Salmon on the Eden

Our Spring Salmon Course on the renowned Warwick Hall beat of the Eden was a great success, with some excellent Spey casting and a couple of lovely fresh fish thrown in.

Jim taught the course with Eden-based instructor, and our great friend, Glyn Freeman. Some recent rain had put the river into perfect order and the team saw plenty of fish showing.

Hugh, Willie, Tina, Richard and Paul joined us for the course - and everyone made great progress.

Hugh sends a cast to the far bank

Paul Lalwan opened the account with his first UK salmon, a sea-liced springer over double figures (see earlier blog post). True to form, he went on to land another lovely fish on the second day, a little smaller at around 7lb.

Paul the fish magnet

Throughout the two days Jim and Glyn were delighted to see the casting progress made by the team.

Beautiful D-loop

And what a location for a course! The river was stunning and in excellent shape. The accommodation, food and service at Warwick Hall was superb.

Lunch at Warwick Hall

These courses are such great fun, and they are the perfect way to learn new skills or just to fish with a great party of friends. They are so successful, we're going to do more of them for both trout and salmon. And hopefully we'll get plenty more action shots like this:

Paul takes control of a salmon (or perhaps vice versa)

- Bob

Eden Spring Salmon Course

We got the salmon season underway this week with our spring salmon course on the Cumbrian Eden at Warwick Hall. And, typical to form, Paul "Lucky" Lalwan kicked it off in style with this stunning sea-liced springer. Estimated at 10lb-plus it was Paul's first UK-caught salmon.

Jim lands Paul's springer

After catching the biggest sea trout on his Argentina weeks for two years running and landing the biggest salmon of our Midfjardara week last year, it was little more than we would have expected!

To be fair, it may be a bit more than luck, though. Paul's been working really hard on his Spey casting and it's now looking really sweet. Shows what fishing with a bit of confidence will do.

And it also shows the stunning fish that the Eden produces in spring. Well done, mate.

Full report on the spring salmon course to follow...

 - Bob

Glyn Freeman and friends on the Rio Grande

Glyn Freeman writes about his week at Villa Maria on the Rio Grande, Argentina:

A change of venue this year from the Rio Gallegos to the Rio Grande a little further south. I went with a couple of friends Mark and Phil booking through Jim and Bob at Halstead and Bolton and have to say that all the travel arrangements were flawless, ran very smoothly and with no delays. We were looked after royally from the beginning of the week to the end of the stay at Villa Maria on the lower Rio Grande. There is a shop at the Villa with anything you may need from flies to waders if you have forgotten something.

Phil on the home pool which was a five minute walk from the fishing lodge.

The food was good, an endless supply of big juicy steaks, fine wine and beer in copious quantities, the staff were fantastic and friendly, the fishing guides Gaston, Pele and Ben really knew their business. There are two lodges, one you sleep in, have breakfast and evening meal and one on the river during the daylight hours where lunch is served and siesta, all very civilised.

That fish looks just like how I felt after a couple of days of fine living!

You could fish the very productive home pool during siesta time if you felt you had any strength left after the morning session and big lunch, not many did!

Guanacos were a regular sight along with the huge Condors.

 

Mark into a nice sea trout.

I have to say that the sea trout fishing and tactics that I was used to on the Rio Gallegos did not work that effectively on the Rio Grande, the pools are really quite deep in places and heavy tips were the order of the day to get down to the bigger fish. It took me a couple of days to get tuned in to what was needed and after that thankfully it was fairly plain sailing.

There are a lot of very big fish on the Grande, many were lost that week from our party with some in the high twenties. it was surprising just how small some of the successful flies were during the day and how big the leeches that were used just on dark.

The wading is very comfortable and the pools fairly easy to read, there is plenty of water to go at and if one pool is not working the guides are quick to take people to another. We shared the week with Skyler an American who did very well, Tony from the north east and two south Africans Richard and Richard, all were excellent company with a good humour which makes the week enjoyable.

There were pools that required some long casts and others less than twenty yards or so, all very manageable with the right outfit.

Some of the fish were like hooking the back of a passing car.

Very fresh fish just off the tide.

The biggest fish of the season so far at Villa Maria was taken by Mark at 26.5 lbs, followed by…

24 lbs, the boy done good! (pictured with Gaston the head guide)

 

The last evening was just something special, I did not want to come home!

Highly recommended!

Rio Grande Sea Trout season off to good start

The sea trout season on the Rio Grande in Argentina is now underway and the Villa Maria water has got off to a good start. Lodge manager Gaston says despite unsettled conditions and some strong winds,  the statistics for the past week, the second of the season, are the best for four years.

Unsettled conditions are to be expected at this time of year, but it's encouraging that fish were being taken on lighter lines and smaller flies and nymphs already.

Gaston's just sent us his report. Here's what he says:

"At the beginning of the week the level of the water was still a bit higher but still clear.
On Monday we had heavy rain showers for one day and two nights, along all the way
of the Grande rivers and the resulting watershed brought about a very sudden rise of
almost 6 inches of clear green water from the Rio Menendez.

The weather was less than accomodating this past week. Some fishing sessions throughout the week were very good and some slow. Changing weather and river conditions seemed to have a negative effect on the fishes' mood. Anyway these adverse conditions were overcome, finishing a week with excellent results. According to our statistics for the same week, the best in the last four years.
So, I am safe in saying that we had a very successful week.

River Conditions: The river is continuing to drop and clear on a daily basis.
Temperature of the water is perfect, about 11 degrees.

Fishing Techniques: As the water temperatures rose as the week progressed, we started
to use smaller flies and lighter lines. In fact, the two biggest fish were caught with
leeches, chartreuse fished with sinking lines and long leaders.

Flies used: At the beginning of the week, with the water still cold, we fished mostly
with leeches. Later in the week as water temperatures rose, flies such as the green
machine and small rubber legged nymphs provided the most action.

Fish: By the end of the week we landed a total of 89 sea trout, however 27 fish were
also lost. The average weight was 9,7 lbs. The average fish a day was 2.7 and the big
fish of the week was 22 pounds.

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

We'll watch the conditions carefully ahead of our two weeks down at Villa Maria in February/March.

Accessible Golden Dorado Fishing

We've been looking for a long time for some great fishing that is easily accessible from Buenos Aires - something special as an add-on to a sea trout or dove shooting trip. Well, we've finally found it. 

Golden dorado are one of the finest game fish in South America, and we've been fishing for them in northern Argentina for quite a while. But here is something different - fabulous dorado fishing within about a 40 minute drive of Buenos Aires.

Golden Dorado are one of the most exciting freshwater fish

The ease of access makes this a perfect bolt-on to one of our other adventures, such as sea trout in Patagonia or dove shooting in Cordoba. If you're in Argentina next year, you've got to try this.

Explosive fishing

This is explosive, floating line fishing, with plenty of visual action and jumps galore. Because the location is so close to the Argentine capital, you can add a day excursion (or a few days) on to your trip and the guides will simply pick you up from your BA hotel early in the morning and drop you back in time for dinner.

Multiple hook-ups are common

The fish are typically in the 2lb-12lb bracket, but there are larger fish there. It's a great chance to see some spectacular scenery, experience a new type of fishing, and get extra value from your trip to Argentina - and all you have to do is book an extra night in the hotel!

Dorado country - beautiful scenery

Of course, for the ultimate dorado experience, there is Pira Lodge, in the Ibera Marshlands in northern Argentina. But for a taste of the golden dorado, this is superb.

Fish up to 12lbs are common - with some larger

- Bob

Fish the Canadian Rocky Mountains

We've just put the finishing touches to a great trout fishing package in the Canadian Rockies.

AAPGAI Master instructor Martyn Armstrong has scouted out the best trout streams and the best guides on both sides of the Continental Divide.

Native Rocky Mountain cutthroat

We've put together our own itinerary that will allow our rods to fish a different trout stream every day for wild browns, rainbows and cutthroats - with plenty of fish over 20 inches and in prime dry fly season, too!

Curtis Lamey and his team of guides will put our team on the best rivers for wade fishing and will float large sections of some of the larger rivers in drift boats - the ultimate way to fish in the Rocky Mountain west.

Typical scenery and mouth-watering fly water

For trout anglers, it really doesn't get much better than this, and the all-inclusive price is great value for such a high quality trip.

Check out our video slideshow on the fishing and read the full trip details.

For more information call Bob Sherwood on 07831 688849 or email fish@halsteadandbolton.com.

Fernie - heart of the Rockies and our base for the week

 - Bob

Kate's salmon from Kjos

Not to be outdone by a team largely made up of AAPGAI instructors, my wife Kate returned with us to Kjos for our annual back-end trip this year and had a lovely salmon on the very first session. 

Lovely fish on the first session from the tributary

The hen of about 9lb came from the small Bugda tributary on a size 16 Green Butt tweaked just below the surface right at the tail of a pool. On a 6-weight single hander, the fight was spectacular.

Not sure who's the more excited, Kate or KJ!

In contrast to the bonanza this team enjoyed last year, fish were much harder to come by as the runs across Iceland this year (with the odd exception such as Midfjardara and Sela) have been disappointing.  But Kate wasn't to give up and landed another one much to the excitement of KJ, our wonderful guide who made the five days fishing an absolute delight. And she lost another fresh fish too.

Waterfall fishing on Beat 1

The team of friends was as much fun as ever and who can fail to enjoy fishing in such fabulous scenery. Beat 1 with its waterfalls was especially spectacular with the good water height.

The team

We'll be back next year for what has become one of the most fun weeks of our year!

- Bob