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NEWSLETTER
#45 - FEBRUARY 2006
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Leland Fly Fishing Travel Newsletter, February 2006
TOPICS IN THIS ISSUE:
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THINGS YOU NEVER FORGET
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TRIP REPORTS – Yucatan Baby Tarpon,
Playa Blanca (“couples”and bonefish), Alaska’s
Finest, Belize Permit
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LELAND’S AT THE MARIN FLY FISHING
SHOW – THIS SATURDAY
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NEW ZEALAND FANTASIES – JIM TAYLOR
AGAIN!!!!
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THRILL OF “HUNTING” WITH A FLY ROD
DEFINED
We
are in the fifth year of publishing 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. One of our services is to
compare and contrast different lodges/outfitters.
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.
THINGS YOU NEVER FORGET
We pursue fly
fishing looking for those special experiences that
stay forever frozen in our memory. Fly fishing in
New Zealand presents more of those opportunities
than anywhere in the freshwater world, in addition
to being a fabulous place to tour and vacation. We
just returned from our annual trek to New Zealand
and, yes, there are new memories. Most memorable on
this trip was an episode with a large brown trout
finning in about 12 inches of gin-clear water. The
guide and I were positioned about 40 feet behind
him, watching him glide gracefully to the left and
right, eating whatever nymphs was flowing by.
Occasionally, his lips would break the surface and
sip a dry. This is very cool, just watching.
Besides, if you JUST watch, you can’t blow the
cast. However, my guide finally said, “well…..”
The cast is not good and my size 14 Blow Fly lands
about four feet to his left, just a few feet from
the rivers edge in water about 6 inches deep. Just
as I let out a moan of frustration, that brown
bolted to the left, his back out of the water and
half his head visable as he inhales the fly. A
heart-stopping sight! The hook is set and we begin
chasing him downstream. After prying him out from
behind a few boulders and 200 yards below where we
originally stalked him, the scale was out. A
beautiful, full bodied, hook-jawed male, just under
8 pounds. Only in New Zealand! If you’d like to
discuss the details of our trip, give a call or
e-mail me.
TRIP REPORTS – Yucatan Baby Tarpon, Playa Blanca
(“couples”and bonefish), Alaska’s Finest, Belize
Permit
Note: Space doesn’t permit reprinting these reports
in full so they are condensed versions. If you’d
like to see the full report, just hit “reply” and
ask for a copy.
Lots has been
written about the new baby tarpon fisheries that are
being developed on the mangrove shorelines of the
Mexican Yucatan. John Shields and Chet Walker were
there in mid-January and John had this report:
“….over four days we jumped 20 tarpon, catching 10,
plus one nice snook. The major problem was the
weather, as a cold front blew in the day we arrived
with 25-30 mph winds from the North. While the
fishing was slow, the accommodations were
outstanding….the town of Campeche is fascinating,
clean, safe, and historic. While we were
disappointed with the fishing, the experience was
fun, and I believe with the right conditions, would
be an outstanding trip. However, in Jan/Feb, the
weather risk is high.” This operation is sold out
most weeks from March through May.
Sister lodges on and
near Ascension Bay, Casa Blanca and Playa Blanca,
have a world reknowned reputation for bonefish and
permit. The lodges have different personalities,
with Playa Blanca having a beach and other amenities
that have made it a flyfishing destination for
couples. Julie and Don Whitmore, along with two
other couples spent a week there in January. Don’s
report: “Playa Blanca is a good couples
destination, the girls had fun and enjoyed it. The
food was good as was the fishing (mix of three sunny
days and three overcast days). We caught lots of
bones and had shots at permit and tarpon. If a
spouse didn’t fish, it would be a very relaxing
place to spend a week and completely unwind. It did
meet and exceed my wife’s expectations.”
From Howard Hopkins
on his trip with his wife to Bristol Bay Lodge, one
of Alaska’s finest: “The best way to say it is that
it exceeded our expectations. Top-flight people and
great fishing. We will do it again.”
From Pat March on
fishing from Martin McCord’s Meca mothership for
permit in Belize: “The last trip we took with
Martin on the Meca was one of the most enjoyable we
have ever taken and we can’t wait to get back. We
would like to book the Meca for a 12 day trip using
the new permit itinerary departing from Placencia
and ending up in Belize City.”
LELAND’S AT THE MARIN FLY FISHING
SHOW – THIS SATURDAY
The Marin Fly
Fishing Show (this Fri, Sat, and Sun) is the one fly
fishing ONLY show in the Bay Area. Our Leland shop
will have a booth at the show with several show
specials available. I will be there on Saturday
with a Belize presentation at 12:30 in the
Destination Theatre and will be in the booth the
rest of the day Saturday and available to discuss
travel destinations and itineraries. If you’re
planning to be at the show, stop by and say “hi.”
NEW ZEALAND FANTASIES – JIM TAYLOR AGAIN!!!!
Jim Taylor owes……he owes the “fishing gods” a
lot….and then a lot more. Based on his experiences
in New Zealand the last two years, Jim should get
blanked on his next ten fishing trips to even things
out. But no matter what, they can’t take away the
excitement Jim has experienced in New Zealand the
last two years, this years trip actually topping his
exceptional ’05 trip.
How do you quantify “New Zealand fly fishing
fantasies?” While the overall challenge and thrill
of stalking and sight fishing the large browns and
rainbows of NZ is not measured in numbers, it does
take numbers to explain Jim’s results. On a 14 day
itinerary, Jim fished 10 days, releasing a 7 pound
or larger trout every day but one. However, his
best day surpasses anything I’m familiar with – 13
brown trout between 4 and 7.5 pounds sight-fishing
a smallish tributary stream, ALL ON DRY FLYS!!!!
To read those numbers would lead one to believe that
these big fish are EASY. Not so. Big fish in
skinny waters are extremely challenging, testing all
an anglers skills – especially the wary brown
trout. In New Zealand, the weather can always be an
issue, creating tough conditions. While Jim’s
angling skills have been honed to a fine edge on his
four New Zealand trips, he has benefited from the
“fishing gods” smiling on him….however, they will
get even – they always do!
THRILL OF “HUNTING” WITH A FLY ROD DEFINED
As this is written, Barbara and Charlie Renfrew are
on an extensive fly fishing itinerary in New
Zealand, fishing most of the Kiwi’s top waters from
the top lodges and with the best guides. However,
before they left, Barbara sent me this review which
captures the essence of our new book,
Flyfishing’s Greatest Adventures – THE HUNT.
“THE HUNT combines the romance of fly fishing and
practical knowledge, information on the different
fish and the destinations coupled with the
excitement of the hunt. Ever since Charlie and I
took up fly fishing, I have wondered why a couple of
college graduates find it overwhelmingly exciting
when a fish takes the imitation bug we have
presented. THE HUNT has explained it to me. It is
far and away the finest book on fishing, both the
photos and the text, that I have ever read.” THE
HUNT is available at
www.ffhunt.com.
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
Fly Fishing Adventures
888-347-4896
flyfish@napanet.net
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