NEWSLETTER #11 -
APRIL 2003
TOPICS IN THIS ISSUE
-
French Polynesia
Bonefish Report
-
New Fly Fisher
Adventure
-
Leland Night This Wed
-
Great Family Adventure
For Those Without Much Time Available
-
Fantasy Week In Belize
-
Early Season Alaska
Rainbow Trips/Special Rate
This is the eleventh edition of our
monthly newsletter with updates on great fly fishing
venues and insights for our traveling fly fishers.
We want to help you match the right location with
your fly fishing goals and objectives and properly
prepare you to fully enjoy the experience. We’ve
been to most locations and pride ourselves on our
ability to research new ones. Whatever unbiased
information on timing and locations we can provide
comes at the same cost to you as booking direct –
i.e., no extra cost.
FRENCH POLYNESIA BONEFISH REPORT:
As referenced in the last newsletter,
my wife and I stopped in French Polynesia on the way
home from our New Zealand stay. The purpose was to
pursue some of the large bonefish being reported in
some of the newly discovered fisheries in this
area. We spent a week fishing the atoll of Tetiaroa,
a stunningly beautiful collection of small islands,
flats, and lagoons enclosed in a barrier reef with a
diameter of about three miles. Located just a
twenty minute flight from Tahiti, it is easily
accessed by daily flights.
THE RECAP:
-
Large bonefish: yes,
we saw fish that would have gone 12 or more pounds.
-
The group of four
(mostly) experienced salt water fly fishermen who
were there with me took fish of 6,7, and 9 pounds,
but not many. On a per person basis, it was one
fish taken per two or three days fishing.
Conditions appeared to be tough with warm weather
and high water temperatures, but other reports I
have show similar results.
-
Accommodations:
Charming thatched bungalows without fans or A/C –
electricity is limited.
-
Bugs: Mosquitoes are a
constant irritant – netting around the beds is
imperative
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Food: good with
dinners best.
-
Guides: good – the
owner of the fly fishing operation is a delightful
New Zealander who’s made a commitment to exploring
French Polynesia and setting up fishing operations.
-
Issue: limited flats
that appear to receive a lot of pressure for their
size– very spooky fish.
-
Non-fishing spouse:
bird island and great snorkeling – not much else
happening which is part of the attraction.
-
Recommendation: If you
were in Tahiti/French Polynesia and wanted a shot at
a big bone, worth giving a try for two or three
days, but not worth a trip just to fish this atoll.
French Polynesia continues to be an
area with mixed results. Exploration continues by
many different operations with sporadic exciting
reports, but nothing conclusive. If exploring salt
water with a fly rod is your thing, it could be
interesting spending a few weeks checking out the
entire area.
NEW FLY FISHER ADVENTURE:
For new fly fishers, young or old,
nothing is better for excitement and confidence
building than locations where there is lots of
action on the surface without the necessity of long,
accurate casts. One of the great dry fly
destinations (during the right time frame) is Moose
Lake Lodge in British Columbia. This is an Orvis
endorsed wilderness, fly-in lodge that accesses
rivers like the Upper Dean and the Blackwater via
fly outs. Great scenery, food, and overall
operation. We’ve had clients visit Moose Lake
during their premium dry fly season and have 100+
fish days, all on dry flies. We have space during
the peak season still available for this summer.
LELAND NIGHT THIS WED (4/2) IN
LAFAYETTE SHOP:
-
We’re having a special Leland evening
in the Lafayette Leland shop this Wed from 5 – 8pm.
Twice during the evening (6:00 and 7:30) we’ll be
presenting a 30 minute slide show titled “Flyrodding
Earth’s Pristine Destinations.” Also, we’ll be
answering questions and showing slides of many great
fly fishing destinations for this summer. Lots of
stuff going on including:
-
Basic to intermediate
fly tying demonstrations
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Refreshments served
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Powell Fly Rod Raffle
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Bring in your reels and
Leland will clean your lines and check your butt
leader.
-
Come in and say hi.
LIMITED TIME FAMILY FLY FISHING
LOCATION:
The Jackson Hole/Eastern Idaho area
offers so much for families that love the outdoors
and fly fishing. One of the very best adventures
can be a four-day, three-night trip to this area
that’s built around the overnight float trip through
the South Fork of the Snake River canyon. There are
different options in constructing this trip – give a
call if you’d like to get more info.
NEWS FROM BELIZE:
There is still space available for
our Leland Belize mothership trip 9/19 – 26. You
may remember we reported that Mike Sheele released
three permit on a Mexican Yucatan trip in early ’02
– it appears three is the magic number for Mike as
he released three more on a Belize Meca trip in
early March. Art Hinckley is a Belize regular
taking two trips a year with Martin McCord aboard
the Meca. Usually, Art only fishes permit, but on
his February trip, he was accompanied by some
friends that wanted to do some tarpon fishing.
Art’s trip report is below. My disclaimer is that
this should be considered a “fantasy trip” – i.e.,
this is what can happen when you hit it perfect.
“We had a really good trip. The
weather was good all week. The first two days, we
fished for tarpon close to where Martin keeps the
Meca docked. The first day, I hooked four about
60-80lbs., but didn’t land any. Steve and Mike each
hooked one but didn’t land them and Mike caught a
snook. The next day we fished for tarpon again
close to the mainland. We found tailing tarpon as
you saw on your January trip. To make a long story
short, Steve hooked six and landed two, both a
little over 100lbs. I hooked three and got one
about 90lbs. right next to the boat, but the shock
tippet wore through and broke. Mike hooked three
and fought one about 100lbs. for two and one half
hours. He ended up in the Belize River when the fly
pulled out just as he was about to land the tarpon.
The next day, we moved south about two hours to
begin permit fishing and I got two small ones the
first day there. The next morning, I probably had
about 10 great shots before breakfast, but didn’t
catch any. Mike and Steve had several good shots
also, but didn’t catch any either. After breakfast,
the fishing slowed. The next morning, Steve caught
a 17lb. permit before breakfast. After breakfast I
caught an 8lb. and a 12lb. permit. During lunch, we
moved to some flats about 20 miles south. Action
was slow and we didn’t catch any. We moved back
north to the original flats where we’d caught all
the fish. I caught a 13lb. permit, but it was a
fairly slow day. The last morning before we left I
got one small fish and Steve caught a 15lb. permit.
Also, during the week I hooked four other permit
that got off after a second or two. Mike had two
eat his crab, but neither one got hooked. The new
crab fly worked great except that the hook turned
over too easily. All the fish that ate except one
were caught on that fly. Eight permit released in
four days is a new Meca record and Martin was very
excited. I wonder how many we might have caught if
we
wouldn’t have spent two days fishing
for tarpon?”
Art
EARLY SEASON ALASKA RAINBOWS:
The most predictable time to try for
Alaska’s big rainbows with a dry fly is the early
season, before any of the salmon have entered the
rivers. We have space with two different operations
(float trip and lodge) held for those who may be
interested in pursuing this opportunity.
Lodge: Rainbow River Lodge is
offering a “two for one” package during the weeks of
6/14 – 21 and 6/21-28. Regular rate of $3,900 per
person is good for two people during these weeks.
Fly outs are extra, but because of their location on
one of the world’s great rainbow trout waters, the
Copper River, you shouldn’t need to fly unless you
want to.
Float Trip: One of Alaska’s premier
float trip operators has space for an adventure on a
“world class” ‘bow river from 6/22 – 28. Price is
$3,190pp.
Either call or drop us an e-mail if
you have questions or would like more information
about any of our destinations.
An enthusiastic traveling fly
fisherman,
Don Muelrath
Leland Fly Fishing Adventures
888-347-4896
flyfish@napanet.net
www.flyfishingoutfitters.com
e-mail Josh Frazier at
Josh@flyfishingoutfitters.com
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