Monster Golden Dorado at La Zona

La Zona Lodge owner, Hector Bradanini, recently reported the catch of a 68 lbs golden dorado by a Brazilian Angler in La Zona.  The monster was landed on a Rapala Mag 18.  Currently, the official IGFA all tackle golden dorado record stands at 55 lbs 11 oz which was landed by Andre de Botton in La Zona on January 11, 2016.  This record has been shattered numerous times especially in the past year. 

However, many including myself do not want to go through the hassle of requirements set forth by the IGFA such as weighing the fish on land which puts an enormous amount of stress and possible death.  At La Zona, all dorado are released to grow into these huge sizes. As I mentioned a year or two ago that the size of the golden dorado would drastically increase since the government does not allow fishing next to the Salto Grande Dam.
My reasoning was there are an abundance of 30 lbs dorado which grab your lure before the monsters get their chance!  For once, it appears I am correct!  There are a few opening remaining for this year at this magical fishery.  No place else on earth gives you the opportunity as La Zona to catch 50+ lbs dorado! 

Xmas Gifts/ Fishing Reels

Looking to buy someone that last minute Xmas present?  If you have a fisherperson in your life consider a quality reel made by Shimano or Daiwa.  Tom Ashby of the American Legacy Fishing Company located in Evansville, Indiana is one of the top sellers in the USA of Shimano reels.  Both Daiwa and Shimano have recently come out with new baitcasting models.

I have dealt with Tom for many years and always get a great deal.  If you sign up for his newsletter you get 10% off on your first purchase.  Check out his website at www.americanlegacyfishing.com or give him a call at 18774026350.

Xmas Gifts/ Pug Poppers from Old Dog Lures

Dave Killalea has been constructing timber lures for many years down under in Australia.  He knows the best models to use for his local fish such as big barramundi.  He has a great selection of Pug Poppers

which I will be using on my trip to Papua New Guinea for giant trevally and dogtooth tuna.  Dave handcrafts the lures using some of the best timber on the market.  Many of his lures would catch lots of fish found in the USA such as walleyes and largemouth bass.  He makes a new batch of lures monthly and distributes them throughout Australia.  You can order directly from his website which is www.olddoglures.com

Xmas Gift/ Guided Louisiana Redfish

Capt. Keith Kennedy of Born To Fish Charters has been putting anglers onto trophy bull redfish for numerous years.  Keith is based out of Venice, LA and offers numerous packages with his guided trips.  The top value is the 4 night, 3 days of fishing which includes all meals, accommodations, and guided fishing including all tackle.  Keith motors out into the Gulf area where the big reds are found.  Having had the opportunity to fish the best waters worldwide, I can honestly say that bull redfish are right up there with some of the brutes caught elsewhere in terms of drag burning battles.

I have written numerous times in the past about this trip and cannot say enough good things.  Capt. Keith goes out of his way to make sure you have that dream fishing trip!  You can find him on Facebook or give him a call at 504-908-3108

Xmas Gift--Guided Bass Fishing Trip on Lake Toho/ Florida

Looking to give someone a last minute Florida Trophy largemouth bass guided trip as a Xmas present?  Capt. Durwood Day guides fisherman to trophies on Lake Toho.  Lake Toho is located SW of the town of Kissimmee.  Avid bass angler, Dr. Gary Clark recently fished with Capt. Durwood and highly recommends his services.  Gary says Capt. Day can provide instructions to new fisherman and teach new techniques to veterans. The Florida Fish and Game says there is an healthy population of trophy bass on Tomo waiting to be landed.  Give Capt. Day a call at 407-719-0215.

Last minute Xmas Gifts for the Fisherperson in your life

Looking to get a few last minute Christmas gifts for that special fisherperson in your life?  Kermett Adams of www.klures.com makes the best wooden choppers and poppers on the market.  These lures have been tested over time by the toughest fish on this planet including peacock bass, golden dorado, PNG bass, and many others.Each lure has wire through construction and comes with heavy duty split rings and hooks.   Kermett has recently introduced a new line of monster wooden lures to handle saltwater species such as Giant Trevally.  Kermett hand crafts each lure and paints to your specification.  I have used these lures for years and cannot say enough good things about them.  Contact Kermett through his website or send him a message through Facebook.

Custom Fishing Rod Sleeves

When I returned from a Giant Trevally fishing trip out of Misima Island in Papua New Guinea earlier this year,  I noticed a few of my rods were scratched most likely from the abuse they receive while motoring to various reefs.  These Nano Carbon based popping rods are a huge cost sometimes pushing the bill in excess of $1000 each!  It make sense to me to find a rod sleeve capable of protecting my investment.  The issue with standard spinning rod sleeves is the diameter to too small to fit over the massive rod eyes found on these popping rods.  Searching the net, I came across a company, RodWarriorUSA.  The company is based out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA and makes custom made rod sleeves out of neoprene.  The rod sleeves come in various colors and custom labels can be added.  The sleeves are made out of 2mm neoprene and covered in fade-resistant fabric custom made to the length of your rod and diameter of the rod's eyes.  Each sleeve has a clear pocket information tag and a cord lock to attach the sleeve securely.  I recently put all my GT rods into each specific sleeve and they look great.  For more info on the rod sleeves give Pete a call at 267-471-6492 or email him at rodsleeves@gmail.com.  You can also find more information on their website.

Newly Constructed La Zona Hotel

La Zona Lodge manager, Giuliana Bradanini, recently announced the opening of the newly constructed La Zona Hotel.  Going forward, all clients fishing out of La Zona Lodge will now be housed in the hotel.  The hotel is a short distance from the house were clients stayed last season.  The hotel has very spacious rooms consisting of 3 bedrooms.  All meals will also be served in the hotel.  As most know, La Zona Lodge is famous for constantly putting clients on golden dorado in the 40 to 60 lbs range.  Within walking distance from the hotel is the channel which connects to the Uruguay

River.  Future plans are to dredge this out so boats can be stored near the hotel.  As of this writing the last week of March 2019 still has openings.  Fishing has been redhot the past few weeks with numerous golden dorado in the +50lbs range being landed.

New Heru Wahoo 150 gram stickbait

Recently I purchased a few different colorations of the  New Heru Wahoo 150 gram stickbaits for my upcoming trip back to Papua New Guinea in search of monster Giant Trevally.  The Heru Wahoo is 11 inches in length.  It has a neutral buoyancy so one could work it with slow rod sweeps to give it a side to side darting action.  Yesterday, I went out to the lake to practice casting my heavy GT equipment and made a few casts with this lure.  I could cast it a country mile and it was very easy to get the proper action.  Very anxious to give it a try in the waters outside Misima Island early next year!

La Zona News

Being a United States representative for La Zona Lodge, I get numerous phone calls weekly regarding the fishery.  The main question I still get asked is that they have heard the fishing is poor since fisherman are no longer allowed to fish next to the El Salto Grande Dam.  This statement is far from the TRUTH!  Catches of trophy golden dorado exceeding 50 lbs have seen a drastic increase since fisherman have not spent wasted time near the dam.  Yes, numbers caught will be down, but who wants to catch 30 lbs dorado all day long?  Everyone spends hard earned money to catch a 50+ lbs monster of which La Zona is famous for.  30lbs dorado are trophies elsewhere but are on the lower end size at La Zona.  A few years ago, Joe "Sparky" Bullock and Dr. Gary Clark developed super strong spinnerbaits to fool the giants.  These hyped up spinnerbaits are dragged across the boulders AWAY from the dam where the giants swim.  They have most likely accounted for more 50lbs+ dorado than all other lures combined in the last 2 seasons.
Lodge manager, Giuliana Bradanini, reports that new for the 2019 season, clients will be housed in a newly constructed hotel.  Fishing hours will be 8am to noon then 3pm to dark.  Lunch time fishing is available at a nominal fee.  The fishing days inside the zone remain the same, Friday through Monday.  As of last week 1 boat opened up for the first week in January and 2 boats are open for the week of March 28.

New for 2019 there will be a low budget option which is different than the regular booking mentioned above.  Clients will arrive on Tuesday and stay in the new hotel.  They will fish outside the zone on Wednesday and Thursday.  On Friday they will have breakfast early and fish inside the zone from 6am to 8am and from noon to 3pm while fishing outside the zone during the other hours.  This will be repeated on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.
This combined with the regular option will allow only 2 boats to be inside the zone!

As I am writing this, lodge owner, Hector Bradanini, is in the final stages of renewing permits for fishing inside the zone which are granted by the Government of Argentina.  This would be in effect for April 2019 when the current contract expires.
So, get into this magical fishery as soon as possible to catch the golden dorado of your dreams!

Perito Moreno

Normally, when I go on a "fishing" adventure there is much more than just fishing.  I also like to see the sights.  Whether it be heading to Brooks Falls in Alaska to view the brown bears feeding on leaping salmon, touring the temples in Thailand, dining at the best restaurants in Buenos Aires,  or going on an African Safari, there is always something to add on to the fishing portion of the trip.
On my recent trip to Jurassic Lake Lodge which is located in Argentina's Patagonia Region, I toured the Glacier Perito Moreno which is located in El Calafate. 

The glacier is considered by many to be the 8th natural wonder of the world.  The Glacier Perito Moreno was named after Francisco Moreno, a 19th century explorer who played an important role in protecting and defending Argentina's territory in the border conflict with Chile. 
The Perito Moreno is one of only three glaciers in the world that grows rather than retreat.  The glacier is said to grow about 7 feet per day, but also loses a proportional amount of mass, ensuring that the equilibrium of the glacier's mass and size remains consistent year round.
The Moreno is the world's third largest reserve of fresh water.  It is over 3 miles in width and boasts a height of 240 feet above the surface of Argentino Lake and reaches a total depth of 558 feet below the water's surface.

It covers an area of 97 square miles across a 19-mile stretch of vast expanse, with the greatest depth measured at 2,297 feet.  About every 5 years, the glacier advances enough to reach Argentino Lake, damming the southern portion arm of the lake against the huge wall of ice.  The water level can rise as much as 200 feet above the surface on Argentino Lake.  The pressure created by the dammed water eventually breaks the wall of ice, causing a massive rupture and sending huge shards of glacier into the lake. 
We toured the glacier for about 5 hours.  We took a Park Boat tour to the walls of the glacier.  It was simply amazing!  I highly recommend putting this on your to do list!  So on your next fishing adventure, do your homework and look for options to add on to the fishing portion!

Monster Bass on Lake Toho, Florida

Avid fisherman, Dr. Gary Clark reports great bass action on Lake Toho.  Toho is the largest lake in Osccola County, Florida located southwest of the city of Kissimmee.  Dr. Clark fished with guide Durwood Day who has years of experienced in landing huge bass out of Toho.  Gary, who lives in Kissimmee, says the lake is very healthy and has a large bass population according to the Florida Fish and Game.  Dr. Clark says bookings go fast so if a trophy largemouth is on your wish list give Captain Day a call at 407-719-0215

Fishing Talk Shows

Had the privilege this morning of talking about International Fishing on Midwest Outdoors Sports Radio 810 WB out of Overland Park, Kansas.  The show is held on Saturday mornings and hosted by Fred Ramsay and Mark Tobin.  Each week they give valuable information on hunting and fishing.  During my talk we discussed places such as La Zona for golden dorado,
Jurassic Lake Lodge in Argentina for giant rainbow trout, huge catfish in Suriname, tigerfish in Tanzania, Papua New Guinea bass and Giant Trevally in Papua New Guinea,
Alaska Peninsula silvers, Nile Perch in Uganda, Yellow CheekCarp in China,  and many more top destinations.  One can listen in each week on their webcast.  Talk radio offers valuable information.  I highly recommend you listen as much as possible.  Some talk radios also allow listeners to call in with questions.  Check out your local radio channels also to see if

talk radio on the outdoors is available and make it a habit to listen weekly!

Jurassic Lake Lodge, Argentina Patagonia October 2018

Had the pleasure of returning to my favorite country, Argentina, for a chance of landing massive rainbow trout at Jurassic Lake Lodge during the week of October 7. This was the 4th time I had the opportunity to fish this magical place.   A few friends and I flew into the town of Calafate and decided to take a tour of the Perito Moreno in Los Glaciares National Park.  The scenery is stunning and I highly recommend this destination to all.  Representatives of Jurassic Lake Lodge picked us up the following day at the Quijote Hotel in Calafate for a 6 hour drive to the lodge.  The ride took us through very strenuous paths as we had to cross over a through rivers to get to the lodge.  Along the way we saw numerous Guanaco and Lessar Rheas. 
The lodge sits on Lago Strobel and is near the mouth of the Barrancosco River where thousands of huge rainbows swim.  The weather was cold in the upper 30s with water temperatures around 38deg.

Strong winds are the norm at Jurassic and exceeded speeds of over 60mph during our stay.  However, it seems the stronger the wind blows the better the bite!  There are 3 beats which clients rotate before and after lunch.  The top flies were flo. green black, and olive balanced leech.  Others in the group had great success using mice and hopper flies.  We fished for 4 1/2 days.  I estimated I landed over 350 rainbows averaging 10 lbs with my largest at 19,2 lbs which measured 33 inches.  Everybody should fish this magical fishery.  If trophy rainbow trout are on your fish wish, look no further than Jurassic Lake Lodge. 
One of the only destinations on earth where you have a realistic chance at a rainbow exceeding 20lbs!

Top Spoons for Alaska Silvers

During my recent trip to Pumice Creek Lodge on the Alaska Peninsula, we had excellent results using pixee spoons and moonshine casting spoons.  The pixee spoon is a heavy 7/8oz which gets deep in the fastest rivers.  They are available in several finishes, nickel, gold, painted, and metallic.  Their hammered finish facets reflect more light increasing the spoons flash.  They have a fluorescent plastic egg imitation insert embedded in the middle of the spoon.
During our stay we used the metallic hot pink/ fluorescent red insert and the metallic red/ fluorescent orange insert.  We replaced the hooks with 5/0 openeye Siwash single hooks from Gamakatsu.
We also had excellent results using Moonshine casting spoons in the 3/4oz size.  The hot color was Glow Bloody Nose.  These spoons have a super glow coating which is perfect for low light conditions.  The moonshine spoon has more of a side to side wobble when compared to the pixee spoon.

Non-Stop Coho Action at Pumice Creek Lodge

Had the opportunity to fish for coho salmon and arctic char out of Pumice Creek Lodge, Alaska during September 8 to 15.  Pumice Creek Lodge is located about 100 miles south of King Salmon on the Alaska Peninsula.  This was my 28th straight year fishing silvers on the Alaska Peninsula.  The fishing was insane.  Huge silvers were landed cast after cast.  I landed a total of 576 silvers for fishing 4 1/2 days--delayed 1 day due to fog!  Fished for arctic char 1 day and landed a total of 102 many of which were in their beautiful spawning colors.  The weather was something I have never seen in this part of the world.

Hot sunny days without the wind howling was the norm each day during my stay.  The temperatures rose to the upper 70s!  I saw an abundance of wildlife including brown bears, moose, caribou, eagles, fox, etc...  I have written about the fantastic fishing here in the past and cannot believe one could catch more salmon elsewhere.  My group was the only fisherman to fish for silvers on the Cinder River all year! Next season perhaps is the last year the lodge will be open for sportfishing, so I cannot recommend it enough.  Get in now while there perhaps are a few openings!  You will experienced the fishing adventure of your dreams!

VENICE, LA REDFISH AUGUST 4 TO 6

Fishing.  What exactly is the meaning of "Fishing".  For some, it is a way to get out of the office, spend time away from home, and living the outdoors with family and friends.  For some "Fishing" is a means of survival.  No fish means no meals!  Others use "Fishing" as a way to travel to exotic, new lands in a sense of adventure where no man has "Fished" before.  Webster defines "Fishing" as "the sport or business of catching fish". Some define a successful "Fishing" trip as catching giant size fish.  Others are elated with catching Fish after Fish, while others are happy with just taking a few "Fish" home for a delicious meal. 
On October 3, 2 friends and myself flew into New Orleans to spend a few days "Fishing" with Capt Keith Kennedy of Born To Fish Charters. Keith operates out of the town of Boothville, which is near Venice. Capt. Keith supplies all meals, housing, and fishing equipment.
A few days prior to the trip, Capt. Keith wrote that the "Fishing" was off due to winds out of the SE.  Once in New Orleans, my friends and I rented a SUV and drove to Keith's Camp which is about 1 1/2 hour drive.  The winds were out of the SE so my expectations were not high.  We would motor to the Gulf Area and cast popping corks trailed by Bomber Mud
Minnows.  For the entire trip the wind was out of the east which made fishing tough.  However, we did all land some nice bull reds including a trophy 26 lbs.  So was this a successful "Fishing" trip?  For me getting away from work and being with good friends on the water and catching a few big fish is as good as it gets.  I spend thousands of dollars to fish in the remotest places on earth.  Are these "Fishing" trips always a success?  The answer is "Yes"!  Be happy with any results you get!

Capt Keith Kennedy does his best to put you on numerous trophy bull reds.  His meals are second to none in a very comfortable setting.  Give Keith a call at (504) 908-3108 and have a "Fishing" Trip of a Lifetime!

Bull Reds in Venice/ June 27 report

Friend and avid redfish angler, Dr. Gary Clark, reports the bull red bite is on in Venice, LA.  Gary fished a few days with Capt Keith Kennedy of Born To Fish Charters.  They used various plastics with popping corks to catch big bull reds up to 37 lbs.  As I have written numerous times on my blog, Capt Keith Kennedy offers of the best fishing adventures worldwide.  Plus the cost is cheap compared to International Adventures.  Keith's best bargin is his 3 days of fishing 4 night logging package.  He supplies everything so just show up at his doorstep!  Keith books fast so give him a call at 504-908-3108 or you can find him on Facebook.