TOPICS IN THIS ISSUE:
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Kamchatka
Exploratory Trip Report
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Winter Fly Fishing Travel Ideas
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Fly fish Las Vegas???
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Dean River Combo Trip Update
This is the seventh 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 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 –
i.e., no extra cost.
KAMCHATKA
EXPLORATORY TRIP
We did an exploratory trip to the Kamchatka
Peninsula in late August of 2002. We found an area
of stunning scenic beauty that has hardly been
touched by today’s sportsmen. The Kamchatka
Peninsula (Russia’s eastern edge – a five hour
flight from Anchorage) is 750 miles long punctuated
by volcanic peaks, majestic mountain ranges, endless
forests, and water - miles and miles of streams and
rivers which, in many cases, have yet to see a tied
fly. There are over 1,100 rivers and only three of
them have seen a stationary trout camp as of this
past summer. There’s lots of exploring still to be
done.
In many ways, the fishery is similar to what Alaska
was 50 or 75 years ago, but there are some distinct
differences. Trophy rainbows are the headliners,
but, like Alaska, there are great populations of
char, salmon, dolly varden, etc. The timing and
impact of the anadromous fish entering the rivers
needs more definition – they don’t parallel the
Alaska timetable and vary in some rivers. The
insect populations are much greater than Alaska,
producing hatches that get the big “bows” active on
the surface during certain times of the summer.
We spent a week with some American outfitters who
have a real spirit of adventure. Three of the guys
that accompanied me had also fished with these
adventurers in 2001. Last year, they had an
unbelievable week of catching big rainbows on the
surface on a river that was fished by less than 15
people all summer. These three are already
committed to returning next year for their third
consecutive year. The outfitters have already
explored a target river for next summer that is full
of big rainbows and never been fished! They are
putting together a program to run limited trips on
this river during the best dry fly period (either
three or four weeks of only six fisherman each)
during the summer of ’03. Details are not available
as of the date of this publication, but we are
negotiating to send a small group over during one of
those weeks next summer.
This is truly wild country. The city of
Petropavlovsk has a quarter-million people, but it
is the only major population center. The rest of the
landmass (larger than Montana) has a sparse
population of 125,000. This trip is not for
everyone. You must have a sense of adventure to
overcome some of the inconveniences associated with
being among the first fly fisherman to fish a
particular river. Few Americans have set foot on
this tundra.
While there are certainly interesting aspects of
travel to Kamchatka, the major justification for
this trip is the opportunity to catch large wild,
native rainbows on the surface in water that has not
seen more than 10 or 20 fishermen before your
arrival. Kamchatka will be on our list of
experiences to share for the summer of 2003. Let us
know if you have any interest in exploring this vast
new “world class” fishery.
Next up on the exploration trail for Leland’s is the
new bonefish location in French Polynesia – we’ll be
stopping there following our New Zealand adventure
in February.
WINTER ADVENTURES IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE OR THE
TROPICS
If you’re planning a fly fishing adventure some time
this winter, time is getting short. Especially if
you want to go where it will be summer (the Southern
Hemisphere) or where it’s warm year-round (the
tropics). For instance, most of the best guides and
lodges in New Zealand are already full and piecing
together a trip, if it can be done, requires lots of
flexibility on the part of the traveler. Some
winter ideas that are winners include:
The Chilean Andes and Fjords: Our six weeks
traveling and fishing in Chile uncovered some great
fly fishing adventures. Maybe the best package
we’ve experienced is a split trip: half focused on
the coastal fjords and the other half in a
traditional Andes lodge. The coastal fjords can be
accessed either by mothership trip or using the
upscale Puyuhuapi Hotel and Spa as a base of
operations (we’ve done both and if you want creature
comforts, the obvious choice is the Hotel/Spa). The
Hotel/Spa is isolated on an island in the fjords and
can only be reached by boat or small plane. Fishing
is for trophy rainbows, browns, and silver salmon.
There are many great Chilean lodges, but if I only
had one choice it would be to fish from “top of the
line” Isla Monita on the northern end of Yelcho Lake
during the dragon fly hatch. Big fish congregate to
chase the dragon flies and it’s a terrific top water
experience. My largest resident brown trout came
from this fishery.
Tropical Bonefish Lodges: From the
established locations such as Casa Blanca on
Ascension Bay to the Bahama’s or new discoveries
such as French Polynesia, there is space available
at some destinations. We’re holding a prime April
week at the most unique of all the Bahama lodges,
Flamingo Cay. It’s unique in that it’s the only
lodge on the entire West Side of Andros and it has
character, charm, and amenities not found in the
traditional Bahama lodge. As of today, we still
have four spots open on this trip that will be
hosted by Josh Frazier.
New Zealand – 2 openings possible: We have a
pending cancellation from a client holding two spots
for our February week at Poronui Ranch. If you have
interest, let us know.
Belize Mothership Trips: Fishing for tarpon,
bonefish, permit, and snook from the Meca (parties
of three or four) and the Seaduction (parties of
two) have weeks still available. The Seaduction has
lots of availability while most months still have a
week open on the Meca. Meca weeks still open:
11/18 – 25, 12/12 – 19, 1/16 – 23, 2/15 – 22, 5/11 –
18. If you’d like to have a copy of the new video
of this salt water fly fishing adventure, let us
know.
SIGHT CASTING IN THE LAS VEGAS DESERT
Our son, who’s resided in Las Vegas for the last
year, has been telling me about the exciting striped
bass fishery in Lake Mead and Lake Mojave, about 30
minutes from LV. Last weekend, he reported an early
morning session with about a dozen fish released
(3-4 #’s) and several others hooked and lost. All
were caught sight-casting to fish exploding on the
surface chasing minnows with a floating line. I
said, “OK, I’m in – let’s do it next Sunday.”
Naturally, the fish weren’t as aggressive on my
morning as the previous week, but it is a fishery
worth checking out if you’re in Vegas and want some
relief from the casino environment. For more info,
you can contact Shawn at the Las Vegas Fly Shop at
702-838-6669.
UPDATE ON AVAILABILITY: DEAN RIVER COMBO TRIP
The article below about the Dean River combo trip
ran in last months newsletter. We have received
positive response to the concept of combining these
two different fishing environments and opportunities
into one trip. To date, it appears we have one
group of six almost completed and are working on the
second group (only space for two groups of six).
We must have these reservations in soon (got an
extension of a few weeks to complete reservations in
process) to secure this space so if you have any
interest, let us know asap.
Dean River Steelhead, King Salmon, and Outstanding
Dry Fly Trout Fishing – An Exciting Combination
Package For July ’03.
This past July, we had several of our traveling fly
fishermen visit two of British Columbia’s premier
fly-in lodges: Moose Lake Lodge and their sister
lodge, the Dean River steelhead camp. Reports from
those going either place were of outstanding
service, comfortable and scenic surroundings, good
food, and an outstanding, isolated angling
environment. The waters fished in early July
(including the Blackwater R. and the upper Dean)
from Moose Lake Lodge offer some of the best dry fly
fishing for native rainbow and cutthroat on the
planet with 50 and even 100+ fish days are possible
– and almost all on drys. The Dean is simply the
“Dean” of all the steelhead rivers with great catch
rates of large, “hot”, fresh from the ocean fish.
Many of the weeks on the Dean for steelhead have
been booked for years by the same “steelhead
addicts” and getting space is impossible.
Leland’s Fly Fishing Adventures has made an
arrangement with both lodges (same ownership) for
July 4 – 11, ‘03 that allows a combination package
with three full days fishing from each location.
This will combine the fast action of dry fly fishing
on some of BC’s greatest rivers (all fly out
adventures) and streams with the opportunity to
catch the steelhead of a lifetime. Also, that week
has seen the height of the king salmon run in the
Dean the last few years so the river will have both
steelhead and kings available. The price will be
$4,250pp for the seven night trip which includes the
charter flight from Vancouver and all the fly outs
from the lodges.
THE CATCH:
We can reserve this combination package for either
an intact group of six or twelve for that week only
and the reservations must be confirmed by deposit
before October 1. If you have a party of two, three
or four who would like to reserve this adventure,
we’ll do the coordination to put fishermen together
so they add up to six or twelve. This is a very
special experience in an environment of stunning
natural beauty combining some of the greatest
possibilities in the realm of fresh water fly
fishing and it’s not that far from home.
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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