Flylords Mag

Flyfishing, done a little differently...

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Arapaima on the Fly: New Film From Costa Sunglasses

Fly fishing’s entire culture revolves around the idea of traveling the world and catching that next species of fish. It is in a fly fisherman’s DNA to go to inconceivable lengths to explore the unheard regions of the earth.

Who knew that next species could potentially save a country’s way of life? A Costa & Indifly production Jungle Fish, is a community and conservation film that takes you to the jungles of a tiny South American village in the country of Guyana. Here a group of pro anglers attempt to do something no one has ever done before, catch the arapaima in the wild using a fly. This vehement beast is the largest freshwater fish in the world and breathes the air us fishermen breathe, making this one extraordinary creature.

If the group achieves this goal, the opportunity to host fishermen will preserve the people of Guyana’s way of life and promote the protection of their rainforests.  Through Costa Sunglasses' study of establishing a sport-fishing industry in indigenous countries, Indifly projects have popped up around the globe, providing reliable income to previously impoverished peoples.

Photos Courtesy of Jim Klug. See his other work on Instagram @jtklugphotography

Collin Terchanik is a Fly Lords contributor out of Central Pennsylvania. Check him out on Instagram @penn_fisherman

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Catching the World's Fastest Shark on the Fly

The two yellowfin carcasses were still fresh and hadn’t begun to stink. They were a welcome addition to our arsenal of chum, but they also signaled that expectations were high. Our friend Dalton Smith (IG: @daltonsmith3) was visiting southern California from Salt Lake City, and he had caught one of these particular tuna on the fly the previous day. Today we were chasing short-fin makos, and it was going to take one hell of a shark to match the thrill of those tuna.

That’s the thing about makos -- you might bring all the chum in the world, drift through miles of perfect offshore water and bake in the sun for six to eight hours, but in the end, the Tax Man might not show. There were four of us including Bobby Harrison (IG: @_bobby_harrison_), whose experience with makos is only outweighed by his knowledge around an outboard. He’s been known to pull-start an engine 30 miles offshore with the combined shoelaces of everyone onboard and is a calming influence.

We powered offshore a half hour to the target area and began setting up for our drift. To the naked eye, we might have picked a random spot in the middle of the ocean. In fact, this drift was crafted from a careful calculation of wind, water temperatures, and depth. It’s one of the few regions in the world where you can consistently sight-fish makos on a fly rod. And wouldn’t you know, with about 50 combined pounds of death floating in the water, it was only a half hour before our first shark was circling the boat.

Dalton hooked him like a pro, but that’s when all hell broke loose. Typically we fish makos with two, maybe three, people on the boat -- four people is a proverbial cluster, with lots of shouting and stumbling as the shark does aerial cartwheels and threatens to run your line around the trolling motor. Bobby coached Dalton while we took pictures and got in the way, and after a 20-minute fight, we released the still-pissed-off shark. The pressure was off, and it was only 11:00 AM.

And so began five hours of nada. We drifted and drifted, even adding to our chum, but aside from the occasional sea lion, we only had each other’s company to enjoy. The wind picked up; things got choppy; the talking subsided; the tuna carcasses continued to rot. By 4:00 PM, tempers were short, and chunks of chum were starting to look appetizing. And that’s when he showed up.  Roughly a hundred and twenty pounds of pure muscle, he easily tripled the size of the last shark. And he wasn’t alone. While this particular shark did ten-foot leaps into the distance, another entered the slick. And then another. Before long, everyone was hooked up and on the board. The chaos from earlier repeated itself, this time complicated by one of the smarter makos who had decided to gator-roll himself into a tangle with the wire leader. Freeing him, though successful, was sketchy at best.

As Dalton hooked into another shark, the wind laid down, and the sun began to set. Even now, only a week removed from the actual event, the details of this late-afternoon mako bonanza seem suspiciously perfect. But it’s a rare day to have four friends all catch a mako on the fly, and it’s even rarer to head home with a shark still circling the boat...

Photos: Matus Sobolic

Nicholas Blixt and Matus Sobolic are two crazy fly anglers out of Southern California.

You can find Nick and Matus on Instagram @nicholasblixt and @calicarpin

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5 Tips: Catching GIANT Roosterfish in Baja, Mexico

I am no expert when it comes to chasing Roosterfish from the beach, but I did learn a bunch during our last trip to Baja. This is one of those places where you will have to spend years and years walking the beach every day to get the slightest idea of what makes these fish tick.  

But, here are five tips if you plan on doing this trip:

1. Prepare to fail. It’s a strange thing, but over the years the overall experience definitely overshadows the fish. We were all mentally prepared to work our asses of spending long hours in the blistering heat, running up and down, sweating, stepping on boxfish, you name it… I am a sucker for a challenge as you will always appreciate a fish more if you have to work hard.

2. Learn to cast, this is not even an option. Don’t do this trip if you struggle to get 70ft+ of fly line out using a 10 wt rod…I honestly take my hat off to the guides that frequent these beaches.

3. Patience is key. Camping out is by far not my favorite style of fishing and it’s something I try and avoid if possible. I think we are just spoiled having spent lots of time in the Seychelles where you are constantly busy. On the beaches of Baja, this is not always the case, although you do encounter days where you can have endless shots.  We really found it effective to stake out on certain areas where we saw bait etc. it’s just a matter of time before “the one” will show up.

4. Check your hooks. Fishing from the beach in often heavy shore breaks takes its toll on hook sharpness. I can’t even remember how often we had to sharpen our hooks. Of all the hooks we played around with I found that the Owner Aki 6/0’s were my favorite and kept a sharp point longer.

5. Keep your cool. I don’t think I have ever had more refusals from any other fish than Roosters. All you can do is laugh and prepare for the next one. This is part of the fun, and again you appreciate it more when it all finally comes together. You have to believe that the next one will commit and eat the fly, that is the only way you will keep casting and stripping with good focus and energy.

The setup for my big Rooster was:

  Rod: Sage Salt 10wt

  Reel: Nautilus CCFX2

  Fly Line: Cortland Intermediate

  Leader: Cortland 30lb Fluorocarbon

Christiaan Pretorius spends his time angling the world when he is not running Abaco Lodge in the Bahamas

All photos are courtesy of  Christiaan Pretorious check him out on Instagram @christiaanpretorius

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How We Won The Badfish.tv Tailers Cup

Ryan Rodgers is a Low Country native and the reigning Badfish.tv Tailers Cup champ. Check him out on Instagram @ghostwatersc

The day started at 4:55 am when my first of 5 alarms go off (I had to set that many after my power hour of craft beers at the Flood Tide event the night before). I checked my phone and read a text from Chris saying he would be at my house in 5 minutes. I drug my slightly hungover body out of bed and pulled my clothes on for the day. After poking my head out the door to let Chris know I was alive and moving, I packed up my camera bag and I headed out. 

Our first plan was to fish close to home. We reached the spot that we were going to fish we quickly realized there was DEFINITELY not enough water- even for Chris' boat.  We could hear fish crashing in the thick grass but it wasn't an option for us at that point. Unfortunately, Chris and I put all our eggs in one basket on this spot. We knew it held great fish and we were really counting on a positive outcome.

The night before, we planned out the next day. We planned to fish our side of town and then make the 45-minute drive north. As soon as we figured out there wouldn't be enough water, we made the call to head north right as the sun peaked over the horizon.

We made it to our second spot and things were looking good. It was the last hour of the outgoing tide. We fished an area where we have seen some nice size fish in the weeks prior. Chris was doing his job with the boat by keeping me in perfect casting position to the bank. We fished for a solid 10 minutes before approaching a nice point where we saw some nervous water. I made a shabby but adequate cast and BOOM he was on, and put a hell of a bend in my 8wt fiberglass rod. The fish worked me, to say the least. It pulled me right into my backing in a matter of seconds. I looked back at Chris and said, “Holy shit dude this sucker is nice!” We got the fish boat side and he was still green as could be. Chris jumped down off the platform and wrestled him into the boat. Obviously, we were FREAKING PUMPED! The fish measured in at 27” on the dot. This changed the mood for us. We figured we could hit the flood later and catch two nice fish and possibly get a 3rd or 4th place finish.

Shortly thereafter the water just dumped out like a plug pulled on a bathtub. We were finding it difficult to fish through the 5lb mullet that were dive-bombing our boat. We tried fishing the creeks but struggled to make anything happen. We picked up one small red that put us at 40” leading into lunch and we decided to just sit and polish off a few cold beers. We knew there would be some solid fish in this area, all we needed was just enough water to get the boat moving. Through the music, we heard a crash right by the boat! I was sitting on the polling platform and Chris was up front. I stood up and five feet from the boat was a small pup red bulldozing through the grass. Chris picked up the rod and gently rolled a cast right in front. BOOM!! Hooked up! This fight lasted seconds. We pulled the 15” guy right in the boat.

Now it’s nearly 5 pm and we finally had three fish on the board. We sat at 55”. With a little dust off the shoulder, we still knew this wouldn’t touch the leaderboard. We figured “Hey, it's better than the 26” we pulled in last year”.  Finally, the water started to pour in. We had our hopes set to the max. We started to see what looked like fish in the distance. We soon realized that we were wrong.  The fish just weren't there, and I mean NOT THERE!

At this point, it was around 6:15 pm. We ended up passing another skiff that was in the tournament. They seemed to be having the same luck as we were. Shortly after passing these guys we saw our next fish. Chris laid a perfect cast and with a few short ticks, BOOM!! He was on! Luckily this fish was in open water so having him wrap us up in the thick grass wasn’t going to happen. The fish laid across the bow with a gut the size of an amateur sumo wrestler. Chris shouted out “YESSSSSSS, HELL YESSS”. After this 24.5” fish we ditched the measurement of the smaller fish from before. This put us at 64.5” with only 20 more minutes of fishing time if we wanted to make it back before the 8 pm weigh in. I quickly hopped back on the platform and we were off to the next pocket. We polled vigorously in that area for the last 20 minutes. As we were heading out we saw two nice fish floating in a dead space. I whipped the boat around and Chris was locked in. He made a cast that landed right on the first fish. Bam!! Both fish spooked. With our heads immediately to the sky in frustration, Chris looked back down and saw the second fish, which stopped and stayed close. He made another cast and BOOM!! He’s on! This fish pulled us all over the marsh.  I reached over and pulled the 28.25” fish into the boat. Chris and I looked at each other with eyes the size of dinner plates. I said, “Man we have got to go or we aren't making it back in time.”

We quickly polled out into a small creek and hit the “Rocket Ship” button. Pulling up to the landing we texted everyone we knew fishing to see if they knew what the leaderboard showed. It was looking like everyone had just as tough a day as we did.  Driving home all we could say to each other was, “We have 79.75” we might have a shot at winning this.” We pulled up to Revelry Brewing with 10 minutes to spare. I walked up to the board and said:

“Damn Chris, we won.”

Ryan Rodgers is a Low Country native and the reigning Badfish.tv Tailers Cup champ. Check him out on Instagram @ghostwatersc

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Fly Fishing and Football with Devin Street

Devin Street is a current free agent in the NFL and he divides his time between training and fly fishing in the Rockies.

Check him out on Instagram @dev15

We caught up with NFL player, Devin Street, who it turns out might be as good on river as he is on the field.  He spends most of his angling time in Colorado and Wyoming.  He had this to say about his latest adventure;

"My buddy (IG: @fly_fishing_buck) and I ventured up to the Teton Wilderness.  We had gotten word there were some brookies up there in a few lakes and small streams. Sure enough, we found them in the high alpine. And I was lucky enough to have a moment with my personal favorite fish."

We asked him about the parallels between the demanding sports of fly fishing and football,

"I play in the NFL (currently a free agent) and have always dealt with coaches pushing you to be the best, 'winning is everything', 80,000 fans screaming at you and ridiculing your every move on social media. So I guess you could say fly fishing is my escape or slice of tranquility. Fish don’t lie or cheat, they can’t be bought, bribed or impressed by power, everything is earned."

When asked if he could sum up his fly fishing journey he had this to say,

"Fly fishing has taken me on many backcountry roads leading to unparalleled landscapes paired with humble people.

I fly fish because I find solitude in the wilderness."

Oh yeah, did we mention the dude is a pro football player?

Devin Street is a current free agent in the NFL and he divides his time between training and fly fishing in the Rockies.

Check him out on Instagram @dev15

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About the video:

When we plan and finally execute a fishing trip, we enter that mindset you entered as a child, while waiting for Christmas morning to come. Unfortunately, we don't live anywhere close to the beautiful waters you see on all those amazing fishing videos. Therefore, it's even better to have the opportunity to travel and live the fly fishing lifestyle for these short periods when we are on the move. It somehow makes the experience strikes deeper.

Most times we travel with a camper. When we aren't fishing we are all jammed together in this small room.  In these times you really get to know your friends and, if you can still be friends after being jammed together for a couple of weeks. If you all survive, you have friends for life.

When I haven't wet a line recently and get that text message from a friend saying he "misses being in the camper and putting on leaky waders to fish all night," you know it's time to gather as much money as you can and start planning the next trip. That's how this trip came about, sadly we only had the time and money for a weekend trip.  

This trip was going to be intense, fishing from 6 am - 11 pm with a permanent smile on your face.

Filming :

While we were on the water, filming was secondary as always. I am not the kind of filmmaker who is traveling for good footage. First, I enjoy.. and if I have the time to put everything in the right perspective, it's time to pull out my Panasonic GH4. Usually, I film without any stabilization. My Panasonic 14mm-140mm lens does a pretty good job keeping the picture stable. And then I let Premiere Pro do the rest. For the beautiful slow-motion shots, my lens of choice is my 1.8mm Mzuiko.

The funny part about our filming is that I am the one who catches all the fish. This means that in 90% of the scenes, I have to hand my rod over to my friend, grab the camera and do everything. But my friends are getting the hang of filming more and more, and will soon be leaving their padawan status.

Location and Targets:

Bavaria is beautiful and probably the best region of Germany. Especially for those who travel and want to see crazy Germans in beautiful dresses and lederhosen.  The Mountain lifestyle is deeply anchored in the heart of the people. They treat the environment the way it should be treated and due to this, you'll find thousands of crystal clear lakes and rivers across the state.

Our target species for this trip was to catch a beautiful Brookie on a dry fly and of course to live the camper-and-leaky-wader lifestyle. At 3:30 into the video, you can see that dream come true. And what you can't see in the video is that everything around was just as it should be.

All I can say is: Gather your money, get your gang and get out there.

Marc Koenen is a fly fishing film maker with Trout in Trouble. Check out his Vimeo channel here and on Instagram @marc.koenen

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Of Sticks and Stones: A Story of Stream-side Innovation

Fly fishing is all fun and games until someone gets hurt deep in the heart of the Colorado backcountry. Especially when that someone is the only fly rod you brought. This tale begins with three friends, Chris (IG: @simplekeeler), Schlepp (IG: @schleppycam), and Kyle (IG: @ksluski), planning a journey into a remote canyon, on a route that’s seldom traveled. 

After four hours of pushing deep into the backcountry, we finally reached our destination with enough daylight to spare for a few casts. We set up camp, laced up the bug flingers and hit the river. The fishing was lights-out till the rain came again, then the race was on. Running over slick boulders with just the light of our headlamps, we got back to camp nothing short of drenched.

It took some time and maneuvering but we eventually got three grown boys in a 2-person tent while it spewed rain outside our thin-walled home. It poured for four hours straight with little to no break in the deluge, so needless to say we cracked a few cold ones to kill the time.  

The morning came swift with a fuzzy head but without any rain or clouds. A glorious morning fueled by oatmeal spared us from our hangover and the energy in the air was electric. The morning session was wondrous with all of the boys catching multiple finned animals. It was just about time to slurp down the daily dose of canned tuna when the unthinkable happened. While caught on a large stone I broke the only rod I brought with me to a point of no return, a rod that didn't even belong to me. After mourning my loss, Chris and Sam lent me their rods for a few casts here and there. That wasn’t enough, and I eventually decided to make my own.

The boys thought I was wasting my time but I figured I had to give it shot. First things first, I found a strong stick with a nice grip (about 6ft long) and got all the extra branches off. Now with a nice clean blank, I tied on about 8ft of 3x tippet for a leader and put on a scrumptious looking hopper-dropper rig. The real challenge came when I had to figure out the best way to cast the thing - turns out a semi-decent tension cast works pretty damn well.

I wasn't more than a few casts in when I hooked into a plump rainbow. I wasn't quite sure what to do other than lift my arm, back up, and yell to the boys. Chris came in with a spectacular net-boy job and we all gave each other that “I-can't-believe-that-shit-just-worked" look. Moments later, we all found out that Chris had a sizable hole in his net. Once we realized the fish was gone forever, and that Chris blew it, we moved up-river and continued the hunt.

Throughout the rest of the day, five more fish were caught on the stick that gained many different names, with “Oathkeeper" being the crowd favorite. Unfortunately, our great journey was coming to an end but not without Chris getting some last minute closure on a nice ‘bow. After Chris released the last fish, we gathered up camp and started the trek back to civilization, but not before leaving the Oathkeeper behind.

So if you’re ever in the Colorado backcountry and come upon a stick rigged with a couple flies, you know where we’ve been, you know the story, and I hope you use it for fun and not out of necessity.

Kyle Lusk is a resourceful and innovative fly fisherman out of Colorado! Check him out on Instagram @ksluski 

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Black Fly Eyes' New Trailer is 100% Worth a Watch...

We just got back from another 6 days fishing adventure in remote camp "North" in Greenland. It was an opening week of the season and fresh sea run arctic char were entering the river every day in massive numbers. Fish were mad and smashing our flies without mercy. Getting those chromers on our 6-weight fly rods were really tough because they are damn strong fighters until the last second. Camping in tents, long hikes, midnight sun and gorgeous landscapes gave a pure realization of real outdoor life once again. Read the full story and see the pictures here.

Check out Black Fly Eyes on Instagram @blackflyeyes 

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Why We Need to Save Bristol Bay

BRISTOL BAY, ALASKA —“Waterfall!” Rick Halford’s voice crackled over the communication system as he pointed the nose of his Cessna 185 floatplane toward the river below. My stomach did a backflip as the plane plummeted, and for a moment I forgot why the former Alaska State Senator was giving my photographer and me a private tour of the remote region behind Bristol Bay. Then the plane leveled and Halford pointed out to the right, towards a collection of buildings that he believed were an environmental catastrophe waiting to happen: a mine site with upwards of $300 billion worth in copper and gold.

“I would have said yes to the mine project 20 years ago,” the retired politician said over the headset. “What I didn’t understand then was the size of this project, nor the connection of water to everything; the blood of this system is water, and it’ll bleed everywhere.”

Halford was flying low over the proposed site of the Pebble Mine, an enormous deposit of copper and gold smack in the middle of the two largest river systems of Southwest Alaska’s Bristol Bay. For decades, there had been rumors about this region’s potential mineral deposits, and in 2001 a Canadian company called Northern Dynasty Minerals acquired the land rights and began digging exploratory holes. Word quickly spread about the magnitude of the strike: Northern Dynasty estimates that the Pebble deposit holds 107 million ounces of gold and 81 billion pounds of copper, enough to increase U.S. copper production by 20 percent. By 2007, Anglo American, one of the largest mining companies in the world, had partnered with Northern Dynasty, leveraging its financing and mining experience to acquire a fifty-fifty stake in the claim.

As we flew, Rick Halford followed the flow of winding rivers below, mimicking the path that millions of salmon take every year from the ocean to their breeding grounds.

But copper and gold aren’t the only treasures in the area: Bristol Bay holds the world’s largest salmon habitat, with over 30 million fishreturning from the ocean every single year to swim up rivers to their spawning grounds; the 2017 run drew over 55 million salmon, one of largest ever recorded. This unique interplay between ocean, rivers and lakes is the last place left on the planet that supports wild salmon in such numbers, and the salmon in turn provide 14,000 full and seasonal jobs, about $1.5 billion in annual revenue, as well as food and cultural significance to the Native Alaskan tribes of the area. “You couldn’t find a worse place for the Pebble Mine if you tried,” Halford said earlier in the day, sitting at his home in Dillingham, Alaska. “[Bristol Bay] is not something that you can do again, this is the last place that you should experiment.”

Read the rest of the article here.

Text by: Lucas Isakowitz - Instagram @insta.gramification

Photos by: Duncan Sullivan - Instagram @duncanmcmartin