Fly fishing Argentina - Kau Tapen, Rio Grande Hosted trip report

During the last week of January a group of our clients fished the superb lodge of Kau Tapen located on the Rio Grande in Tierra Del Fuego, Argentina. This river is famous for it's large numbers of big sea trout. The 5 anglers on this week led by Sean Clarke of Farlows, Pall Mall all managed good numbers of fish. Gary Crossley finished with the biggest fish of the week at 19 lbs. You can read the lodge managers report below…..

Week 25th January - 1st February, 2014

When a week passes like the one we just had I appreciate all the more the events and experiences that no doubt I and the guests will recount for years to come. Stories at the guide cabin can go back years recounting in intricate detail individual fish, flies, guests, etc.

Guiding late into the evening here can be very special, referred to by many as the “magic hour” your guiding takes on a whole new perspective, as the light fades your senses change from visual to acoustic. You find yourself at times in an almost trance like state gazing into the darkness, head tilted slightly and ears intently cocked for any tell tail sounds of action. To the trained ear it is possible to discern a good cast from a bad one, instruction at this hour is futile so as a guide you persistently want to hear the running line tap the reel, closely followed by a deft plop as the fly land close to the far bank. Fishing close to the surface the initial take is unmistakeable, a crisp surge of water churning, one must wait for the clutch on the reel to click before you can be sure of a solid hook set, an elated guest may also confirm the same with one of the many hook up phrases “fish on” “ oh ya baby” etc. etc. The next matter of interest is the size of the specimen hooked usually denoted by the splash following a jump, once the reel begins to click for the second time it is time to call your charges to the bank while you dash for the net.

Our guests experience the best week of the season so far and managed to hook into an impressive 229 trout of which 166 were landed. Some of the better session in terms of numbers include Ron Clark’s Tuesday total of 8 fish, at 77 Ron with a group of American friends William Stoney, William Alford and Harvey Bender reminisced on how they had met and times they had spent together in Alaska over a period of 12 years, with many valuable memories had together this in William Alford’s words was their “final hurrah”. William Bush and David Blazes complete novices with the double hander slowly got to grips with the task at hand and each accounted for a total of 19 fish. Our friend from Ponoi, Francois Bocard made a welcome return to the Rio Grande after a 15 year absence. The Muirhead’s joined us from the UK, Linda a non-angler embraced the tranquillity of the lodge and got through an endless number of books as well as taking walks to and from the river while her husband Sandy got to work on the river, an astute angler he finished the week as our top rod with a total of 24 fish and received a new sage “method” single handed rod for his efforts. Gary Crossley joined us for the second season in a row and said that his desire to catch the “Big One” was the main motivating factor for his return, never one to panic Gary’s patience throughout the week paid off by landing the biggest fish of the week on his last session. ( 19lbs)

With extremely high tides at the weekend and a forecast of mainly overcast conditions throughout the beginning of next week hopes are high that we can continue to produce some of the best memories possible for our guests. Those who left this week certainly have shedloads.

Total rod catch: 166
Total hooked: 229
Biggest: 19lbs
Average weight: 7lbs

Regards
Matthew Solon

FOR MORINFORMATION ON FLY FISHING FOR SEA TROUT IN ARGENTINA PLEASE CONTACT US ON +44 (0) 1621743 711 OR EMAIL: enquiries@flyodyssey.co.uk OR VISIT OUR WEBSITE: www.flyodyssey.co.uk

Permit season in Mexico and Cuba

October and November is our favourite time to target permit in Mexico and Cuba. Over the next 4 weeks we have 60 anglers visiting these 2 destinations. Our first clients managed to get down to Casa Blanca and Tulum in mid October. James and Tracy managed their first permit each and then preceded to land another 8 over their 2 week stay. James manage to convert one of his permit into a Grand Slam.  A great achievement!! Some thoughts and images from their trip below.

Hi Mat,

 

I've attached some pics from our trip to Casa Blanca.  As you can probably tell our main focus was permit.  We both had a great time, the lodge and its setting was top notch and Rita was a great host.  Obviously going for permit is never going to be a numbers game but I think we did alright, finishing with 6 between us at Casa Blanca (another 4 were added from the beach at Tulum).  Whenever a permit was landed we made sure we got a bonefish in preparation for the night time tarpon fishing from the pier.  I did manage to finish off a grand slam one night.  I very nearly finished another slam from the beach around Casa Blanca on the Saturday before we left in the afternoon for the plane - I had the permit and bone but the tarpon got off even though I thought I'd nailed it.

 

Many thanks for organising everything - it all went to plan.

Regards, James

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND ADVICE ON THE BEST FLY FISHING GUIDES AND LOCATIONS IN MEXICO AND CUBA FOR PERMIT PLEASE CALL US ON +44 (0) 1621743711 OR EMAIL: enquiries@flyodyssey.co.uk

Client Group Report - Kalum River Lodge, B.C

We have recently had groups fishing Kalum River Lodge for the past three weeks as the run of Steelhead and Silvers push through the Skeena River. Here is a report from Allan Shephard the Brands and Marketing Manager at SPORTFISH.

Report from Kalum Lodge B.C. Canada

I first met Andrew Rushton (owner of Kalum River Lodge) and his charming wife Deanna last January at the Sportfish store here in Reading and was immediately impressed by his energetic and infectious enthusiasm for the fishing on offer in this truly amazing place. Kalum lodge sits close to the Kalum River, a short drive from Terrace, in a clearing surrounded by ancient pine forest. It is well and truly off the beaten track and has that lovely ‘away from it all’ feel – this place is good for the soul! The lodge is very comfortable with all the facilities needed for a great weeks fishing. Deanna’s home cooking is to die for and very welcome after a day working the water.   

We fished on the lower Skeena River. Andrew refers to this as his summer fishery and we were targeting steelhead and coho primarily and hooking the occasional chum, pink and sockeye salmon as bonus fish. Travel to the fishing area was quick and efficient – the daily routine was to leave the lodge early each morning, launch the jet-boat and travel quickly to a favoured spot. We were guided each day by either Al or Andrew himself. Both knew the river intimately and had learned the best areas to intercept running fish from many years of experience. Fish tend to run close to the bank and distance casting is not required, the fishing is based on good line management and having a feel for where your fly is in relation to the riverbed. The extra length of a double-handed rod is a big help with this and you would certainly be at a disadvantage fishing single-handed rods. I think this is an ideal place for newcomers to fishing with Spey rods and those who want to really learn how to control expertly how their flies swing across the river. You will fish the river 100 x better on your last day than on your first – I will guarantee that! The fishing can be as technical as you like, but everyone will catch some amazing fish regardless of the length of their fly fishing CV.

Steelhead are the fish everyone wants to catch – we caught bright silver specimens fresh from the Pacific Ocean. The biggest I saw caught was a 25lb buck – what a fish! Steelies punch way above their weight and are a truly formidable adversary. I hooked one fish that powered off upstream against the full forced of the current dragging a skagit fly line and lots of backing. Sadly the hook pulled – I was gutted at losing such a special fish. As a general rule they can out fight any Atlantic salmon pound for pound.  

Don’t forget the pacific salmon though! All these fish are great fun and fight really hard, I hooked a big chum salmon on the last day that fought like a tiger and ran me 500m down the back – eventually the line give way – a shame it would have been the weeks biggest fish. Andrew announced that the chum had ‘kicked my ass’ and left me to recover my breath and take the walk of shame back my fishing position. Funny how the fish you loose haunt you long after landed fish are forgotten!   

Tackle & Clothing

I used the new Loop Cross S1 6-piece 13’6” 9 weight and I have to say was really impressed. At last a quality spey rod that fits in a suitcase! Perfect for the Skeena. I used a couple of reels – make sure they have lots of backing (250 yds+) to cope with powerful fish. My preference would be for a large arbor so you can recover line quickly as fish turn and run towards you.

Lines – I used the Speyworks 3volution 9/10, again ideal. We used 12’– 15’ tungsten impregnated tips from T14 to T17 weight. 

Leaders – 20-25lb BS

Flies – a range of steelhead flies (intruders/string leaches) plus wool flies. Please note that only single totally barbless hooks are allowed on this fishery. Take pliers rather than forceps for de-barbing.

Pack clothes for all eventualities – it was hot (25C+) for us but you need to prepare for rain and cooler temperatures. You will need chest waders, wading jacket, cap and sunglasses too. 

We stock everything you will need at Sportfish  HYPERLINK "http://www.sportfish.co.uk" www.sportfish.co.uk 

Would you go back?  Yes in a heartbeat! This area offers everything I am looking for from a fishing holiday and I will return next autumn. If you would like to join me please call either myself 0118 930 3860 or Mat at Fly Odyssey. I am happy to give you some tips if you are fishing in this area too.

Tight lines

Allan 

allan@sportfish.co.uk  

Varzina River Lodge, Russia - Client feedback

Some words from Chris Ward after his regular week on Varzina River Lodge.....

Hi Mat,

Good to hear from you! It was a cracking trip thanks.  I think we had 75 fish for the week and I had 17 of them so no complaints from me.  There were a couple of blanks amongst the guests but everyone else seemed to catch.

I caught fish every day and in every pool.  Highlight of the week was an eight fish day on Drosdovka with a night in their tented camp (a nice contrast to main camp - very peaceful and rustic and a bit of an adventure)and a 17kg fish from Varzina, Big Falls....picture attached.

Overall I think things were fine.  We didn't get met by anyone at the airport until about 90 minutes after we arrived which was a bit of a shame.  We then had to wait ages for our chopper to come in due to bad weather. Not being met was a bit of a contrast with the other groups!!

The camp was in reasonably good shape and all the guides did an excellent job. There was some grumbling about the fishing rota because it was not published up front and in advance by Alex.  To be fair, I don't think this is because he is favouring the russian guests, rather, he is just trying to say yes to everyone which doesn't always work.

Overall, I had a great trip and Alex told me my big fish qualifies me for another 30% discount next year so I guess that's me signed up for another year!!

Thanks and speak soon
Chris

Iceland Big Laxa and Reykjadalsa River Report

Iceland brown trout fishing is growing in popularity in every year. This is for good reason. The quality of the fish matches those found in my favourite trout fishing location: New Zealand. Large, wild brown trout can be found and often feeding on the surface on the prolific midge hatches that occur. We have a large number of clients fishing Iceland for trout this year and our first group has just returned. Hosted by one of the UK's finest brown trout anglers this group spent 5 days fishing both the Big Laxa and Reykjadalsa rivers.

For a full report you can follow Paul Procter' Blog who will go into some detail the daily fishing experiences. It is well worth the read.

Some pictures of the trip below:

WE HAVE A NUMBER OF TRIPS RUNNING TO ICLEAND IN 2014 AND ALSO SOME LAST MINUTE AVAILABILITY FOR THE 2013 SEASON. FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CALL US ON +44 (0)1621 743711 OR EMAIL: enquiries@flyodyssey.co.uk

Varzina River Lodge, Russia: Season so far....

We have had two groups up on the Varzina River on Russia's North Kola Peninsula over the first two weeks of the season. This river has had it's ups and downs over the last few years. Fish numbers have been down and low water conditions have not helped. It seems the run of fish has been much stronger in 2013. While the early walking week was slow and hampered by unfavorable weather conditions week 2 produced around 80 fish. Regular Chris Ward having joined the 30lb club in 2012 (and a nice 40% discount on his 2014 trip) went one better landing this cracking fresh salmon of 117cm weighed in at 17kg.

Week 3 produced 110 salmon with 90% being 2 sea winter fish. With the weather warming up now the salmon are above the falls and the grilse run should arriving in large numbers.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON OUR GROUP TRIPS TO VARZINA RIVER LODGE IN 2014 PLEASE CONTACT US ON +44 (0) 1621743711 OR EMAIL: enquiries@flyodyssey.co.uk

Cincos Rios Lodge, Chile - Client report late March

Has been a great season in Chile this year. We have had a good number of clients visiting the Coyhaique region to fish out of Cinco Rios Lodge and Estancia Del Zorro. All have had a great time down there. Simon was our last client of the season to visit.

Hi Mat,

Great trip thanks very much.  Lodge very nice, guides excellent and fishing great and varied.  I’ve got lots of photos but here are a few.  Let me know if you want more.  Fish up to 23inches.  Missed some bigger ones. 80% of fish on drys (probably caught 30).  Weather amazing!

Simon Wilson, UK

The lodge also had a fantastic film made this season and sent it to us recently. You can view it on our Fly Fishing Film webpage.

Images from Simon's visit below.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON FLY FISHING IN CHILE IN 2013/2014 PLEASE CONTACT US ON +44 (0) 1621743711 OR EMAIL: enquiries@flyodyssey.co.uk

ICELAND FLY FISHING - EARLY SEASON TROPHY BROWN TROUT

Many don't realise that Iceland has some of the finest wild brown trout fishing in the world. For those that are willing to brave the cold and enjoy streamer fishing rivers then there is a chance of some real trophy fish. Intrepid angler Tony Hooley has just fished the opening of the season with our favorite Icelandic guide Stjani Ben. Here is his report on the Litla River......

This is my first time to Iceland on a guided trip and I was told to expect big brown trout?! As a New Zealander with recent experience of fishing the big rivers of New Zealands South Island I had some reservations... but that quickly changed!

This river is in the far north of Iceland, some 30km from the polar cap, so already you get the feel of an adventure. The Litla river is an oddity, something you might expect to come right of Norse Mythology. In 1976 a lake formed underneath frozen farmland, after a massive earthquake, from the Mt Krafla eruption. They named it Skjalftavatn Lake. The farmstead close to the river also has a hot spring that joins the river approximately 500 yards downstream of the lake. It runs into the Litla at 20 degrees c and most days we saw steam rising off one side as the river flows downstream.

I had three amazing days of flyfishing on this river. It has many great glides, riffles and pools and as expected lots of big hits as the fly swung around to the tailof some of the highly promising pools. The primary method is to present dark stickleback patterns, the brown trout gorge themselves on stickleback. Despite the cold air temperature, we also saw good hatches of chironomid midge, so a s16 - 18 CdC midge is a deadly pattern.



The river holds a very good population of Brown Trout, Artic Char and Sea Trout. However in the early season, we primarily were targeting the big brown trout.

Stjani Ben is the guide and a trained chef he also looks after your appetite! Stjani has access to several high quality rivers so an excellent combination package can be arranged to fish for big brown trout, sea-run char, artic char, sea trout and salmon
We even tried a few days on another river 20 minutes from the Litla, despite it being out of prime Sea-run char season, we managed to hook up with resident char up to 3lb, fresh run sea trout up to 6lb and had some classic big brown trout stalking in the deep gin clear pools on the upper beats.



Stjani has a very close relationship with Fly Odyssey in the UK, so at the drop of a hat you can be in Iceland in 3 hrs and be fishing for trophy brown trout,hard fighting sea run Artic char, Sea Trout or Salmon! all on a single hand fly rod!

In total I had 41 fish with resident char up to 3lb, Sea trout to 6lb and trophy browns up to 9 lb! Getting there is so easy, your quickly through Reykjavik Airport, met by a rep of the company and taken straight to a good hotel, the transfer is under an hour to the internal airport in the north and there you are met by Stjani and driven across the northern coast to the Litla Lodge. Its very good standard of accommodation and well maintained by the farm owners, with the added bonus of a large hottub in a pagoda style outbuilding.



Once again, many thanks to Mat at Fly Odyssey for another excellent trip!

Best wishes
Tony Hooley

If you are interested in fishing in Iceland in 2012/13 we have a comprehensive range of options for salmon, sea trout, brown trout and char to suit all budgets. For more information please email us or call on +44 (0)1621 743711.

New Zealand Fly Fishing Hosted Trip Report 2012

Have just arrived back in the office after another hosted trip to New Zealand. We had a very enjoyable two weeks fly fishing in New Zealand's south island with many big fish caught and some fantastic dry fly opportunities for the guys. The group were a great bunch and took the demanding nature of fly fishing in New Zealand in their stride and had some great success.



On the fishing front we had some great cicada dryfly fishing to large sighted trout. Dormer Treffry landed his first 'trophy' brown trout weighing a 10 1/4 lbs. Paul Procter managed his largest river caught wild brown trout with the fishing weighing 8 1/2 pounds. One the same day he also had another 8lb er. He also had several other fish over 7lb's. In total the group landed 7 fish over 8lb and a large number of fish over 6lb.





Comments from they guys on the trip really make all the hard work worthwhile.....

"Incredible. Fantastic. Marvellous. Superb. What can I say to describe a holiday of a lifetime. Although I have been with you before, this was even better. It is Almost as if you have had a word with the fish so that I can see them. To provide me with 3 over 8lbs in one day was a day I will never forget, especially as the best was a trophy (10.25lbs). Thank you for looking after me so well, providing superb accommodation, most with WiFi, and of course feeding me so well. Thank you for providing such great guides who dealt with my slow pace so admirably. Beautiful scenery, fishable rivers with plenty of very fat fish and the rare birds to admire.

Thank you Mat so much.

Dormer Treffry, France

-----------------------------------
Hi Matt,

Back in hot sweaty Perth. Anyway, just a short note to say thank you very much for a great weeks fishing. You and the fellas were great company and the fishing was magic. As I said, the best fishing trip I've ever been on!! I'll send something more substantial once i feel better.

Cavan McCann, Australia

The pictures below show some of the highlights but not all of the memories. I will post up Paul Procter's report on the trip in the Next few days.

Best Regards
Mat

Fly fishing New Zealand: Owen river Lodge report

We have had a US client fishing out of Owen River Lodge earlier this week. With the South island having had a relatively dry summer some much needed rain arrived. This coincided with some high river levels in the Buller region but the team at Owen river lodge managed to put Glesson onto some great fish.







Our annual South Island hosted trip is coming up in the next two weeks. Really looking forward to being back on some of my favorite streams and sharing some fishing with clients that had been to New Zealand with us many times and showing New Zealand to some clients on their first ever visit. WIll also be great to catch up with New Zealand south island guides Steve Carey and Ian Cole who always show our clients a great time.

For more information on fly fishing in New Zealand please call us on +44 (0) 1621 743 711 or email us.

Fly fishing Chile report

We have had a number of anglers fishing out of Cincos Rios Lodge and Estancia Del Zorro over the past month with some pretty memorable captures recorded. The Coyhaique region of Chile, where these lodges are located offers a remote wilderness region with a huge number of trout rivers available to fish. The scenery along with a huge variety of activities (horse riding/ condor watching/rafting) make this a great place to visit. Here are some images from our clients trips.











FOR INFORMATION ON FLY FISHING IN CHILE PLEASE CALL US ON +44 (0) 1621 743711, VISIT OUR WEBSITE or email us.

Jonathan Tomlinson's Ascension Bay fly fishing report

Jonathan Tomlinson from Sportfish Reading has just sent through his fly fishing report from Ascension Bay, Mexico. Jonathan has now done over 10 weeks down in Ascension Bay so for expert advice on saltwater fly fishing tackle and the 'must' flies to have drop into Sportfish Reading....

Well it was that time of year again for our regular trip back to casa viejo Chac and ascension bay and what a trip we had. It has become the norm for us to take at least a 2 week trip as the lodge offers such good value for money and great service. The food is excellent and the portions are big, a great bar on hand and one of the best opportunities in the world to not only grand slam but super slam. In my opinion previous trips have highlighted that this part of Mexico offers the best Permit fishing in the world and this latest visit didn't fail to produce. The first of our 2 weeks saw 10 anglers hit the flats, the first 2 days gave us excellent conditions with cloud rolling in and out throughout the rest of the week making things tough at times. With such a variety of species to chase it was at times difficult to decide which rod to reach for but many opted for the 10 weights and permit flies. Tarpon, snook, bonefish and jacks to name a few all made big appearances.

Final figures on permit for the first weeks saw 7 permit landed with bones to 61/2lb with a sprinkling of tarpon and snook along with the obligatory barracuda!

The second weeks saw 4 go and 4 join the group keeping us at 10 and what a week we were set for. Excellent conditions with bright sunshine and little wind meant that even more time being spent chasing permit which turned out to be the the best decision. Permit we're seen all over the bay and shots were had almost at will at times. Several days anglers returned with more than one fish to the boat including a 3, 4 on 2 occasions and a gob smacking 7! The last day of the trip and a staggering 13 permit were landed with a grand slam for Geoff and a double grand slam for Mark.

Shark, triggerfish, ladyfish and Spanish makeral with a whole variety of jacks and snapper added to the list.

A massive total of 30 permit (to 28lb with 2 over 20lb), 12 tarpon, 15 snook (to 18lb) and some great bones of much bigger than average size than we would normally expect topping out at close to 8lbs.

If all the permit hooked or that ate had been landed god only knows how many we would have had, perhaps even as many as 50!

This trip once again has shown that if you want to catch a permit on the fly and are prepared to put the time in then there is NO place better in the world to go than Mexico's ascension bay. Grab your 10 weights and a box of creole crabs, Bubba Gump shimp's and Homer Shrimpson's and get your self on a plane!

Already Looking forward to our annually trip next year - get it booked Mat!!

All the best
Tomo

FOR INFORMATION ON OUR UPCOMING TRIPS TO MEXICO PLEASE CALL US ON +44 (0) 1621 743711, VISIT OUR WEBSITE or email us.

Espiruto Santo Bay Fly Fishing Report

Espiruto Santo Bay is one of the Yucatan peninsula's most remote fly fiashing destinations. Last week we had a group fishing out of Playa Blanca lodge which allows 6 skiffs to access this wonderful wilderness. The group had some extrodinary bonefishing and saw huge numbers of permit. 5 fish came to the boat using both conventional and un-conventional (funny story to that one) means. Fish of the week went to Kevin Pallet who landed a guide estimated 33lb permit. This resulted in the Permit first timers tequila and scorpion shot. Two other anglers also landed there first permit.

This now brings the NOVEMBER PERMIT TALLY for our clients to 39 PALOMETA!!!!

FOR INFORMATION ON OUR UPCOMING TRIPS TO MEXICO PLEASE CALL US ON +44 (0) 1621 743711, VISIT OUR WEBSITE or email us.

Ascension Bay Permit fishing Update

A mid week update from our second group of 10 anglers in Punta Allen has reported 5 permit for the first few days with several clients landing their first ever permit.

NOVEMBER PERMIT TALLY = 9

Photos to come................

Fly Fishing report Ascension Bay, Mexico

MEXICO MONTH

We have a large number of fly fishermen (46 in total) traveling to Mexico throughout November to both Ascension Bay and Espiruto Santo Bay. We will keep a permit tally for the month so keep checking in on how each group fairs. The first group of 8 anglers arrived just after Hurricane Rina. The group was lead by Tom Festing of SPORTFISH who experienced Ascension Bay for the first time last year. The weather was still a bit patchy but did not hamper the fishing too much. The bonefish were willing and with the guides locating some new tarpon lagoons there was a great mix of species caught by all anglers.

And the permit tally for the end of week 1 was 4.

NOVEMBER PERMIT TALLY = 4



Photo courtesy of Mr Chris Bowling

Client Report: Varzina Trout Camp

Just had some clients return from Varzina Trout Camp. I think the images and words sum up their trip perfectly...

salut Matt

it was FANTASTIK !!!

Pascal and me was very very very happy :

the trout camp
the guids and staff
trout
ambiance with russian clients

top of the top













Images copyright of Jean-Chrstophe Rouxel

If you are interested in fishing in Russia in 2012 well have a comprehensive range of options for salmon, brown trout and char to suit all budgets. For more information please email us or call on +44 (0)1621 743711.