Faces of Cuba
By Dan Frasier
There is a specific vibration that runs up your line, through your rod, into your veins and directly to your core when a tarpon in preparing a leap. It’s not unlike the sensation I’d get when I worked for an electrician and would grab a live wire. It’s scary and a little confusing, and ultimately portends that your synapses are about to light up like the light show from a thunderhead; leaving you with a palpating heart and shortness of breath.
As I sat down; relinquishing the bow after riding the lightening an hour into our first day in Cuba, I had to physically concentrate on bringing myself back to earth. The ringing in my ears played out a steady chorus of, “Don’t ever forget one detail from this trip.” In the ensuing months I’ve had the opportunity to recount my trip to countless people. Anglers and non-anglers alike are infatuated with the mystery of Cuba. So I’ve had ample opportunity to reflect on the experience. As is true with all trips I embark on, what stands out are the faces. The people I meet and their stories become the landmarks defining my winding journey through the time spent in a new place. Their stories become threads braided nicely together with mine; building what eventually becomes the tale of my trip. Because it is those very faces that define my experience, I’d like to introduce you to people that constitute what Cuba was for me.
“I called because you’re one of the few people I know that can leave in a hurry.” Bob tells me. “I’ve had an emergency cancellation so there is a spot on my trip to Cuba open, but it’s for 10 days and leaves next week. Are you in?”
Ground-breaking angler, renowned painter and highly-regarded author, Bob is one of the coolest people I know. We’ve been friends for a few years now and have fished together a number of times. One thing I’ve learned is that you are far wiser to say “Yes” if Bob asks you to do something than “No.” So I bought tickets to Ft. Lauderdale, where we were to meet, and started packing.
I met Bob and a four others at their gate at FLL. We strolled to a special section of the airport and after fifty minutes on a twin engine Cessna, we were on the ground in Havana.
Elena was our tour guide for the day we spent exploring Havana. An extremely bright mother of two, Elena was charged with showing us the finer points of Cuban life. Careers in Cuba are not selected. They are assigned. At the end of High School, all the students are tested and ranked. The highest ranking student gets to pick from the list of needed majors for that year as defined by Castro and the boys. From there on, the student will study their selected major and then be assigned a career in that field. Every Cuban citizen is paid the same wage, about $10 US a month. However, people serving the tourist crowd will be able to receive tips. So Elena, whose father worked as a doctor for $10 a month for his entire life, did what all of the most promising minds in Cuba do. She chose a major of German because it set her up to work in tourism where she is now a guide. For about 6 hours Elena showed the group New and Central Havana. We saw museums dedicated to the revolution, toured the cigar factory, saw replicas of missiles from the crisis, the engine of the U2 spy plane that was shot down in Cuban waters and sites where practitioners of Santeria perform animal sacrifice. And then Elena put everyone but Bob and me in a cab and sent them to the hotel. She took us to see Old Havana and “how Cubans really live,” where we met others.
Old Havana is simple to describe. Imagine narrow streets of the most beautiful super-wealthy Spanish architecture mansions money could buy in the late 1800’s. Now house 13 families in each of those mansions, turn off the running water in 1967 and do no maintenance since 1959. There, easy. I didn’t get the good fortune to meet this woman, but her striking image peering out of the hole in a makeshift doorway shook me. This was originally the long
Read More »Sunday Classic / It’s Ok to Ask for Help on the Water
A lot of fly fisherman of both sexes get a little hesitant when it comes to holding hands or locking arms with people who aren’t kin. Don’t be Haphephobia when you’re wading in and around trout water that’s challenging to navigate, in remote areas off the beaten path or during cold weather. Making the mistake of trying to do everything on your own when you know darn well you need assistance can turn out to be a very dumb decision and put you in harms way.
Read More »Saturday Shoutout / Mike’s Poke
The Perry Poke is a super efficient spey cast, useful to any two-hand angler.
In this video skagit legend Mike McCune shows you how to make the Poke off your downstream shoulder. This is a great cast to have in your bag no matter what species you’re after. Here Mike is chasing trout with a switch rod and compact head, but the approach is the same with the long rod on a steelhead river.
MIKE MCCUNE TEACHES THE DOWNSTREAM SHOULDER PERRY POKE.
Read More »Fly Casting Tip – Rely On Muscle Memory for Difficult Casts
Visiting Yahoo today to check my emails, one of the headline articles titled “Why We Choke When All Is on the Line” caught my attention. As I read the article, it reminded me of a lesson I learned a long time ago as a guide, which was, most of the time my clients cast better in tough or high pressure situations when they’re relaxed, confident and keep their head (brain) out of the game. It’s really easy to think that the more difficult a fly fishing presentation is, the more we should be trying to focus and think about every detail of our cast during the execution. According to many neuroscientists and psychologists who’ve studied why professional athletes choke under pressure, most agree that thinking too much during a task, no matter how routine it may be, can actually decrease your chances for succeeding in high pressure situations.
Read More »Sunday Classic / Emergency Line Splicing
The other day I was out fishing with my buddy Rob Parkins when things took a sudden turn for the worse.
I was making a cast and the line at my feet caught on something sharp. I shot the line with so much power that my eight weight line was cut in two. We were a long way from the car and a spare setup. It looked like my fishing was going to be cut short.
I got the head back. About sixty or seventy feet had been cut off. It was enough line that I could make a short shot but shots were scarce that day and I hated the idea of being limited. I tried tying the line with a blood knot but it was impossible to get through the guides. Rob came up with a brilliant solution.
He suggested
Read More »Saturday Shoutout / WTF Now? Bahamas Edition
If you are like me you are emotionally fatigued over the rollercoaster that is recent Bahamian fishing regulation.
As of January 9th, new double secret Bahamian flats fishing regulations are in effect. They are confusing, vague, completely unimplemented and, for many, disheartening. Are they the end of flats fishing in the Bahamas? Certainly not. Are they what many of us would like? Absolutely not. Do we understand what effect they will have on anglers, guides and the Bahamian people? Not even close.
I am in the Bahamas this week and I will be trying to get some answers to the whirlwind of questions surrounding the issue. If I find any, you will read about it. For now, take a few minutes and read the details.
The best report I’ve found is from Rod Hamilton at DIYFishing.com.
NEW BAHAMIAN FLATS REGULATIONS
You can also read the Abaco Guides Association’s response to this new regulation. This is all we know for now.
Abaco Fly Fishing Guides Association Blasts New Bahamas Flats Fishing Regulations
Read More »10 Yellow Sally Fly Patterns That I Love
When I think back on all the times I’ve fished Yellow Sally stonefly hatches over the years, I honestly can’t remember ever having a bad fishing experience. If I can find them on the water, I usually have no problem getting trout to take my imitations. Yellow Sally stoneflies hatch from coast to coast. Depending on where you live, they usually show up the month of May and in some areas will stick around until the end of August. You’ve got to love an aquatic insect that has a hatch period that lasts not weeks, but months. Even in the dead of terrestrial season, or when other aquatic bug hatches such as caddis or mayflies are in progress, trout will regularly forage on Yellow Sallies if they’re available. For that fact alone, fly anglers should always have a handful of Yellow Sally fly patterns stowed away in the fly box at all times. Trout love them and so should you.
With the gargantuan number of fly patterns out there these days, it can be a challenge at times to pick out the real rock stars amongst all the other players in the fly bins. Below are ten Yellow Sally patterns that I’ve personally fished and had great success with. Four are nymphs and six are dries. My hopes for this post is simply to help point fly anglers in the right direction whether it’s at the vise or at a local fly shop for stocking up on proven Yellow Sally stonefly patterns.
Read More »Sunday Classic / Guide Thoughts
“Sometimes, I wonder if I made the right decision when I chose to guide in my home state. But then again, when you guide, it always seem like there’s greener pastures afar. When I find myself having those thoughts, I just reflect back on why I chose North Georgia for my guiding in the first place.”
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My favorite steelhead video.
This video, by Todd Moen, is not new but I still love it as much as the first time I saw it. Anglers Jakob Lund and my good friend Jeff Hickman put on a steelhead clinic on the upper Clackamus, including the most extreme fish fighting scene I’ve ever seen on film. I can’t get enough.
If this looks like fun to you, join me for the Winter Steelhead Retreat on the Clackamus March 26-30.
CHECK OUT “FALL RUN”
Read More »Go Slow Mo Fo
By Jeff Hickman
Ask any Spey casting coach or steelhead guide what they find themselves saying most often during the day and most likely it’s the words, “slow down”.
I have often joked about just getting a tape recorder to say it for me on repeat. But oftentimes guys say they are trying really hard but they just can’t!
It’s as though their muscles won’t go slow, or maybe their brain won’t let their muscles go slow. Is it fear of failure? Paranoia that they might make a pathetic cast that just lands in an ugly pile of line? How embarrassing that would that be if others on the river saw! Rushed casts can happen for any number of reasons and they happen to everyone from time to time.
There are a couple of tricks I use when people get into this downward spiral of rushing the cast.
First I ask them to take a short one minute timeout and relax their shoulders. After the timeout, I ask them to stop and pause for a full second after setting the anchor. A good way to ensure that you wait a full second is to take a deep breath after you set the anchor. You don’t have to be in such a rush. After the anchor is set you have lots of time to sweep and then cast. It’s as if that pause just sets the tempo for the rest of the cast.
After all, the anchor placement is completely separate from the sweep and cast. It’s important to
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