Fab Video of Tsimane Dorado Fishing in Bolivia

Rodrigo Salles of Untamed Angling has recently posted this excellent video of the Tsimane Lodge in Bolivia. Photographs are great, but this vid gives an excellent sense of first, how beautiful the rivers are, and two, the calibre of the fishing. My god I want to be there right now! About to have a tantrum...

Rodrigo and others have just come back from there to see how everything was going before opening their doors in August. The news is simple: fabulous. The lodge and camps are terrific and the rivers are already fishing superbly.

I cannot stress strongly enough that this is the most exciting new fly fishing destination anywhere. We have a couple of rods left and we strongly urge you destination fly fishers to pounce on them. Has to be an adventure of a lifetime.

For more info please look at our page for the Tsimane Lodge, Bolivia

Childrens' Trust Pro-Celeb Fishing Day

David, Elisabeth and Peter McLeod and Nick Palliser

Yes, that's correct, you are not mistaken, you are looking at a picture of the winning team, the Gold Medallists, the "Numero Unos", the "Hombres", the "Poderosos"... Ok, I may be getting a little carried away but it is the first gold medal I have ever won. As Peter McLeod Senior, aka David put it "Haven't won one of these since the '36 Olympics!"

The event was a the Pro - Celeb Fly Fishing day at Meon Springs in aid of the Children's Trust. For anyone not familiar with them, a remarkable charity bettering the lot of handicapped children with complex care and therapy needs. The fishing was organised by Fish & Fly and a really good turn out ensued. On the celeb front the highlight was definitely Ian Botham who added stature and panache to the event, although not quite as much as Steve Edge (see below). On the pro front, aside from my captain of the winning team (did I already mention that we won???) Peter McLeod, such luminaries as Charles Jardine, Robin Elwes etc etc were in attendance.

Peter and Grant Harris

Very importantly the day put pay to one of fly fishing's oldest conundrums. "Does Grant Harris of Sportfish actually fish??" This question stood, until last friday, alongside such brain teasers as "Do Salmon feed in Rivers?", "Does the moon affect trout feeding patterns?", "Is the earth truly round?". Well, my friends, I saw it with mine own eyes. Not only does he fish, he catches too!

Neil Freeman, Steve Edge and Peter McLeod

I have to mention an amazingly moving speech by a 20 year old whose life was transformed by the Children's Trust. He had been given up for lost after being run over by a car at the age of 10. He was told he would never walk again. After 2 years' care by the Trust, he left riding a bicycle and went on to be a paralympics gold medallist and completed the London Marathon. Remarkable young man and an icon of the human spirit.

Neil Freeman conducted a very entertaining auction that included some very desirable fishing days, meals and artwork. Surprisingly, although the object was to raise money, it was quite clear that some of the bidders walked away with some absolute bargains. My favourite was a table for 10 at the House of Commons that no one wanted to bid on. Sign of the times methinks!!! In the end it was snapped up for £500. Bargain methinks!!!

Anyway, back to important things. Team McLeod/Latin American Fishing Co. snatched gold with a total weight of 38lbs. Sorry, did I mention that already?

Ian Botham tells Pete a thing or two about fishing

By the way, yes, I know, there are far too many pictures of Pete, but what can I do?

Product Review: Costa del Mar 580 Lightwave Lenses

After 40 years of 20/20 vision, time has caught up with me and my eyesight isn’t what it was.
One thing that has deeply frustrated me of late, is that I have struggled to see well with my polarisers when the light drops or when I find myself fishing in shadows.
I have tried various brands and even invested in some photo-chromatic glasses (the ones that go lighter and darker). These did help, but I sacrificed a great deal of polarising power.
I had a chance meeting with Steve Chance ( I bet I’m not the first one to make that pun) of Costa del Mar and I began bemoaning the plight of my eyesight. Without batting an eye he suggested a pair of their new LightWave 580 lenses. Amid claims of outstanding clarity and maximum polarising power, he slipped in the fact that they were awesome in low light. He clearly can sell snow to Eskimos. I ordered a pair of LightWaves for fishing and a pair of prescription glasses for driving.
Prescriptions are not at present available in the 580 lens, so those were their standard amber lenses.
Finally I received my glasses and thankfully only a few days before I went fishing. I took the precaution of taking both pairs of Costa del Mar’s as well as two pairs of my old glasses, both from leading manufacturers.
I will start by saying that even the standard amber lenses of the prescription Costas totally out -performed my other glasses in terms of polarising and spotting fish. In fact the difference was quite baffling: amazing clarity in the water with excellent contrast and colour enhancement. Agreed these are prescription, so that obviously is a factor.
I can honestly say that I was sceptical to see if the 580 lenses could out-perform them. Well, guess what? They did! The qualities I mentioned above of contrast and clarity, went just that bit further than the standard lenses. In fact, the winning aspect of these lenses, which are the 580 Silver finish Copper , truly comes to light (yet another weak pun) as light begins to fade. I put my old glasses back on in order to contrast and they were simply useless. I couldn’t see properly into the water anymore. Back on with the 580s and there were the fish again.
I can sincerely say that these fishing glasses fall into the category of “How the hell did I manage before?” category.
I personally opted for the Wheelhouse retro design illustrated above, but some might prefer the more wrap-around, keep the light out models.
Top marks and very highly recommended.

BBC South Pacific again. Episode 5

Only of interest to UK residents reading this. Apologies to those further afield.

I just wanted to alert those who may have missed it, that the latest screened episode of South Pacific contained the most extraordinary footage I have seen in a long time.
A native Solomon Islander gathered Tarantula silk on a stick to use, believe it or not, as bait.
After boarding his boat, he attached the spool of spider silk to the line of a kite which he then floated up into the sky. The kite, dragged the silk across the surface like a dapping fly, up to 40 meters away from the boat.
When the kite dropped, the fisherman knew he had a bite and hand lined the fish in. This technique is used to catch large needlefish. Their small teeth get caught in the silk and there is no need for a hook at all.
Quite amazing and very beautiful to watch.
Here is a link to the BBC iPlayer episode. This section comes in approx 12 minutes in, but the whole program is very well worth watching. Amazing footage of New Zealand as well.


Apologies for anyone reading this outside the UK as I believe you will not be able to view it due to copyright rules. However, I am sure the series will be screen internationally very soon.

The Testing River Test & the possibility of being a fishmonger!

Last Saturday we were the fortunate guests of Locksley Ryan to fish on his lovely beat on the Test. He has a rod on the Broadlands beat near Romsey.

Amy and I were spending the weekend with Peter and Elisabeth McLeod in Whitchurch, so for us, this was a wonderful Hampshire fest. The sun was shining, the wind was blowing, but we were in such a fabulous mood, that little could have brought us down.

Peter and I started the day spending a very entertaining hour or so with Alastair Robjent in his superb tackle shop in Stockbridge. Robjent's truly is one of those wonderful tackle shops one dreams of having down the road: a generous selection of tackle, books, clothing and the most enormous selection of flies I have seen for a while. It was the first time I had met Alastair in person, but hope feel sure it will not be the last. By the way, thanks for the wonderful selection of flies you recommended. They did very well thank you.

We then motored down to Romsey and met Amy, Elisabeth and baby Thomas in time to share a lavish picnic with Locksley (who had taken a break from hauling trout out of the river).

Sadly there was no sign of a rise, and even Robjent's Daddy couldn't lure the fish up from the depths. However the nymphs did their work and Amy caught two lovely brownies, as did Peter. I failed to catch anything, but of course, I was so busy making sure everyone else was catching I barely fished. Look, that's true, ok??

We arrived back at the McLeod's, fairly shattered, but ready for a tall drink and the absolute BBQ fest he laid on.

Sunday morning, Pete and I walked down in order to drool at the Fulling Mill beat which is near his house. My goodness, I can honestly say that no fly fisherman can fail to go weak at the knees before this water. Gin clear, with perfectly kept weed beds, this stretch is straight out of the Fly Fisherman's Book of Beats he Dreams of Every Night. Not to mention, the absurd number of fish we saw, both Trout and Grayling: and big too! Incidentally, this beat can be booked through Fishing Breaks.

The Fulling Mill beat on the Test

We ended our walk on the bridge by the mill house (one of the most stunning properties I have seen for a while) and bumped into a pair of charming couples out for a walk. They had brought some pitta bread to feed to the ducks and trout.
We began chatting and one of the most priceless conversation with Pete McLeod went like this:

Wife No 1: "You guys seem to know a bit about fish!"
P. McLeod: "A bit, I suppose, we are in the business."
Wife No 2: "Oh, are you fishmongers?"

At this point, we literally doubled over.

After parting company with the couples, we wandered back for to start a second bbq, unable to take our eyes off the river, heaving with fish. We certainly were a happy couple of fishmongers!