Photo by Kirk Deeter

Let's get something straight.  Rodeo is an "extreme" sport.  Perhaps the original extreme sport.  Doing back flips on motorcycles (on purpose) over jumps is pretty extreme.  BASE jumping is extreme.  Fly fishing is not an extreme sport.  Never has been. Never will be.

I keep getting press releases and pitch letters telling be about the next totally awesome, "extreme" fly fishing adventure.  The word "oxymoron" comes to mind when "extreme" and "fly fishing" are bundled together. Please, people who send me these things, omit extreme fly fishing from your vocabulary.

So you dodge some heavy rapids.  Not extreme.  Jumping tarpon in the Everglades.  Not extreme.  You catch fish that might bite you.  Not extreme.  Well, okay, Conway Bowman and Dave Trimble, who catch big mako sharks on flies from 20-foot boats 16 miles offshore... that's a little nutty.  But even they don't say "extreme."

Mind you, I've been in the bush planes in Alaska, landed on jungle airstrips in Bolivia (then went upriver in dugout canoes to fish for dorado... please do check out the July issue of Field & Stream magazine to see that feature story), and been bit, scratched and all that.  I call that iffy.  Dicey sometimes.  But not extreme.

Am I missing something?  Do you have a real "extreme" fishing story that might change my mind?

Deeter

Because I travel and fish a lot, I often get asked that question: If you could be "beamed"   anywhere in the world, to fish for any species, where would it be?  And I usually answer that I live out West for a reason... namely, I like to catch big trout on flies.

But I'm changing my answer.  Bonefish rule.  I like tarpon, I like sharks, and I like stripers.  But there's something about bonefishing that I think is an ultimate challenge for a fly angler.  You're spotting fish.  Then you have to make a long, accurate, delicate cast.  You need the right fly, and the right presentation.  And when everything works (good gear matters, from polarized glasses to rod, to reel, and especially line).. there's noting quite like seeing the "eat" and feeling that fish burn off at 25 m.p.h.

I just got back from the best bonefish flats I've ever seen... totally unspoiled, gin-clear, and loaded with 4-pound-plus fish (some 10-plus). For anyone who can name the "mystery island" where I caught the fish above, I'll thow names in a hat, pull a winner, and send them a dozen killer Charlie Craven bonefish flies.

Here are your hints:  The island is 1300 nautical miles from New York City.  It is 110 square miles in size--roughly three times the size of Manhattan.  But it's a little less populated than NYC; it has only 300 residents, 150 of whom are kids.  There are no full-on bonefish lodges here, just one beach resort with 16 rooms. 

Good luck.

Deeter

It's been a while since I posted a straight up photo entry for the blog and thought you might enjoy a little slide show of some spring fishing activities here in Colorado over the past couple of weeks. There are BWO's on the Big Thompson, getting skunked on Spinney Mt. Reservoir, Mother's Day Caddis on the Arkansas River, and a little carp fishing at Jackson Lake on the plains of Colorado.  Enjoy, TR