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NEWSLETTER #8 -
OCTOBER 2002
TOPICS IN THIS ISSUE
-
Belize trip
report
-
Dean River and
Combo Trip Update
-
Ladies Week
highlights
-
Tierra del
Fuego/New Zealand Availability
-
Delta and other
exciting fly fishing reports
This is the eighth
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.
A FLYFISHER IS
NEVER THE SAME AFTER
sight casting in
three feet of water to a 90+ pound tarpon over 5
feet long just 40 feet from the skiff, watching it
inhale the fly, explode into the air with gill
rattling jumps, peel off over 200 yards of backing
in a few seconds, take to the air again and throw
the fly……….or, stalking a school of large tailing
permit, casting, and watching this premier fly
fishers trophy grab your crab imitation and head for
the reef. Don Nelson and David Pogran joined
Keith Westra (Lafayette shop mgr.) and Josh Frazier
in mid-October on a Leland shop trip to Belize
aboard the Meca with Captain Martin McCord.
They had lots of tarpon (jumped over a dozen),
permit, bonefish type action including the incidents
above. Also, captured some great variety with
Josh and Keith’s skiff having a day that included
bonefish, a snook, 8 pound cobia, sheepshead, and
ten-pound mangrove snapper – all sight cast to on
shallow flats or mangrove edges.
Everyone reported it was a great trip and
David captured the essence of the experience with
his following thoughts –
“……It was a lot of
fun and a very different experience. The
mothership, the Meca, serves as a kind of aquatic RV
and tows two flats boats….. go to different areas
difficult or impossible for land based lodges to
reach…..major focus of the trip was tarpon and
permit. The bonefishing is fun, but not the
big draw.”
Next scheduled
Leland hosted trip to Belize on the motherships Meca
and Seaduction is September 19 – 26 for six anglers
and we’re currently taking reservations for that
trip. Of course, other weeks are available for
charter, but that will be the Leland hosted trip
week. The Meca currently has open weeks in
every month but March and April for groups of 3 or
4; the Seaduction handles groups of two.
POSSIBLE LELAND BELIZE TRIP THIS JAN OR FEB???
Some of the guys on
the trip referenced above have expressed interest in
returning early next year. There are some open
dates in Jan and Feb where a joint charter could be
arranged. Via this message, we’re taking
temperatures to see if there is enough interest to
put this trip together as a hosted Leland trip with
Keith Westra from the Lafayette shop. We would
have to decide in the next few weeks, so if you have
any interest or questions, let me or Keith know
soon.
DEAN RIVER STEELHEAD AND COMBO TRIPS FOR SUMMER ’03
FULL
All twelve of our
spots at Blackwell’s Dean River Steelhead Lodge for
next summer are full. Also full is the Dean
River/Moose Lake lodge combination trip week (the
combo trip only happens one week a summer) that
you’ve seen mentioned in the past two newsletters.
Moose Lake Lodge with fly outs for outstanding dry
fly rainbow fishing (as well as many varieties of
salmon) still has space available during some of the
prime time. If you would like to get on the
candidate list for either the Dean River or the
combo trip for ’04, let us know.
LELAND LADY FLY FISHERS OF THE SUMMER OF ’02
Dee Dee Monte, Noel
Greenfield, Julia Mitchell and her mother, Janet,
became our first gals to experience Ladies Week at
Three Rivers Ranch in eastern Idaho. All
reported having a great time and learning a lot
about fly fishing. Julia’s comments follow:
“My mom and I had a
great time! The Ranch is wonderful and the staff are
amazing. We fished the Henry’s Fork, the South Fork
of the Snake, and the Teton Rivers. Our guide was a
total delight. We caught some great fish and
the last day was amazing for me. I caught a 18”,
19”, 21” (rainbows and cutthroats) and a
whopping 6pd. 21 inch brown trout.”
Congrats to Julia on
her “Golden Rod” day – she’s now spoiled for life –
and thanks to all the gals for being our “pioneers”
at Three Rivers Ranch Ladies Week, one of the truly
great fly fishing lodges in the US.
Leland’s Ladies Week
at Three Rivers next summer is July 26 – Aug 1.
Three Rivers fills up very early so if you’d like
more details, give a call.
SHOP DAYS NEXT TWO TUESDAYS
I’ll be in the
Lafayette shop next Tuesday, Nov 5, and the San
Francisco shop the following Tuesday, Nov 12.
If you’d like to discuss possible destinations, view
slides of different locations, or just visit about
exciting fly fishing venues, come on in. If
you have specific interests you’d like to discuss,
it’s best to let me know beforehand so that I can
have the specific slides you’d like to see with me.
When possible, I like to work with appointment times
so that when you come in, you won’t be delayed in
getting the information you want. Generally,
I’ll be available from mid-morning to mid-afternoon
unless we have a specific appointment time earlier
or later.
TIERRA del FUEGO - RIO GRANDE OPENINGS A POSSIBILITY
We may have a line
on some openings on the Rio Grande River for the
giant sea-run brown trout for this season. If
this is on your list of fly fishing fantasy “must
do’s”, let’s get together on the possibilities.
ONE REMAINING SPOT ON NEW ZEALAND TRIP
We have one spot
still open for our week at Poronui Ranch in New
Zealand hosted by Josh Frazier. The dates are
Feb 15 – 22 and can be combined with other
activities/locations in New Zealand.
STRIPER ACTION IN THE DELTA IS HOT
Check out these
reports:
Bruce Rollans
reports that delta guide, Mike Costello, had a day
two weeks ago with 4 fish over 10 pounds released at
the boat. Paul Wilms took a 24 pounder, also
fishing with Mike. Delta expert, Greg Ritland,
had a fabulous day with 6 double digit fish (largest
22#) while fishing with Doug Lovell. Note:
Doug and Mike are our two favorite delta guides.
Lots of big fish showing!!!
OTHER REPORTS
Sallye and Bruce
Rollans had lots of action on the lower Sac with
several fish in the 18-20” range and one at 23”.
Bob Pauli, a very
good steelheader (addict is a good word), and his
partner took 30 fish in a three day trip in early
Oct on the Deschutes. Again, lots of fish in
the river.
I was in Belize last
week on “business” and did get some time with
Charles Westby on the Seaduction. The
highlight was my last evening when we released a 17#
permit at dark and followed that with a snook and
“baby” tarpon caught in the two hours after dark –
all three fish were within a pound of 17#. An
exciting triple header – personally, love fishing
warm, tropical evenings. When the sun goes
down in the tropics, lots of things heat up.
Our hosted trip
programs for ’03 are almost finalized and we should
have a complete listing in next month’s newsletter.
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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