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NEWSLETTER #21 -
FEBRUARY 2004
If you have access to Microsoft Word, open the
attachment above to see the information below in a
more “reader friendly” format.
Leland Fly Fishing Travel Newsletter – February, ‘04
TOPICS IN THIS ISSUE:
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Discounted Poronui Ranch Offer
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Leland At San Mateo Show – Presentation On
Thursday
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My Schedule – Gone to Fiji And New Zealand
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Fly Fishing Quips and Quotes
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Exciting Time Of Year For Fly Fishers
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Learning to Fly Fish The Hard Way
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Shop Trip To Belize Has Two Openings
This is the twenty-first 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.
PORONUI RANCH (New Zealand) – DISCOUNTED TRIP
Yep, we have a 25% discount on a trip to one of the
globes finest fly fishing lodges – Poronui Ranch on
New Zealand’s North Island. A few catches: the
week is Feb 21 – 28, just four weeks from now. The
regular price is $3,250. This is one of our Leland
shop weeks (Josh will be there for most of the week)
and we had a last minute cancellation. Rather than
forfeit the money paid, the fly fisher holding the
spot is willing to discount it. If interested and
can travel on short notice – call me ASAP.
LELAND’S AT SAN MATEO INTERNATIONAL SPORTSMAN SHOW
Show opens Wed, 1/28. Come by and visit us at the
Leland’s booth. We’ll also be making a presentation
on Belize and New Zealand in the Fly Fishing
Threatre. If you’re at the exhibition on Thursday,
the slide presentation is at 1:30. It will be an
exciting day for me – a few hours after the show,
I’ll be making for the airport to fly to Fiji for a
week and then on to New Zealand (see my schedule
below).
MY OFFICE AND CONTACT SCHEDULE WHILE IN FIJI AND NEW
ZEALAND
If you have any loose ends or questions, please get
to me before the 28th because I’ll be
traveling until Feb 24. My assistant, Tammi, will
be in the office daily returning calls and relaying
questions to me while I’m traveling via e-mail.
Seems like a great combo trip and we’re excited
about it!
FLY FISHING QUIPS AND QUOTES
“If fly fishing interferes with your business, give
up your business…….the trout do not rise in
Greenwood Cemetery.” Fishless Days (1954)
EXCITING TIME OF YEAR FOR FLY FISHERS!
Lots of exciting stuff going on for traveling fly
fishers in Jan and Feb. During the next few weeks,
we’ll have seven clients sampling the finest waters
in Chilean Patagonia. The Belize motherships with
Martin McCord and Charles Westby are booked full
with clients hoping a major cold front doesn’t hit
and they duplicate the fantasy tarpon/permit trip of
Art Hinckley’s group last Feb. Twenty five of our
clients will be sampling the wonders of New Zealand,
along with the world class rainbow and brown trout
fishing. Some are pursuing sailfish (prime time for
raising 10 to 20 sails a day) and rooster fish at
Crocodile Bay in Costa Rica; others are chasing the
giant sea-run browns of Tierra Del Fuego. Lots of
exciting options that seem to offer more excitement
than our gray and cold skies this time of year.
LEARNING TO FLY FISH THE HARD WAY
The most difficult environment for a newcomer to
begin fly fishing would be the salt water flats
where accuracy and speed of presentation are
critical and conditions can be windy. Given that
fact, I was surprised when a couple of non-fly
fishing Texans, who had purchased a Belize
mothership trip at their conservation organization
auction, told me they wanted to use their trip to
learn how to fly fish. After trying to discourage
them, I gave into their iron willed determination
and began preparing them for the frustrations they
would encounter. They agreed to bring spinning
equipment for some of the fishing they would
experience (tarpon, jacks, snook, etc) and use the
bonefish flats to try out fly fishing (to prove they
were serious, they spent over $1000 on a new Sage
bonefish rod with matching reel and line). I also
prepared their guide, Martin McCord, for the
challenge. I was amazed and pleased by their report
and thought it was interesting enough to pass on.
On the first day, the first tailing bonefish
spotted, they caught. Then the wind came up.
Martin made all the casts when the wind was not
favorable and they studied his technique. By the
end of their trip, they had caught several bonefish
on the fly in addition to using their spinning
equipment to catch jacks (to 30+ pounds), barracuda,
snappers, and jumped several tarpon to 40#. One of
them commented to me after the experience that
previously he had reservations about fly fishing,
but now he understood that “spin fishing is just
catching; fly fishing is really fishing.” They’ve
rebooked another Belize trip for next January and
are studying New Zealand. Casting lessons are being
arranged. Gotta love it. I still don’t recommend
the salt water flats as the initial learning grounds
to begin a fly fishing career, but if one is
determined enough and willing to put up with the
frustrations, it can work! (Thanks to Billy Cowsert
for this report)
LELAND-FRONTIERS AGENT AGREEMENT
In addition to the many great destinations that we
represent, Leland Fly Fishing Adventures also has an
agreement with Frontiers to represent all their
properties (many of which we already represent
independently). If you are considering any of the
destinations that Frontiers offers, please give us a
call as it’s virtually the same process as booking
through Frontiers, and we need the “bonus points.”
And, we may have some personal experiences that can
add to your knowledge and preparations.
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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