Some will and some won’t have driven through the north-western Icelandic town of Blönduós. Always a happy place signifying progress while driving north. Even the most senior policeman is a very happy, positive man and a wonderful guide, fisherman and photographer. His stories of drug manufacture in remote farm locations in his area and incompetent Chinese tourists wrecking cars left, …
Alphonse Island Super Villas
I have been advising clients on their choice of fishing destination for nearly 30 years. If flats fishing and/or diving is your passion, I question if the new Beach or Super-villas on Alphonse Island, along with the world class flats and blue water fishing and the diving and snorkelling, is the strongest combination of accommodation and sport I have ever …
Milkfish Mayhem
“It’s gone,” Toby said with a melancholy look on his face. We had been well and truly defeated. “Did we make the wrong call on which way to go around the coral head?” I asked. The answer was there in the expression on his face. Toby had just hooked and, thirty minutes later, lost his first milkfish. Veteran guide Wayne …
Awesome Antarctica…
Warning – this blog has in excess of 200 photographs – please sit back, take your time and enjoy the spectacle that is Antarctica… Scott, Shackleton, whaling, massive calving icebergs, penguins, the Drake passage, leopard seals, albatross… we all know Antarctica is there but how many of us really believe that one day we’ll actually go there? Not me. The …
Considering Cosmoledo…
Let’s address what might be the elephant in the room right from the start. There has been much talk in the press about tourism in remote places. We have to travel further and further, and deeper and deeper into the wilderness to experience proper wildness. Cosmoledo might be a case in point for such a debate. A very remote atoll …
Astove Atoll, Seychelles February 2018
How many fly-fishing spots do you know that have become mythical or legendary in the past decade? Rivers like the Ponoi in Russia have risen to greatness in the modern era but over the past 20+ years. Lake Thingvallavatn in Iceland has had a meteoric rise to fame for its extraordinary trout but there are not many… however Astove is …
The Tigers of Tanzania
Before we get into the details, warning: strap up your fingers for this adventure – stripping gloves do not cut it. Bring a roll of tape – the type that sticks to itself not to skin or hair – Vetrap is perfect. This is also good for saltwater flyfishing. You need a roll or two because it can start to …
What about Greenland?
Would Greenland be an excuse to go fishing or would fishing for arctic char be an excuse to go to Greenland? Either is possible and both are excellent excuses. I went to Greenland this summer because I am asked regularly ‘what about Greenland?’ So I thought it best to go and see for myself. I examined quite a few operations …
The Joy of Aaroy – 18th to 22nd June 2017
‘Such armaments were often found wanting on the Aaroy steeplechase, like the parade of defeated anglers that had fished its Platforms of Despair. The outbuildings behind the fishing house concealed an elephant’s graveyard of smashed rods and broken tackle.’ Ernest Schwiebert – ‘Extract from Platforms of Despair’ in the book Death of a Riverkeeper. I had read these words and …
Providence Atoll, Seychelles, 4th to 11th April 2017
Let’s get some details straight before we start this adventure. We were a party of three, all paying our way. This was a business trip for me but there was no obligation to be complimentary and, to be honest, if somewhere I visit is poor, I simply do not write about it. Our first team member was Dom Quinlan, a …