Reason 313 why to wear glasses while fly fishing – ouch Sandy!

“Fishing in the Land of the Thunder Dragon, Bhutan” by Rich Rubin

 

 

 

 

Fly Fishing in Bhutan

My wife, Corrine has wanted to trek through Bhutan ever since her first low-budget backpack around the world trip she took in her 20’s. Although her style is no longer “starving student class” her continued interest in traveling through this mountainous kingdom led to us planning a trip there in April.

I’d heard of some fishing in Bhutan, something about the British bringing brown trout over from the rivers they stocked in Kashmir. I had also heard that these trout swim virtually untouched as Bhutan is a devoutly Buddhist country and a believer would never consider killing another living thing. Finally, when Corrine said that the proper permits were obtained to schedule four days of fishing into our 17 day adventure I knew I was as lucky as a 23 year old guy who discovers his Miss Hawaiian Tropic girlfriend also owns a liquor store!

 We packed light so I brought one 9 ft 5 piece 5 wt. rod and reel, a floating line with a couple of leaders and tippet spools and a box of assorted nymphs and dry flies. The plan was to fish in Tevas and rolled up pants if I needed to get into the water. The rivers I fished were all freestones flowing out of the Himalayas. Clear, cold and reminiscent of the Upper Sacramento or McCloud Rivers of Northern California.

 You’re probably wondering when I’m going to talk about the actual fishing. I’ll get to it but it’s just that there was so much more to my Bhutan fishing experience than the actual catching…

 Little suspention bridges I crossed were covered in prayer flags, some with fresh picked rhodedendrons laid on each end to honor the river gods. If I was near a village or farm I would often gather an enterage as I walked along the river as they had rarely seen an anglo tourst and had never seen a flyfisherman. I sometimes stopped and gave a casting lesson or a tour through my flybox after which we turned over rocks together trying to “match the hatch”. Oh, and while I’m on that topic a good 80% of the aquatic insects I found were small baetis, with a few cased caddis and an occasional stonefly. A Mercer micro mayfly was the hot ticket usually trailed off the bend of a tungsten bead wire price all hung off of a stimulator type dry or indicator. Ninety percent of the fish took the small mayfly.

 The brown trout were healthy, quite chubby and fought with numerous jumps and strong runs. The average fish was 14”-16” with my largest in the 18” range. The locals were very puzzled by the whole “catch and release thing.” Their main source of meat is dried fish and beef from India and once I got the message that it’s perfectly fine for a Bhuddist to accept an animal that someone else had killed I culled an occasional fish which was accepted with a bow and a sprint back to their home.

 Is Bhutan a destination type fishing location, a place to go and focus on trout fishing? No. Is it a significant cultural experience with breathtaking scenery and a population relatively uninfluenced by the outside world where a guy can also catch a few really fun fish along the way? Absolutely!

 To get a little Buddhist about it, the joy was found in the journey itself – Fish on Grasshopper…    

 Rich

SAVE WILD SALMON and STEELHEAD!

Lightining Hit Fly Rod!

Reason number 5,234 why not to fish when there is a lighting storm going on. This image was sent to me from my friend Rudd Corwin.