Big Trip Precautions and Unexpected Availability
Instead of finishing up my second week at Cosmoledo with a bunch of friends, I am at home just getting over a nasty respiratory virus that I caught the week before I was scheduled to fly out to the Seychelles. I had been looking forward to Cosmoledo for three years and not being able to do the trip was….
Fall 2022
If you are like me, you are wondering where the summer went and how it could have possibly gone by so fast? I feel like I blinked and it was over and I can’t ever recall a summer that went by so quickly. I think that may be a symptom of a post covid hangover where time has taken on a surreal quality that I am still having trouble processing.
Discovering a real gem in Northern British Columbia
Every so often, I am absolutely floored by a new property I’ve come across and decided to check out. I just got back from such an experience in Northern British Columbia, where I visited the Northern Lights Lodge, in the Cariboo Mountain range watershed. A big part of what got me on a 5-hour plane ride west and then another hour north was the lodge’s heavy emphasis on dry fly fishing in their pitch to get me out to visit them.
TOP 5 REASONS WHY I RECOMMEND PLAYA BLANCA LODGE, MEXICO, FOR YOUR FIRST PERMIT ON THE FLY
We have quite a few guests who ask about the best place to go to catch their first permit on the fly. And seeing as permit are about my favorite fish in the world to chase, I think of myself as fairly well qualified to respond to this question. Because of the highly erratic nature per permit, there is no such thing as a guarantee when targeting this fish, but if I had to only give one destination for this mighty quest, it would be Playa Blanca Lodge, Mexico.
DOMESTIC FLIGHTS WITHIN THE BAHAMAS
After spending close to a month in the Bahamas in March, I was amazed at the difficulties found in getting around the islands, once in country. Lengthy and unexplained delays, lost baggage and indifferent staff were all hallmarks of my domestic flight experiences last month. The local Bahamian airlines that fly to the islands from Nassau have proved to be even more unreliable in 2022 than they have been in the past and guests need to be prepared for this
10 Pounders and Other Dreams
I've been back from New Zealand for two weeks now and the glow from this fantastic experience has still not faded. It was that good! The influence of the "Mouse Hatch" on the northern section of the South Island was really quite remarkable and I'm delighted that our guests on the trip were able to experience it. The KIWI hospitality was at its usual "long lost brother" level and the weather was absolutely spectacular, with clear blue skies and little if any wind, for the duration of the trip.
Travel Tips
Greetings and salutations to all our friends! Last month we had a guest experience one of those difficult and unwanted travel situations where a forgotten knife in his carry on set off a series of events that led to him getting fully ripped apart in a TSA private screening room. As a result, he missed his flight and subsequently, the first day of fishing on his trip. This got me thinking that it might be a good idea to go over a few helpful travel tips so that guests can avoid this type of situation.
Fishing The Bahamas
We have a lot of guests fishing the Bahamas in February and March and what I’m about to say will also be applicable to guests heading to Cuba, Mexico and Belize. I do a lot of hosted trips where bonefish are the priority species for the trip and I’ve been noticing a trend lately where many guests are bringing the right fly patterns for a successful bonefish trip, but that these patterns usually have little variation in terms of size. Now it is true that each of the destinations that we send guests to bonefish at will always have a couple of go to flies that just seem to out produce all oth
Mexico July 28 to August 4 – Mexico Live Aboard
Wow! What a great experience the new live aboard operation in Mexico is. We chose to do a dedicated tarpon trip and moored the boat in the Holbox area, to the north and west of Cancun. We spent most of the trip dodging lightning bolts, thunderstorms and rain squalls but other than that it was spectacular. The poor weather forced us to move from targeting the big migratory tarpon that pass through the area each summer, to the big mangrove estuary that is situated between the island of Holbx and the mainland.
Slovenia Split trip
We had a great trip back to Slovenia in June. The trip started out when we flew into Venice Italy (is there a better gateway city to start a trip from?) before driving the 3 hours into Slovenia and the small village of Kobarid. Kobarid is not much in the way of towns but it has some very good restaurants and bars and that’s all you really need when fishing in this part of the country.