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NEWSLETTER #16 -
SEPTEMBER 2003
If you have access to
Microsoft Word, open the attachment above to see the
information below in a more “reader friendly”
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Leland Fly Fishing Travel Newsletter – September ‘03
TOPICS IN THIS ISSUE:
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Brazil Peacock Bass Adventure Planned For Early
’04
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Update for ’04: Dean River Steelies
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Dean River/Moose Lake Lodge Combo Trip Report
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What Happened To The Sacred Permit Crab Fly? –
Belize Update
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Patagonia
Special Offered By Top Lodge
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Update for ’04: Kamchatka Adventure
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November Skeena R. Steelhead trip
This is the sixteenth 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 sites. 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.
AMAZON PEACOCK BASS TRIP PLANNED
Karl Kirbus, co-manager of the San Francisco shop,
is putting together a small group of adventurers to
visit Brazil in the early part of ’04 in pursuit of
the giant peacock bass and other tropical species
that swim in this rainforest watershed. The venture
is in it’s early planning stages (dates aren’t even
set yet). If you have any interest, give us a call
to discuss.
DEAN RIVER ’04 – A WAITING GAME
We’re still waiting for the calendar and
availability to be finalized for the ’04 season for
John Blackwell’s lower Dean River Lodge. For those
of you that have contacted us regarding space on the
Dean for next year, your inquiries have been
recorded and we’re just waiting to see how things
are going to shake out to respond to you. One thing
that has been decided – the combination week dates
for the split trip (Dean River Lodge and Moose Lake
trout lodge) will be July 3 – 10, ’04. A trip
report from this years combo trip follows.
DEAN RIVER/MOOSE LAKE LODGE COMBINATION TRIP REPORT
Bob and John Noyes were on the combo trip this
summer and Bob put together a fine report on the
experience. The entire report is available via
e-mail – following are some excerpts that help
define the dual nature of the trip:
“…...the reel sings and keeps on singing…..you think
you are in control, but really know you aren’t…..in
and out, back and forth….which muscles – yours or
the fish will get tired first…..bring it to shore….a
15 pound-male silver dollar- sea lice covered
steelhead…..after dinner we fly to Moose Lake Lodge
and get ready for three days of fly-ins to streams
fished by no more that 8 to 10 people the whole
summer……..40 to 50 rainbows each day on a 4 weight
using dry flies…..12 – 14 inch feisty rainbows all
day long kind of fishing.”
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SACRED PERMIT CRAB FLY? –
BELIZE REPORT
Last month’s newsletter featured a report on an
early August permit trip aboard the Seaduction in
Belize – that report missed a very interesting
fact. The guys hooked 7 permit on the trip -- none
of them on the traditional crab fly. All were taken
on a Peterson Spawning Shrimp. One advantage to a
shrimp pattern on the coral flats of Belize is that
it can be stripped, keeping it from coming in
contact with the turtle grass/coral bottoms whereas
the crab pattern doesn’t fish well with much
movement. However, the crab fought back two weeks
later when Winston Moore and Nick Koontz, fishing
from the Meca, hooked 13 permit, all on standard
crab patterns.
Tarpon: while the above two referenced trips fished
permit exclusively, two veterans of the Belize
mothership trip, Bill Spence and Greg Weaver,
released several species including three large
tarpon on an early September trip.
TOP PATAGONIA LODGE OFFERS SPECIAL “DEAL”
One of our favorite Patagonia locations in the
Chilean Andes, Isla Monita Lodge, is offering a
special discount for the ’04 season to attempt to
entice some more travelers from the US. If you have
a son or daughter of any age that you’d like to
travel and fish with, they are offering a half price
program for the offspring who accompanies you. Isla
Monita fishes an outstanding array of water. The
largest brown trout I’d ever taken previous to New
Zealand, about seven pounds, was taken there in
addition to some other very large rainbows on drys.
This particular area of the Andes is my favorite for
many reasons – presents many great options both for
fishing and non-fishing activities. Have a slide
presentation available for those wanting more
information.
UPDATE FOR ’04: KAMCHATKA ADVENTURE
If you’ve got a hankering to go exploring with your
fly rod on the Russian Kamchatka Penninsula,
consider this: we have a working relationship with
the outfitters who did some of the original
exploring of this vast wilderness fourteen years
ago. Today, they operate only a limited number of
float trips on some of the penninsula’s most
pristine waters; rivers, which in some cases, they
have the only available permits to float/fish.
These are waters that aren’t being floated by the
big commercial outfits. They put together
personalized agendas for groups of six. We’re
holding space during the prime dry fly season (mid
July) and putting a shop group together for next
year. I just got off the phone with the
owner/operator and he told me of a trip they had
this summer where two fly fishers on their first fly
fishing trip ever, took rainbows on the surface of
30 and 31 inches. This definitely is a rugged
adventure that is not for everyone, but if you’re
bitten by the Russian wilderness bug, give us a
call.
NOVEMBER SKEENA TRIP – SPACE AVAILABLE
Jeff Bright is an outstanding author, photographer,
and most important, steelhead junkie. He spends
whatever time he can each year chasing the silver
bullets. He’s on his way to the Skeena River system
the first week in November to scratch his itch and
has room for a few good men to join him. November
on the Skeena can be very good – it can be cool and
rainy, but that’s a small price to pay to miss the
crowds there earlier in the season. Call for more
details.
Either phone 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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