SAVE THE PAIUTE

UPDATE: Caltrout made it easy to contribute--CLICK HERE

I've had the pleasure of hiking into Silver King Creek at Llewelyn Falls on two occasions. The first was a solo trip that I wrote about here. The second occasion was a trip with Bernie Weston and DFG's Dave Lentz. On those trips I caught three native Paiute Trout that had come down over the falls from the pure population above.

I went back a second time because the three of us thought it would be the last chance to catch a Paiute in its native range for some time. The day after our trip Silver King was to be closed for rotenone treatment to remove the non-native rainbows to make way for the native fish. Unfortunatley, on the evening of the day before the restoration was to start, after the DFG had mobilized at the trailhead and organized supplies and volunteers, a last minute lawsuit and court order sidetracked the restoration efforts.

As part of the restoration plan and ongoing management effort, the regulations were changed effective the day the treatment was to take place. The fishing closure point on the creek was moved from the falls a ways downstream to Tamarack Creek. This new closure point has remained in effect since that day in August 2005 and has effectively wiped out any possibility of catching a Paiute in their native range. I do know of one person that went into Silver King below the new closure point and caught a Piaute at the conflunce of a tributary creek that holds Paiutes in its headwaters. To me this was remarkable. I've also spoken with a few folks that have caught Paiutes in legal waters outside of their native range. To do this requires some tough off-trail hiking, good navigation skills, and a lot of determination.

This is a Paiute that was caught just below the falls.



Four years later Dave the DFG is continuing in their efforts to restore the Paiute. They are obviously committed to doing everything they can to protect diversity and are in it for the long haul. My hat goes off to them and I stand committed to do whatever I can to help support the goal of restoring native species to their native ranges. Silver King is a beautiful creek in a spectacular high alpine setting and its beauty will only be enhanced if this rare trout is able to once again fin in the waters that drove its diversification.

Below is a letter from Dave Lentz of the DFG:

I would like to request that Sac-Sierra TU write a letter of support for the Paiute cutthroat restoration project on Silver King Creek. This would entail endorsing the alternative number 2, eradicating non-native trout below Llewellyn Falls using rotenone, from the draft EIS/EIR that is in comment period now.

Here are links to information about the restoration project. First, DFG's website which has the NEPA/CEQA documents(600+pgs, about 9MB). Comment letters can be snail mailed to DFG in Rancho Cordova or emailed, as well. Comment Deadline is May 4.--

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/fish/Resources/WildTrout/WT_Paiute/WT_PaiuteCutRestor.asp

Also, a link to Ted Williams, Conservation writer for Fly Rod and Reel Magazine that has a lot of background on the Paiute cutthroat project and other western native trout restoration issues:

www.flyrodreel.com/node/11698

Letters from individuals (in addition to a chapter letter) that support restoring the Paiute cutthroat would be greatly appreciated--this may turn out to be "numbers game", supporters v. opponents, in certain of the approval arenas that the project must pass. There are several permitting steps that are vulnerable to opposition. Supporters should favor Alternative 2 in the EIS/EIR and support returning the Paiute to its native home. So, this would be asking a favor of you individually, as well to write.

Letters to: Stafford Lehr, Calif. DFG, 1701 Nimbus Rd., Rancho Cordova, CA 95670

or email letters: SilverKingPublicComment@dfg.ca.gov

let me know if you need more info. Have a great board meeting and keep up the good work!!

thanks, Dave Lentz


David Lentz
Threatened Trout Coordinator

California Department of Fish and Game
Fisheries Branch
830 S Street
Sacramento, CA 95811

Upper & Lower Sac

A couple weeks back I spent the weekend up around Redding and fished the Upper Sac one day and then did an overnight float trip on the Lower Sac the next two. The reports said the Upper Sac was fishing tough with high water and that the Lower Sac was on fire. The reports were pretty accurate.

I fished the Upper around Delta at a few spots I like and have caught big fish at in the past. The lower part of the Upper Sac is a great stretch of the river with bigger water and bigger fish. It seems that there are a few larger and wild fish down low that can be difficult to catch and a lot more "cookie cutters" up top. At least that has been my experience. I managed to dredge this nice fish up not too far from Delta.



Before starting the drift on the Lower Sac we fished near the Sundial Bridge. This picture is a must have for norcal anglers.



We drifted from Bonnyview down to Jelly's Ferry and camped about half way in between. The boat was a two-man pontoon that was pretty easy to fish from. About half the fish caught came from drifting and half from wading. I'll take wade-caught fish over fish from a boat any day. There are truckloads of fish in the Lower Sac and if you drift enough water with a good drift you will catch them. On the other hand, when you are wading you can find a spot where there are likely fish and then use knowledge and experience to figure out what is going on. We had one such experience on this trip where it took about an hour to figure it out, but then once we did we yarded 'em.

Below are some representative Lower Sac rainbows.

Fly Fishing the Everglades

This was my third holiday season in a row spent in Marco Island, Florida with my wife's family. Marco is a great place to spend a few weeks in winter with warm water and fishing right out the back door. During the days we fished with Kevin Mihailoff out of Chokoloskee. After three years fishing with Kevin in the winter in the Everglades, I'm pretty convinced that he is the best fly fishing guide in the area. He works hard. Poles his butt off, and always, always, puts us on fish. We may not catch them all, but Kevin always gets us double-digit sight-fishing shots at good snook, tarpon and redfish.

That's right: sight-fishing. I think most fly fisherman aren't aware of the quality fishing to be had in the Everglades. In the vast network of bays, creeks, and mud flats there always seems to be a spot where we can find, spot, and cast to large fish.

The first day we headed south down Gopher Creek to a spot that Kevin thought would hold some fish at a point where two creeks come together. Suffice to say, the snook were stacked.

This is the spot.



The backside of the point (where the fish were) was being guarded by this gator.



Behind the gator, the fish were, indeed, stacked. The foam and swirls in this picture are from snook eating. If you have never heard a snook eat, you need to. Words that were used to describe snook eats during our trip included; roast, crush, chomp, smash, smack, pop, destroy, and crunch. All of these descriptions are pretty accurate. Snook eats are, to say the least, not subtle.



On another day I fished with my good friend from Business School and partner on last year's Christmas Island trip, Steve. I am slowly working on converting Steve from an off-shore sailfish kind of guy to a fly angler. With trips like the Cuttslam , Christmas Island , and this run to the Everglades, I should be successful. Here is Steve fast to a snook.



Me with a snook on from the same spot.



A decent snook.



One afternoon Kevin took my father-in-law and I looking for tarpon. We found a dozen or so laid-up in a small bay. I got a nice one to eat (guide estimated at 140 pounds+) but after eating the fly it swam right at the boat a jumped in a raging, thrashing fit and threw the hook. Roger, though, being a much more seasoned tarpon angler, was able to get one to eat and stay buttoned. This is the first jump (CLICK THE PICTURE TO VIEW IT IN A LARGER FORMAT).



Just after the second jump...



Guide Kevin getting ready to get soaked. This tarpon was medium sized for the Everglades.



On my last day fishing, in addition to catching a number of snook, we spotted this redfish in about 10 inches of water and I was able to get him to eat (there was a drop of water on the camera lens). Redfish always surprise me by how hard they can pull for their size.



There are lots of gators in the Everglades.

KAMCHATKA PROJECT

This is one of the coolest anadramous fish research projects I have heard about in a while. A group of seasoned expedition kayakers are going to run three un-navigated Kamchatka streams to survey salmon populations for the Wild Salmon Center.

A good friend of mine, Shane Robinson, will be one of the team. What I can't wait for from this team is the sweet photos, videos and reports that will surely follow the expedition. Shane regularly writes about their first descents and kayaking expeditions at The Range Life.

I've been following these guys adventures for some time with an eye toward the great fishing they must float over. Unfortunately, though, I don't think they typically bring fly rods with them or would even have the energy to fish anyways after the kind of days they put in. Maybe we can outfit them with some equipment and show them how to catch some salmon dinner out there in Kamchatka?

There is not a ton of money out there to support research expeditions like this and these guys need support from the fishing community. You can read about and support the expedition at: http://www.kamchatkaproject.org/expedition.html.
They are also keeping a blog about the trip here: http://kamchatkaproject.blogspot.com.

Please support them if you can.

Upper Sac Family Weeked

I spent the weekend of September 13th and 14th on the lower portion of the Upper Sacramento River at the House on the River. The House on the River is a vacation rental in the small community of Delta that used to operate as a fly fishing lodge. The house was great, well equipped with hot tub, an HD projection system with all the channels, a serious AC system and good access to the river and with plenty of room for the three families that went. The three husbands would go fishing each morning and evening and spend the day and night with the family. The House is also set up great for cooking with a full kitchen, coal grills, gas grills, smokers...If there is a way for meat to be cooked it can be accomplished there. Just, please, leave the fish in the river!

The House on the River:



Happy families at the beach.



My new daughter enjoyed herself.



Family friend and kids. Also happy.



Suffice to say, the family vacation aspect of the trip was fantastic. So how about the fishing?

As most know access to the Upper Sacramento is pretty good and where there is not vehicle access one can always follow the railroad tracks, although be careful as these tracks are highly used with trains going up and down day and night. The old feel for vibrations on the track trick is not very reliable and sometimes when the trains are at speed you have very little warning. There is always room to get out of the way but being so close to a huge locomotive shakes the soul and is tough on the ears. Nevertheless, following the tracks is key to getting to the lesser fished honey holes.

I learned something new this trip that I had not realized on prior trips to the Upper Sac: There are big wild fish there, although they are few and not easily caught!

We started off fishing near the most obvious access from the house which is also a heavily used beach and swimming hole. Don't let the good looks of the hole fool you, if there are any fish there they get hammered. This is the hole at the beach.



Although with some walking and aggressive wading the fishing picks up considerably. My trusted source of great fly fishing information, Leo at Fish First, convinced me that the Upper Sac was indeed a tail water masked as a freestone as Tom Chandler on the Trout Underground once reported. Taking that to heart, I primarily fished size 20 and smaller midge patterns. They produced well.



This guy had a bit of a belly on him.



This is not a great picture, being blurred by the water, but I think my hand gives some perspective to the size of the fish.



Fish on the rocks (from where I was standing it was either this or get swept away).



One cool thing that Craig the proprietor of House on the River does is let people who catch fish over 20 inches sign the wall. The wall gives a great sense of the history of the place, both who had been there, what they caught and on what flies. Most people got their big fish on big streamers and crawfish patterns (I swam a goblin through a dark, deep hole and it just got hammered, unfortunately I did not hook up).

The wall of fame.



This is the wall a bit closer in.



For those of you that are also fisherman, fathers and husbands, the House on the River might be great way to succeed at all three.

Northeast California/Southeast Oregon

I managed to free up a few days and decided to make a long drive north to chase down a few new native trout. I headed up past Alturas California and then up 395 a ways right to the border of Oregon and into the epicenter of redband trout diversity. According to Behnke there are seven distinct populations of redband in the neighborhood (not to mention some cutthroats, bulltrout and maybe some remnants of the extinct alvord). I had my sights set on two redbands and one elusive char.

First up was the Warner Lakes Basin redband trout. This trout is found in a few creeks and streams in Oregon and just two in California. I wanted to get mine in California. The creek I fished was pretty skinny at it's headwaters and when I pulled up to where the dirt road crosses I was surprised to find a substantial herd of cattle on the creek. The creek was pretty well trampled here and very dirty from all the cattle walking through it. I managed to find some clear water upstream but it was darned skinny water. I dapped a fly over a grassy edge and picked up a trout.

After the first trout I decided to head downstream a bit and see if I could find some water that might hold bigger fish. I found what I was looking for.



The water downstream was great. I might have been in Oregon at this point but I didn't care. The creek was great, the water was ice cold and each pool held a dozen or so hungry trout. The water temp was shockingly cold for a high desert stream. But what was even cooler than the water temp was how great the creek laid out for fly fishing. Incredibly spooky trout that could be cast to from a distance that rewarded a soft landing and well placed fly. I hooked a cast around the bush on the left in the shot below that drew a nice redband.



As I moved upstream the creek got better and better with pool after pool full of wild native redbands.



Me creekside in Northeast California. Or was it Oregon?



Next up I wanted to catch an Upper Klamath Lake Basin redband. I dropped down into Lakeview and got an Oregon fishing license because for the next fish I was certain my fly would be landing in Oregon waters. From Lakeview I made my way north east into the Fremont National Forest.

Me at the trailhead.



This creek is home to pure populations of both Klamath Basin Bull Trout and Redband Trout and if you enjoy crawling through the most choked thicket of alders, willows and who knows what else to emerge into ankle deep water flowing through a tunnel of vegetation where not only is standing out of the question but you can forget about wiggling that 7'10" one wieght than this creek is for you. Sometimes it can be harder to get a fly on the water at 3 feet than at 30 and let's not even talk about a good "drift".



But when you do manage to get a fly on the water the reward is pretty sweet.



I hiked about two miles up the creek hoping that it would open up a bit. Unfortunately it did not. The hike was nice and the canyon boxed up a bit but the creek was largely inpenetrable so I decided to hit another nearby stream that I thought might be a bit more "fun" to fish and that I knew to hold pure redbands. This last creek was spring creek clear, about 20 feet wide and had great trout holding structure and was a great way to finish off the trip.

Christmas Island

The idea to take a fly fishing trip to Christmas Island was conceived while feasting on a platter of select stone crab claws at Joe's Stone Crab in Miami. I was with my wife, my good friend Steve and his girlfriend Kristi. A few days earlier Steve and I had gone fly fishing in the Everglades for snook, redfish and tarpon. We had had a pretty good day and the salt water fly fishing bug had taken a firm grasp on both of us. Fast forward to Joe's. Throw in a couple bottles of good wine, a huge platter of selects, the fact that I had just taken down a pretty decent size office football pool and the fact that the girls seemed supportive and a brilliant plan to spend a week hunting bones and trevally at Christmas Island was born.

Christmas Island is about 1300 miles south of Hawaii just north of the equator. To get there there is only one option--an Air Pacific flight from Honolulu that stops at Christmas Island on Tuesdays before continuing on to Fiji. Thus all trips to Christmas Island are a Tuesday to Tuesday affair. We decided that January 29th through February 5th would work. There are three fishing lodges at Christmas Island; The Villages, the Fly Water operation that everyone seemed to refer to as Rick's Place, and the Captain Cook lodge. We chose The Villages because it was the newest, had both hot water and ac and because it is located on the lagoon side of the island so we could walk to the boat every morning without the need to first take a truck ride to the lagoon. These all seemed like pretty good reasons and in the end we think we made a good decision and would certainly go back to The Villages on a return visit.

Once the logistics and booking were worked out I began preparing my gear for the trip. I started out with a trip over to Fish First in Albany to talk to Leo. This turned out to be a great move as I would come to find that Leo is a serious Christmas Island veteran having visited the island a dozen times. If you are in the Bay Area and are considering going to Christmas Island you should start by going to see Leo at Fish First. Leo showed me what flies are needed for both bonefish and trevally, showed me a map of the island and made some recommendations as to spots we might suggest to the guides we'd like to fish (including the Korean Wreck which would prove to be one of our best days), sold me all the right materials to tie flies and even loaned me a few back up rods in case one of ours broke (which one did).

I decided that I would tie all of Steve and my bonefish flies for the week so I got to work tying a couple dozen each night in the weeks leading up to the trip. I ended up tying about 200 which is certainly more than two people need for a week. After weeks of planning and excitement it was finally time for the trip. Steve was flying in from Miami so we met Monday night in Honolulu. The picture below is of some of the bonefish and trevally flies I brought.



The next morning we headed off to the airport and boarded the Air Pacific flight. There were about 8 other anglers going to the island while most of the passengers were continuing on to Fiji. The flight is just under three hours and the photo below is of our first view of the island from the plane. I think the spot below is actually Paris flat on the inside which is where the bonefish spawn each full moon and a spot that many people fish the three days leading up to and three days after each full moon although we heard rumors that the government is considering closing the spawning grounds to fishing during the spawn. On the outside is a spot that we would fish on our last day for trevally.



This is me getting off the plane followed by the welcome sign at Christmas Island International.





Our arrival on the island was not without incident. It turns out that the outfit we booked through had neglected to tell The Villages that we were coming. Once we cleared customs and bought our fishing licenses we exited the building and were confronted by a bunch of guides and trucks waiting to take anglers to their lodges. They asked us where we were staying and we told them The Villages to which they replied "They told us they had no guest this week". Great. Here we are in the middle of the Pacific and they don't even know we are coming and they don't expect any guest at all this week! The guides from Rick's Place were nice enough to give us a ride in the luggage truck and take us up to the Villages once they had dropped off their guests. The ride up was pretty entertaining. After nailing a speed bump and sending Steve and I and the luggage air born the driver stopped the truck and came around and told us he had forgotten something. He then opened a cooler and handed us each a beer and never even mentioned the speed bump. They've got their priorities straight down there. This is Steve with the previously forgotten beer and his hat knocked off from the speed bump.



Once we finally arrived at The Villages and told them we were there for the week they were completely apologetic and exceedingly embarrassed that they had not been told we were coming. If you book a trip to the island I would recommend either booking with the primary booking agent for the lodge you choose or going through Leo as he can book any lodge on the island. The manager at The Villages is a great guy named Ki Tebetanga. Ki showed up and got our room straightened out, told us everything was going to be fine, told us that we would be the only two guest for the week (a great outcome for us!) and also told us that "The bar is open". With the rods ready, our gear unpacked and our room 100 feet from the water in a place that looks like paradise, we knew we were going to be in for a good week.



The boats at Christmas Island are over-sized outriggers with a 40 HP outboard strapped to the back. These boats take you to the flats to wade and have rod holders for trolling off shore.



This is the first flat we fished. Steve and his guide are in the distance and, as you can see, the flat was amazing. The typical arrangement for Christmas Island is one guide per two anglers, but because it was our first trip and the cost of hiring a second guide was pretty nominal, we hired a second guide for the entire week. Seasoned veterans will typically fish by themselves having honed their fish spotting skills. Being rookies we were glad that we each had a guide each day as they spotted a lot of fish that we wouldn't have.



This is Steve with his first Christmas Island bonefish. Over the course of the week we would come to learn that this fish was pretty small, but even the smaller bones have amazing speed and strength.



In the afternoon of the first day we fished a spot called the Y Site that had larger bones and more trevally.



Because Steve is an avid off shore angler from Florida and he had heard that the tuna and wahoo fishing was pretty good off Christmas Island, we spent day two off shore. We headed out just as the sun was coming up over the lagoon.



To get outside you go through the main channel and around the largest town on the island, London.



Once Steve had the trolling rods rigged it took about fifteen minutes for the first wahoo to hit.



Shortly thereafter I landed this nice fish that bottomed out Steve's fifty pound scale.



This picture is typical of our off shore experience. Steve is fighting a fish and guide Namiah is pointing to the other rod that is going off and dumping line. Most of our fish that day were doubles.



Mixed in with the wahoo we each caught a yellowfin tuna that would prove delicious.



That day we landed 9 wahoo and two tuna. We lost another 14 wahoo mostly to bad hooks that Steve replaced. Once we replaced the hooks our ratio of hits to landings went way up, although some fish just couldn't be landed including the monster that inhaled a huge marauder lure and cut through 200 pound cable. The picture below is me, Steve and The Villages head guide Tenaki.



After the big marauder was lost this green rapalla became the hot lure. As you can see from the teeth marks, it saw some good action that day.



Steve with a plate of yellowfin sashimi. This fish was swimming just hours before. This was the best tuna sashimi that either of us had ever had. Although, perhaps because it is not available in sushi restaurants typically, the wahoo sashimi was even better.



That night we feasted on tuna steaks, sashimi, wahoo prepared three different ways, giant clam and pacific lobster.



Our third day fishing was back on the flats. This is me and guide Namiah just after being dropped off. Moments later we would see a huge bluefin trevally cruising up the side of the flat that Namiah estimated at 60 lbs. I got a cast off but the big deceiver landed right on the fish and it moved off to deeper water. We tried splashing and slapping the water which sometimes will bring the trevally back, but this fish never showed up again.



I caught and released well over twenty bones that day. Steve was fishing with Tenaki and they saw what Tenaki described as an eighty pound giant trevally up on the flat in skinny water. When the big GT's go up on the flat there is not enough water for them to swim upright so they sort of lean over with most of there back out of the water. Steve described the scene as if "Someone was driving a Volkswagen across the flat". Unfortunately Steve's fish followed right to him but wouldn't eat the fly. The fish probably couldn't have been landed because later that day Steve's 10wt TFO snapped while back casting, likely from a manufacturer's defect.

This is an underwater shot of one of the bonefish I released that day followed by a medium bone that I caught and a slightly larger one that Steve got.







This is a pancake flat that we fished the third afternoon.



The fourth day because the off shore fishing had been so good on our last trip, we headed back out early. Unfortunately the spot we fished before was just too rough for the boat, so with safety in mind, we went around to the south to a spot known as Wahoo Alley.



This day would prove not to be as good as the earlier trip, but we landed a skipjack tuna, a wahoo, a few big barracuda and this decent black trevally.



We anchored the boat closer to shore for lunch and decided to see what we could catch on the bottom. That turned out to be grouper. Lots of them. So many that I caught two on one drop.



On our fifth day we made the long drive around the southern tip of the island to fish the Korean Wreck (the spot Leo said we should try to go to). The Korean Wreck was amazing. It is a flat on the ocean side that is about 100 yards wide and goes for miles and miles.



Steve with a nice bone at the Korean Wreck.



Me with a baby bluefin trevally.



Me with a wrasse.



The flat at the Korean Wreck had a ton of bonefish but also a lot of different species. It also had quite a few giant clams that were embedded in the coral. A few of which our driver pried out and ate. We tried it. Steve liked it and claimed that it tasted sweet. I can't say I agreed.



There were also a lot of blacktip sharks that pushed up in the shallow water to feed. These guys would swim right up to you.



The Korean Wreck was also cool because we could wade nearby each other, versus the lagoon where we would we each fish a different flat. This is Steve wading just outside me with a fish on.



Moments later I had a fish on and Steve took this picture.



Steve with a sweet lips at the Korean Wreck.



Steve and I after a great day. Lots of different species caught and a ton of bonefish.



We had covered a lot ground that day and ended the day way north of where we started. We took a smaller, less established, track back across the island.



Both Steve and I straightened a few hooks on our bonefish flies that day. Steve's guide for the day, Iketi, claimed that the hooks were no good. I had tied the bonefish flies on Mustad 34007's because you can buy them in a pack of 100 for less than twenty bucks. If I had it to do over I would use higher quality hooks.



The last day we told the guides that we wanted to focus more on trevally than bonefish. I started the day by wading down a flat with quite a bit of coral that was bit deeper than the typical flat. We didn't see any trevally at first but there were plenty of bones and they were bigger than average because each fish ran into the backing at least twice. I don't know which flat I was on but I started calling it Two-Backing flat. Me with a fish from Two-Backing flat.



Once we had crossed the flat we waded the edge in waist deep water crunching across coral. This is when the trevally started to show. The first one I saw was pretty big and his back was out of the water. I tossed a deceiver to him and he inhaled it and took off peeling line from my 10 wt. Unfortunately this one came unbuttoned, but shortly after I spotted and caught the baby giant trevally.



The baby GT was followed up by two blue fin trevally.



Twenty-some decent bones, a baby GT, two bluefin trevally and a bigger GT lost all before lunch. During lunch the guides decided to show us how to catch mantis shrimp. Mantis shrimp are part alien, part preying mantis and part lobster and the locals love to eat them. To catch them you drop a dead fish attach to a line into a likely looking hole in the flat. If there is a mantis shrimp home it will grab it with one of its long, razor sharp, spiked mantis claws. The guide then reached into the sand and grabbed the claw holding it into the fish. He then did the same for the second claw. Once he had safely had control of the claws he slowly pulled the mantis shrimp from the hole. When Tenaki pulled the first one out we were shocked at how big they were.



After lunch we hit the flats again and Steve and Tenaki went off to try to get a big GT for Steve. Shortly after getting on the flat we saw this guy coming toward us. He was about 50 feet away and traveling parallel to our path. I cast about 10 feet in front of him and 5 feet past and started stripping the big deceiver. He saw it, nailed it and took off. While I was fighting him a quickly realized that a GT much larger than this would be more than a 10wt could handle. This was my biggest GT of the trip but it was no where near as big as the 50-80 lb GT's that are caught at Christmas.



Following this GT I waded across a large sand flat and saw quite a few more bones, landing at least another ten. The boat then showed up and took us to a final spot to try to land a large GT. The spot below is the spot in the picture from the plane above.



When a school of trevally shows up on the edge of the flat utter chaos ensues. They rush in and tear around, sometime between you and the guide, and then take off just as quickly as they came in. Steve and I described it as trevally madness. They are in and out so fast that if you are not ready to cast with line out you have no chance of getting a fly in the water before they are gone. The fish below rushed in in a school of about ten and they were all around us. I didn't even cast, I just slapped the fly down with only leader out and this guy slammed it the second it landed.



Steve and I had lugged along our snorkeling gear so we could get a look under water. We both decided that if we go back we would bring slings and do some spear fishing.



Later tat night we were served to of the mantis shrimp the guides had caught. Steve loved it but I couldn't get over the alien appearance so I didn't share in his enthusiasm.



Because it was our last night Tenaki took us to a bar in London to experience a little of the local scene. There were two locals, us, and this drawing of Mickey.



Definitely a great and memorable trip and a place I hope I get the chance to go back to--to catch a truly giant giant trevally.