Faraway Fly Fishing» dry fly fishing

Photo of the Day

Evan — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 01:39:23 +0000

So it’s been quite a while since anyone has heard from me I’m sure. Perhaps it was just because I didn’t have a good enough story to tell. That changed last weekend…

A buddy of mine called me one night last weekend, telling me that the Pass Crabs were starting to show up (for those who aren’t familiar, they float on the surface and wash out helplessly with the outgoing tide), and some big snook were starting to take notice. He lives right on the pass and had already landed a couple 30″+ fish on live bait right there in his backyard, so I got the invite to come over and check it out. Even though I knew it would be futile, I decided to tie up a couple of floating crab patterns and bring my 10wt flyrod. Who knows right? Stranger things have happened.

When I got there, the live bait fishermen had a good chuckle at the flyrod, though they did admit that the fly looked pretty similar to the real thing:

To make a long story shorter, I stood out there, drinking beers and casting into the dark abyss, dead-drifting my foam crab and letting the outgoing current swing it back to shore at the end. This continued for a couple hours until almost midnight without so much as a nudge. As my friends started to pack up, I made just a few more casts. To be honest, I’m not entirely sure what happened next. I heard a BIG pop, my fingers felt hot (line burn) and then I was staggering back and trying not to fall off the seawall. It wasn’t until my reel started screaming drag that I realized I must have a fish. What followed was the most intense fight I’ve ever experienced on fly tackle (granted I’ve never caught a big tarpon). For a few minutes, it was all I could do to hold onto the rod. Still can’t believe I didn’t get broken off on the rocks below, or chewed through, or bend the hook, or whatever else.

I didn’t have a tape measure but I put the fish against my rod and it was past the first stripping guide, which is 33″ from the fighting butt. I know it weighed over 10 pounds, but not sure by how much. And yes, that’s an incredibly stupid look on my face, but I just couldn’t help it I was so freakn’ shocked. BTW – I’m now thoroughly convinced that the bigger dip you take before casting, the bigger fish you’re going to catch.

Silver browns- Limay River in the mix - Once again the fishing season in Patagonia has started, water...
IRIGOYEN RIVER- Week One F� � � I� � � S� � � H�...

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Fly Fishing Patagonia – Secret Spot

Barrett — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 14:34:24 +0000

Patagonia has more than it’s fair share of “secret” fishing spots, and Rodrigo was kind enough to share some photos of one of his spots. Good luck trying to find it!

Big Fish Patagonia on Limay Medio The guys at Big Fish Patagonia are at it again,...
Big Fish Patagonia Some more pictures from the Big Fish Patagonia Team in...
Patagonia Fishing Trip Here are some pics from a short trip I took...

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Atlantic Salmon-Midfjardara River

Alexander — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 05:26:01 +0000

Reports and photos keep coming from all over the world, this time it is from Alejandro Martello -one of the best Sea trout and Atlantic salmon guides that we know and a superb photographer- who has been guiding in Iceland for a few years already, on a incredible and unique Atlantic salmon river, the crystal clear water Midfjardara.

About two weeks ago I was chatting with Alejandro, he told me that the fishing was excellent at that time, fish were coming in big numbers and some of them were over 20 pounds. Over TWO THOUSAND fish has been landed so far and more fresh fish is coming into the river, which is even better. The biggest fish landed so far was 107 cm long, approx 26 pounds or more. Rabbi, the owner of the operation, has put a lot of effort to begin with the catch and release policy, thanks to this, he is very optimistic on having strong runs of multi winter fish (2+ year old fish) on the following seasons.

The operation counts with approximately 120 km of river and endless pools, what is really interesting about it is the way to fish it, most of the fishing is done with single handed rods (#6 – #8 weight rods) using a technique called “rifle hitch”. Years back, this technique was only used by fly fisherman in the pristine water rivers in eastern Canada. Basically the fly drifts on top of the water making a turbulence with the shape of a V, with the purpose of irritate the fish. We can say this is the finest Atlantic salmon fishing and the most exciting too.

The Lodge has been totally renewed for this season, each angler counts with his own single room and a first class cuisine and service.

There’s still some openings in late season on very good rate, please if you have any further question about this fishing operation please don`t hesitate to contact us to info@farawayflyfishing.com

Thanks Alejandro for the stats and amazing photos.

IRIGOYEN RIVER- Week One F� � � I� � � S� � � H�...
Irigoyen River week 3 – Fishing Report F� � � I� � � S� � � H�...
Rio Grande Fishing Report, Tierra del Fuego March 12 – 17 Villa Maria lodge’s Fishing report� : Week: 12th to 19th...

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"Where all started" – Fishing the River Test -

Nicolas Trochine — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 19:25:08 +0000

More than five hundred years have passed since Fly Fishing got popular as a fishing method and one of the first detailed reports of this art was written by Dame Juliana Barnes in the late fourteen hundreds.

British fly-fishing continued to develop in the 19th Century, with the emergence of fly fishing clubs, along with the appearance of several books on the subject of fly tying and fly fishing techniques. In southern England, dry-fly fishing acquired an elitist reputation as the only acceptable method of fishing the slower, clearer rivers of the south such as the River Test and the other chalk streams concentrated in Hampshire, Surrey, Dorset and Berkshire.

Now a bit of my story!

You would think that as a “Faraway Fly Fisherman” I would not be very attracted by one of these suburban rivers, but actually, it was one of my main angling goals, fishing the River Test was a dream for me.

All started in Argentina a couple of years ago, when we met Roger in the Ibera Marsh, we were fishing for “Golden” Dorado. After guiding him a couple of times in Iceland and the past year in Tierra del Fuego for Sea Trout, we became good friends. After a great week in Tierra del Fuego, we talked about fishing his property, where the River Test runs trough and of course, I was not going to miss that chance!

Almost half a year later (few weeks ago) after fishing along with Barrett in Oregon and after some other short trips, I flew to London. I was very impatient to fish or just to see the River Test and after a spending a night in London I drove down south to the small town called Romsey in Hampshire. Unfortunately Roger couldn’t come fishing the first days but we managed to do some fishing together the last ones.

Rogers property is lovely. An old house built in the 17th century with a beautiful garden of a few hectares and right behind, the River Test. This beautiful chalk stream runs through cities and small villages for more than 60 miles. Clear water, underwater vegetation and some gravel patches are the main characteristics of this stream, being perfectly suitable for sight fishing.

Only dry fly fishing is allowed at this time of the season, due this, June is not the best month for fishing this stretch. Mayfly hatches were almost over, but anyway, I was lucky to hit a few hatches while I was there and catch several Brownies and Graylings. Surprisingly the fish sizes were very decent, fish between one to almost four pounds.

After fishing some of the most popular trout spots in US and England, made me realize that fishing in these “popular” rivers filled with history, can be as exciting as fishing in the most remote and untamed places where I had the chance to fish before.

Unfortunately I couldn’t take many pics but check a few below,

Trinidad and Tobago August is the month� when people from all over the...
Limay River Fever II Theres no words to explain how fishing has been this...
Silver browns- Limay River in the mix - Once again the fishing season in Patagonia has started, water...

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