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TOPICS IN THIS ISSUE:
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A look at some of our travel venues for ’03
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Trip report on a unique Belize fishing adventure
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Costa Rica Pacific lodge report
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Remaining openings for our ’02 travel programs
This is our fifth of our monthly newsletters 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 most places and
pride ourselves in the ability to research new
locations – and whatever unbiased information on
timing and locations we can provide comes at the
same cost to you as booking direct.
OUR INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL VENUES FOR ’03 –
PRELIMINARY LIST
Kamchatka in Eastern Russia will be on our list of
destinations for ’03 and we’re doing an exploratory
trip there in August. This area is a wilderness
experience with great fishing for steelhead, giant
rainbows, char and all the Pacific salmon species –
it is today what Alaska was 75/100 years ago and
surprisingly close to the US…….about a five hour
flight from Anchorage.
Minipi River: Our early July ‘03 “brown drake
hatch” trip at Minonipi Lodge for trophy brookies
and land-locked char hosted by Josh Frazier is
already full. My son and I will be returning to
this isolated part of Labrador for our fourth trip
during another week next summer and there is space
available for that week. Most likely, this second
week will be at Anne Marie lodge the first week in
August, hopefully targeting the green drake hatch
that we hit during our first trip in ’97. At this
point, we’re only measuring interest in this second
week as the dates are not solid so contact me if
you’d like to know more.
We have two of the prime steelhead weeks reserved
for our shop clients on the Dean River in B.C. for
next summer. The owner of this “world class”
steelhead lodge agreed to give us two weeks for ‘03
because we had so many fisherman from the shops up
there this summer. The two weeks are July 26-Aug 2
and Aug 2-9 (the July 26 week is tentatively
reserved). Price: $4,000pp, max of 6 fisherman per
week.
Moose Lake Lodge is the sister lodge to the Dean
River Camp, both operated by John Blackwell. Moose
Lake is a wilderness fly-out lodge and provides a
great experience with trout, salmon, and can include
steelhead. John has agreed to let an intact group
of six reserve a mid-July “split trip” dividing a
week between Moose Lake Lodge and the Dean Camp.
This would give those who want to try for a “world
class” steelhead, (but don’t want to commit a full
week to the pursuit) the opportunity to pursue both
destinations. This “special split week” would have
to be reserved far in advance to allow the
scheduling necessary to make it work because of the
very limited space on the Dean.
Large bonefish have been discovered in and around
many of the atolls in the Tahiti area of the South
Pacific and we are in the process of gathering
information about this new fishery. My wife and I
will be spending time there on our way home from New
Zealand next Feb (a great combination fresh/salt
water trip that we’re very excited about) to fish it
first hand. I’ve seen some great photos and spoken
with people who’ve been there – the reports are that
it was a wonderful fishery with almost non-existent
fishing pressure.
We still have a few spots open for our New Zealand
trip next February. Josh is leading this one and
covering the highlights of both the North and South
islands. We have two different versions of this
trip – one is the hard core fly fishing version and
the other, New Zealand Light, is for the fly
fisherman with a non-fishing spouse who want to see
and experience the wonders of New Zealand together.
We have completed an arrangement to represent the
most unique of all the Bahamas bonefish destinations
– Flamingo Cay on the West side of Andros. This is
a top drawer (and pricey) experience operated by
Charles Bethel III, the grandson of the original
owner who purchased this prime west side land in the
20’s. In the past, Charles’ father ran the operation
as primarily a waterfowl hunting lodge catering to a
most discriminating European clientele and personal
friends. Charles has begun developing its bonefish
potential. It is the only lodge on the entire West
Side of Andros. Today, it can host both exclusively
fly fisherman and those who want to mix some
waterfowl hunting into their week. The lodge is
only accessed by floatplane – no roads on the West
Side. This small, exclusive operation hosts a
maximum of 6 people per week.
We will continue booking Isla Monita Lodge in the
Chilean Andes. This is the best Andes experience
I’ve had combining big trout on the surface with a
variety of fishing venues and there is a great lodge
environment. This trip can also combine with some
other possibilities to make a great two week
package.
We’ll have two weeks reserved in Belize on the Meca
and Seaduction for tarpon, bonefish, permit and
snook also – dates not determined as of yet.
UNIQUE BELIZE MOTHERSHIP EXPERIENCE – A REPORT
I’ve taken well over 20 Belize mothership trips
since 1986 and I believe it to be, all things
considered, the best of all the saltwater fly
fishing experiences. However, I just completed a
trip that was the most unique trip I’ve taken for
several reasons. The group consisted of my son,
Scott, myself and five of his UC Davis friends who
graduated together 10 years ago. The trip had been
booked for over a year, utilizing both the Meca and
the Seaduction. What made this group unique was
that none of them had any salt water fly fishing
experience; most had limited trout fly fishing
exposure (one had never fly fished before). During
the last year, some of them worked on developing
their casting skills, primarily the double haul,
with the objective being able to catch bonefish (and
hopefully tarpon) on a fly. Because of the nature
of the group, we carried spin equipment in each
skiff and most of them combined spin fishing with
their fly fishing – an idea that I think makes a lot
of sense for all but the most experienced salt water
fly fisherman.
We were greeted upon arriving in Belize by tough
conditions: winds were up and heavy rains on the
mainland (however, we only had rainfall after dark
on the water) had muddied the rivers. The muddy
waters spewing out into the ocean made some of our
favorite coastal tarpon flats, bonefish flats, and
mangrove areas (snook and baby tarpon) unfishable.
Not ideal conditions for a group of inexperienced
salt water flats fisherman. However, these young
execs brought a degree of intensity (matched only by
the energy of our very experienced group of four
guides who worked with us for the week) to the
effort. They overcame not only their lack of
experience and skills, but also the lousy
conditions.
There were many trip highlights:
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Everyone caught bonefish on a fly.
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Everyone experienced the thrill of having a
tarpon in the air – 15 tarpon were jumped for
the week, and experience being a limiting factor
here, four were caught to 80 pounds. Two rods
were broken in the process.
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The variety of the Belize fishery held true -
numbers of barracuda, jacks, snappers, and a few
snook were taken and released.
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One young man had the rare thrill of catching a
permit on his first day!! He went on to get
another one later in the week. Both of these
were caught in areas I didn’t know even held
permit. For myself, this was the first trip in
memory that I didn’t cast to a permit as we
spent the whole week in the northern areas and
didn’t venture south to the special permit
flats.
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By the end of the week, each of them had become
fairly productive casters and had learned how to
deal with the wind. They all graduated with
honors from Salt Water Fly Fishing 1A and
developed skills that can be built on the rest
of their lives as they broaden their fly fishing
horizons.
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The biggest highlight was how much fun we had.
They knew how to have fun and enjoyed being
together in the special environment created on a
mothership trip – a great experience for either
family or close friends. Even though the
“catching” was less than most trips I’ve taken
in Belize, I can’t recall enjoying a mothership
trip as much as being with them and sharing
their thrills as they experienced the excitement
of sight fishing the salt water flats for the
first time.
FIRST CLASS COSTA RICA LODGE WITH SAILFISH,
ROOSTERFISH, AND MARLIN COMBINED WITH ECO TOURS FOR
THE NON-FISHERS
Bob Dahlberg recently spent a week at Crocodile Bay
Lodge on the Gulfo Dulce Bay on the Pacific side of
Costa Rica. He submitted a very comprehensive
report on both the fishing and the lodge itself.
Bob’s experiences were generally very positive. The
three-year old lodge was comfortable with A/C in the
rooms and the food was “very good.” They fished
both offshore for sails and marlin; raising 12 sails
one day and boated 5. The inshore fishery included
jacks, roosterfish, and bonita. Also, they did a
day of eco-tourism viewing wild life on the
Montepalo Peninsula. Bob’s complete report is
available and can be e-mailed to anyone requesting
it. Leland Fly Fishing Adventures is happy to
represent this fine Costa Rica property and can book
space.
REMAINING 2002 PROGRAMS WITH SPACE STILL AVAILABLE
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Ladies Week at Three Rivers Ranch (Sept 7-13)
still has openings for two ladies – or a couple.
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Our September Alaska trophy rainbow trip has
space still available.
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We have room for three rods on our Belize
mothership trip Oct. 13 – 20.
-
The Deschutes River September steelhead float
trip has space remaining.
-
Christmas Island trip (Oct 27 – Nov 3) can take
more rods.
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We may have one opening, due to a late
cancellation, on our second week (Aug 3 -10) on
the Dean River for what many believe is the
world’s best steelhead fishing. These spots are
hard to come by and sell out very early – if you
have an interest, give me a call.
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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