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The Good News About Fly Fishing Travel


Great fly fishing destinations are more accessible now than ever before

Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends.  ~Maya Angelou

There is no denying that more and more remote flyfishing destinations have become accessible due to the rapid advancement of aviation and adventure travel.  The days of Ernest Hemingway traveling for weeks or months to fish or hunt are over.  Nearly every part of the globe, no matter how remote, is accessible within a few days. I can be home in London on Friday and flyfishing on the Rio Grande river in Tierra del Fuego, South America on Sunday.  My brother can be at home in Sandpoint, Idaho and in just two days be floating down the wild Zhupanova River in Kamchatka, Russia.

 

The other great news is that the infrastructure for destination fly fishing has dramatically improved. For example, in the 1990’s to fish Lago Strobel, in Patagonia, Argentina, I had to brave the bumpy dirt roads of RUTA 40 for 7-8 hours from El Calefate to the lodge at Estancia Laguna Verde. Today most of the highway is paved and the ride is much shorter, with ample sightings of Guanaco, and occasionally a rare Puma. And many of the lodges are comfortable with remarkably good food.

 It's the people you meet

But perhaps the best thing about destination fly fishing is the people you meet.  Fly anglers are fascinating, with a strange mix of DNA; half loner, the other gregarious, with a “healthy” attachment to beer, scotch, fine wine with a chaser of humor. And most have fascinating life stories. One person I met at a lodge left college to live with the Tribes in the Amazon for three years.  Another was a Wall Street financier with an Ivy League pedigree who gave it up to become a fly fishing guide.  The common bond, however, is a deep respect for the wonerous mysteries of nature, people and fly fishing.

"We are all travelers in the wilderness of the world, and the best we can find in our travels is an honest friend." — Robert Louis Stevenson

And destination fishing brings one into contact with many different cultures of people. Unless you are a self-centered zombie, it is impossible not feel wonder and respect for the diversity of the human species.

A Message from John R Childress


If stories like these resonate with you, where the lessons of the river meet the principles of great leadership, I invite you to explore Fly Fishing for Leadership, co-authored with Christian Bacasa. It is a book about character, courage, resilience, and what fly fishing can teach us about leadership and humanity.


📖 Order your copy here: Fly Fishing for Leadership on Amazon

🌐 Learn more: flyfishingforleadership.com


 
 
 

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