Just to remind you (See May 20 & May 22), Mike Dawes, Niel Fox and I have been here in Bhutan to help Jon Miceler, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Government of Bhutan figure out what the possibilities of high-end, catch and release mahseer fly fishing actually are. Jon’s hope is that if … Read more
If someone told me we’d catch mahseer today I’d tell them they were crazy. The heavy rain hadn’t stopped since we left Royal Manas National Park in Bhutan and it got worse a few times during our drive out of Geylegphug. The roads are teetering, breaking apart on the steep edges, and rocks and logs … Read more
Heavy rain started yesterday afternoon as soon as we got in the cars and went all night. This morning we got up at 5 and scrambled to pack our junk in a downpour. Then we hit the slow moving roads of Bhutan before they start washing out. We’ve gone from the jungle to the cloud … Read more
It was another wet night in the tent. I slept fully dressed in raingear. The dampness took its toll and my lungs have tightened up like I have asthma. It’s killing me and this morning I didn’t look so hot as I made my way down to the confluence pool for the last time. … Read more
The rain returned last night. I woke up in standing water in the bottom of my leaky tent. The night was quite uncomfortable. Luckily the rain slowed down to a drizzle by morning. I wandered down to the confluence pool nearly in darkness hoping for a hungry beast mahseer to be waiting. I picked up a … Read more
As suspected everyone woke up a bit slow today. We had a big fun night around the campfire after a wild and sketchy day on the river. Although we had a clear water tributary to fish it wasn’t that great looking so sleeping in to a whopping 6 AM wasn’t a big deal. Plus, there’s … Read more
When we went to bed at 10 the stars were brilliant. At 1 AM I was awoken by flashes of lightening. Then came rain. And I mean a serious downpour. It came down so heavy that my tent didn’t just start leaking drips but rather pouring water through the seams. But it’s the jungle so getting … Read more
We went to bed early because it started to drizzle last night. At about 4 AM the moisture stepped up to a light rain. Bhutan is on the verge of monsoon season so everyone was sort of looking around at the clouds nervously this morning. We were starting a five day float into no mans … Read more
In the months leading up to our mahseer exploratory fly fishing trip to the rivers of southern Bhutan, Jon Miceler explained his idea of using fly fishing and other types of river based tourism as a way of generating sustainable financing to one of Bhutan’s most important but neglected nature reserves known as Royal Manas National Park. … Read more
There’s a massive dam project underway on the Puna Tsang River. The project is tough to look at as you drive along, not only because it’s a real mess, but also because you’re nearly head-on with gigantic dump truck after dump truck. And if you veer too much away from the trucks you’re likely to … Read more
Dawes and I got some rest this morning, something that’s been unheard of since we arrived three days ago. The reason we had the morning off was because our true mission of finding and catching mahseer started this afternoon. Jon Miceler of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the man in charge of putting this expedition … Read more
I’m still not completely adjusted to the drastic time change here in Bhutan. I was up making instant coffee before 5 AM. This actually works to our advantage however because we get on the road early. We pulled out of Haa Valley at 5:30 AM and back over the pass to Paro where we fished … Read more