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
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
Yesterday was a fun day of fishing – what Mike Dawes and I can remember of it. Seriously, going straight from 40 hours of travel to the water immediately upon landing in Bhutan was grueling and both of us were undoubtedly delirious by the time we reeled in. But we caught fish, had a good … Read more
Mike Dawes and I are still en-route to Bhutan. It’s a long haul. So far it’s was the early drive from Victor to Jackson. Then the flight from Jackson to SLC then to Portland to Tokyo and tonight we arrived in Bangkok at midnight. It’s been 31 hours from home. It goes fast though especially when … Read more
Friend Mike Dawes and I are leaving for Bhutan in the morning. We are going as consultants for the World Wildlife Fund. We have a great assignment – fish the rivers of Bhutan to determine their suitability for fly fishing ecotourism. Starting Saturday we will fish three days on trout rivers around the Haa … Read more