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Villa Maria Lodge – Fishing Report

Fishing Report (February 1 th to 7 th, 2013) – By Gastón Guglielminetti

Our sixth week of fishing just  ended in Villa María Lodge. Always a pleasure to share hours fishing with repeat customers for years to our lodge, such as Wiilli Forstinger , Bernd, Jackob and Gunther from Austria , Karl from Germany and Chatt from USA.  

But the big news of the week is that we had a celebrity in the Lodge,   “Roman Moser “. Roman is very famous angler in Austria, and one of the best known European fly fishing in the United States, as he has developed a lot of fishing techniques for sea trout by designing leaders (progressive leader), loops, tippets rings, flies.

We started the week with low water and as we didn’t have any real rain, the water level kept on dropping which made the fishing conditions difficult. The weather conditions were tough as well with very strong winds, sometimes it was blowing as hard as 47.7 miles an hour. and a cold air temperature. The river is very clear still and now lower than before. After the first day with strong winds, something happened in the Andes Mountains because the river rose to three inches of water, this allowed the fish to put much more active than the last days.

Despite these challenging conditions, we had some great fishing opportunities and most of our guests did really well and caught a good number of nice fish.

We ended the week with a good number of fish and some great fish as well as Villi’s 24 pounder, or Jackob’s 22 pounder for sea run brown. Everyone had a good fish on, or landed a great fish. The top rods this week were Chatt from USA who landed twenty fish.

Anyway, it's never pleasing dismiss great fishermen, but we are sure that the same week next year they can return to live new and intense moments of fishing together again

Tight Lines  !!

Gastón Guglielminetti

Fishing Manager –Villa María Lodge

For further information please contact Tarquin Millington-Drake on 0845 299 6212 Ext 1 or at tmd@frontierstrvl.co.uk

The Camp Facilities - a detailed look at all the staff and facilities on offer at Ryabaga Camp from the food to the massage and medical room to bathrooms etc, it is all there to see here.

The first of the series of short information films about the Ponoi went live before Christmas. Have a look at it here. This film, entitled The Fishing Seasons, tells the story of the different seasons on this wonderful river and the different runs of fish. Other films include...

A Typical Ponoi Day - what actually goes on during a typical day in camp and on the river can be viewed here.

Boats and Wading - the definitive informational film on what role the boats on Ponoi play and why and showing the almost unlimited wading opportunities can be viewed here.

A Message from the Owner - The owner, Ilya Sherbovich, gives his personal story about how he grew to love, and eventually own, Ryabaga Camp and how he views it today can be viewed here.

The last two films to come out soon will be...

The Scientific Work - a short interview about the work done on the river which ensures it is well looked after and any concerns are detected early.

The Ponoi Journey - a careful look at how to get to Ryabaga Camp from your home and back.

These films are made for informational purposes and should provide a great deal of information to those thinking of planning a trip to the Ponoi. Recent response suggests a real appreciation for the lack of sales pitch and the amount of information.

With thanks to Alan Maughan for all his work in making these short films such a success.

For further information please contact Tarquin Millington-Drake on 0845 299 6212 Ext 1 or at tmd@frontierstrvl.co.uk

Villa Maria Lodge – Fishing Report

Fishing Report (January 25 th to 31 th, 2013) – By Gastón Guglielminetti

Another week of nice fishing has ended at Villa Maria Lodge. Our last week of January welcomed a group composed of people from UK, USA and Sweden. All our guests got along very well and enjoyed being with so many different nationalities with different experiences,  for me in particular was very special to share hours of river again with clients and friends of more than seven years as being Steward and Vaughan.

Always to our great team of guides is an enormous challenge to have new clients and also teach them spey casting,  technique not only necessary to cover more water in several pools of the Villa Maria lodge but also because of high winds prospects for many days of the week.

Three of our guests, Robert, David  and Mikael  wanted to learn how to Spey cast, so we gave them lessons throughout the week, teaching them which cast to use depending on the river flow and the wind direction. They learned very quickly, even if the conditions were sometimes difficult because of the wind, but they are now able to use a Spey rod back home.

Robert´s determination and efforts to pick up spey casting were rewarded as he hooked and landed one of  the biggest fish of the week with his Spey rod, a beautiful female sea trout of 22 lbs of weight, as Pat who at eighty-two years old is still fighting with big fish another  22 lbs female

This week was completely different from the previous week, especially with regards to the climate.  The river dropped  during the entire week, not only due to the lack of rain but also three days of strong winds that sometimes blew as hard as 37 miles an hour, pushing water into the estuary. .

With the low, clear water it should come as no surprise that our most successful technique was running lighter sink tips and smaller flies along with long leaders during this week’s fishing. We did however have some good success later in the week with some really big and bright flies fished deep. This technique proved most effective when the air and thus the water temperature dropped. Got to give the fish something big, nasty, and worth their while when they’re laying low and moving slow.

As always, come last light, it was time for the leeches to come out. Casting one of these big flies into the darkness and hearing, feeling, and sometimes seeing that often explosive take is truly something no serious angler should miss.

Finally I would like to thank the group for having a fun and exciting week of fishing in which the total fish landed was 63 and lost 22, wait to see them again next season.

Tight Lines  !!

Gastón Guglielminetti

Fishing Manager –Villa María Lodge

For further information please contact Tarquin Millington-Drake on 0845 299 6212 Ext 1 or at tmd@frontierstrvl.co.uk

Kau Tapen Lodge’s Fishing report

5^th Week: from 26^th of January to 1^st February

We had a very good week at Kau Tapen and our guests delighted the fishing and the whole experience of the 5^th week of Kau Tapen season 2013.

The weather was quite tough and windy but our guest put all their heart and energy to be successful and it worked very well. Thanks to the guide team for their hard work.

We had for our 5th week a lot of returning guests coming to experience once again their favourite fishing place and Ian from U.K.  brought his Scottish group that we know for some years now as Bob, Alistair, Roddy, Reuben, David…, which is a great group of people and fisherman. Margaret that has been at KT several times already came back too as well as Marcelo M, the owner of Buenos Aires Anglers, the main fly fishing shop in B.A.

He had also 2 North American guests who came for their first time and it won’t be their last as they enjoyed so much the place, staff and fishing.

This group got along very well, and the atmosphere was very friendly both at the lodge and on the river! Thanks to all of you.

The water level is dropping little by little but remains good for fishing. However, the weather has been quite instable and quite harsh and everyday was different, with some cold days, some very windy days and some nice and warm days. Due to those conditions, the fishing was up and down but globally for the week the fishing has been pretty good, with a nice number of fish per rod per day and some large fish too. Roddy got the biggest fish of the week, so well done!

The water temperature was up and down so we had to adapt ourselves to those conditions and we fished with full floating line with an intermediate to a super fast sinking tip, ended by mostly rubber legs nymphs or small leech. The sunray shadow has worked very well this past week catching and moving a lot of fish. This fly is a great way to upset fish and put them on the take or spot them to then try them with a regular rubber legs fly if they don’t take the Sunray.

For the last hour the silver and black leech was the most successful as well as the purple and black or full black leech.

The fish have been present everywhere in the river in both the upper and lower section as now the fish are spreading around and holding in the pools, going slowly upstream to find their fine spawning ground.

We have had some of the most beautiful sunset of the season so far, with great light and atmosphere that make this place so special with some beaver having their dinner in front of our guests, or some condors surfing with the wind!

Our Irish guide Matthew, came at the lodge to tie some flies to show our guests the technics for rubber legs, and the “Green Solon” fly designed by Matthew himself. Our guests always enjoy this moment, as they can learn new things and have a chat with our guides.

We ended the week with our “Tapas Night”, and it was such a nice moment as this group know how to have a great laugh and partying. We also celebrate Matthew’s birthday for his 26^th years and the departure of one of our guide Santi who worked very well and will be welcome for next season.

The season is running very well and we are looking forward to having you here and be a part of Kau Tapen 2013 season.

See you soon,

By Jean Baptiste Vidal

Fishing Manager

Kau Tapen lodge.

For further information please contact Tarquin Millington-Drake on 0845 299 6212 Ext 1 or at tmd@frontierstrvl.co.uk

Jan. 25-Feb. 2, 2013

Weather Conditions:  Overcast skies and a north wind Sun. morning and then sunshine.

Air Temp: 75-82 degrees
Water Temp: 77-79 degrees
Wind: 5 -10  MPH from the N early in the week and then 5-15 from the ESE

Tides: Rising tide in the A.M. all week.

Moon Phase: Full Moon on the 26th

We had a busy first half of the week with several anglers visiting from Sat. to Wed.  The week started with some overcast weather which quickly cleared providing some beautiful weather and good fishing.  Two anglers landed their first-ever permit and bonefishing was good throughout the week.

Jeff G. and Allen L. from Calif. spent the week with us on a Combination Fishing and Diving Package.  Both fished and dove hard, then went home pleasantly tired.  They had good bonefishing and plenty of shots and permit fishing with Willy.  One highlight was their trip to Lighthouse Reef to dive the Blue Hole.

Ralph, Jamie and Cooper B. as well as North G. from Mont. and Ga. also spent the first half of the week fishing and diving with us.  Cooper landed his first permit and squeezed in a Discover Scuba Diving Course as well.  Ralph concentrated on bonefishing and Jamie tried hard to land a permit.  He had one brief hookup, but didn’t manage to land it.

Barry H., Chip. B., Bill S., David T., David O., and Phil S., friends from Fla., Mich. and NY enjoyed three days of fun and fishing from Sat. to Wed.  They spent most of their time either wading the flats for bones or poling for permit.  David O. landed a nice 15 pound permit – his first on a fly.  Everyone else had good opportunities, but no eaters. 

Return guests Rick N. and Philip W., childhood buddies now from Mass. and Va., fished hard for bonefish and permit.  On Fri., they decided to look for a tarpon.  Their guide Dion located a small pod of fish and Phil hooked, but lost, a tarpon.  Phil split his time between diving and fishing.

TURNEFFE FLATS HONORED

WITH TRIP ADVISOR AWARD

Turneffe Flats Resort has been named a top honoree in the hotel category by TripAdvisor in its 2013 Travelers’ Choice® awards.   The fishing, diving and eco-adventure resort was selected in the Top Ten of all resort hotels, lodges and vacation destinations in Central America, said owner/operator Craig Hayes. The TripAdvisor recognition is based on reviews and opinions from travelers around the world. Turneffe Flats was cited for its outstanding service, value and quality.

For further information please contact Tarquin Millington-Drake on 0845 299 6212 Ext 1 or at tmd@frontierstrvl.co.uk

Villa Maria Lodge – Fishing Report

Fishing Report (January 18th to 24th, 2013) – By Gastón Guglielminetti

This  fourth week  at Villa Maria lodge , we welcomed a friendly group of six anglers from  Switzerland , returning to our lodge the last seven years.

We finished the week with a very good number of fish despite  the “strange”  weather conditions we had in the week.

Fishing was particularly difficult the first three days of the week, we had high temperatures in the water, as the week before reaching maximum values of 21 degrees celsius.!!!  We only had good opportunity to catch in those days, when it was sunset where the water temperature began its descend.

The special and the good news of the week was that last Wednesday the temperature dropped about 11 degrees Celsius, therefore had a high temperature in water at temperatures ideal for sea trout and where we started to have very good and exciting fishing hours.

I am safe in saying that during my nine years of experience guiding in Rio Grande and Rio Gallegos I had an opportunity of seeing different situations and weather conditions in both rivers, but I never saw something like last week, plenty of fish moving in many of the pools of Villa Maria water even at high temperatures, and not taking the fly, these situations make our much appreciated sea trout, be sure to surprise me and teach me something every summer

We were fishing with floating lines rigged with intermediate to fast sinking tips. We used mostly nymphs and buggers but we started using some tube fly  during the day time especially the sunrise shadow or collie dog fly, which work very well in clear water.  Sometimes the takes were very gentle with the fish just nibbling the fly and then grabbing it. So no striking, just patience and we had to let the fish take it properly to have a good hook up.

Finally I would like to thank our customers for being persistent in keeping the mood high and landed 74 sea trout on days when conditions improved.  Our guides did a great job finding fish by changing pools and rigging all the time to suit the conditions and get fish

River Conditions: Fishing was hard work all week . Some days the water was too hot, especially during the mornings and throughout the afternoon.  Only during the evening would the temperature drop a few degrees. Water temperature: between 10,8 ºC  and  21  ºC. Water clarity: Water very clear even with strong winds Water level: It dropped 3 inches during the week.

Conditions of the fish: Most of the fish this week were very fresh. Only a few fish were turning.

Tight Lines  !!

Gastón Guglielminetti

Fishing Manager –Villa María Lodge

For further information please contact Tarquin Millington-Drake on 0845 299 6212 Ext 1 or at tmd@frontierstrvl.co.uk

Kau Tapen lodge’s Fishing report :

4^th Week: from 19^th to 26^th of January:

This was another great week at Kau Tapen Lodge and a lot of fresh powerful fish are in the river, which has a perfect water flow, temperature and clarity. So perfect fishing condition, great fishing and a nice group of people! What else to make this week so special!

We had for our 4th week a special group of people from U.S.A. who have been coming at Kau Tapen since more than 20 years! They like to have the whole lodge for themselves and they were 6 people, all using single guide and single beat, which is a great option as it is very productive!

The water level and river conditions were ideal at the start of the week. However, when we started (Saturday and Sunday) the week the weather was very hot, too hot for sea trout fishing (up to 27°C!!) and warmed up to much the water ( up to 17-18°C) putting down the fish for almost 2 days.

Then on Monday we came back to normal condition, with windy days, cooler weather and better water temperature from 11 to 13°C which is the optimum for sea trout.

When the water cooled off, the fish were present everywhere in Kau Tapen water both on the upper and lower beats. On Monday the fish were jumping, rolling and boiling everywhere! It was something to see so many fish in the pools! We had excellent fishing catching a very good amount of fish per rod per day this week and a total number of catch impressive for such a small group of people. It hasn’t happen since few years and our guests delighted the fishing, using light rigging and small flies and were very pleased to experiment the river in such condition.

Fishing full floating line or floating line with an intermediate tip was the norm, ended by along leader and a green machine, rubber legs nymphs or small nymphs, changing to a dark wooly bugger and leech for the last hour of the day. The Sunray shadow worked too in some condition, on fast runs or when nothing was working!

I would say that 95% of the fish or more were very fresh and more than anything very strong. We were very surprised to see how those medium size fish (7 to 14 pounders) were fighting as they took so much line and were jumping so many time that it was like catching a 20 pounder fish each time! Strong takes, and boil at the flies was common, and it was very enjoyable to both guides and guests.

Besides the fishing our guests enjoyed having the lodge for themselves and we looked after them very well, having a lot of attention and great service as usual at Kau Tapen Lodge. A lot of fishing stories obviously and it’s always great to receive Randolf group, who knows so well the people that have worked, fished or guide and some Rio Grande legend.

Both staff and guides worked very hard to please our guests and give them the best experience possible. It is for sure some of the reason our guests keep coming back and some for 10, 15 or more than 20 years! The Rio Grande fishery is something else, which you can not find anywhere else in the world. Adding great Argentine quality of hospitality and service, with a great team of guides, and you have a top 5 quality lodge, world renown!

This group will come back next year as usual for the same week and they are already looking forward to it after that very good week of fishing and moments on the river and at the lodge.

The moon is getting full this week and we will have a very big tide as well which should bring another great number of fresh fish to the river ready for a hard fight!

We will be there to catch them and have great moments on this outstanding fishery that is the Rio Grande!

We are looking forward to having you here and be a part of Kau Tapen 2013 season.

See you soon,

By Jean Baptiste Vidal

Fishing Manager

Kau Tapen Lodge

For further information please contact Tarquin Millington-Drake on 0845 299 6212 Ext 1 or at tmd@frontierstrvl.co.uk

With the start of another year, much hard work has been done preparing for another exciting season on two of the worlds premier saltwater flats fishing destinations, St Brandon's and Farquhar. Both venues delivered superb fishing during the Oct - Dec 2013 period, with consistency as well as many memorable catches being the theme throughout.

On St Brandon's anglers experienced Bonefishing of the highest caliber, with staggering numbers as well as good numbers of double digit fish. We also recorded some impressive catches of Indo Pacific permit as well as some truly monstrous GT's. And if this wasn't enough, we were privileged to be apart of Confluence Films latest production called "Waypoints".

Farquhar too delivered fishing of an extremely high standard, with good numbers of GT's, Bumphead parrotfish, triggerfish, bonefish and even some elusive Indo Pacific permit being landed by our guests. Anglers were also fortunate to experience some of the finest bluewater fly fishing we have ever encountered, with good numbers of sailfish, Yellowfin & Dogtooth tuna, as well as some monstrous GT's further enhancing an already tremendous fishery.

Availability for the rest of the year

For those of you keen to experience flats fishing of the highest order, we currently have the following openings for the remainder of the 2013 year:

St Brandon's 2013 Availability:

29 March - 7 April 2013 - 2 rods open
20 - 29 April 2013 - 8 rods open (reserved)
2 - 11 May 2013 - 1 rod open
13 - 22 May 2013 - 3 rods open

Break

9 - 18 December 2013 (FM 17) - 6 rods open
The rest of the St Brandons season has been sold out.

Farquhar 2013 Availability:

13-20 April - 3 rods available
4 - 11 May 2013 - 8 rods open

All other weeks on Farquhar for Feb - May 2013 are sold out.
Break

21 - 28 October 2013 (FM 19) - 10 rods open
28 October - 4 November 2013 (NM 3) - 2 rods open
25 Nov - 2 December 2013 (NM 3) - 7 rods open
All other weeks for Oct - Dec 2013 are sold out

For further information please contact Tarquin Millington-Drake on 0845 299 6212 Ext 1 or at tmd@frontierstrvl.co.uk

Alphonse Fishing News 11 – 18 January 2013

What a start to the week as our Canadian guest Ivo Mitek caught 2 permit on his first day out. To add to his amazing experience he went on to hook and land a 40lbs plus milkfish after an exhausting 2 hour fight. Early in the week the weather was stable and true to form the milkfish turned up in good numbers along the Eastern side of St Francious giving our rods numerous shots at adding this species to their list. Bill Forsythe, Matti  Majorin, Errki Majorin and Sergey Aleksandrova all landed milkfish during the week after some aerobatical fights. Sergey’s fish tried every dirty trick in the book to get free, which included 6 jumps, a run over a shallow coral flat, 5 more jumps and lengthy run back out to the deep. Not to be outdone, Sergey finally landed the fish some 2 kilometres away from where it was hooked after an hour and ten minutes fight.

The surf walks on the change of the tide proved to be extremely productive for both GT’s and big bonefish.  The beauty about targeting GT’s in the surf is that you can be confident that they are fresh off the tide and often eat anything that is put in front of them. Bill, Ivo, Sergey and Igor experienced the ferocity of a GT take as they all landed a nice fish during the week. Once again Sergey led the charge by landing a 50lb GT on a NYAP Popper.

The shallow water bonefishing was incredible at times, which allowed all our guests to have the opportunity at targeting these “grey ghosts”, while they foraging and tail in the shallows. As always the team couldn’t believe the quality of the bonefishing that both Alphonse and St François has to offer. Unfortunately the weather deteriorated in the latter part of the week and the fishing tailed off somewhat due to visability. The last half day was spent on Alphonse, which turned out to be a pleasant surprise as the bonefishing was apparently “out of this world” according to Matti. Once again a great week with fantastic guests!

Tight lines from the Alphonse team!     

For further information please contact Tarquin Millington-Drake on 0845 299 6212 Ext 1 or at tmd@frontierstrvl.co.uk

Alphosne Fishing News 5 – 11 January 2013

The milkfish are back and feeding in good numbers on the eastern edge of St François after being absent for most of last weeks wind and rain. The weather changed back to the glorious hot and calm conditions normally experienced during our January weeks, which elevated our milk's to their normal feeding lanes. The St François lagoon has been as spectacular as ever, with the mirrored blue skies only effected by the ripple created by feeding fish. The offshore upwelling's are becoming even more apparent as huge plankton blooms start to excite the milkfish as they began to feed in carefree frenzies. The milk's that are still around and haven't not started their annual spawning migration have been capitalizing on these incredibly rich plankton blooms as they once again start feeding with vigour, which in turn provides for excellent angling opportunities.

"Aurelie Duhec, the archipelagos conservation officer has been analysing the plankton samples I collect on a regular basis and the findings are astounding. The variety of the plankton species is remarkable and makes up a veritable soup of juvenile crabs, shrimps and lobsters. Many juvenile fish species also form part of this zooplankton soup as do copepods and many types of other minute phytoplankton. Its been an amazing exercise as we now know why the milkfish are so incredibly powerful and acrobatic”, enthused guide, Wayne Hasleau.

Dave and Richard, the father and son team from South Africa had a most memorable day's fishing with guide Serge, both catching a really nice GT in the morning. David then upped the anti by catching a milkfish, a permit and then a bonefish to complete an “Alphonse Super Slam.”  What a great achievement and experience for both our father and son team as well as our 14th season veteran guide, Serge. Gavin and angling partner Steve also from South Africa got stuck into the species by tallying up some fantastic bones, GT’s, Bluefin trevally, milkfish and triggers. Uwe from Deutschland caught a spectacular 50lbs GT, which was tailing a big Nurse shark while on the coral flats. This magnificent specimen fought really hard for more than 20min and was finally landed almost 1 km away from where she was hooked. Later on in the week Devan put Uwe and Rob onto some really nice milkfish. After catching one milk each they decided it was the perfect time to switch to dredging tactics in hope of tangling with some of the big Dogtooth tuna which cruise the drop-offs and are eager to eat a fly as long as it gets down to them. Uwe was using the new secret fly tied and invented by our barman and guide Yousuf, called the DT. It’s an extremely fast sinking crustacean, which imitates something that reef fish simply cant leave alone.  In no time the guys were hooked up to Doggies! Rob landed a 22 lbs silver bullet and Uwe pipped him with a magnificent 85lbs trophy. Later on in the week Jonathan Hey hooked a really energetic milkfish which jumped 12 times and on occasion 8 ft in the air. This 30lbs bar of shimmering steel was hard to subdue, which sealed the experience as being one of Jon's best ever. Vadim Titovets had the best of the leapers as he tangled with both leaping milkfish and sailfish during the week. On the last morning he hooked 3 sailfish, all of which came unbuttoned after true areal displays.

Well done to all our guests during this very fishy week. From all the team here on Alphonse cheers until next time.  

For further information please contact Tarquin Millington-Drake on 0845 299 6212 Ext 1 or at tmd@frontierstrvl.co.uk