What the best Fly Fishing Trip you have Been On?

[Brandon]

Yea, it's cold and we had snow today in Easton I have my ticket booked to head to Florida and then to the Bahamas on Monday, this cold weather is for the birds. So sitting here with the fire going I was thinking of what is the best fishing trip I have taken outside the Chesapeake is and what others might say.

For me my best trip was to the Seychelles Islands which is about 1500 miles off the coast of Africa. The fish were big, but it was as much about the adventure of it all that made it exciting. We took a flight from Dulles Airport to Paris. Stayed in Paris a night and then took another 8 hour flight to Mahe which is the capital of the Seychelles. We stayed there for 2 days to get used to the time change, I think 12 hours, and then took a charter flight another 2 hours to the Alphonse Island. Just getting there was an adventure. Once there it was ttally wild. We would get up early and take a 45minute or hour ride on a catamaran to an atoll where the flats boats were and fish. We were literally in the middle of the Indian Ocean with another another person around for hundreds of miles. The tides were 6ft, the sharks were big, lemons to about 5ft that would bump your legs while fishing, ran into a tiger shark while wading up to our waists/my chest one day with the boat anchored 30 minutes away. Not a huge deal the tiger was only about 12 feet long Scariest thing I have every experienced The bonefish averaged 6-8lbs with many 10,11 and 12 and we saw bigger but could not catch them in the surf. There were milkfish and all sorts of bait and other fish. It was totally wild.

On the way home we went through London. From Mahe to London I got food poisoning from a buffet we had on the night we left mahe which made for the most miserable 9+ hours of my entire life. Recovered in London and slept from there home. I was dead for about a week between the time change and food poisoning.

But it was one was one of the top trips I have ever been on. I have had some other good trips out west fishing the snake, the Bahamas for bones and I would put fishing out of Kiptopeke the last two years for Stripers up there on the list of amazing fishing. I think the adventure of the more distant trips make it a little bit more interesting then just the fish if you know what I mean.

Soooooo, give it to us, what is your favorite place/fly fishing trip?

Brandon

[Barracuda48]

I fished at Coopers Minipi Lake Lodge in Labrador last August For Brook trout. What made the trip so special to me was that I was the only angler in the system that week. They have 4 lodges that will accomodate 32 anglers and for various different reasons (economy, cancellations, etc.) I was there by my lonesome. I had three different guides at my disposal and a cook. One day, they brought the float plane in from Goose Bay and flew myself and 2 of the guides to another lodge to check out the fishing there. And oohh for the fishing... During the week I landed 11 brook trout over 5 pounds. The top three were 7 pounds 4 oz, 7 pounds 12 oz and 8 pounds. Most were caught on large mouse patterns on 6 pound tippet. It was truly a trip that could never be repeated.

[Brandon]

WOW, now that sounds and looks like a great trip

[Capt Bob]

well lets see...I'm sitting here in my t shirt...doors open, breeze is blowing about 5 off the gulf...
best fly trip...I used to live in No NJ and would drive up and fish the Beaverkill and Willowemoc a lot with spin and fly
was working the big pool where the two rivers join and three guys came up from behind and sat on the bank and watched me work the pool with a small spinner...one offered me his fly rod as mine was in the car...and a hatch had just started...caught 3 nice browns which I released, then left the pool to the three returning the rod to it's owner, I sat and watched them for over an hour and a half...they worked the area like masters...catching and releasing a good number of fish
they came out and sat next to me and chatted and shared a couple of flasks with me...I had just returned from 4 yrs overseas in the Army and we talked about many things besides fishing...when we got ready to leave they introduced them selves...

A.J. McClane....Joe Brooks....Lefty Kreh...

I'd say it was memorable

[Wild Bill]

Brandon-

Most of the guided trips I have taken out of the country have been adventures and we have caught fish on all of them. The best fishing I have ever experienced was on my boat in the good ole USA.

The striper fishing in NC out of OI four years ago in winter was incredible. We had a school of fish three miles long and thousands of diving gannets all day long. The fish meter was loaded with fish on the bottom and suspended fish too. Huge fish were rolling on top. It was a great time for the fly rod and I caught my largest striper on a fly at 46" and 40 pounds. Big Fish Bob caught a 48" 48 pound fish on a white bass assassin the same day. No it was not an exotic location but it would be hard to fathom better fishing anywhere in the world. There were no small fish on that trip. It was similar to what we experienced out of Kipto the past two years but the school was much larger and more dense. The fish averaged much bigger than any where else in my experience. Most were over 30 pounds. I saw some that had to be well over 50 pounds but smaller 30 to 40 pound got to our flies first. My buddy that day caught some nice fish but was fishing a fly that was much too small. The bait was 10" and bigger menhaden.

I do not ever expect to see that again. Yes, the striper fishing is still good. Yes, you can still catch over 100 fish per day; but that trip was incredible for the size of the school and the size of the fish.

Although guys do not like to hear it, each year the schools get smaller and the average size of the fish gets smaller. The big fish are being hit too hard all up and down the coast by recs and comms to have fishing like that again in my lifetime. If you say that on a fishing message board, someone always says you just do not know how to locate fish or catch fish. That may be, but I know what I have experienced and the stripers are in decline.

[tightloop101]

My most favorite place to fish is the one that I am fishing at the time I am out. I have fished in several destinations some in the US and others not. I feel that the finest place is the one that I am in at the time. All my memories are the ones that I have of the scenery and just being there, don't get me wrong the fishing is important but just being there is the bottom line for me. Having said that, I feel that my most memorable place to fish is the one that I am at.

[Head Hunter]

Alaska....fished the Alagnak river and surounding areas for over a week last year. Tons of bald eagles and bears everyday.......Cought rainbows on every cast.....up to 27 inches. Used egg patterns to get warmed up.....then switched to big meaty leach patterns for the larger trout. Also would find a silver salmon hole each day and catch a bunch and keep one for dinner and/or lunch....its seemed to rain each day at 5:30/6pm...did not reallynotice or care cuase everything so beautiful...and having the right gear helps too.

[gus]

took a month and a half to cross back from california to virginia. fished, hiked back country in a lot of our national parks. yosemite, kings canyon, tahoe, 2 weeks camped on the banks of the snake/hoback rivers or up in the tetons (that was awesome!), yellowstone, glacier (1 week), finally ended up on the south holston and watauga rivers in se tennessee. glacier was the most scenic, snake river area between jackson hole and yellowstone was incredible. wake up every day to mist coming off the river and bald eagles sitting in the trees. ive fished a lot in ny/vermont/maine/new hampshire too but they dont compare. snake river was the best. most days i never saw another person - the way i like it. id like to explore more in glacier area - i did more hiking than fishing there. got some friends who do the black foot in missoula every year and swear by it. havent made that one yet.

[Bo_G]

Flight schedule from a business trip to Naples Florida allowed for a half day in the 10,000 Islands. In the first 30 minutes had a 36 in snook and a 26 in red. The Capt said "do you realize you are 2/3 the way to an Everglades Grand Slam?"

My response: "Well break out the 14wt!" Spent the next three hours spooking tarpon almost the size of the boat! Never got my grand slam, but it sure was interesting throwing a 14wt.

Bo

[Jeffrey Rasband]

Capt. Bob,

Thats one hell of a story! I was fishing the san juan river with Jim Teeny but it just wasn't the same.