Reflections on Ireland

We had a wonderful group of people join us on our recent Ireland trip. Our fishing started out in the Conmel area with Andrew Ryan and his guides from Clonanav Fly Fishing. We stayed at the Hotel Minella and fished Andrew's water for three days and caught lots of beautiful brown trout. On the fourth day we took the scenic coastal route to Galway and Ballynahinch Castle. The Owenmore River flows through the castle grounds and we fished for Atlantic salmon for three days. The salmon were not as cooperative as the trout, we saw lots of fish roll and show, but were only able to put two in the net. The castle accommodations were elegant, food and service over the top, and we all loved the estate grounds and the river. We will be back to try again. This is a great trip for the non angler as they have their own guide and itinerary. Please let us know if you're interested in joining us in 2018.

Click here to see a few of the photos from our trip

2018 Hosted Trip Schedule

Next year is coming together for us. We have a couple dates to confirm and some finishing touches to put on the itineraries for a couple of the destinations, but overall this is what 2018 is going to look like:

January 13-20   Estancia de los Rios, Chile (trout)
February 6-21   South Island, New Zealand (trout)
March 3-10   Estancia Tecka, Esquel area, Argentina (trout)
March 11-17   Hosteria San Huberto, San Martin area, Argentina (trout)
March 17-24   Limay River Lodge, San Martin area, Argentina (trout)
May 8-18   Grand Slam/Campeche, Mexico, (baby tarpon, etc.)
June (TBA)   Ireland (and hopefully Scotland), (trout/salmon)
August 3-12   Reel Action, Alaska (silvers, pink, chum, etc., trout)
August 18-25, 25-2   Kingfisher Lodge, Bighorn River, Montana (trout)
October (TBA)   Spain, E. Pyrenees (trout)
December 1-8   Tres Valles, Argentina, Esquel area (trout)

We hope you can join us! Please let us know if we can answer any questions or provide additional information on any of these destinations.

RIO's How To: Terrestrials from a Drift Boat

Welcome to Episode 9 of the RIO How To series. RIO ambassador, Rob Parkins, shows how to fish large terrestrials from a moving drift boat. His tips and information reveal how easy and effective this big flies are in the heat of summer. Enjoy.

Orange Butt Shrimp

As you read here earlier in the month, this is our newest nymph pattern and is now available in our store. We've fished the Orange Butt Shrimp in lots of places (and lots of countries) and it continues to amaze us. We think that it should be in every trout fly box. Weighted with a copper tungsten bead head, it looks shrimpy, buggy, and realistic.  

Available in sizes 10, 12, 14

$2.25 each
6 or more $2.00

Somerset, NJ, Fly Fishing Show

Don't forget the Somerset Fly Fishing Show this weekend at the Garden State Convention Center. Friday 9:00 – 6:00, Saturday 8:30 – 6:00, Sunday 9:00 – 4:30. It's the world's largest fly fishing only show. Loaded with exhibitors, seminars, casting & tying demonstrations, destinations and classes. Details at flyfishingshow.com. We'll see you there!  

Keystone Fly Fishing

Jay Nichols, Headwater Books, has published a comprehensive book on fishing our Keystone state. He has coordinated and relied on authors, guides, fly tiers, and local experts from every fishing corner of the state. Although Pennsylvania is heavy on trout fishing, Jay has also included smallmouth bass, steelhead, and others. You'll get locations, maps, fly suggestions, fishing suggestions and lots more along with beautiful photography. Available from the Angling Book Store or at the Author's Booth at the Somerset Show, or your local shop. $29.95. 586 pages.

Fishing in the Land of Fire & Ice

If you follow the travel magazines and travel sections in the big newspapers you know that Iceland has become "the place to be". It's easy to get to, safe, and the extreme scenery and Icelandic people are, well, over the top. Two days ago Iceland was featured on Good Morning America. If you saw the show, you know what I'm talking about. We too are in awe of the landscapes and the people, but it's the fishing that takes us back each year (thank goodness GMA didn't talk about the fishing). Double digit browns and Highland char are simply amazing in the land of fire and ice. With our June departure, we will be right on time for the best of the trout and char fishing. Check it out on our website and then come along with us— and don't forget your camera!

Also From Cathy:
Remember when Flip Pallot hosted Walker's Cay Chronicles and we all loved listening to him talk about fishing and life on the water? Well, if you haven't seen his video clip for Yeti coolers, you have to take a look. It's 100% Flip and is especially relevant to the "over the hill" gang - not that any of you (us) would qualify for membership in this elite group!

We are on our way home from Tres Valles, Argentina, and are bringing with us lots of good memories from our week there. We enjoyed unusually warm weather, good water conditions, and had insect activity on all of the spring creeks and rivers. Parachute Adams and Super Beetles were the top producers and it was fun catching browns and rainbows on dry flies. Lago Tres Valles, which usually fishes best in poor weather, even produced some beautiful fish. On our last night the lodge gave us an incredible asado with lots of good food, drink, and company. We will miss Tres Valles and are already looking forward to our next trip.
                                                                                       -Cathy

Also, don't forget about our Santa's Sack Special.  It's a great gift for your favorite angler!

click here to purchase.

I heard from Cathy and they've had a great week of fishing in the Pyrenees in Spain. As you can tell from the photos, fall has arrived and along with the fall foliage and frosty nights, the fish are starting to move up out of the lakes and into the rivers. They've enjoyed a lot of dry fly fishing to both rainbows and browns. The group took a day off fishing to visit a few cathedrals and local villages and had lunch at Rhoda de Isabena again this year, a favorite stop on their itinerary. Good fishing, wine, cheeses, cathedrals, weather - what could be better?

My bags are packed and I'm ready to go.....  

Our 2016 trip schedule is beginning to take shape and here's what it's looking like so far. We're currently working on getting all of the itineraries updated on the web site. If you're interested in a trip that is not up on the site yet, please let us know and we'll get you an itinerary. Hope to see you in 2016.

January 7-18 Coyhaique, Chile
Febrary 2-15 South Island, New Zealand
March 1-8 Tres Valles, Argentina
March 9-20 San Huberto and Quemquemtreu, Argentina
March 20-22 Limay River, Argentina
April 4-14 Campeche/Grand Slam, Mexico
Iceland June (mid-late, dates TBA)
July 8-18  Ireland
August 6-13 Alaska
August 20-27 & Aug. 27-Sept. 3 Bighorn MT
Spain (Oct. TBA)
Sept. 26-Oct. 3 Mongolia
Nov. 25-Dec. 5  Tres Valles, Argentina

The Bighorn River has over 6,000 trout per mile, one of the most fertile, most productive, trout rivers in the country. In August the water levels are typically low and some of the best dry fishing of the year can be had here. It's a river of options — look for "heads" and fish dry flies, rack up numbers and fish nymphs, fish hoppers, throw streamers in the lower river, or mix it up. The days are long, the nights are cool, it's a very pleasant time to be on the river.  

Come with us in August and enjoy summer on the Bighorn at Kingfisher Lodge. There's nothing like it and you'll be so glad you did. August 22 - 29 or August 29 - Sept. 5. Complete details and prices are included in the itinerary. Call us or Denise at Frontiers (800-245-1950) if you have any questions. See you there!

View the trip details on our website

Here is Cathy's follow up from last week's Report from the Field.  It sounds like they've had a great trip and I'm anxious to see the photos that Barry brings home.  There will be lots to do next week before they head to Argentina but I'll try to post a collage if I can get my hands on some of them.  For now you can read about the big trout they are catching below.

It's Wednesday morning here and our group is packing and getting ready to leave Owen River Lodge. We were talking at breakfast this morning about the trip and how lucky we have been with the weather and the fishing. It's been an incredible 2 weeks. Other than some wind and rain in the first couple of days, the weather has been blue-bird perfect ever since. The rivers are all in great shape, perfect water levels, crystal clear, and good dry fly fishing. The hot dry flies here at ORL this week have been parachute Adams, cicadas, and a new blow fly pattern. The name, blow fly, doesn't do the fly justice. It's a fairly large black fly with a white wing, it's easy to see, makes a great indicator fly, and the fish love it. As always, trailing nymphs or fishing a double nymph rig with various pheasant tail patterns always works well. We've had lots of double digit fish this week and Barry and I had a day with two double digits, one 10 and one 11 pounds. All of the fish are in extremely good shape, partly because it's a mouse year. There's no place like New Zealand for big, wild, healthy fish! Now it's time to come home for a week before we leave for Argentina - next on our radar.

I know, there are thousands of good charities and worthy organizations out there doing amazing work, and all vying for our donations. We are not asking you to donate, but just want to share a story with you about the Taimen Fund (although we will include a link to donate, should you be so moved). It's an interesting story from Sweetwater Travel, with whom Frontiers works with to arrange Mongolia fishing departures.

At one time, Taimen had the largest range of any salmonid in the world - they swam from the Danube in central Europe all the way to Russian Far East. Today, after years of abuse, the Taimen can be found in a few small remnants of its original range. Mongolia, and specifically the Eg-Uur watershed, has one of the healthiest populations of Taimen left on earth. There has been fishing for Taimen in Mongolia since 1995. In 2004, with the help of the World Bank, Sweetwater helped form a 501(c)(3) called The Tributary Fund. Now transitioned to The Taimen Fund, this fund under the leadership of long-time Mongolia guide, Charlie Conn, has raised money to help insure that the world's largest trout can always call Mongolia home.

Through conservation efforts, a monastery has been rebuilt on the upper Eg-Uur, and have employed River Keepers to patrol the river to insure the fish are protected from illegal fishing and netting. These efforts are succeeding and the Taimen population is still super strong. Barry and I have hosted two trips to Mongolia's Eg-Uur Camp for Taimen and we and our guests will vouch that it is an amazing experience. We've visited the Monastery and met the monks who will keep their hand on the pulse of this wonderful fishery. The Mongolian people are warm, friendly, and display a unique sense of humor; and they love having us visit their river. In the 1930's, Russia destroyed many of the monasteries and either killed or drove off the monks, but today the monasteries are being rebuilt and the monks, at least here, are taking an active interest in the health and welfare of the river, their lifeblood.

Through association with many Mongolian conservation agencies and organizations, the groundwork has been laid for the future of taimen protection in Mongolia. The Taimen Fund hopes to continue their flagship River Keeper program in the Eg-Uur watershed and will work closely with Taimen Conservation Alliance to forge community partnerships.

We will return to Mongolia, maybe in 2016, and will look forward to another very special week in Taimen camp and among these beautiful, kind, people and those big gorgeous fish!

-Cathy

When Cathy was approached by Nick Lyons in 1995 to write her first Fly Fishing Handbook (now in it's third printing), she told Nick that she wasn't the person for this assignment, that she couldn't write a book. He told her, "Cathy, writing a book is like wading a river, you get in and take one step at a time." And then he led her through each step to completion. It is many years later but Mr. Lyons has always remained a very special friend to both Cathy and Barry.

Many of you have enjoyed Nick's books and writing and we thought you might also enjoy this piece by Jim Casada which recently appeared in Sporting Classics Daily. Thank you Nick for all the years of beautiful writing you've given us.  Click here to read the article

We also wanted to mention that Barry and Cathy will be at the Maryland Trout Unlimited chapter meeting, Wednesday, November 19, at the Towson Presbyterian Church.  Cathy will be presenting her "Freshwater Bucket List" program, a presentation of her favorite fishing destinations.  If you live in the Baltimore area, they hope to see you there!  Click here for details