Silver Creek Late Winter

We've been in a very wet weather cycle for about a week now and we're expecting snow tonight and even more snow through Sunday night. Most of that moisture has been rain down in Picabo on the banks of Silver Creek. We are looking at potentially the best water year in quite some time on Silver Creek. 

When I took the image below, two days ago, fish were rising up and down Silver Creek. Temps were in the upper 40's and it was raining lightly...

Silver Creek. Late Winter.

Cuba B-Sides

About a year ago I first visited Cuba and after that trip I put together a group of black and white images I called B-Sides. I just got back from my second trip to Cuba and here is my collection of B-Sides from this year.

To me, the B-sides are images that I did not select my first time through. I generally look at my images a little different my second time. I whittle them down by trashing a bunch and fewer are left standing and I'm generally looking for something more subtle that will work in black and white. For whatever reason fewer fishing images end up in this group.

Click on any of the images to enlarge.

Cuba 2016

Cuba is a bucket list destination for many at the moment. Chartered flights originating in the US are often booked months in advance. Hotels are limited in supply and are also booked months in advance. This is all in a place where the average taxi drivers using vintage American cars bring home exponentially more income than a doctor or a lawyer.

I sat next to a French civil engineer on a 7 hour bus ride from JĆŗcaro to Havana and he told me of his plans to move with his family to Havana for the next 2 to 4 years. His firm has been hired by the Cuban government to build more high rise hotels in Havana and elsewhere in Cuba.

Change is on the horizon in Cuba. As it is, there is a great deal of demand on a place with a quasi-broken infrastructure. Perhaps it's a race to see Cuba before it "changes." Developers are likely hashing out plans and concepts as we speak. 

The only component of change many, including myself, cannot seem to predict is how this influx of Americans and the lift of the longstanding embargo will change the day to day lives of Cubans in Cuba.

Below is a slideshow of images from Havana to the protected marine archipelago, Jardines De La Reina. Jardines is located approxamately 60 nautical miles off of the south central coast of Cuba. As it is, the Cuban government only allows 500 anglers to fish / visit Jardines on an annual basis. It's about 160 kilometers in length and is comprised of nearly a thousand mangrove cays varying in size.

While the fishing could be as good or better in many global saltwater destinations, Jardines is unique and to visit it means an adventure and a glimpse at a relatively intact ecosystem that by and large has not succumbed to the industrial hands of the West.

Tails & Mangroves

Havana

Cuban Pesos

Baseball Debate. Parque Central, Havana.

The MalecĆ³n. Havana.

Jardines de La Reina Cuba I

Planes, boats and automobiles. I just got back from my second trip down to Cuba and Jardines de La Reina marine archipelago. For a country that is located so close to the US, it's still two entire travel days to get from my home in Idaho to Jardines. Is it worth it? If you are dying to get to Cuba and visit Havana for a few days and you also happen to love saltwater flats fishing your answer is probably yes. Things can go wrong in Cuba beyond the standard food poisoning though. Hotel reservations lost. Unplanned and long travel delays. Stolen luggage at the airport. Don't get me wrong, Cuba is a relatively safe country but these kinks seem to be more prevalent in Cuba than elsewhere.

If you are willing to cope with these relatively benign, albeit painstakingly frustrating, bumps in the road you may find that fishing uncrowded flats with just your friends in sight is well worth the hassle. Also, Cuba is bound to change with the increased interest, mainly among Americans, to visit. Major changes seem imminent and getting a glimpse now or even a few years ago will undoubtedly be substantially different than whatever the Havana will be in 15 or so years.

With all of that said, bumps in the road often lead to better stories and wilder memories... I have just started to sort through my images from the trip and here are just a few. Double-Click any of the images to enlarge:

Bonefish

Winds were 55 knots on our way back from Jardines.

Woman. JĆŗcaro, Cuba.

Young girl. JĆŗcaro, Cuba.

Bar. JĆŗcaro.

Sunset and horizon. Jardines de La Reina.

A bow to the tarpon. Eric Lyon hooked up in the mangroves.

Artist Ed Anderson strums his custom, tarpon-skin ukulele. Jardines de La Reina.


Chilean Patagonia Images

Here's a slideshow from my recent trip down to Chile. I stayed at Los Torreones Lodge with the owners, the Salas family, and was blown away by their kindness and work ethic. They brought me into their lives for over two weeks and tolerated my energy and busting into their kitchen looking for mate and coffee each morning.

A small lodge with a lifelong dedication to fishing, it's located on the Simpson River, Los Torreones is also a small ranch with chickens, geese, pigs, sheep, goats, alpacas, horses... Pancho Salas, the owner and patriarch has been guiding in Northern Patagonia since 1984 and his four kids were all raised in the Simpson River Valley. Three of those kids are guides themselves and probably wouldn't take kindly to being called, kids... Grown and confident and knowledgeable and just fun to be with, I would gladly spend a week or more on the water with any of them.

I am working on a story on the Salas family and Northern Patagonia that will be published in the months ahead. More to come...

A Patagonia Moment

The days are long in Patagonia during the summer months. There's hazy predawn light just after 5:15 am and it's easy to be on the water with plenty of light to see at 10:30 pm. When the days are warmer in late December and early January there is an evening hatch and it's worth postponing dinner until 11:15 or so and that Chilean wine tastes even better after having witnessed sippers eating caddis and mayflies...

A well prepped moment during an evening hatch. Angler John Mullen got the right idea from Chilean guide Pancho Salas.

Chilean Patagonia II

I just got back from a trip down to the Chilean side of Patagonia. I'll be posting many images in the days to come from the trip. I stayed at Los Torreones Lodge with Pancho Salas and his family who let me into their day to day lives. The trip was incredible beyond just the fishing and without the kindness and generosity of Pancho's entire family I would never have seen many aspects of life in Patagonia.

A typical Patagonia dirt road near Los Torrenes Lodge.

Guide Sebastian Salas, after putting us on a rising rainbow, rowed the pontoon boat over to a patch of sweet yellow raspberries. Sebastian was born and raised in the Simpson River Valley in Patagonia. He is one of three brothers who guide this area.

When something needs to get done, it gets done. Pancho Salas gives his son Sebastian a hand at shoeing a horse.

The ubiquitous ibises. Their call could be and can be heard from all over Chilean Patagonia.

Matte. While it's not as de rigueur as in Argentina, it's still consumed a bunch in Patagonia.

Pancho Salas nets a rainbow at the end of a great and long Chilean summer day.

The FlyFish Journal

Below is a small image appearing in the Winter issue (7.2) of The FlyFish Journal. It's of a South Island, New Zealand river at the end of the first day of a great trip. The sand flies incidentally, were gluttons on this piece of water. After three or four days of having the tops of my hands obliterated by these little bastards I finally converted a pair of socks into sand fly resistant gloves...

The FlyFish Journal issue 7.2