THE ANGLING REPORT September 2010 Vol. 23, No. 9

“SERVING THE ANGLER WHO TRAVELS”

A MONTHLY NEWSLETTER

SUPPORT OUR CORPORATE SPONSORS

IN THIS ISSUE

SeychellesFeedback On Desroches Island.

Plus, Another MothershipPAGES 9 - 10

Subscriber-Written ReportsMexico, Pennsylvania, Newfoundland

Montana. Plus, A ControversyPAGES 10 - 14

BelizeA Memorable TripFor BIG TarponPAGES 15 - 16

AlaskaA Fresh Look

At Painter Creek LodgePAGES 3 - 7

LouisianaIs There Fishing

After The Oil Spill?PAGES 4 - 5

GalapagosStriped Marlin

On The FlyPAGES 8 - 9

$5

DreamOutdoors

I

DATELINE: ITALY

Honor Roll ReportIs This The Perfect

Spouse-Pleasing Trip?

(Editor Note: We love it when subscribersdiscover an opportunity through The AnglingReport, try it, then write to tell how it went.That is what subscriber Jamie Larkin didrecently after reading our reports on troutfishing in Italy. For taking the time to filethis useful report, we are placing Larkin onour subscriber Honor Roll and sending hima coveted Honor Roll fishing cap. See page2 for more details on our Honor RollProgram.)

recently enjoyed three days of ex-cellent fishing during a family va-cation to Italy. For the fishing

part of the trip, I used informationfrom The Angling Report. I’m submit-ting this report to return the favor.

My trip was arranged through thecustom travel service offered byClaudio Tagini of Western EuropeanTravel (Tel. 302-436-0153. Web:

www.westerneuropeantravel.com). Myguide for the three days was LucaCastellani (Cell phone from the US:011-39-340-349-9273. Web: www.flyfishing-tuscany-umbria-lazio.com).We fished for two days on the TevereRiver in Sansepolcro in Tuscany, andfor one day on the Nera River just

outside of Spoleto in Umbria. Mynon-fishing spouse (Christine) ac-companied me on this trip, and whileI was fishing, Claudio arranged forher to tour the local countryside withDaniela, a friend of Luca andClaudio. Claudio also arranged our

lodging one night in a bed and break-fast that had formerly been a conventa few miles away from the Nera River.On a second night, he placed us in asmall hotel just inside the walls ofMontalcino.

Some changes in the travel plansfor the remainder of my family re-quired last-minute changes in ourit inerary. Claudio handled thesechanges seamlessly. They includedthe addition of the lodging inMontalcino, and arranging for us tobe picked up in Rome, driven throughUmbria and dropped off in Montal-cino, where we joined the remainderof my family.

Luca was ready and waiting eachday when I arrived for fishing. Hesupplied rods, reels, flies and waders.The rods included both graphite andmodern fast-action bamboo modelsby local makers. One of the rods wasoutfitted with an Italian-made silkline. Another featured bamboo fer-rules and was particularly sweet tocast. Unfortunately, during our dayon the Nera, this rod fell victim to anoverhanging tree while Luca wasdemonstrating some close-range cast-ing techniques.

The schedule for each fishing daywas flexible. Luca was perfectly will-ing to fish until I fell over. However, Iopted to end early to meet up withChristine for some late-day sightseeing.

I should mention the food, sincethat was important to the overallenjoyment of this trip. One day, weate a lunch of sandwiches on the river- in Italy, delicious pannini andespresso can be purchased at the localgas station! Another day, we ate at alocal restaurant on the banks of theNera, and, on the final day, at Luca’sclub. The meals at the club andrestaurant were excellent, particularlythe restaurant meal. During our

-2-September 2010 Volume 23, Number 9

THE ANGLING REPORT

THE ANGLING REPORTEDITOR

Don Causey

MANAGING EDITORTim Jones

ADVERTISING MANAGEREdi Bell-Suffoletto

INFO. SYSTEMS MANAGERNicholas Titus

EXECUTIVE ASSISTANTTracy Sanchez

ILLUSTRATIONSGordon Allen

The Angling Report (ISSN: 1045-3539) is publishedmonthly by Oxpecker Enterprises, Inc., 12182 SW128 Street, Miami, Fl. 33186-5230. Periodicals Post-age Paid at Miami, FL, and at additional mailingoffices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes toThe Angling Report, 12182 SW 128 Street, MiamiFL 33186-5230. The Angling Report is not a book-ing agent, nor is it affiliated with a booking agent,outfitter or guide.

How can we help you?New Subscriptions: A one-year subscription costs$49. Add $11 per year in Canada/Mexico. $29 over-seas. Visa/MC/Amex ok. Contact us on the web(www.anglingreport.com), by phone (305-253-5301), by fax (305-253-5532), by e-mail (mail@anglingreport.com), or by regular mail (The An-gling Report, 12182 SW 128 Street, Miami, FL33186-5230).Online Extra Upgrade: One year cost $24, in addi-tion to regular subscription fee. Puts one on list toreceive e-mail invitations to go fishing FREE in re-turn for filing a report. Also, invitations to review(and keep) fly tackle. Unlimited access to our TripPlanning Database also included. Plus, e-mail andhard copies of monthly newsletters. Same contactdetails as above.Trip Planning Materials: Same contact details asabove. By phone, fax, e-mail or regular mail. Doyour own searches on our web site, www.anglingreport.com. Click on “Trip Planning Tools.” Thou-sands of pages of subscriber reports and previouslypublished articles.Subscription Questions: Same contact details asabove. On our web site, www.anglingreport.com,click on “Subscribe.”

The Angling Report800-272-5656

Honor Roll SubscribersThe Angling Report encourages

subscribers to file reports on greatplaces to fish and/or important newsdevelopments that help the rest of usdecide where to go (or not to go!)fishing. Subscribers who file unusu-ally important and useful reports areplaced on our Subscriber Honor Rolland are sent a complimentary An-gling Report Honor Roll FishingCap. Honor Roll subscribers also getspecial consideration in the award-ing of FREE Trips. You can find outmore about our FREE Fishing Pro-

gram on our website. Click on FREEFishing. If you have been on an in-teresting trip recently, send in a let-ter-length report and see if you canget on our Subscriber Honor Roll.Send it via e-mail to: doncausey@anglingreport. Our new Honor RollSubscriber this month is JamieLarkin for his detailed report onbrown trout fishing in Italy. You canfind the complete list of Honor Rollsubscribers on our web site, www.anglingreport.com. Click on HonorRoll subscribers.

morning fishing session on the Nera,Luca had a brief conversation with afarmer along the river. The farmer hadfound a large black truffle thatmorning. I asked about purchasinglocal truffles and Luca told me not toworry. Christine joined us for thislunch, which featured pasta allaNorcina with freshly shaved blacktruffles, plus cured meats, a fewcarafes of white wine and espressowith Sambuca for dessert. Lunch atLuca’s club was also very good,papardelle with cinghiale (local wildboar), ragu with ice-cold Italian beers(if you have not guessed yet, I am nota skinny guy). It was exceptionallyhot and sunny during my trip, so alunch break in a nice setting was areal treat.

The Nera is a small to medium-sized river that benefits from a cold-water diversion just upstream fromthe stretch that we fished. All fishingin this area is no-kill with barblesshooks. Certain sections are desig-nated no wading. Luca informed methat he was disappointed with the wa-ter conditions. Due to some repairs inthe diversion upstream the water washigh and off color. However, it wasnot muddy; it was more or lesscloudy, as if it contained snow-melt.Any potential disappointmentquickly dissipated when we arrived atthe first fishing hole. I was shocked atthe number of fish feeding in plainsight on such a sunny day. At least 15

large trout were sipping bugs from thesurface. We fished with small olivepatterns, caddis patterns and large tomedium Chernobyl ants (Luca ties hiswithout rubber legs, and they are sur-prisingly effective on the local trout).It was also surprising to learn that theriver is not stocked, and all of the fishwere wild brown trout, the only spe-cies of trout in this stretch of river.The majority of the fish ranged from12 to 16 inches, but much larger fishwere present. One that I fished overfor the better part of an hour was wellover 20 inches. Finally giving up, Iasked Luca to show me how it wasdone. He promptly caught the fish ona large caddis pattern. (Note: you cansee a picture of this fish in our onlineSubscriber Photo Gallery.)

These fish were extremely sensi-tive to any drag, so long (14- to 16-foot), fine (as low as 8x) leaders werea must. Because the river is not par-ticularly wide, long casts were notnecessary. Instead, short and accuratecasts were the order of the day. Lucahad to regularly remind me that thelonger casts that I am accustomed tomaking on the Delaware River werecompletely inappropriate for this typeof fishing, and that I should focus on“precision” instead. It was very chal-lenging trying to accurately place afly with a 16-foot leader and only sixinches of fly line beyond the tip ofthe rod.

In all, we covered about three

-3-September 2010 Volume 23, Number 9

THE ANGLING REPORTkilometers of Nera water. Thesurrounding countryside was beautiful,lush green farmlands with steepmountains springing from the valleyfloor. We landed four fish before lunch,and six to 10 more in the afternoon.

While I was fishing the Nera,Christine toured Spoleto and some ofthe other local towns. She particularlyenjoyed a visit to the waterfall atMarmore, which is apparently one ofthe tallest in Europe. I, on the otherhand, particularly enjoyed the localNorcian sausage that she purchasedwhile I was fishing.

The Tevere (it’s hard to believethat this little river we fished is thesame one that flows through Rome!)sits between the town of Sansepolcro(home of Buitoni pasta) and theautostrada. The surroundings are notnearly as beautiful as the Nera. Wherewe parked looked a lot like the WestBranch of the Delaware in Deposit,New York, below the Norbord plant.Still, the Tevere (a slightly larger riverthan the Nera) is lined with trees andbrush that provide a feeling of seclu-sion and respite from the town andhighway. Fishing on the Tevere wasalso no-kill with barbless hooks.

The Tevere is home to both wildand stocked brown trout and somegrayling. We arrived both days atabout 11 am. Though it was brightand sunny, there was a consistenthatch of olives, and fish were risingregularly. The fishing on the Teverewas very technical. The fish seemedto be more selective than those of theNera and we used the same long, fineleaders with generally smaller flies,though Luca’s Chernobyl antsworked here as well. Most productivewas a fly that Luca refers to as “thesh***y pink fly.” It is tied on a 22 or24 hook, with a body strip of pinkfoam that is floated by a wisp of CDC.I landed 10 or so fish on this fly thefirst day, and five on the second. Thefish here ranged from 12 to 16 inches.I saw some larger fish but could notfool them.

I would highly recommend a fewdays of fishing on these rivers to any-

one visiting Tuscany/Umbria. Theseare not necessarily “destination” riv-ers. However, they offer challengingfishing for quality fish. The activitiesavailable for non-fishing spouses area big plus, too. I am very lucky thatChristine was willing to strike out onher own with Daniela. The ideal situa-tion would have been two couplestraveling together with two peoplefishing and two touring. - JamieLarkin(Postscript: If you are intrigued bythis report, you can find much morecoverage of Italian trout fishing inour Trip-Planning Database. See Ar-ticle Nos. 2399, 2267 and 2079; andSubscriber Reports Nos. 3949, 3888,3819.)

DATELINE: ALASKA

FREE Fishing ReportPainter Creek Lodge:

An On-Site Report

(Editor Note: In the February 2010 issue,Honor Roll subscriber and frequent con-tributor Bob Peters gave us an update on

Painter Creek Lodge in Alaska. This is thelodge, you’ll recall, that was impacted by alocal volcano that “burped” more than abillion gallons of highly acidic water intoIndecision Creek, Mother Goose Lake andthe King Salmon River. This event had asevere impact on the fishery and the lodgein 2005 and subsequent years. Peters re-port, however, indicated that the fishingaround the lodge was more or less back tonormal in 2009. But there was a problemwith asking Peters to write about PainterCreek. As we noted at the time, he has avested interest in Painter Creek Lodge –namely, he is the broker representing retir-ing owners Jon and Patty Kent as they try

to sell the property, asking price $3.8 mil-lion. While we double- and triple-checkedall of Peters’ observations and we believewhat we printed to be absolutely accurate,we know the conflict of interest underlyinghis report left some lingering doubts aboutthe fishing around Painter Creek Lodge. Toremove those doubts, the Kents agreed tooffer a FREE Fishing Trip to an AnglingReport subscriber of our choosing, with theunderstanding that the selected subscriberwould write a candid report on what he, orshe, experienced. Well, Honor Roll Sub-scriber Sonja Nisson got the nod for thattrip, fished Painter Creek in early Augustand filed the following report. For more in-formation on our FREE Fishing programand how you can participate, see the boxon page 6.)

hen I was told I had beenselected for a FREE Fish-ing trip to Painter Creek

Lodge, I was ecstatic. I was interestedin this opportunity for three reasons.First, prior to the volcano event, an-glers had described both the fisheryand Painter Creek Lodge in glowingterms. Second, Bob Peters’ reportabout his 2009 fishing showed hopefor the fishery. Bob is a frequent con-tributor to The Angling Report and,historically, his reports have been fairand closely aligned with my personalevaluations. Third, there are very fewvolcanoes in the world that have be-haved the way the one around PainterCreek did. After its “burp,” volca-nologists studied and reported onChiginagak in great detail. However,there has been very little scientificfollow-up of nature’s efforts to repairand renew herself after an acid leak ofthe sort Chiginagak caused. I jumpedat an opportunity to look at the fish-ery and the ecosystem first hand.

Painter Creek Lodge is about 400miles southwest of Anchorage. Accessis easy: Pen Air flies several times aday from Anchorage to King Salmonand a smaller plane then flies to thegravel landing strip at the lodge,which sits on a plateau above PainterCreek, about 400 feet above sea level.

Mother Goose Lake sits at thebase of Chiginagak Volcano, whichrises a majestic 7,000 feet, slightlyabove the surrounding peaks. Painter

W

-4-September 2010 Volume 23, Number 9

THE ANGLING REPORTCreek flows out of Mother GooseLake and into the King Salmon River.As for the lodge, the main buildinghas a comfortable lounging area withfireplace, a dining area and a library,all of which offer spectacular views ofthe Aleutian mountains and theAlaska Peninsula Wildlife Refuge.The atmosphere is casual, family-like.The guest quarters are two duplexcabins, each unit with private bath,dedicated hot water and efficientheaters. The accommodations weremore spacious than those in mostlodges, and I found them to be verycomfortable.

The owners, Jon and Patty Kent,

are very personable, efficient hosts.They made me feel instantly at home.Patty is also an excellent cook whoserves outstanding meals. The lodgecurrently books only four anglers perweek, tailoring the week’s experienceto the preferences and abilities of theanglers. I decided to target salmonprimarily and include some Arcticchar. Also, if possible, I wanted totake fish on or near the surface usinga floating line.

The entire month of July this yearsaw record-high water levels andrecord-low water temperatures. Thefirst sunny, absolutely calm day ofsummer came on our first day of

fishing. We used a jet boat to locatelarge schools of chum salmon, and wethen waded those areas. With thecalm conditions, literally hundreds ofsalmon were visible in holding areas.I used an 8-weight rod and floatingline to swing pink flies on or justunder the surface. In deeper pools, Iused a weighted fly about a footbeneath the surface. I could clearlysee salmon following my waking flyon several occasions before I couldentice one to strike.

My first fish was a chrome-bright,10-pound chum salmon that was stillsporting sea lice. My second wasnearly identical. These are strong, ag-

An On-Site Report

Fishing 50 Miles From The Gulf Of Mexico Oil DisasterBy Don Causey, Editor

(Editor Note: Angling Report Editor Don Causey was in Louisianain mid-August where he fished the mouth of the Mississippi River,just 50 miles from site of the BP oil well blowout. His observationswill likely surprise you. If you’ve spent any time on the water in theGulf yourself since the spill, we’d like to hear your perspective.)

20 pounds. Actually, we caught amazing numbers of fisheverywhere we went: Redfish to 30 pounds; sea trout up-wards of four pounds. In places, we saw acres of mullet andhuge clouds of baitfish, not to mention erupting schools ofbonita. Sharks were everywhere, too. The biggest shark wesaw took my biggest redfish of the trip just yards from theboat. In one attack, it severed the entire body of a fish thatlikely weighed close to 50 pounds. The remaining headthat I was able to bring in weighed an astounding 18pounds (see the photo in our online gallery). On our lastnight together, John Jackson and I, along with our wives,had a dinner focused on fresh-caught redfish and sea trout.

Make no mistake - this report of what I saw is notpresented to minimize the BP oil disaster. The accidentappears to have been a result of gross and perhaps criminalnegligence. We have to learn from it as a nation. And, forall I know, the wonderful vistas of plenty I saw may havebeen a mirage. Underneath all that fish-rich, seeminglyuncontaminated water, a cocktail of chemicals may havebeen churning. For sure, we may also have been looking atan island of well-being in a sea of destruction. After all, thepush of the Mississippi River is outward into the gulf. Theriver itself may have been providing an umbrella ofprotection for many of the areas we visited.

More to the point of this newsletter – namely, providingwhere to go information for anglers who travel – what I sawmay not have a lot of relevance to the travel plans of mostsubscribers. I say that because most of the fishing we didwas old-style conventional tackle fishing. We fished thatway because John Jackson’s boat was not really suited tofly fishing. Moreover, most of the water we fished was dis-colored by the river and too deep for practical fly fishing.

Unless you have been living under a rock, you knowall too well that millions of gallons of oil were releasedrecently in the Gulf Of Mexico when an oil well underdevelopment by BP off the coast of Louisiana blew up,killing 11 people and allowing a torrent of oil to escape.The video feed showing the release of the oil was sicken-ing in the extreme. Now that BP has finally capped thismonster, is there anything at all left of our beloved Gulf ofMexico?

Having just returned from a trip to the Gulf – specifi-cally to Venice, Louisiana, at the mouth of the MississippiRiver – I can assure you the answer to that question is yes.For three full days in early August, a friend and I – John J.Jackson, III of Conservation Force (www.conservationforce .org) – fished the mouth of the river. Thanks to hisextensive local knowledge, we were able to visit all of themajor passes. We even fished the edge of the outer shelfone day, looking for tarpon around fascinating reef-likestructures known locally as mudlumps. At one point wewere only 50 miles from the BP spill site.

So, what did we see and catch in three days? Unlessyou have an investment in punishing BP, you will be re-lieved to know we did not see any significant oil any-where on the shore or on the hundreds of miles of boomsstretched across flats and passes. Within 50 miles of thespill site we saw tarpon upwards of 100 pounds smashingbaitfish. We caught a redfish there that weighed more than

-5-September 2010 Volume 23, Number 9

THE ANGLING REPORTgressive fish and each made three orfour hot runs before coming in close,but never giving up. Chum salmonfight extremely hard. Pound forpound, they outclass kings in myopinion. I believe they are under-rated by most anglers. Maybe it’stheir name? After all, how much re-spect can you give a fish called“chum”? It also may be that there areonly a few places where you can tar-get chums so close to the ocean. At anyrate, the chums at Painter Creek weretotally chrome and mad as can be!

After a streamside lunch, a slightwind came up and the bite reallyturned on. It did my heart good to see

these brutes have their way with mytwo angling companions, as some hadwith me. We all landed some fish andtipped our hats to others, who, afterruns, aerobatics and just plain orneri-ness, won the day. The fish rangedfrom eight to 15 pounds. As a bonus,there were also some kings available,probably due to the late run, high wa-ter levels and low temperatures.

This day was capped by sightingone of the largest bull moose I haveever seen. It appeared to weigh about1,500 pounds, and it sported antlerswith a 60-plus-inch spread in velvet.It will probably measure 70 inches byfall. As expected, we saw not another

human. Jon states that he has neverencountered an angler on his home wa-ters, and this week was no exception.

We alternated guides each day.Paul and Jon are the sole guides. Jonhas over two decades of guiding ex-perience and an intimate knowledgeof these waters. Paul has guidedPainter Creek for five years and isboth knowledgeable and personable.Both are top-notch guides and goodpeople.

The second day started with sight-ing a huge male bear that stood 12 to13 feet tall and weighed at least 1,200pounds. I watched him “fish” his terri-tory for a while, plucking 15-pound-

We did visit some areas where the long rod would haveworked, and I will have more to say about that in a moment.

First, though, I believe the important takeaways frommy experience are as follows:• The gulf oil disaster may not be as catastrophic overallas was originally feared. For whatever reasons – the unex-pected beneficial action of microbes in warm sea water, theuse of dispersants, a fortunate accident of helpful currentsand tides – I think it is safe to say the gulf is going tosurvive as a commercial and sport fishing area.• What was going on in Venice, Louisiana (and I under-stand it is also taking place all around the gulf), had allthe appearances of insanity. Thousands of “workers” andhundreds of boats of all sorts (everything from airboats toshrimp boats to out-of-state pleasure boats) had been mo-bilized, not to mention ATVs and other vehicles. Youcould tell the boats that had been “hired” by the BP flagsflying from masts in every direction. We called this vastflotilla “the BP Navy,” as that indeed was what it was. Intruth, it looked as if there was almost nothing for all thoseboats to do. Ditto the thousands of workers we saw walk-ing around with shovels and plastic bags. The amount offuel being burned by all those boats is mindboggling toconsider. And so is the bottomline effect of all this activ-ity. The main impact appeared to be negative, as morethan once we saw bored workers tearing through fragilereeds and marshes with ATVs. One particularly destructivevehicle we saw – an APC-type vehicle with tracks, notwheels - was in almost continual use along one beach wefished. Periodically, it would veer off into marshland. Thedriver and passengers appeared to be simply joy-riding.Wouldn’t it be more reasonable to come up with a direct-payment system for individuals harmed by spills like thisone? Why go through a charade of hiring them unlessthere is actually something to clean up?• I’m giving my personal opinion and perspective here,

but there seems to me something terribly wrong – andblinding - about the way the media approach stories today.It appears to be a nasty blend of mob mentality meets ide-ology, with ideologues on both sides blatantly blurring thedistinction between news and entertainment. Based onwhat I saw in one area of the gulf, the media appears tohave gotten it at least partly wrong on the gulf oil spill,and they have not owned up to their error and exaggera-tion. That distorted coverage appears to me to have re-sulted in real damage to the environment and sickeningwaste. The profligate squandering of resources I saw aroundVenice, Louisiana – human and material – was unbeliev-able. Whole barges loaded with temporary housing units.Ton of shovels. Millions of plastic bags. A mini-fleet of$100 million dollar government ships called Responders an-chored in the Mississippi, doing nothing day after day. Icould go on and on with this catalogue of waste. And that’sjust what I saw…• On a more mundane level, I came away from this trip withan enormous new respect for big Gulf Coast redfish as asportfishing target and for Louisiana as a fishing destina-tion. The state is clearly a far more interesting and richfishing destination than most traveling anglers realize. Oneof the surprising things I learned is, most Louisianans don’trespect redfish as the great gamefish they are; they viewredfish as nuisance species that get in the way of catchingsea trout. This contempt for the redfish has blinded all buta handful of local guides and agents to the enormoussportfishing potential. In coming months, I plan to explorethis idea and this area more fully. One of the more intrigu-ing possibilities is the development of a year-round fishery(not just a winter fishery) for big bull reds in areas such asthose I visited around Venice. Stay tuned. And, in themeantime, if you have another perspective on the gulf oilspill, I’m willing to listen and publish what you say. – DonCausey.

-6-September 2010 Volume 23, Number 9

THE ANGLING REPORTers from the water and carrying themto shore as if they were featherweights. This was the first of manybear sightings - all big boars, no sowsor cubs. During the day, I also saw redfox, eagles, harrier hawks, goshawksand other wildlife.

With a slight wind, overcast andhundreds of fish in the water, thesalmon took our flies right away. Thefirst three I landed on the second dayall exceeded 15 pounds and, onceagain, they were fresh and strong,with many still sporting sea lice. Thehookups were so numerous I lostcount. We also landed a bright kingthat morning and the first silver

salmon of the season.On day three, we headed up

Painter Creek toward the mountains.With higher-than-normal water levels,

we were able to travel well upstreamby jet boat before wading. The wateris absolutely clear that far upriver,reminiscent of a large spring creek.The scenery was pristine meadowsand wild flowers, with the snowcapped Aleutians as a backdrop. Ifished for Arctic char on the wayback, using a 5-weight rod and float-ing line. Jon suggested I fish exclu-sively on the surface. Indeed, the fishreadily came to a waking fly, espe-cially when I gave it some movement.All the char I landed had evidentlyjust arrived and were still silver. Theywere larger than I have found else-where in Alaska. The rest of the week,we fished for salmon in the morningand early afternoon, then Arctic charto finish the day. Fresh pods of chumsalmon arrived daily. Even those thathad started to show spawning colorswere in beautiful shape and had alltheir fight. The weather was windyand overcast, conditions that favorsurface action. On several occasions,the fish followed the fly throughoutthe swing and then struck hard whileit was stripped. Watching the wake ofa double-digit fish chasing down myfly was a total thrill. The five- or six-second wait until the hook set seemedlike an eternity.

Late in the week, the chumsalmon run was still going strong andthe numbers of silvers increased. Allof the silvers I landed were over 10pounds, and all were very hot fish.One took my fishing companion wellinto his backing and another brokeoff. Without exception, each fish wasa memorable challenge on an 8-weight rod.

The arctic char run also arrived inearnest and I landed several over 18inches, with my largest measuring 25inches. All were hooked on the sur-face. On the final afternoon, the firstfour I landed all measured over 20inches and all had good breadth withlarge shoulders. Jon says the largestchar come in late August and Septem-ber. Several over 30 inches werelanded last season, he says. Somelate-season anglers primarily target

Want To Go Fishing Free?All About Our FREE-Fishing Program

The Angling Report has alwaysvalued feedback from its subscrib-ers. And the reasons are clear. Forone thing, Angling Report subscrib-ers are some of the world’s most ex-perienced fishermen. Hence theirjudgments about places are broad-based and sound. On top of that,most subscribers’ insights on tripshave a refreshingly candid air aboutthem. That’s because they are writ-ten from a point of view that no otherpublication embodies – namely, thepaying client point of view.

So, here’s the deal. We have be-gun to encourage lodge owners,guides and others to offer us FREEvisits to their facilities with the un-derstanding we will turn these invi-tations over to Angling Report sub-scribers who convince us they arecapable of writing useful and accu-rate reports on what they experience.At this point, more than 30 subscrib-ers have been invited on FREE fish-ing trips here in the US or to placesoutside the country such as Argen-tina, Christmas Island, Brazil andMexico. The total value of all thattravel is in the hundreds of thou-sands of dollars. And the good newsis, more and more outfitters are of-fering us FREE trips around the

world in return for reviews.If you want to get in on this op-

portunity, all you have to do is up-grade your subscription to OnlineExtra. The cost is only $2 a monthfor a service that includes: unlim-ited access to our custom-search-able, 5,000-page database of sub-scriber reports and previously pub-lished articles; early-bird electronicdelivery of your newsletter eachmonth; and access to periodic newsbulletins of importance to anglerswho travel. At least one of thosebulletins each month will describe aFREE FISHING OPPORTUNITY,and it will invite you to tell us whywe should select you to take advan-tage of it.

Sound like fun? Well, what areyou waiting for? Sign up right nowfor Online Extra and get on the listof people invited to go fishing free.The easiest way to sign up is to go toour web site, www.anglingreport.com, and click on “Upgrade toOnline Extra.” Or, you can call us at800-272-5656. Just be sure, when yousign up, you send us an e-mail addressthat you check often. Also, be sureyour spam filter is set low enough tolet our bulletins get through. Enjoy!– Don Causey, Editor.

-7-September 2010 Volume 23, Number 9

THE ANGLING REPORTArctic char while others prefer silversalmon. This was my first experiencewith “chromer” Arctic char; their en-ergy is comparable to rainbows.

Part of my job at Painter Creekwas to evaluate the fishery, not justthe angling. Here’s what I observed.First, the number and quality of fish Isaw on Painter Creek was outstand-ing. Jon Kent readily admits that theruns are not as massive as before thevolcano leak. Based on my experi-ence, however, I am not convincedthat, beyond a certain point, the num-bers significantly affect the angling.When there are 200 fish in a pod,would 500 make the fishing any bet-ter? When “the bite” was off, we werestill humbled by nature’s display ofunattainable plenty. An hour later,when something changed, all three ofus sometimes had simultaneous hook-ups. Fewer fish in the system maytranslate to spending more time find-ing the fish, but, once you’ve foundthem, I cannot imagine how it getsbetter. During our week, we did notspend more than half an hour at anytime finding fish. The Arctic char

fishery has definitely recovered, andthe size of these fish is remarkable.The fact that silvers showed up earlyand increased in numbers daily seemspositive, but I cannot speak beyondthat about the silver run.

If it is true that large bears andlarge boars in particular gravitate to

better fisheries, then the predomi-nance of large males at Painter Creekmay be a general indicator of ahealthy fishery.

Mother Goose Lake, the area ofgreatest acidity right after the spill,showed signs that it is recovering. Isaw loons and other birds on the lake,and insect hatches were taking place.

On Painter Creek, I observed goodnumbers of smolts, several insecthatches and weed growth in the water,all signs that the ecosystem is recov-ering. Weeds, grasses, wild flowersand bushes are once again abundantalong the banks. My observations arenot science, but I am glad to see ithappening.

In summary, I was very impressedby the total Painter Creek Lodge ex-perience. Even if the angling resultshad been less positive, the remote-ness, the family-like feeling of thelodge, the wildlife and the beauty ofthe surroundings would still makethis a stellar angling destination.Sometimes, it is not just about thenumbers. - Sonja Nisson.(Postscript: The 2010 all-inclusiverate for a seven-day stay with six daysof fishing is $5,000 without fly-outs.Helicopter fly-outs are available butmust be arranged in advance of ar-rival. A seven day stay with three he-licopter fly outs is $8,500 per person.For more details, go to: www.paintercreeklodge.com. Tel. 907-248-1303.E-mail: pattykent@gci.net.)

Briefly Noted

Things To Do... Places To Go... New Developments

Here at The Angling Report wecover mostly outfitted fishing tripsbecause that is what most subscribersare interested in. However, we arevery aware that there is another worldof fishing out there that individualscan do on their own or largely ontheir own. Witness the following cor-respondence we received recentlyfrom subscriber Jim Carter who hasput his own deal together on AndrosIsland, Bahamas. It just may get youto thinking about how and where toset up your own personal fishing deal.

“I have been fishing Andros Is-land for 15 years. The first ten years Ifished out of Cargill Creek mostly,but I also camp-fished in the Bahamasduring this time - once on Water Keyand once on Williams Island. I shifted

my interest to South Andros (KempsBay) five years ago. My stays onSouth Andros nowadays are for aminimum of one to three months. Ihave very good knowledge of the is-land, even owning my own flats skiff.I moved to South Andros because, inmy opinion, it contains the largestpopulation of bonefish anywhere. Inaddition, I can rent motel rooms therefairly cheaply. The place I like to stayis Javarr’s Twin Berry Inn at LittleCreek on South Andros (www.androsb e a c h c l u b . c o m / j a v a r r s - i n n -bahamas.htm. US telephone contact:954-681-4818). The place is ownedby James & Alice Sands of Nassau.The inn is only three years old, hasocean frontage and approximately 20rooms, plus a kitchen area and a

lounge area with television. Thekitchen is fully stocked with pots,pans and utensils, and it is availablefor usage by guests. The lounge areais a spacious and comfortable place towatch television, play cards or just sitaround talking about fishing. There isalso a wooden deck out front thatfaces the water. It’s great for relaxingin the afternoon. Kayaks and bicyclesare available.

“This is the best and cleanest innon South Andros. It is better thansome of the fishing lodges. Naturally,it has air conditioning. Rates are $70for a single and $100 for two peoplein the same room. The owner, JamesSands, is a retired businessman fromNassau who is present while guestsare there to make sure all of their

-8-September 2010 Volume 23, Number 9

THE ANGLING REPORTneeds are met.

“There are two independentguides on South Andros who havetheir own boats, Leslie Johnson andNat Adams. They charge $500 perday. In my opinion, they are the besttwo guides on the island. Leslie andNat (when not guiding their own cli-ents) work for Bair’s Lodge. Theystarted guiding for them in 1995.They are the most requested guides atBair’s. Leslie’s home phone is 242-369-5047; his cell number is 242-357-2326. Nat’s home number is 242-369-5544; his cell is 242-471-2165.

“I always take my own steak andlunch meat to South Andros. Chicken,fish, lobster and some Americanlunch meat can be purchased there. Ichoose to cook most of my meals atthe inn though restaurants are avail-able in the area. Their prices are veryreasonable at $6 to $12 for anevening meal. Kathy’s Bar & Restau-rant that sits on Little Creek is a fa-vorite watering hole for locals andvisiting fishermen. The place hasgreat food, a TV set, a pool table andBahamian music. Kathy will preparebreakfast and lunch for you if youwish. I normally prepare my ownbreakfast and lunch in the kitchen atthe inn. Everything you need is avail-able at the local grocery store exceptfor good quality steaks.

“It is an individual’s personalchoice whether he wants to save a fewdollars and cook at the inn or go tothe restaurants and eat out. If two an-glers stay at the Twin Berry Inn for$100 per night and pay a guide fee of$500 per day, that comes to $600 aday for lodging and 2 x 1 guiding, or$300 each per day. Multiply that bysix days give you $1,800. This is$1,800 to $3,000 less than you willpay if you stay at one of the lodges.In my view, this is a great way to ex-perience bonefishing in one of themost beautiful places in the world at avery reasonable price with two of thebest guides anywhere.” - Jim Carter,jccarter@consolidated.net.

We are indebted to subscriber

Martin Malmsten for the followingaccount of a saltwater fly fishing tripto the Galapagos Island arranged forhim this past March by Braden Escobarof Ecuagringo (www.ecuagringo.com.Tel. 011-593-9-5956542 – dialed fromthe US). See note at end for word ofanother company that offers fishingtrips to the Galapagos.

“I visited San Cristobal in theGalapagos this past March in searchof a striped marlin on the fly with acompany called Ecuagringo. SanChristobal is a lovely little townwhere wildlife is abundant even inthe town center. There are sea lionslying around everywhere, eagle raysswimming in the harbor just yardsfrom the sea promenade, etc. Thewildlife in the open sea is even morespectacular than that around San

Christobal. The main attraction forfishermen in the Galapagos is stripedmarlin. Here, you typically can ex-pect a large number of daily shots atvery good size marlin. There areblack and blue marlin available, too,as well as sailfish and yellowfin andbig-eye tuna, plus some shark anddorado. However, the main attraction,in my view, is the striped marlin.

“Fly fishing for marlin is wayharder than fly fishing for sailfish. Ido not recommend that one focus hisfirst blue-water fly fishing trip onmarlin. Go to Guatemala for sailfishinstead, or to Australia for wahoo andtuna. All of these fish are much moreforgiving. You’ll wind up with morefish landed in a day. For example,Guatemala, in my experience, typi-cally allows you to land five to 10fish a day on the fly, while here I

managed to get only three to the boatin four days of fishing. They werenice fish, though, about 140 to 190pounds.

“Why are marlin harder? For onething, they are harder to tease in.They lose interest in a couple of sec-onds. This means that only about onein three fish raised to the teasers comewithin casting range. The same pro-portion applies to the number of suc-cessfully teased fish that actuallybite. As for the number of hooked fishthat are actually landed, plan on land-ing only one out of three to five. Dothe math: To land one fish a day, youwould then need to raise about 25fish a day, or about one fish every 15minutes. Very few places in the worldallow you to do this. Fortunately,Galapagos is one of them.

“All considered, though the endresult of my trip in terms of numbersof fish landed was small, I found thedays to be action-packed. On top ofthat, the few fish landed were mag-nificent, twice the size of sailfish andfive times stronger. I broke two 70-pound fly lines the first day alone try-ing to clear free line and get fish onthe reel as they were screaming awaylike a missile. A fisherman on anotherboat while I was there had rod, reel,line, leader and fly pulled overboardby a fish. Needless to say, you need alot of experience, a high frustrationtolerance and a big tackle box toscore on fly-caught striped marlin.It’s also important to have a goodcrew helping you find and tease thefish. If you’re a single flyrodder,you’ll need two mates on hand onceyou have raised a fish - one to handlethe teaser rod and one to get the gearon the other two rods out of the water.Normally, you run three hooklessteasers, skirts with or without baitsewn in. Surprisingly often during mytrip, the fish came up on an innerteaser, in which case all hell brokeloose. A lot of things had to workwithin a few seconds for a successfulhook-up. Other times, I had fish fol-low way back from the longest teaser.The challenge in those cases was to

-9-September 2010 Volume 23, Number 9

THE ANGLING REPORTtease the fish all the way in to about20 to 25 meters. Clearly, catchingmarlin on the fly is very much a teameffort. Fortunately, Braden Escobarand his mates are very knowledgeableand skillful in the finding and teasingof fish.

“The boat we used was an out-board craft, which meant I needed tobe more than usually careful with myline. More than once I had to leanway out over the deck and stick myrod as deep into the water as I couldin order to avoid having my fly linecut off by the props. The boat maneu-vered well and appeared to be quiteseaworthy, however. I was told thequality of diesel is poor in theGalapagos, rendering inboards proneto break-down.

“As for gear to bring on a trip ofthis type, I recommend nothinglighter that a 15 weight rod with ahigh-quality big game reel. Bring lotsof lines, mainly floating lines with an80-pound breaking strength. I usedmostly 14-inch flies with the biggestpopping heads I could find (aboutfour centimeters in diameter). Thepopping seems to be essential for thefish to react. Bring big hooks, 8/0 to10/0 in a tandem-hook setup. None ofthis equipment is available in SanCristobal and Ecuagringo has fewspare items, so bring all the gear youwill need with you. Overall, this was atruly amazing fishing trip. I definitelywant to go back. I highly recommendit to anyone who wants to land good-sized striped marlin on the fly.” -Martin Malmsten.(Postscript: The other major outfitterof big game fishing trips in theGalapagos is Artmarina, www.artmarina.com. Tel. 305-213-5521. Ifyou fish with this company be sureand file a report.)

In our report last month on newopportunities in Seychelles, we askedfor on-site feedback on the fishing atDesroches Island Resort. This fishingprogram, you’ll recall, takes placearound Poivre and St. Josephs islands.It was created by Untamed Angling

(www.untamedangling.com) and canbe booked directly through that com-pany, through Frontiers International(www.frontierstravel.com) and throughvarious other agents.

The feedback we received on thisfishery is from an angler in Brazil,Antonio Celso Spiniella, who usedthe Report Form on our website toweigh in with his impressions.Spiniella fished out of DesrochesIsland Resort this past April 17 to 24.He says the lodge’s equipment,accommodations and overall servicewere excellent and the food andguiding were good. He reports takinglots of bonefish by wading andcasting on the flats and sailfish bytrolling. Permit were around inaverage numbers, he notes, whilegiant trevally were scarce. “We didn’t

have what I would call a really goodweek of fishing, but in general thislooks like a good place,” he writes.“Desroches Island itself, as well as theresort, is very beautiful. This is a niceplace to take the family, as it hasgood beaches, a swimming pool,water sports, hiking trails and all thestuff you find in resorts.”

Spiniella concludes that he wouldrecommend this destination to fellowanglers. He gives the cost of his tripas $6,000 (US).

Still on the subject of Seychellesfishing, we received word of anothermothership that will be operatingthere this season. Unlike the othertwo motherships we told you aboutlast month, this one won’t be operat-ing in the outer atolls where piracy isa concern. We learned about this

mothership – it’s called MV Illusions(www.mvillusions.com) – from BenoitMaury Laribiere with a French agencyby the name of DHD-LAIKA Voyages(Web: www.dhdlaika.com. E-mail:bmaurylar ib iere@dhdlaika .com).Laribiere says he is booking spaceaboard the craft only because it is notgoing to operate in the remote outeratolls. “My feeling is the peak situa-tion with piracy is behind us becausepressure on them is getting higherand higher,” he told us last month inan e-mail. “But there is still some ac-tivity west of Seychelles and somerisk everywhere within a 1,000-milerange from the Somali coast. This willlast as long as the situation is not un-der control in Somalia.”

Laribiere says he does not wantanything to do with putting clients atrisk. He says he feels better aboutsome of the northern islands south-east of (but not too far from) Mahe,and he has no problems with fishingthat is land-based, or that involves

Subscriber Nathaniel Lawrencewould like to hear from fellow sub-scribers who have personal knowl-edge of the fishing opportunitiesnear Lubbock, Texas. Lawrencecan be reached by e-mail at:gmorris@l-mlaw.com. Please copyus on any feedback sent. Write:doncausey@anglingreport.com.

Subscriber Nathan Mayl tells ushe is going to China this comingSeptember, and his trip will includestops in multiple areas includingthe Yangsee River. “I could notfind any information on fly fishingin China in The Angling Report oranywhere else,” he writes. “Do fel-low subscribers to this publicationhave any leads for me?” Mayl canreach by e-mail at: nathanmayl@hotmail.com. Please copy us withany feedback. Write: doncausey@anglingreport.com. We hope agentsand outfitters as well as subscriberswill pass along what they know.

Information, Please

-10-September 2010 Volume 23, Number 9

THE ANGLING REPORTmoorings right inside lagoons. “Thesekinds of waters are no more unsafethan the rest of the world and some ofthem offer great fishing,” he says.“Pirates attacking people onshoreseems to me just a phantasm, not areal risk.”

Laribiere says the MV Illusionsoperated last season in Farquhar, andhe plans to use that experience to co-ordinate some land-based groups.“Right now, we already have threefully-booked weeks in 2010,” hesays. “We still have space in earlyJanuary, and we may have some otherweeks opening up as well. Interestedanglers should contact us soon, how-ever. If the demand for rods exceedsour land-based capacity, we intend totake the boat down to Farquhar andkeep her safe inside the lagoon. Bar-ring that, the MV Illusions will beavailable to provide fishing cruises toPlatte Island in November and De-cember at $2,750 per week from/toMahé. Platte Island is only 135 milessouth of Mahé. This will require agroup of eight and we will try tomatch interested individuals withother anglers. We will cruise down tosave air charter. The bargain price re-flects our lack of experience on thatisland. We will soon prospect it andwork out a program I believe will be agood opportunity at a very reason-able price.”

As the worldwide recession/recovery (choose your term)continues to lurch along, it seemslodges and booking agents aregetting more creative with theenticements they are offeringtraveling anglers. Witness the

unusual “value added” feature LagoVerde Wilderness Lodge (www.hosteriaselaura.com) is attaching tosome trout trips in Argentina thiscoming season. The lodge, located inLos Alerces National Park, Patagonia,has scheduled two “Bamboo Rod andCasting Clinic” weeks that will allowanglers to cast and fish with bamboorods created by a local rodmakernamed Marcelo Calviello (http://calviellorods.blogspot.com).

Anglers can stay all six days or aslittle as two days. The quoted pricefor any length stay is $500 per angler

per day, which includes double occu-pancy accommodations, breakfast,lunch on the river, dinner at thelodge’s restaurant, fishing guides,boats or rafts as needed, transfers fromand to Esquel airport and internet ac-cess. Not included are transfers be-tween the lodge and Bariloche, fish-ing license, drinks, phone calls, ci-gars, and gratuities. You can get a 20percent discount if you book beforeAugust 31. The two dates currentlyset are November 28 to December 5,2010; and March 27 to April 3, 2011.

The agent handling these trips inthe U.S. is Tim Purvis of Andean An-gler. He can be reached at 503-703-

7323; or by email at tim@andeananglers.com. His web address is:www.andeananglers.com.(Postscript: At press time, Purvis con-tacted us to let us know he recog-nized that Angling Report subscriberswould have only a few days at best totake advantage of the 20 percent dis-count being offered for early book-ing. So, he and lodge owner AlfredoZubiri have extended the discount of-fer until September 30 for AnglingReport subscribers only. Be sure youidentify yourself as a subscriber whenyou make contact. If you do go to ei-ther “bamboo” session or simply fishthe lodge this season, please file a re-port. We have one first-hand look atthis destination in our database from2006. See Article No. 1884 in ourTrip Planning Database. We’d be in-terested in another look at the fishingat this lodge and in knowing whetherthe “bamboo” offer really adds to thevalue of the trip.)

And finally, Honor Roll sub-scriber Kent Sullivan passed alongthis tip we thought worth sharing for“recycling” old, leaky Gore-Tex wad-ers. “I have begun cutting off the bootfoot portions of old waders and usingthem as breathable, waterproof, cover-alls/rain gear. Small leaks are rarelynoticeable because they are not beingfully immersed in water. These oldwaders are ideal for wearing in boatsin rainy or cold weather. On a winterredfishing trip, the weather was coldeven for an Alaskan and these cut-offwaders made bitter morning boatrides and cold days of fishing rela-tively pleasant. It certainly beatsthrowing them away.”

OUTFITTER CRITIQUES

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly(This section of The Angling Report is based entirely on subscriber-written Fishing Trip Report Forms. Our policy on these forms is we publishexcerpts in the newsletter of Angler Network Forms as received and exert no censorship. Agents, guides, lodge operators and/or outfitters who disagreewith anything said about them in this section are free to submit a rebuttal. As a subscriber, you can help extend the reach of this program by filinga Fishing Trip Report Form yourself. You should have found one inside this issue of your newsletter. Alternately, you can file a report online bygoing to our website, www.anglingreport.com. Click on File A Report. For details on how to order printouts of Angler Network Reports, see page2 of this issue.)

Subscriber Michael Huggins has checked in with reports on two rec- ommendable fishing opportunities he

-11-September 2010 Volume 23, Number 9

THE ANGLING REPORTexperienced in Mexico this past June– one in Cancun and one on HolboxIsland north of Cancun. In Cancun, hefished Nichupte Lagoon near the ho-tel district with outfitter Martin vander Does (Toll free from the US: 866-607-2246. Web: www.cancuntarponfishing.com), personal guide Mauricio.Huggins gives the equipment andguiding an across-the-board excellentrating, noting this was his seventh oreighth time to fish with van der Does.“He runs a very professional outfit,”Huggins writes. “I have referred sev-eral people to him and they have allhad a positive experience. (EditorNote: See Report No.4028 in our TripPlanning database for another posi-tive report on van der Does.)

Huggins says his fishing inNichupte Lagoon was conducted froma 17-foot Maverick Mirage flats skiff,though van der Does also has an 18-foot Hewes Redfisher which he useswhen three anglers want to fish to-gether. Huggins says the weather wasperfect with no wind and that babytarpon and permit were both abundanton this day. “I caught five baby tar-pon and jumped many more,” hewrites. “I also caught a small snook.The lagoon is loaded with permit,too, with some weighing 20 to 25pounds. I had several shots but couldnot get a bite.”

Huggins says he used 8-weightrods with floating and intermediatelines; he did not have a stripping bas-ket but reports that it would havebeen helpful. He gives the cost of hissix-hour day on the water as $325.“Seeing so many great flats species inthe middle of a major tourist districtis gratifying,” Huggins writes. “Theyhave good fishing year round, whichmakes it a great place to fish during afamily vacation. Cancun has every-thing non-anglers could want:parasailing, diving, spas, beaches,shopping....”

On this same vacation, Hugginstraveled to Holbox Island north ofCancun to fish with Alejandro VegaCruz’s Holbox Tarpon Club (Tel.011-52-1-984-875-2144. Web: www.

holboxtarponclub.com). He rates thelocal accommodations and food asexcellent. He also gives a thumbs-upto the guides, citing their thoroughknowledge of the water and the fishing,plus their ability to communicate.

Huggins says both large oceantarpon and baby tarpon on the flatswere abundant during his visit. “Allour fishing was done from pangas,and I was assigned a different guideeach day. The first day we saw no bigtarpon, so I fished flats for baby tar-pon which were abundant. I caughtone and jumped a few more and alsocaught several small ‘cudas. I sawhundreds of large ‘cudas cruising thesurface of the ocean that first day.The second day there were big podsof large, fast-moving tarpon rolling inthe open ocean. I had multiple shots

at these fish, hooked up with a 100-plus-pound fish and fought it for 15minutes before he broke off.

“I used 12-weight rods for the bigtarpon with Rio Leviathan and Out-bound Express 500-grain fast-sinkinglines. As for flies, I used 2/0 and 4/0standard tarpon patterns such asBlack Death, Red-and-Black andCockroach. For babies on the flats, Iused an 8-weight with floating linesand 2/0 chartreuse flies.”

Huggins reports no problems onthe trip at all. The weather, he says,was sunny with heavy fog each morn-ing, and winds that were dead calmuntil late morning when a l ightbreeze came up. Mosquitoes werepresent in the evenings, he says, butnot to the point of being a nuisance,though he would recommend bring-

ing repellant. “Holbox is a rustic is-land,” he warns. “Some of the hotelshave a/c but some do not. The restau-rants also do not have a/c. This wasnot a problem for me, as my hotelroom had a/c and I went out to eat inthe evenings after the temperaturedropped. If you aren’t tolerant of thesummer heat, this may be a concernfor you.”

Among the highlights of the trip,Huggins lists hooking his first bigtarpon on a fly rod and seeing a partof Mexico that is totally differentfrom the tourist city of Cancun. Hegives the cost of this portion of histrip as $1,800. For non-anglers,Huggins tells us the island has “greatbeaches, bird watching tours and, dur-ing the summer months, tours avail-able that involve swimming withwhale sharks.”(Postscript: Huggins’ report onHolbox Tarpon Club contrastssharply with one submitted a whileback by another subscriber. See Re-port No. 3741 in our Trip-PlanningDatabase. Timing, tides and weatherwere the major culprits on that trip.We also have two other subscriber re-ports on fishing this area. They aremust reading for anyone planning avisit to this destination.)

Donny Beaver’s Homewaters Club(www.HomewatersClub.com) hasearned a rave review from subscriberChris Dorsey, who happens to own acompany called Orion Multimedia.Orion is one of the major producers ofoutdoor television shows, includingthe acclaimed Pirates of the Flats se-ries starring Lefty Kreh, Tom Brokaw,Michael Keaton, Tom McGuane andYvon Chouinard. The series high-lights the work of Bonefish TarponTrust, the organization devoted to thescientific study and conservation ofbonefish, tarpon and permit. Dorsey ison the board of Bonefish TarponTrust, and he visited HomewatersClub recently in connection with aBTT planning meeting. He has this tosay about Homewaters Club:

“One of the best known angling

-12-September 2010 Volume 23, Number 9

THE ANGLING REPORTmembership destinations in the worldis the famed Homewaters Club in cen-tral Pennsylvania. For those of younot familiar, Homewaters Club is theproduct of a 2009 joint venture be-tween Spring Ridge Club in Pennsyl-vania and Alpine River Club in Colo-rado. Having visited Donny Beaver’sSpring Ridge destination many yearsago when it was simply an idea - nosignificant infrastructure or amenitiesat that point - I had my reservations,as many efforts such as his have beenattempted without much success.However, on a recent visit, I wasstunned to see that his vision has notonly come to life but it truly exceedswhat I had imagined could beachieved. In addition to classic lodg-ing with attention to detail that rein-forces the angling experience, the set-ting is how an angler would dream ofthe ideal destination - meanderingstreams with hungry trout the dimen-sions of which normally only live inan angler’s imagination. If there ispoetry to the fishing experience,Spring Ridge has achieved it with acelebration of all things angling.

“I happen to own a private lodgein Montana on one of the state’s mostfamous waters, and I can only dreamof offering guests what Donny hasprovided at Spring Ridge. From theoutlandishly big trout to over-the-top, chef-prepared meals in a histori-cally significant angling setting (thearea is the fishing destination ofmany past presidents and dignitaries),Spring Ridge provides a storybookangling experience. The proximity ofSpring Ridge to several major metroareas such as New York City, Phila-delphia, Washington, DC, etc. hashelped Donny Beaver attract manyhigh-profile individuals to his club.These same folks are influencers wholeave Spring Ridge echoing the needto protect more waters from develop-ment and exploitation that wouldthreaten the fisheries. In my experi-ence, no one champions a resourcelike those who savor it most, and itcertainly doesn’t hurt to have well-connected individuals experiencing

what a stream can deliver whentended to with care.

“While I have not visited Donny’sother properties in Colorado, I am ea-ger to see what awaits, as the reportsthat I’ve received indicate those prop-erties match what I just experiencedat Spring Ridge....”(Postscript: You can get more infor-mation on Pirates of the Flats andBonefish Tarpon Trust by going to theBTT website at: www.tarbone.org.)

In the January, 2009 issue (seepage 12), we summarized six reportsthat gave across-the-board excellentratings to the fishing, guiding, foodand accommodations at Salmon HoleLodge on the Lapoile River onNewfoundland’s remote south coast,east of Port aux Basques. See ReportNos. 3962 - 3967 in our Trip Planning

database. That report was followed upby yet another positive report in theApril 2009 issue. See Report No. 3998.

Now, we have two more rave re-ports on this lodge. The first report isfrom Jim Staples who tells us he’sbeen going to Salmon Hole Lodgeyearly for 29 years. He says he’s beentaking five other anglers on that jauntmost years and he has yet to find any-thing to complain about. “In 29 years,there has never been a problem tomake me even consider looking foranother place to fish,” he writes. “I’vefished a few other spots, and nothingeven comes close to Salmon HoleLodge. Yes, we’ve had high water todelay our arrival at the lodge or has-ten our leaving. And, we’ve had lowwater, too. Once, the river was closedbecause of that. That’s fishing. The

guides at Salmon Hole are resourcefuland accommodating, and we make thebest of what nature delivers. Travel-ing to and from is fraught with allthat flight or ferry travel can provide,and we’ve been annoyed by schedulechanges, mechanical breakdowns andeven by striking crab fishermen, butwe’ve never lost appreciable time onthe river. There were no problems atall in 2009....”

Sheryl Psiuk, who was at thelodge a week after Staples in 2009 forher first-ever salmon trip, offeredthese thoughts: “This was a trip offirsts for me.... first time fly fishing,first time fishing for Atlantic salmonand first visit to Newfoundland. So,my visit was more than just a fishingtrip; it was an opportunity to sightseeand relax. I estimate I spent two hoursa day for four days actually fishing.During that t ime I caught threesalmon. What an exhilarating experi-ence; these salmon were fighters! Ialso caught a few brook trout; someof the others fishing with me werecatching three- and four-pound brooktrout!

“This area of Newfoundland isamazingly beautiful, peaceful, sereneand rugged. The Lapoile river hasmany faces and many moods, and thefishing there is excellent. By the endof the week I was truly sorry to saygoodbye to the wonderful guides whoprovided exemplary, warm and friendlyhospitality and some of the best home-cooked meals I have ever eaten!

“There were no other peoplearound, so we had the pools all toourselves and the solitude meant themoose and caribou felt quite comfort-able walking through camp! It wasjust what I needed to take my mindoff work, deadlines, schedules and thestresses of daily life. I can’t believehow fast the week flew by...!”

Salmon Hole Lodge can be con-tacted by phone at 902-835-8872; orby E-mail at scott@salmonholelodge.com. The web address is: www.salmonholelodge.com. Cost is about$2,000 for six days of fishing.(Postscript: Newfoundland seems to

-13-September 2010 Volume 23, Number 9

THE ANGLING REPORTbe emerging from the shadows as atop-shelf Atlantic salmon destination.My personal network of salmon spiesis telling me that Newfoundland ingeneral is experiencing a banner yearof outstanding Atlantic salmon fish-ing. Despite the fact that projected re-turns were the same as last year(which turned out to be a so-so year atbest), I’m hearing stories of multi-fishmornings (and afternoons!) on riversacross the Province. To be sure, thiscould be just rumor, but clearly it’sworth further investigation. Staytuned for a full report in time to planfor the 2011 season. And, as always, ifyou fished the island this season,please file a report! – Tim Jones, man-aging editor.)

Subscriber Bill Wason and severalof his angling companions are verypleased with the service they receivedin Utah with Park City Outfitters (Tel.435-647-0677. Web: www.parkcityoutfitters.com) this past July. Theyfished both the Green and Provo riv-ers, and Wason describes the guidesthey were assigned were “...the mostuniformly excellent guides we haveever fished with.”

They began with two days ofwade fishing on the Provo Riverwhere the brown trout were bothabundant and large. Wason writes: “Icaught 12 fish in two hours one morn-ing, but six to 10 fish during a six-hour period was closer to the norm.Over half of the fish we caught mea-sured more than 16 inches. That’s alot of big fish for a small river!”

Wason says he used a 5-weight fordry fly fishing and a 6-weight with afloating line for nymphing. Weatherand water conditions were perfect fortheir trip and they hit a Green Drakehatch from 11 am to 1 pm both days.

The Provo was not without itsproblems, however, Wason warns:“This is an urban river with veryheavy pressure, especially during amajor hatch. The fishing situationwas reminiscent of the ‘combat fish-ing’ I’ve experienced on the RussianRiver during salmon season. You had

to get there early to stake out your‘territory’ and you had to be preparedfor some confrontations. I wouldprobably not consider the Provo a‘destination’ river by itself because itwas so crowded with anglers. Whilethe river can handle the pressure, whowants to engage in ‘combat fishing’?Most of this section is on public landand could easily be fished without aguide with a little direction from a flyshop. On the other hand, this is a nicelittle river to wade fish if you are inthe area for other reasons, such asfishing the Green River. The Provo isfishable 12 months of the year ifweather permits, and there is a lot fornon-anglers to do in the area. Ourthree guides for the Provo (Jen, Ken,and Ted) deftly handled seven an-glers, and were excellent.”

Wason gives the cost of this seg-

ment of the trip as about $700 per per-son for two days fishing. That includedthree nights lodging, meals and tips.

More to Wason’s taste was thethree days he spent float fishing Sec-tions A and B of the Green River withguides ‘Dan-O,’ Eric, Rodney andtrip-organizer Brandon Bertagnole.Wason says Bertagnole did a greatjob putting a trip together that in-cluded both the Provo and the Greenrivers, even though their party wascomprised of an odd number of anglers.

Wason notes Section A of theGreen provides mostly float fishing.There is minimal opportunity to wadefish in Section A (the Canyon sec-tion): “It’s seven miles from put-in totake-out. Although there is a trail onone side of the river, there are fewplaces to wade in the deep, narrow

canyon, and there are no walk-outsfor the entire seven miles. As for Sec-tion B, it is nine miles long with noaccess at all between put-in and take-out, though you can wade fish up anddown from the take-out of Section A.We didn’t fish Section C.”

Wason emphasizes that the Greenis not a river for do-it-yourselfers.Rapids claim a couple of driftboatsand numerous single-person pontoonboats every year, he says. The threedays he was on the Green he says hesaw two pontoon boats wrappedaround boulders. He described one ofthe incidents as potentially fatal. “Wegave the angler a four-mile ride out ofthe river, leaving behind his Winstonrod and car keys,” he writes. “Under-standably, life jackets must be wornat all times on Section A and half ofsection B with fines enforced if youdon’t”.

He and his group found naturallyreproducing brown trout abundant inthe river, while rainbows were scarce,despite the fact that 20,000 arestocked each spring.“We averaged 10 to 20 fish per day,but the catch actually ranged from sixto 30 fish,” he writes. “I could see norhyme or reason for so much varia-tion. About 60 percent of the fishwere bigger than 16 inches, with anoccasional 20- to 21-inch brown. Theriver reportedly has 13,000 to 15,000fish per mile in Section A, and I be-lieve it. If you stop to look down inSection A, you will see eight or 10large fish lounging about below youalmost every time you look.”

Wason says they used a wide vari-ety of nymphs and dry flies on thiswater, including caddis, WD40, Yel-low Sally and tungsten zebra nymphsand caddis, Chernobyl Ant and vari-ous attractor dries. They were tooearly for hoppers.

“The Green is in the middle of no-where,” Wason warns. “You don’t just‘drop in’ and expect things will gosmoothly. For one thing, there aresome restrictions on the number ofpeople allowed on the river and thenumber of guides who can fish it.

-14-September 2010 Volume 23, Number 9

THE ANGLING REPORTThere are also limited accommoda-tions in the area. Don’t expect a Holi-day Inn or even a Motel 6. I wouldstrongly recommend using a profes-sional outfitter and try to avoid week-ends if possible. Even though theGreen is several hours away from civi-lization, it can be extremely crowdedwith driftboats and rubber rafts filledwith families, especially in Section A.The river can easily handle the pres-sure, but it can still get a littlecrowded. Section B and Section Chave dramatically less pressure and atotally different character from thecanyon in Section A.”

Wason gives the cost of this partof his trip as about $1,100 per personfor three days on the Green. That in-cluded three nights lodging and food.In parting, he writes: “The Green isprobably the most spectacular troutriver in the lower 48 as regards sceneryand fish. The scenery is so fabulous it’shard to keep your eyes on the flies.”(Postscript: The Green and Provo riv-ers have received a lot of positive at-tention from Angling Report sub-scribers recently, as witness the fol-lowing materials that are available inour Trip Planning Database. Theyprovide more perspective on these wa-ters: Report Nos. 4139, 4142, 4131,4090, 4013 and 4012; and Article No.2361. The latter is a Close-up Reporton The Green River by frequent corre-spondent Bob Peters. It appeared inthe September 2009 issue.)

Subscriber Dr. W.R. Schlichte-meier tells us he had a “fabulous” ex-perience in Montana this past July,

fishing the Gallatin and Madison riv-ers and upper and middle JeromeRock Lake from Lone MountainRanch (800-514-4644; www.lmranch.com), an Orvis-endorsed lodge.

Though he reports the food wasonly fair, he tells us the fishing, guid-ing and equipment were all excellent.“We had excellent fishing on boththe Madison and Gallatin,” saysSchlichtemeier, “One day we weredriven to a trail head for SpanishPeaks. There we hiked into One HighLake, where we stayed in tents,cooked over campfires. From there,we rode horses a mile to MiddleJerome Rock Lake and fished fromthe bank and float tubes. Gorgeousscenery! We also Fished Margo lake.No fish rose to our flies, but we were

told the fishing can be fabulous inSeptember.

Schlichtemeier gives the cost as$875 per person for the horsebackfishing, plus $200 for the Madisonfloat. He tells us he recommends thetrip for “. . . adventure, scenery, stars,fun, remoteness and fish!” For non-anglers there’s plenty of horsebackriding, hiking, photography andcamping, he notes.

Controversy• Subscriber Dudley Cunningham hasfiled a mixed report on a mid-Decem-ber bonefish trip to Water CayLodge on the north side of GrandBahama. He booked his trip throughAngling Destinations in Sheridan,Wyoming, which operates the lodge.

On the plus side, Cunninghamraves about the fishing, pointing outthat bonefish were abundant in thearea and that his personal guide,

Sidney Thomas, was one of the bestguides he had ever used. He listsamong highlights of the trip thechance to see “...an expansive newflats system absolutely loaded withbonefish. We never fished the samearea twice.” Cunningham reports tak-ing multiple bonefish up to sevenpounds. Overall, the fish he caughtaveraged around four pounds.

In the minus column, Cunning-ham says weather conditions were notthe best during his visit and that af-fected his ability to see fish. He tellsus the low-angle sun made wade fish-ing impossible.

More significant, however, weresome problems at the lodge. “Our tripwas scheduled during an off-period,”he writes. “The lodge had been un-used before we got there and wasclosed after we left. They were low onmany provisions and the big screenTV was overused by the staff.”

On balance, Cunningham still rec-ommends his trip, calling Water CayLodge “...a go-to bonefish site.” Hegives the cost of his trip as $2,400 ex-cluding airfare.(Postscript: At press time, we sent acopy of Cunningham’s report to ScottHeywood of Angling Destinations toget his take on the complaints aboutthe lodge. Here is his reply:

“I thank Mr. Cunningham for hisheads-up on the problems he experi-enced at Water Cay Lodge. I apolo-gize for the lack of proper provision-ing during his stay. I have discussedthese concerns with the lodge staffand we are all working hard to makesure that, if Mr. Cunningham returns,he will not experience a similar situa-tion. We are working particularlyhard to ensure that the quality of ser-vice stays consistent throughout theyear. Hopefully, our efforts in the lastfew months have already ironed outsome of these problems that crop upevery now and then, largely due tothe remote location of the lodge. Thislodge is for hardcore anglers. Theguides, boats and fishery are all topnotch. But, frankly, we struggle to getcooks and other staff who are willing

File A Report OnlineHave you been on an interestingtrip lately? Well, file a reportonline describing your experience.Simply go to our home page (www.anglingreport.com) and click onFile A Trip Report. Reports helpfellow subscribers find good tripsand avoid bad ones. Subscriberswho file reports get special consid-eration in the awarding of FREEfishing Trips.

-15-September 2010 Volume 23, Number 9

THE ANGLING REPORT

And Finally....

A Memorable Tarpon Tale(Editor Note: When your very first tarponweighs almost 100 pounds and takes morethan an hour to land, it’s hard to imaginethat your second tarpon could be morememorable. But long-time subscriber Ken-neth Spint tells us that’s exactly how it wasfor his son on a recent, very recommend-

able trip to Belize City.)

spotting tarpon. He’s also somethingof a local entrepreneur with severalpangas and a fish-wholesaling busi-ness. We really enjoyed our time withhim.

Going fishing in the morning wasa matter of walking a short distance tothe wharf of the neighboring hotel,where Junior would await us in a 21-foot panga. We fished mainly down-stream of the large highway bridge.This is around the mouth of the river,which is tidal at that point. The riveris probably 300 to 400 feet wide andgreen in color with visibility down

two or three feet. We also spent alittle time on the flats at the mouth ofthe river. Tarpon were scarce there,but we did see a number of smallerbonefish which we ignored in favor oftarpon. It is probably worth notingthat this same water is fished by an-glers staying at Belize River Lodgefurther upstream.

Despite difficult, windy condi-tions with broken clouds on two ofthe four days, we saw lots of adult tar-pon as they rolled, swirled andporpoised. Some surfaced as close as20 feet from the boat. We didn’t see

any fish at all that weighed under 80pounds. Most weighed more thanthat. These fish were clearly activeand moving, not laid up, and you hadonly seconds to get a cast to them be-fore they disappeared. Given the windand poor visibility, this was some-times tough with a fly rod.

I fished with a variety of 11- and12-weight rods with 3/0 Cockroaches,Black Deaths and yellow-white De-ceiver flies all effective. I used afloating line exclusively, but nexttime I’ll take an intermediate sink-tip.I think getting the fly down deeperwould have resulted in more hook-ups. My son used a medium-heavyspin rod with a white-red plug.

Any time you fish for adult tarponyou count hook-ups, not fish landed.We had several hook-ups per day forthe four days we fished – probably 12fish hooked in total. We brought twoto the boat. One of them was my son’sfirst-ever tarpon. It took him 70 min-utes to bring it to the boat. At theboat, I was able to measure it care-fully. Using a standard calculation(girth in inches squared times lengthin inches divided by 800), I came upwith a weight of 92 to 95 pounds. Itwas a memorable first tarpon! I thenhooked several fish, only to lose themto bent hooks and broken backing,my fault, what else can I say?

On the third day, Junior spotted atarpon close to the boat. I cast to itand immediately hooked up — with asmall jack. Not the outcome I washoping for. My son saw his opportu-nity, cast to the same tarpon andhooked it. On the second hook set,the fish flew into the air, straight into

At the end of March, my son and Iflew to Belize City, Belize, to fish fortarpon in the Belize River for fourdays. Compared to many fishing ad-ventures, this was an easy trip. Wewere actually able to make it toBelize City from our home in Califor-nia with only one stop in Houston.Once there, it was a quick $35 cabride from the airport to the hotel. Atthat point, our travels were done untilwe left for home.

I’d heard about the fishing inBelize City from a fanatical angler inmy area. Following his advice, westayed at a place called The GreatHouse (Tel. 800-698-2915. Web:www.greathousebelize.com). This is asmall, older, three-story, plantation-style hotel that is clean and wellmaintained. It has large rooms withwood floors, high ceilings and airconditioning that works. The bathsare also large and clean. There is arestaurant on site, but we found it notas good a value as the several diningvenues right next door at theRadisson Hotel.

Again following my friend’s ad-vice, we booked with an independentlocal guide, Richard Young, Jr. (011-501-606-0678 – dialed from the US),who goes by the name, ‘Junior.’ Hespeaks perfect English, and he is a so-ciable and interesting fellow who isgood company in a boat and great at

to spend time in such a remote loca-tion. This fall, the lodge will install aTV in the guides’ room to alleviatethe problem of their monopolizingthe TV in the central area. As for theweather during Mr. Cunningham’sstay, December weather is indeed un-

predictable in the northern Bahamas.While we obviously cannot controlthis, we can make sure that anglerswho book these winter months (andthe early fall hurricane season) are fullyaware of potential weather issues. Wewould certainly agree with Mr.

Cunningham that the Water Cay fish-ery, boats and guides are some of thebest in the Bahamas. We really appreci-ate his taking the time to provide thisvaluable feedback, and thank him forthe opportunity to make the experienceat Water Cay Lodge even better.”)

-16-September 2010 Volume 23, Number 9

THE ANGLING REPORT

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the boat, and crashed into my son,clearing him out of the boat and intothe river like a Steeler’s linebacker.

After ascertaining that my son wasOK, Junior and I then had to deal witha huge, fresh, strong fish that wascrashing around in the panga. Thefish flipped itself end-to-end at leastonce. Eventually, Junior was able tolip-gaff the tarpon and maneuver itover the side where it swam off, ap-parently none the worse for wear. Myson ended up with a six-inch-diameterround bruise on his right hip and an

experience he won’t forget. My gear,however, was not so lucky. We lostthe rod that had hooked the tarponand had three others broken. Two ofmy favorite Tibor reels looked like atruck had run over them.

By the way, after it was all over, Idid land that small jack that was stillhooked up. We all felt that it wouldhave been more convenient if thejack had jumped in the boat insteadof the tarpon. These large tarpon areclearly dangerous! You can see avideo of the errant tarpon in the boat

and its release at www.youtube.com/watch?v=obz0qFm29SM. By measur-ing the space the fish occupied whenin the boat (72 inches), and by esti-mating its girth (42 inches), I thinkthe fish weighed about 158 pounds.

Even without the tarpon in theboat, this was a memorable trip. Theaccess was easy and the cost very rea-sonable - $400/day, plus tip for theguide and boat; $125/day for two atThe Great House; plus meals and inci-dentals. The big tarpon are there andI’ll be going back. - Kenneth Spint.

-17-September 2010 Volume 23, Number 9

THE ANGLING REPORT

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