house. It is fairly well stocked with rum, vodka, scotch, red and white wines from Spain, as well as both of Cuba’s domestic beer brands. The bar is quite possibly the source for the least expensive beer in all of Cuba. 1 CUC per beer is a true bargain, even by Cuban standards!” Avalon says its fishing programs at Cayo Paredon will start at 1,990 euros. More details are available at www.cubanfishingcenters.com. As for Fabrizio Barbazza and the two European agents who are handling all his bookings, Olivier Lauzanne of Planet Fly Fishing (www .planetflyfishing.com) and Christer Sjoberg of Solid Adventures (www .solidadventures.com), the trio plan to focus their efforts on Cayo Santa Maria and on a large, newly opened section of the Bay of Pigs fishery. The latter is particularly interesting because the Bay of Pigs has one of the most robust populations of bonefish in the world. Significantly, the new section of the Bay of Pigs that Barbazza has rights to fish is deeper than the section most anglers know. The hope is that the bonefish in this deeper section will be larger than those found in the currently open section. Also, there are indications that the new section will have a fishable number of permit and tarpon, as well as snook. An e-mail from Planet Flyfishing’s Olivier Lauzanne that came in near press time confirms these observations: “I fished the new Volume 26, Number 2
THE ANGLING REPORT Bay of Pigs area for a couple of hours recently, and I saw a lot of permit in the five- to ten-pound range along with many good-size bonefish weighing upward of four to five pounds,” he writes. “I’m sure we will find even better fish when we move farther into the new area.” Here at The Angling Report, we hope to have an on-site report about this new fishery soon. Don Causey Note: Occasionally I get subscriber reports that describe intriguing opportunities but that don’t provide enough information for me to put together a bona fide whereto-go report. Witness the following report I received recently from subscriber Dave Shorett, who tells me he knocked around the western Pacific many years ago while in the Peace Corps. He’s made recent trips to Kosrae, Yap, and Palau in the Caroline Islands and dipped his toe into the fly fishing potential of all three places. He is going back to the region soon with a green light from me to dig up all he can about the fly fishing potential throughout the area. Just so you know, I don’t think Shorett has stumbled onto the next Christmas Island, but I do find what he says about tarpon and trevally around Kosrae intriguing. To put you in the picture, Kosrae is one of the four federated states of Micronesia, which is situated north of Papua New Guinea. As for the flora and fauna and the attractions of Kosrae, here is what the Web site of a resort where Shorett stayed has to say about the island: “Beautiful Kosrae (pronounced Koshrye) is . . . a paradise for divers and adventurers alike, with the most beautiful white beaches in Micronesia. Called ‘The Sleeping Lady’ because of the shape of one of its picturesque mountains, Kosrae is covered with dense tropical jungles and high volcanic peaks, with lush river valleys and spectacular views. The island is surrounded by very healthy fringing reefs teeming with splendidly colorful tropical fish feeding off the spectacular corals. Visibility of the water often February 2013
exceeds 100 feet, which makes for perfect conditions to spot sea turtles, large rays, and other marine creatures. The coral reefs, which slope steeply into the clear blue depths, are one of the great attractions of the island.” With that introduction, here is what Shorett has to say about the fishing he found around Kosrae. I am putting Dave Shorett on The Angling Report’s subscriber Honor Roll, by the way, for filing this report. See page 2 for more information about our subscriber Honor Roll. “Being semi-retired, I’ve been fortunate enough to fish all over the United States and, to some extent, the tropics. One place I visited recently and plan to visit again is Kosrae, an island of about 6,000 people approximately eight hours from Honolulu by
commercial jet flight. From the air, as you approach Kosrae, you first see the island with its fringing reef and its spectacular blue and green waters, as well as some rivers flowing off mountainsides to the sea. If you look closely, you will also spot something called the Blue Hole inside the reef, beginning about 100 yards offshore. “I stayed in a nice motel-like resort in Kosrae (www.kosraenautilus .com) across the road from the Blue Hole. I almost died of sunstroke exploring the Blue Hole, by the way. Be careful if you come here. The sun is intense. Kosrae’s Blue Hole is roughly 200 yards in diameter and you can walk right up to the edge of it, where the coral drops off into deep blue water about 60 feet deep. It’s the finest
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saltwater fishing hole I’ve ever seen. It would take all day to fish clear around it. Using both spinning gear and fly fishing gear, I hooked several barracuda, snapper, and trevally, as well as fish that I had no way of identifying. Fish around Kosrae, I quickly learned, will not take a slow-moving lure or fly; you have to reel or strip at warp speed, and they come at your lure or fly at double warp speed, hitting harder than you can imagine. A five-pound trevally here fights as hard as any fish I’ve ever seen. They move blazing fast and will break you off before you realize what’s going on. “Back at the hotel, after resting up a bit after my Blue Hole excursion, I decided to exhaust myself even more by paddling one of the resort’s kayaks up a river behind the motel in search of barracuda and snapper. I was also intrigued by rumors that there were tarpon in the river. Indeed, those rumors proved to be accurate, as I personally landed one on a fly that weighed about 10 pounds. I saw many others. The tarpon hit a Clouser I had been throwing along a mangrove shoreline, occasionally taking small snapper. Suddenly, at one point when I made a cast into the middle of the river, I got a vicious hit. I promptly cruised through the area again and hooked a tarpon, which immediately went airborne several times. I eventually landed and released him. After that, I had no additional hits during the next hour. “The only other fishing I did around Kosrae was to go offshore one morning with a local Kosraen who hand-trolls 200-pound test monoline at 10 knots. He told me he once landed a 300-pound marlin that way. My own success that day was limited to hooking a yellowfin tuna that promptly stripped my fly reel and then a wahoo that chain-sawed through 60-pound test wire leader. “Kosrae has real sportfishing potential, I think; maybe no bonefish but certainly some tarpon and trevally and other game fish. The owner of the motel where I stayed, Doug BeVolume 26, Number 2
THE ANGLING REPORT itz, told me he is game to explore the potential with any anglers who would like to plan a visit. Here is what he had to say about the tarpon potential in an e-mail he sent me recently: “‘You ask about tarpon around Kosrae. Most of what I know about tarpon is secondhand, as I have not fished for them myself. It’s not uncommon at all for people to catch them in the channel behind our hotel, but they are usually around 18 to 24 inches long. My son tells me officials from a local environmental agency who came to his school to encourage children to look after the environment showed his class photos of tarpon four-plus feet long. These were apparently caught around the southern part of the island in the Utwe/Walung Biosphere Reserve. The locals don’t try to catch tarpon because they aren’t good eating. That’s all I know. Kind regards, Doug Beitz, Kosrae Nautilus Resort.’” Postscript: So, is the fishing around Kosrae worth additional exploration? I’ll leave that up to individual subscribers to decide. In my view, one thing that makes this fishery interesting is the paucity of knowledge about
Pacific tarpon. And you can rest assured there is indeed a Pacific tarpon. I have that from Dr. Jerald S. Ault, professor of marine biology and fisheries at the University of Miami. Dr. Ault is also on the board of Bonefish Tarpon Trust. Ault says Indo-Pacific tarpon (Megalops cyprinoides) are much smaller than the tarpon we are used to in North America. He says they do not get larger than one meter in length (about three feet) and about 50 pounds in weight. I’m sure Dr. Ault is correct about Indo-Pacific tarpon being on the small side, but what about those reports of fish measuring four feet? Was that just exaggeration on the part of schoolchildren, or are the tarpon around Kosrae an unstudied population of Indo-Pacific tarpon that grow a bit bigger than normal?
Correction I owe a big apology to subscriber Teri Beatty, whose report about a steelhead trip to the Lower Sacramento River in California appeared on page 12 of the January issue. Seems Teri is an active fly fisherwoman, not a fly fisherman, which is how I identified the author of that report. Moreover, I goofed describing the steelhead Teri caught. I said the first of the three steelhead she caught was a hen, when it was a buck. At least I got the other two correctly identified as hens. You can rest assured I am going to follow up more aggressively in the future when there is any ambiguity about the gender of a subscriber.—Don Causey. February 2013
And here’s another question: What’s wrong with catching tarpon up to 50 pounds in weight and three to four feet in length, along with trevally, if there are a lot of these fish around and they are eager eaters? Interestingly, as this issue went to press, I traded an e-mail with the owner of Kosrae Nautilus Resort, the place where Shorett stayed, exploring the possibility of an offer for a FREE fishing trip to explore this fishery in more depth. He said he was eager to do so, so you can look for an update in a future issue. If this fishery intrigues you and you would like to get into the running for this FREE fishing trip, all you have to do is upgrade your subscription to Online Extra. You can do so by going to our
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Web site, www.anglingreport.com, or by calling Edi Bell at 800-272-5656. Just do so quickly, as the FREE trip invitation for this trip will be going out very soon to Online Extra subscribers, inviting everyone on the list to spell out why he or she should be chosen for this trip. For sure, an old tarpon hand with wide experience at chasing silver kings will get the nod for this trip. Enjoy! Mention Belize and most anglers immediately think of permit followed by bonefish and tarpon. But this Central American country also has a good number of snook, as witness the following report sent to us by Don Muelrath of Fly Fishing Adventures (www.flyfishbelize.com). Seems Muelrath works closely with captain and guide Dean Myers, who has made a name for himself operating mothership trips in Belize. He has two motherships these days. The original Meca, which is still in operation, is the boat built by legendary Belize guide Martin McCord, who died from a hereditary heart condition in 2006. Myers worked as first mate with McCord for many years. Myers’s newest mothership is Rising Tide, a luxury 58-foot Hatteras. Both motherships tow skiffs behind for fishing the flats. Anglers use the motherboats as bases of operations while fishing both north and south of Belize City, mostly for permit. Muelrath calls these trips “the finest permit adventures on the globe,” and we would love to have an on-site report from a subscriber substantiating that claim. At any rate, over the years, Muelrath says Belize guides have regaled him with tales about the number of snook that can be seen and caught in the months of November, December, and January, when they are spawning. This past December, he finally took Captain Myers up on his offer to prove just how many large snook can be found in Belize during that time. He describes the trip they made as follows. “Over the years, the guides I Volume 26, Number 2
THE ANGLING REPORT work with in Belize have been telling me that if you want to fish for snook, you should come in November, December, and January. The numbers and size of fish are supposed to be at their peak then. I finally decided to give this fishing a try this past winter. A small group of us chartered Rising Tide to use as a comfortable base of operations. As usual, the food aboard this boat was outstanding and the guides excellent. The weather for six of our seven days was the best I’ve ever seen in my 60-plus trips to Belize. The humidity was low, the wind was very light, and temperatures ranged from the low to mid-80s. There were three of us fishing. We covered the coastline from roughly 30 miles north and south of Belize City. Our focus was entirely on snook, with baby tarpon occasionally in the mix, since they frequent many of the same environments as snook. While casting for snook, we jumped more than 30 baby tarpon and boated nine during the week.
“As for snook, we had our flies into two that weighed more than 20 pounds but we couldn’t hold them. When a fish that big gets within five feet of the mangrove edge, he becomes supercharged and something
always seems to give. We did manage to boat a few fish over 15 pounds, and we had other double-digit fish that broke off on the mangrove edges. We explored a lot of new water that I’d never fished in all my years in Belize,
along with a lot of my favorite snook haunts around Belize City. One day on this trip we realized what I consider the ultimate snook fantasy. Imagine a stretch of mangrove shoreline about 50 yards long. In about two hours, we took 20 snook and three baby tarpon from that stretch and hooked at least twice that many. The fish we tangled with included a 20-plus pounder we spotted on the flat about 30 yards off the mangroves. I hooked him up and had him on for about 10 minutes until he made his final lunge for the roots. Somehow, he got my 40-pound leader caught on his gill plates and cut me off. What a great thrill! We didn’t rig a bonefish or permit fly the whole week, opting to focus entirely on snook. That’s certainly not a standard Belize fishing trip, but it was enjoyable and I would do it again in a heartbeat.” Postscript: Don Muelrath can be reached by e-mail at flyfish@napanet .net. His Web address is www.flyfish belize.com.
OUTFITTER CRITIQUES
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly This section of The Angling Report is based entirely on subscriber-written Fishing Trip Report Forms. Our policy on these forms is to publish excerpts in the newsletter of Angler Network Forms as received without censorship. Agents, guides, lodge operators, and/or outfitters who disagree with anything said about them in this section are free to submit a rebuttal. As a subscriber, you can help extend the reach of this program by filing a Fishing Trip Report Form yourself. You should find one inside this issue of your newsletter. Alternately, you can file a report online by going to our Web site, www.anglingreport.com, and clicking on “File a Report.” For details about how to do custom searches for Angler Network Reports on our Web site, see page 2 of this issue.
Subscriber George R. Kawchak Jr. has good things to say about an Atlantic salmon trip to the Dartmouth, St. Jean, and York rivers in Quebec handled for him this past July by Quebec Sporting (www.quebec sporting.com). He says he caught and released only one salmon (a 12 pounder) in a week of fishing, but he says his lack of success was no fault of Quebec Sporting or his personal guides, Jason Sams and Austin Clark. He writes: “Anyone who fished this area February 2013
of Quebec last year will tell you the fishing was tough. Our guides, Jason Sams and Austin Clark, put us on fish every day. It wasn’t their fault the fish were just sulking on the bottom. We tried every trick in the book and then some to get them to react. I’ve fished with Quebec Sporting three out of four years. I will keep coming back despite the lack of success this past year. Ann Smith’s Quebec Sporting runs like a well-oiled machine. She puts great guides on the best water. That is a super combination of ingredients.”
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Kawchak gives the cost of his weeklong trip as $4,000, not including airfare. He notes there are plenty of activities in the area for non-fishermen, including golf, sightseeing, whale watching, and shopping. He recommends his trip to fellow subscribers who are hooked on Atlantic salmon. Subscriber Ben Rader has good things to say about a sailfishing trip to Iztapa, Guatemala, handled for him in February 2012 by Niels ErichVolume 26, Number 2
THE ANGLING REPORT sen of Pacifica Fins, booking agent Scott Ruprecht of Sportfishing Worldwide (www.sfww.com). Rader says he caught a number of sailfish using conventional trolling methods, but he also landed two on the fly. In all, he says he had seven shots at sailfish on the fly. “It was very exciting watching the crew tease sailfish to the boat and then trying to entice them to take your fly. This trip was a real bucket list kind of outing for me. The idea of catching a sailfish on the fly has intrigued me for quite a while.” Rader singles out owner Niels Erichsen for special praise, noting he is “serious about his resort. He makes things happen for you. He has his hands in everything. He talks to his clients and even takes their dinner orders. He does all the things that make a trip go well. I highly recommended this trip.” Subscriber Elgan M. Ridley III says the trip to Crooked Island Lodge that Scott Heywood of Angling Destinations (www.anglingdestinations .com) booked for him and his son last June was memorable in a number of ways. For one thing, it was his son’s first bonefish trip. In fact, it was his first saltwater fishing trip, period. Here is how he and his son describe the trip: “After casting his 8 wt. across the backyard pool for two months, my son, Sam (14), and I found ourselves stepping off a Bahamas Air flight onto Crooked Island last spring on a trip to Crooked Island Lodge arranged for us by Angling Destinations. Cynthia, the lodge manager, met us at the airport with a big smile and an air-conditioned van to transport us to the lodge approximately 20 minutes away. Because the flight from Nassau was full, no luggage was brought to Crooked Island that day. All 30-plus passengers were told they should not expect their luggage until the following day. Luckily, I always carry rods, reels, and enough clothing in my carry-on bag to go fishing. “We were the only anglers at the February 2013
lodge that week, so Cynthia offered to provide us meals whenever we wanted them. For sure, the food left nothing to be desired. The dinners were more than ample: salads followed by lobster, snapper, grouper, topped off with fresh cakes. We were spoiled with great food and service all week. Our guides for the week— Randy, Michael, and Jeffrey—all had well-kept flats skiffs, and they were eager to help us find fish. All three were patient and helpful coaches for Sam. It turned out that Sam hooked the first bonefish he cast to, and he went on to land several more that first day. This is how the fishing trip played out from his perspective: “‘As this was my first bonefishing experience and my first trip to the Bahamas, I really didn’t know
what to expect. I can honestly say I didn’t expect the lodge to be as nice as it was, considering the fact that it was on an island in the middle of nowhere. I loved the place! My first day at the dock I was pretty sure the fishing would be good but I doubted my ability to catch a bonefish. After all, I had never caught one before, and I was relatively new to fly fishing. As you can probably imagine, I was pretty surprised by what happened as we (my guide Randy and I) poled down a shoreline that morning. Pretty soon, Randy spotted a single bonefish and pointed it out to me. I promptly cast my Gotcha fly within a few feet of it, and it positively charged my fly. I set the hook and
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fought the fish for a minute or two before it managed to get away. What an awesome experience! I went on to catch several bonefish that day, plus a 15-pound tarpon that my dad hooked and passed on to me. We also saw a permit that day, though we didn’t have any luck getting him to eat. “‘After a fun day of fishing, it was nice to come back and chill on the beach. I built a fire pit, made a fire, and we listened to music and talked until late. We ended up doing that every night we were there. It was really great sitting out there every night by the fire with my dad, relaxing and talking and just spending time together. Over the next few days we fished with three different guides. Randy, our first guide, took us bonefishing. Michael, our second guide, took us snapper fishing with live bait because the weather was cloudy. We caught a mutton snapper that day that really tasted great, plus I jumped a 50-pound tarpon in the afternoon. Jeffrey was our third guide. He was quiet but funny and cool to be around . . . like on my last day when he took us wadefishing: he and I just walked and talked about sports and life in general. He was a cool guy all around. Wade fishing was great because aside from walking close to an eight-foot nurse shark, we found some schools of at least 200 bonefish. You didn’t even have to be a good caster to get one, which was great for me because I get frustrated when I can’t cast well. I think if I had to pick one thing about Crooked Island that I liked the most, it would be the people. They were always nice and helpful. I think my father and I both gained ten pounds each. The one thing I hated was that I could not catch a barracuda. I hooked several during the week but could not land one. I loved the trip in just about every other way possible, however. The best thing of all was spending a lot of time with my dad.’” Postscript: Ridley gives the cost of this trip as $2,500 per person. Volume 26, Number 2
THE ANGLING REPORT And Finally
A Few Words about Families and Fly Fishing Trips By Don Causey In a recent issue, I brought up the idea that fly fishing anglers who want to take their spouses and kids along on trips may not be getting the service they need from booking agents and lodges. Well, that is not true by any means. It turns out that a number of agents have addressed this need in a big way, and a lot of fishing lodges are working hard to accommodate families. What follows is a heavily edited synopsis of some feedback I got last month from a cross section of fishing professionals after I dropped them a note about the possible unmet needs of fly fishing families who want to travel together. My apologies to lodge owners and agents who are not mentioned. Follow-up comment is welcome. • Mike Fitzgerald Jr. of Frontiers (www.frontierstravel.com): Family fishing travel is a subject that we discuss frequently at Frontiers. The opportunities available today are more numerous than they were 20 years ago. There are a number of outstanding full-service family guest ranches in the American West, for example, that provide a lot of activities for young children all the way up through young adulthood. Many of these ranches also have excellent fishing guides and provide convenient access to high quality trout fishing. In the saltwater realm, there are great hotels now throughout the Keys dedicated to family travel. Many of them can arrange for daily flats fishing. In the Bahamas, a family can book a great hotel in Freeport, for example, and arrange for excellent guided bonefishing a short drive from town. There are also options available on Abaco and Long Island and in the Turks and Caicos. In Mexico, families can stay in an all-inclusive family resort on the Yucatan Peninsula and arrange for excellent fishing nearby for bonefish, permit, and other species. As for family-oriented offshore angling, there are great opportunities on Mexico’s Baja Peninsula and in February 2013
countries like Costa Rica. On the lodge front, a number of properties have moved recently toward better accommodating families. El Pescador Lodge on Ambergris Caye in Belize, for example, used to be almost exclusively fishing oriented. The new owners there have put in swimming pools, built family-friendly accommodations, and greatly expanded the number of sightseeing and water sports activities. Turneffe Flats is another lodge that has become more family friendly. Its Atoll Adventure Program offers snorkeling, wildlife viewing, birding, exploring, and so on.
A good illustration of what is going on in family fishing travel is provided by the recent trajectory of activities at High Lonesome Ranch in Colorado. This ranch opened primarily as a fly fishing, wingshooting, and big game hunting lodge, but the owners have recently enhanced the experience by bringing in a world-class chef and setting up a number of dude ranch–type programs. The owner of High Lonesome has also bought Deep Water Cay Lodge in the Bahamas. I vacationed there in June with my fiancé and her two children, neither of whom are fly fishers. Between the snorkeling, dive instruction, reef fishing, sea kayaking, biking, and so forth, we all had plenty of things to do every day other than fishing. Of course, I fished myself and had a wonderful time! The home we
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stayed in was fabulous. Interestingly, we were at the lodge during a particularly busy time, and virtually all of the groups at the lodge were families. There were plenty of teenagers around. To be sure, there are lodges where it does not make business sense for the owner to launch a family-oriented program. They are just too remote or in an area that is too rugged. Some lodges feel they are in a position to welcome children, but only those of a certain age. Still other lodges welcome younger kids as long as the family brings a nanny along or designates a family member to watch the children at all times. These kinds of restrictions are usually rooted in safety considerations, though there are also lodges that are particularly hardcore fishing oriented or simply more adult oriented. This is where an agency like ours becomes particularly valuable. An important part of our job is accurately matching clients with travel facilities. That means steering families away from some lodges. Other times, it means finding out who else is booked at a specific lodge during the proposed dates. There are some lodges that are ideal for a family trip but only if they are booked entirely by a single family. • Andrew Bennett of Deneki Outdoors (www.deneki.com): This is a topic that’s near and dear to my heart! At Deneki Outdoors, we absolutely love hosting families. For one thing, it’s a lot of fun for us. Kids are so enthusiastic, happy to be outside, and thrilled to catch anything from dollies to snappers to kings to bonefish. Having kids around camp changes the mood in an overwhelmingly positive way. We absolutely love our regular customers, of course, but having a 12 year old in your boat is a refreshing change after 41 consecutive days with a couple of 55-year-old doctors. (Note to 55-year-old doctors: really, we love you, but variety is nice!). The bonding that takes place among family members on Volume 26, Number 2
THE ANGLING REPORT a river or on a flat is irreplaceable. One family that has joined us many times in Alaska tells us that they plan their travel together, they budget and save for the trip together, they pack their gear together. In the course of doing all this, the parents are passing on skills and attitudes that apply to life in general, not just to fishing. Here’s a direct quote from a father’s e-mail: “We will eternally be grateful to Deneki Outdoors. The experiences we have had at Alaska West have become a significant part of our plan for raising our kids.” At Deneki Outdoors, we openly promote our love for hosting family trips. I write about it on our blog all the time. Here’s one recent example: www .deneki.com/2012/03/family-fishing -trips. We never give last-minute discounts or slash prices for “normal anglers.” The only discounts we offer are to guests who want to bring their kids along. They get a significant break on their kids’ trips. Sorry for the long-winded response. I get pretty wound up about this subject. I’m a family man myself, and I do everything I can to encourage families to join us! • Pat Pendergast of the Fly Shop (www .theflyshop.com): The Fly Shop does a lot of family trips, both internationally and domestically. Over the years, we have worked with families as small as four to six and as large as a dozen or better. We are currently helping a family of seven arrange a trip to El Saltamontes in Chile, one of the best family destinations I know of anywhere in the world. Additionally, we help arrange many family trips to our domestic destinations, especially our local private waters here in northern California. We arrange at least a dozen or more family trips a year to Antelope Creek Lodge, Mike and Bertha Michalak’s private fly fishing ranch. Further, we schedule Family Camps at Antelope Creek Lodge each summer. Initially, I thought of these trips as a loss leader, but after several years of sold-out Family Camps, I am now a believer. Please tell any of your subscribers with families that we can book them a family trip, and we will work extra hard to ensure everyone has a good trip. Most February 2013
of us here have kids ourselves. We know, at a certain age, that kids like to stomp around, cry, yell, and carry on in one way or another, but we still take our own kids fishing, and we do so at carefully selected lodges. Along with the bad behavior, kids also bring excitement, fun, and a fresh way of looking at things. It’s important that we ingrain the sporting life in our kids at a young age. We all need to help jump-start the next generation of this industry. • Peter Mantle of the Delphi Club on Abaco Island in the Bahamas (www .delphi-bahamas.com): Regarding your upcoming piece on families and fishing travel, I can only speak for our lodge, but there is no ban on children, least of all on young or would-be fly fishers. We have always encouraged the next generation, although as a matter of
practicality, they tend to be aged 10 or 12 before they really get the bug. We have had quite a few kids (including younger ones) at the club, either to fish or more commonly as part of a family house party (with a whole-lodge booking). Given our format and location, however, there are practical issues, particularly with very small kids: poisonous plants, unguarded pool, the beach cliff, other high elevations, see-through steps, etcetera. Also, we cannot ignore the fact that many of our guests, particularly middle-aged couples, are coming to get away from kids and noise. We have also had unfortunate damage to antique furniture and upholstery. Our dinner format is somewhat adult in tone, as well. When people ask about bringing children, we explain the context care-
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fully and, to be honest, most then come without them unless it’s a house party. I am not entirely convinced that this is a big issue, at least for us. It very rarely arises and is always resolved amicably. • Ian Davis at Yellow Dog Flyfishing Adventures (www.yellowdogflyfishing .com): Here at Yellow Dog Flyfishing, our family fishing program is our fastest growing division, which I would estimate to be around 20 to 25 percent of our total business. This is no accident. Between our two families, my business partner, Jim Klug, and I have six kids under the age of nine, so we know firsthand the value in traveling with your family to fishing destinations. Quite a few years ago, at the Somerset, New Jersey, fly fishing show, many of our existing clients conveyed to us that they could no longer do their usual Yellow Dog trips anymore. This was simply because they started having kids and felt they had to vacation at more family-oriented destinations. A light bulb went off in our heads, and we created very specific and wellstructured family and couples programs. This allowed our valued clients to take their families and non-anglers with them on their next fishing trip. At that time, we already worked with a handful of operations that had the infrastructure in place to host anglers and non-anglers alike. All we had to do was identify additional destinations that could specifically accommodate families and couples and then integrate them into our existing programs. We have been helping to plan fun vacations for families and couples now for over a decade. The parts of the world where we can accommodate families include Argentina, the Bahamas, Belize, and Mexico, among others. Of course, we can also work with families at many places out West. No matter where our customers want to go, we try to make the booking process as easy as possible. Our bottom-line concern is matching a family with a destination that is well-suited for everyone in that family. This requires thorough planning and attention to detail. It requires learning as much as possible about all of the family members. We need to know details such as the ages of the kids, whether Volume 26, Number 2
THE ANGLING REPORT they will fish, what type of activities they prefer, what they like to eat, if a crib is required, and if a nanny will be coming along. We try to help make a family vacation fun for everyone, including mom and dad, who understandably want to have a quiet dinner together at least once or
some time to get out and fish together for a half day. In that connection, by the way, most of our Yellow Dog family destinations have babysitters on staff. Mom and dad aside, we have learned that it is very important that a family fishing trip be oriented around the kids and non-anglers.
That’s the key to a fishing family’s ability to continue to travel together. Take your family to a fishing destination not wellsuited for children and non-anglers and that will likely be the last family fishing vacation you take. I hope some of your subscribers will give us a call.
Back of the Book All items in this section are paid advertisements. They are published as a reader service. For more details on our ad rates and policies, contact Edi Bell, The Angling Report, 12182 SW 128 Street, Miami, FL 33186-5230. Tel. 305-253-5301. Fax 305-253-5532.
February 2013
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Volume 26, Number 2
THE ANGLING REPORT
CHILEAN PATAGONIA PUMA II, our floating lodge, was christened in 2009. This custom-built, 60-foot yacht accommodates six in its three staterooms, each with its own bathroom and shower. Fish the bays and rivers on the 28-mile-long Yelcho Lake. Dry fly fish for true trophy rainbows and browns, the closest thing to flats fishing there is in freshwater. Two world-record-weight rainbows brought to net during the 2010–2011 season: 34 pound, 13 ounce on 2x, and 29 pound, 14 ounce on 3x. BOTH ON DRY FLIES! PUMA LODGE is located on the Yelcho River halfway between the lake and the ocean. It offers 50 miles of pristine fishing for rainbows, browns, and Chinooks. This first-class lodge boasts a hot tub and accommodates eight. From these two bases of operation we offer a wide range of options based on the time of year and weather conditions in order to maximize your angling experience and address your fishing preferences in a positive manner, making your trip not just a fishing trip, but . . . A FISHING TRIP OF A LIFETIME. We also offer nature and glacier treks and excursions to Doug Tompkins’s world-acclaimed ecopark, Parque Pumalin, which is adjacent to the lodge. Contact: Stephen Selway DVM • www.pumafishing.com E-mail: fishhorsesjs@aol.com Tel/Fax: 954-609-7355 Tel/Fax (December 1–April 30): 954-922-5389 Tel/Fax (May 1–November 30): 516-775-0827 The Best of New Zealand Fly Fishing
Fly Fish for Redfish Year-Round
For more than 20 years, we have specialized exclusively in New Zealand fishing and travel. Fly fishing is our central focus, but we are experts in many other activities available in New Zealand. We create exclusive fishing programs, as well as sightseeing and other nature-based activities. Call for a brochure or visit New Zealand’s most exciting fishing site.
Specializing in fly fishing, catch and release. Accommodations for up to eight guests. Six flats boats running. Capt. Gregg Arnold Tel.: 504-237-6742 www.Laredfish.com
Mike McClelland Tel.: 800-528-6129 E-mail: info@BestofNZ.net www.BestofNZflyfishing.com
February 2013
Galapagos Islands Marlin More marlin than anyone, anywhere, anytime! www.ecuagringo.com E-mail: ecuagringo@hotmail.com
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Contact us for your free copy of our new 2013 Yellow Dog catalog and international trip planner. “We’re the difference between a good trip and a GREAT trip!” Yellow Dog Flyfishing Adventures 888-777-5060 or 406-585-8667 www.yellowdogflyfishing.com
CUBAN FLYFISHERS For unspoiled bonefishing in the Caribbean starting at $2,300 US for six days’ fishing. Seven nights, all meals, and ground transport included. Permit and tarpon, too. E-mail: mike@cubawelcome.com (UK and Havana offices) www.cubawelcome.com
Volume 26, Number 2