Douchebag-in-Chief, Hugo, is nationalizing some property in Los Roques (saw this on Buster Wants to Fish).

Of course, that made me (and lots of other folks) wonder “What’s this mean for the lodges and bonefishing?”

I reached out to Jim Klug of Yellow Dog Fly Fishing to see what he was hearing from his partner down at Sightcast.  This is what he heard back:

We read this article and a couple of similar ones.  This is not the first
time case a similar is in the media but this time the news was all around
the world.

We do not see any issue with our operation or Los Roques regular tourism.
Chavez said that he will expropriate some 9 houses that are located at
Madrisky (the nearest beach of Gran Roque) and a couple of houses at the
end of the air strip. The first ones since the goverment says that they
were built without authorization and that the place is a private island
which is not legally possible and the ones at end of airport for security
reasons.  Besides this, the National Park is looking to revoke 3 or 4
concessions of lodges that were transferred to third parties some years
ago without authorization.  These cases have been discussed during the
last 3 or 4 years but seems that now is when the government is taking an
action.

Most of the lodges, fishing operations, scuba diving, etc. that need
authorization and are legally in place (as Sight Cast, for example), will
not have any problems so we think that these current actions will not have
an effect at all in terms of regular tourism.

It is a lot about politics and also, seems that this specific article
strenght thing that fears investors, etc. a lot of media without complete
information.

During the last 12 years, we have dealt with similar issues and some
people understand that there is a lot of politics but will not affect
their fishing or vacation. We will inform you if any development that
affect us happens but we think this will not happen.

There… that’s from the horse’s mouth.  So, go ahead and plan your Los Roques trip and don’t worry about the one you had on the books.

The path to get to Los Roques if you happen to be in Australia is not a straightforward one…

If ever there was a fly fishing destination to challenge the dedication of even the best to us; this is it. Melbourne to Los Angeles. Los Angeles to Miami. Miami to Caracas. Caracas to Los Roques. After all the flying, luggage dramas, cancelled flights and added expenses; we are finally here.

That takes a lot of dedication and a real desire to be “there.”  When the “there” is Los Roques, that kind of makes sense.

Here’s the story from Anthony Boliancu’s blog.

Lots of these down there in LR

PS – World Cup is going on… and the US got a point of England… fantastic!  GO USA!

The Danes have invaded Los Roques… turns out they caught a bunch  of fish and then went back home.  Lars, Knud, Lasse and Thomas spent two weeks down in LR and caught at least one of everything, it appears.

Basically, it sounds like they had a blast.

Pompano

The Danish Invasion

There were a few of negatives… like no electricity for a couple of hot nights with warm beer… yes… warm beer.

The DIY anglers also sounds like there are some growing challenges…

Furthermore the number of fishermen were larger than ever end also the number of other tourist and this increased the pressure on the beaches and flats available for the guideless flyfishers - the cheapskates  i.e. us most of the time. For example kite surfers can really destroy a flat when they cross it at 50 km/h.

Their guide was Chapin… I found a reference to a LR guide named Chapin here, but I don’t know if that’s him or not.

I knew Sam Sifton had made a journey to Los Roques and I had been patiently waiting for his article to appear in the e-pages of the New York Times travel section.  Sam, as you will see, has a knack for writing, which may answer the question you may ask “How does someone get a gig writing for the NYT?”  While he normally is writing about food and the culinary intrigue of the Big Apple, we are fortunate that  Sam also happens to love bonefish.

A little sample…

It was warm enough to pad shirtless up to the tiled roof of a little hotel in the middle of the village, and to see the view there stretch out to box the compass. It came up against, in turn, the sea, the sea, the blackened sea and the rise of a bare and sandy hill, steep and amazing so far from other land. As I gazed up from a wooden deck chair, sleepiness fell upon me like a rug.

What can I say?  I’m a fan of writing like that.

This isn’t Sam’s first piece on bonefishing.  I spotted his previous article about fishing Acklins with beloved guide Fidel.

Photo by Chris Ramirez, NYT

You can follow Sam’s twitter feed (about 1% fishing, 99% food stuff).

TIF = This is Fly… a great e-zine full of fly fishy goodness.

One story that has stuck in the dark recesses of my brain was a story by Kevin Perry called Ninjas and a Saltwater Dragon.  The trip was to Los Roques, a brothers and wives fly fishing trip.

Of the fishing Kevin said:

It’s bonefishing is notorious for both quantity and quality but ends up on more people’s to do lists than on their biography.

I love that line.  That line has driven me on a bit towards my own personal pursuit of bonefish/saltwater flyfishing.  I like the idea of moving the stuff that is really important from the to-do to the biography.

Hope you enjoy it.

What’s it like to fish Los Roques?  I have no frigging idea.  Well, I have an IDEA, I just have no experience to speak of. So, read this guy’s experience.

One of the most common searches I’ve seen landing folks here on Bonefish on the Brain is  “Los Roques DIY.”  So, I decided to look into it.

Los Roques is hard to get to, that seems clear.  I found a great little story from the NYT about Los Roques, complete with a quote from a Maine Game Warden who bonefishes there every year.  The article says you can hire a boat, find an island and be alone with your thoughts (and bonefish).  The details on how one does that, of course, is where the real questions have to be asked.

I have read at least one account of folks catching bones in the harbor and also read that flats around the main town get hammered.  You need a license, there are prohibited areas… sounds like you can certainly get yourself into trouble.

Oscar Shop, according to the NYT, can take you out to uninhabited islands, that sounds like the best bet to me (but what the hell do I know?).

There are tourist “posada” on Los Roques that range from $45 to $400 a night, I’m sure they very dramatically in quality, as you’d expect.

Now, it’s great to get a room for $45, get a boat to take you to some isolated island for $20-80 a person, but the real problem seems like the transportation there… Kayak puts a flight to Caracas from SFO at about $1,200.  The puddle jumper is about $220.  The budget angler might need to re-think Los Roques as a DIY location if just getting there will cost you $1,400… you end up at $2,000 pretty fast and if you are going to drop $2,000, you might as well get a guide.

Los Roques... looks nice. Wish it cost more like $140 to get there instead of $1,400.

Shane Kohlbeck is a friend of mine who has fished in more places and with more success than I can really aspire to. He passed along this big of sound advice from the view of the angler and the guide.

It was 2001 and I was on my second ever bonefish trip in Los Roques, Venezuela. As with most foreign destinations, the guides had limited English skills, and I had limited Spanish skills, so communication was not what it could have been.

I was stalking bones on a pancake flat with my guide, when we spotted some tails just out of casting range.   As we tip toed towards them, being careful not to make any noise, we noticed the fish working toward us.  “Stop” the guide quietly said.  As we watched, the fish started working left to right. The guide pointed in the direction the fish were heading and said “Cast”.   So, without knowing how far, I cast.  Ok….maybe a good cast, maybe not. I look to the guide for guidance and he says to me, “Strip Strip Strip.” So I made three long, fast pulls, and watched as the water exploded and the fish turned into mere memories.  What happened ? I did what the guide said to do.

That same day, my fishing partner complained that his guide couldn’t make up his mind. The guide would say “Strip. Strip. Strip.” Followed only by “Stop! Stop!…Strip…STOP!.STOP!..Strip. Strip..STOP!”

The guides knew 4 words for guiding gringos.  Strip, stop, cast, and setdahook.   It was enough to get us into fish that first day, but I wanted more communication. I wanted to learn about the fishing and how to catch them instead of just ‘doing what the guide said to do’.

Four years later, I found myself living on that same tiny atoll in the middle of the South Caribbean, training new guides, and fine-tuning the guides that were already there (some of which had guided me years before).  I believed it was critical that they learned how to communicate better with anglers.

The main problem I found was the excitement level of the guides would affect the angler. A guide saying “Strip, strip, strip” excitingly fast would get the client to strip three times – fast. That would almost always spook the fish, as critters that are hiding from Mr. Bone aren’t going to make three long runs – basically saying “here I am Mr Bone….come eat me”.   The prey hides…or blends in with its surroundings.  You have to be that prey.

While living there, I found that the more I DIDN’T move the fly, the better I did (excluding baitfish imitation flies).

The guides eventually learned how to instruct anglers to make “one very small strip” and to “wait” and to “let it sink”.  It was amazing how much difference it made to the clients who were new to bonefishing.  Being able to understand what’s happening instead of doing what you’re told, is huge.

In general, when I cast, I lead the bonefish. Then I wait until the fish is near the fly before moving it at all. And when I do move it, rarely do I move the fly more than a few inches. If that fish saw the fly move a few inches, you’ll see his body language change. Let him come eat the fly.

If the fish hasn’t seen the fly, I’ll add more movement to ‘catch his attention’.  Once he has interest, it’s very easy to over-strip the fly and spook him.

So next time you’re with a guide, try communicating more.  Strip fast or slow? Long pulls or short pulls?  Cast further, or closer?   Good cast, or do another?

Also in foreign countries, knowing a few words in their language is a big help.  Slow, fast, deep, shallow, long, short, left and right.  8 words that can help to make or break a guided trip.  That and “mas cerveza por favor”.

That’s good advice, right there!