in search of fly fishing
Last week my freind Chris Gill was with his four sons in Belize, fishing for Permit at Lincoln Westby’s Blue Horizon Lodge. 
Check out some great images of the 2009 Rio Grande Season from my friend and Head Guide at the Estancia Maria Behety Lodge Nick Thomson. GOOD STUFF!
Me and Uncle-Grandpa-Jack fishing in the Ocean off Southern California for Bonita, Barracuda and whatever else we can catch. Circa 1974
“My Favorite Things”
by
Doug Guadagnin
This little ditty was sent to me from my friend Gary Sitton. His friend Doug Guadagnin wrote it and it’s good humor. Sing it to the melody “My Favorite Things” from the 1959 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music.
Big cupped up greenies and bull sprig and suzies,
Limits of gadwall, and widgeon, no spoonies,
Big fluffy snow geese on long leather strings,
These are a few of my favorite things.
Permits on crab flies and Bull Elk a buglin’,
Red Heads a plenty on wild wings a cruzin’,
Piranhas and peococks and tropical rains,
These are a few of my favorite things.
Whitetails and mulies and slobber-noses drippen’,
Polar Bears and Grizzles, my heart rate is skippen’,
Red Stags a runnin’ on New Zealand plains,
These are a few of my favorite things.
When the bones creak, when the waders leak,
When the knees go bad,
I simply remember my favorite things,
And then I don’t feel so bad.
Kudus and Sables and Puff Adders Hissin’,
Zebras and Wart Hogs my sharp sticks not missin’,
Big sea run browns as my fly reel sings,
These are a few of my favorite things.
Cigars and duck blinds and brandy in coffee,
Doug on his goose call and Nelly right by me,
Honkers a comin’ with big locked up wings,
These are a few of my favorite things.
Back pain and bone spurs, my thin hair feels breezy,
A Rotator cuff tear, this doesn’t sound easy,
I once thought retirement would be such a cinch,
But now I know that it sure ain’t for wimps.
When the joints ache, When the foot breaks,
When the arthritis gets mad,
I simply remember the great life I’ve had,
And then I don’t feel so bad.
Gary Sitton with a Fly-caught Belize Permit
It was all up to us. We were the last group of the 2008 season on the Hoodoo River to find, fish, hook and hopefully land steelhead. And although I don’t think any of us really felt any pressure, we sure did want to connect and prove the previous four exploratory steelhead weeks wrong – there are fishable numbers of steelhead to connect to on the Hoodoo. It didn’t happen. Seven of us, fishing 6 days, landed four steelhead for the week. Not what we expected, not what we wanted, but what we were able to scrape out. We probably hooked another 6 confirmed steelhead, but that is besides the point
Was it a good trip – yes it was. We were a very cohesive and mature group of anglers that knew what were getting into. Rod and his crew did a fabulous job of taking care of us and left NOTHING on the table in their efforts to get us into fish. It just didn’t happen.
So where do we go from here with steelhead on the Hoodoo? Well, we fall back and regroup. What we don’t know about the steelhead on the Hoodoo far outweighs what we do know. We are going to cut back the designated steelhead exploratory weeks to October 2nd – 9th and 9th – 16th. Rod Schuh, owner of Hoodoo, is going to put in a second spike camp between the lake outlet (start of the float) and the lower camp which will allow for an optional 3 day/2 night float. This will shorten daily float time and increase daily fishing time on the upper reaches of the river – a fantastic stretch of water. The David River will be further explored and Rod will incorporate a middle river spike camp that will allow anglers to fish from the upper river to the middle, overnight and continue to fish their way down to the lower river. It is interesting to note that the David produced 50% of the steelhead landed this season. In addition, other never-before-fished-rivers, within striking distance of the lodge, that are known to have steelhead runs, will be fished and explored.
So that’s it. We didn’t hit the steelhead like we hoped for or expected, but we’re not giving up.
What continues to baffle us about steelhead on the Hoodoo is the large numbers of kelt-steelhead Alaska DF&G employees see at the weir above the lodge every June. It just doesn’t figure, but we WILL figure it out.
Our good friend from Argentina, Patagonia, Alvaro G. Gomez Villafane stopped by The Fly Shop today. He has been on a fly fishing road-trip of the west via his tricked-out motorcycle and is headed over to the coast to make his way down Hwy 1. Alvaro is a fly fishing guide out of Esquel, Argentina and works with Patagonia River Guides and Raul San Martin’s Ghias de Pescas.
Our good friend, Brian Yamamoto from Fairbanks Alaska is receiving some major kudos and press on the humongous sea-run brown trout (46″ x 25″) he landed this March fishing on the Rio Grande in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina at La Villa de Estancia Maria Behety. Just as fascinating as the size of the catch and Brian’s accomplishment is the life history of the fish as detailed by Sarah O’Neal, a biologist from the University of Montana.
The Estancia Maria Behety, Estancia Jose Menendez and The Fly Shop have been sponsoring a ongoing study of the magnificent sea-run browns of the Rio Grande for several years. For more information on Brian’s incredible fish, check out the blog below, posted on Field & Streams website. http://fieldandstream.blogs.com/honestangler/2008/09/a-world-record.html
CONGRATUALTIONS Brian!
All the best fishing,
Pjp
P.S. The amazing thing about the Rio Grande is that it gives up so many BIG sea-trout to so many different anglers each and every week of the short 14 week season. No other fishery that I know continues to meet and in almost all cases exceed angler expectations. It is a must do for fellows looking to hook and land the biggest trout of their lives…
