Seek and You Shall Find

My entry to this sport was through trout fishing. It was the classic fish to pursue on a fly-rod, and as much as I hate to say it, I was likely a product of the boom of fisherman that followed “A River Run’s Through it” as the movie came out when I was 5 years old, and definitely inspired my dad to get us into the sport at a young age. The northeast was also well suited for trout fishing, with many trout streams within a 1-2 hour range of my hometown that allowed for getting my feet wet.

The first legitimate opportunity I had to pursue a different game-fish on the fly was bone fishing in South Andros. I was fortunate to have been invited by some other fishy guys who had set the trip up right to avoid excessive costs and made it manageable. Once the trip was locked in, the planning phase officially began where I approached it like any other trout trip. I started reading, watching youtube videos, and doing my homework on what fishing for bonefish was like. Though bonefish are not an especially complex fish to research, I probably overdid it being amped for what was my first attempt to expand my horizons beyond that of a trout fisherman. Upon arriving in South Andros that March, I was eager to get after it and remember that first morning we had a perfect day with no clouds and just enough wind to keep the fish from getting too spooky without being a nuisance to cast in. My fishing buddy Jeff , being a gentleman let me take the front deck first and it wasn’t 10 minutes before our guide called out “bone fish 10 o’clock” . I was able to pick out the fish right away due to the perfect lighting conditions we had and put the fly 6 feet or so in front of the fish. Going purely on the guide’s directives, “strip, strip, pause, strip” and suddenly the fish was on smoking line off the reel. This was my first experience where the appreciation for the communication that develops between a guide and his client while flats fishing. That fish ended up being an average bone fish of about 3 lbs, but it felt good to catch a fish on a fly-rod that required a technique and approach that was entirely different than what I was accustomed to as a trout angler. Everything was different from the flies, pursuit and hunt, and surroundings. The interaction with the guides was the thing that particularly stood out to me though. I really enjoyed working with another person in the boat in the way flats fishing requires, and the partnership that forms throughout the day and trip in turn builds camaraderie that makes you want to fish with that guide again. Overall, that trip led to me developing the curiosity to explore beyond just trout in the Northeast.

Heading back home on that very trip, I had a two hour layover in Nassau Bahamas. I sat down at the bar in the airport and by coincidence a woman with a fly rod sat down next to me. Naturally, we started discussing our trips and the fishing we had. Our conversation then expanded to other places we wanted to fish but hadn’t been to yet. I mentioned that one place I would love to see one day was Patagonia, when she interrupted me and said I have a great guide down there and you should go down and fish with him. Figuring she had stayed at one of the lodges you commonly see advertised down there that look great, but require serious coin, I responded saying yeah the only thing is its super expensive and I cant afford it right now. She quickly responded, almost embarrassed that she may have come off as pretentious , and said no trust me this guy is the best you should reach out to him. She went on to explain that she had worked down there for an extended period of time, which allowed her to meet local people in Patagonia including this guide. This woman came off as genuine, so I asked if she could give me the contact info for the guide. She was glad to, and wrote down his email on a napkin at the Bar.

After I had gotten back into the flow of normal life after that trip, like any working human being my mind started drifting towards the next new thing to look forward to. Not having any trips scheduled, I shot out an email to the guide that was written on the napkin. I didn’t receive a response and sent a follow up. Again I did not receive a response. I wasn’t sure if this guy was working hard and just wasn’t getting to his emails or if there was maybe a typo on the napkin. After a month or so had gone by, I was bummed that I had not gotten through. As a last ditch effort, I searched his name which I could roughly guess at and make out based on his email address. Through FB, I ended up finding him, and shot him a message explaining I had sent him a couple emails but didn’t hear anything. To my surprise, he got back to me quickly and that began the scheming. The fact I was setting a trip up in Argentina by way of Facebook did not escape me as being a bit sketchy. I basically sent the dates I wanted to fish, he said great they are open, and then said I will see you then! And btw- this was in broken Spanglish. Though a bit reckless, its no secret that a lot of the best fisherman don’t do well with communication or technology- so sometimes you just need to accept that and roll with it. This being the case and going off general intuition after a few  spanglish exchanges, I decided to see it as part of the adventure. I booked the flight to head down that upcoming December with my Dad with us scheduled to leave a couple days after Christmas.

Fast-forward to that December and the holidays were filled with snow. I had my fingers crossed that weather wasn’t going to be an issue but as we went to bed the night before our flight we knew it looked tough, which was confirmed when we woke up to alerts our flights had been cancelled. We first called the airline but realized that wasn’t going to work with the chaos around holiday time. My dad and I were too pumped up to give up- we drove to the airport with all our gear and said all we want you to do is get us south with our minds made up that we would piece it together once we got below the snow storms. And we did. It took us 4 flights to get to Argentina, none of which were part of the original itinerary we had scheduled. Each stop had its problems. And when problems arose, we ripped every airline customer service attendant’s head off at each airport to get a little bit closer to where we were going, and eventually we got there.

A funny story  about that trip down is on the last leg, after we had come so far, an Argentina security guard tried to confiscate my dad’s streamer box because it contained flies which could be used a “weapon”. My dad- being old school AF and having no concern for the language barrier kept screaming ” 3 said yes, you say no!!” holding a yellow sized 2 sex dungeon next to his face as if his broken english would somehow make the guard understand. Being in foreign territory, half of me wanted to restrain him, while the other half knew we needed those streamers so I let him take the shot. And somehow the man got through with those streamers. I remember being through security watching my dad waiting in the line for heightened security proudly holding his yellow bugger box thinking wow all this for a fish.

Communicating with our guide as we randomly jumped on flights at each airport on the way to Argentina was equally memorable. Once we secured each flight,  I would send a fb message to our guide trying to type when we would likely arrive as simply as I could. Each time I got the same response- “yes my friend, see you soon.” Was this kindness or an automated bot? By the end of the trip down- we were coming in a day late and to a different regional airport 3 hours away from our originally intended landing spot. I had no clue whether this was all registering with the guide, and worse I had no clue where the guide lived or where base camp was once we got there if he wasn’t at the airport. So he had to be there. Regardless, at that point we were deep in it so considering the worst case scenario wasn’t in the cards. We walked off that last plane with our fingers crossed. As I walked off the last plane I spotted a guy with a sign that said “ JC CLARK” on a piece of paper in his hand. I then walked over and shook his hand with a smile like I had already known him for 5 years despite the fact our adventure had just begun.

Being a lengthy post and to avoid going too long, I’ll summarize the trip with key points and let the pictures provide the context. First, I fished 10 days with this guide and never have I seen a guide work so hard. He was so proud of what he could deliver as a guide, and I was so impressed at what I saw. Each day was different which I enjoyed. He would switch up the day almost sensing that we enjoyed having a different experience each day. Remember- our communication was good but not great so a lot of what you take away from each other is sensed rather than said. Also, the off the water experience is usually something you see people emphasize when the fishing is mediocre or poor- but on this trip that was not the case. It was incredible watching our guide grill lamb chops streamside via a leaned rack of lamb off a tree trunk using the indirect heat method notoriously attributed to argentine culture. Everything was the real deal- the food, the fishing, the people. And to think this all originated from that conversation in the Nassau airport, and a napkin that had an email written down that didn’t even work.

 

Tying this to the title of this post “Seek and You Shall Find”, this trip for me opened my eyes to the fraternity that this sport provides. From the woman I met at the bar to the guide that I enjoyed those 10 days fishing Patagonia with and remain close with to this day, I realized that if you are outgoing and are willing to seek out information and knowledge, you will find it. The sport of fly-fishing is a strong common denominator when it comes to the members of this sport, regardless of whether you can speak the same language or are from the same places. It immediately gets you on the same page with people from all over the world, and finding those folks is part of the fun. This random yet highly successful adventure encouraged me to take more risk, and that lesson has rewarded me ten fold. I’ve met so many people in the most nomad way-going off of the hat they wore or some other tell that indicated to me that they might also be on some similar adventure. You can almost smell when you come across another person that not only is on a fishing adventure but knows a thing or two. Bottom-line the take-away is clear. If you do one thing, make sure you always take the opportunity to talk to the person with the fly rod in the airport. You never know what they will have to say.