Arrival Day in Santa Cruz, Bolivia

by | Jul 25, 2013 | Uncategorized | 3 comments

blog-July-25-2013-1-fly-fishing-in-BoliviaIf you told me a year ago I was headed to the Bolivian jungle in summer of 2013 I’d have told you you’re crazy.  Its not like I didn’t want to go, in fact the opposite, I’ve been dying to go.  Bolivia is quite possibly the greatest fly fishing in the world.  Not just the best golden dorado fishing in the world but those who have fly fished the world claim Bolivia is the BEST FLY FISHING IN THE WORLD!

 

The hold back for me has been that Tsimane Lodge is expensive and they don’t offer the standard hosting program where the host goes free, an angle I’ve used for many years to see the world.  Tsimane Lodge is virtually off limits to a fishing bum like me.

 

About this time last year I received a Facebook advertisement from Tsimane Lodge.  Normally I toss them.  I get too jealous of the photos of anglers posing with magnificent dorado and pacu.   But on this particular day I opened it.  It turned out the anglers were some of my old customer/friends from my fly shop days, Tom Hansen and Skip Brittenham, neither whom I’d seen or talked with in a couple years.

 

The pictures and fish Tom and Skip were holding were stunning.  Somehow I wasn’t jealous but rather happy to see it was them and not some dudes I didn’t know.  I shot them each an email simply to say hi and tell them how fantastic it was to see them holding giant dorado in Bolivia.  That’s all it was – I seized an opportunity to say hi.

 

A week later I received an email from Tom telling me about the pics and the trip and how great Bolivia was.  At the end of his email was an invite for 2013.  It was an honor to be in invited, but I politely emailed him back telling him how I’d love to join but price was out of my league.  His response dropped me – Tom and Skip were offering to treat me!

 

blog-July-25-2013-2-Santa-Cruz-BoliviaAfter a long day and night of travel, this morning we find ourselves in Santa Cruz Bolivia.  We’re relaxing at the Los Tajibos Hotel for the day.  There’s also another old friend here, Dale Kinsella.  Dale too is customer became friend.  Dale and I once fished together in New Zealand.  In fact, Dale and I were on one of the scariest backcountry helicopter rides that managed not to crash (at least a two beer story).  There are also two other of their friends whom I met last night on the flight down.  They are Eric and Tom – great guys.  We have a fun group.  We fly into the jungle early tomorrow morning and then the adventure begins!

 

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing

3 Comments

  1. Jeff Ferguson

    Best of luck. Hope you get a Grande. Tsimane and Cuba are the two spots I would return to in a heartbeat. I got a 28# dorado on my trip…..Warpath flies of course. While wading a chest deep, crystal clear channel on the Iritisama with Lew, 5 huge Pacu and a Dorado swam lazily by two feet away…..incredible.

  2. Erik Moncada

    Good luck Jeff! Be sure to show the teeth of the Pacu!

  3. Jeff

    Thanks fellas – I’ll do my best to hammer some memorable fish! Flying in an hour!

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. East Coast Fly Fishing Shows Complete | Jeff Currier - […] be the guest on Ask About Fly Fishing Internet Radio.  I’ll be talking golden dorado and my recent trip…
  2. Fly Fish Internet Radio – Fly Fishing Bolivia | Jeff Currier - […] talk will be fly fishing for golden dorado at Tsimane Lodge in Bolivia.  I’ll be talking about my recent…
  3. MONSTER Golden Dorado | Jeff CurrierJeff Currier - […] Tom Hansen and Skip Brittenham, the guys who treated me to Bolivia for huge golden dorado last summer have…
  4. The Wind Never Stops in 2014 | Jeff CurrierJeff Currier - […] traded some fishing days with me.  They said take us fly fishing for carp and we’ll take you to…

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I started fly fishing at age 7 in the lakes and ponds of New England cutting my teeth on various sunfish, bass, crappie and stocked trout. I went to Northland College in Ashland, Wisconsin, where I graduated with a Naturalist Degree while I discovered new fishing opportunities for pike, muskellunge, walleyes and various salmonids found in Lake Superior and its tributaries.

From there I headed west to work a few years in the Yellowstone region to simply work as much as most people fish and fish as much as most people work. I did just that, only it lasted over 20 years working at the Jack Dennis Fly Shop in Jackson, WY where I departed in 2009. Now it’s time to work for "The Man", working for myself that is.

I pursue my love to paint fish, lecture on every aspect of fly fishing you can imagine and host a few trips to some of the most exotic places you can think of. My ultimate goal is to catch as many species of fish on fly possible from freshwater to saltwater, throughout the world. I presently have taken over 440 species from over 60 countries!

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