Category Archives: Trip Reports - Destinations

Magic Waters Lodge Trip Report: January 2025 For many anglers, myself included, fly fishing serves more dynamic purposes than the simple–and sometimes not so simple–act of catching a fish. Fly fishing is a conduit to explore some of the most gorgeous locations on Earth, a medium to create memories...

Sometimes less is more. Such is the case when it comes to fly fishing in New Zealand. There are many that would find it peculiar that we choose to travel to the other side of the earth to catch less fish than we would at home. The truth is there is simply something magical about the quality of the...

The foam Chubby Chernobyl fly was so chewed up that I had to change it, and I asked the guide if I should try something else. “It doesn’t matter,” he said nonchalantly, sitting in the middle of the raft. Sure enough, a couple of casts later another rainbow trout swam up out of the willows and...

I grew up on a small dairy farm in central Massachusetts. A meadow extended from my grandparent’s farmhouse to a brook loaded with sunfish, largemouth bass, pickerel, and hornpout. I learned to fish there, casting gummy salamanders one year and whirligig bass lures the next. There were some great...

Mongolia is one of those places where the photos never truly capture the magnificent grandeur of the location. When I try to explain the Mongolian landscape to those who haven't yet been, I ask them to imagine a location that looks like Montana with expansive big sky views but even fewer people...

Why Cuba? Why take a fly fishing trip to Cuba? Quite simply the vast variety of fishing grounds and incredible lack of fishing pressure make this region unique in all of the Caribbean. It is truly astounding to enjoy fishing for days on end without seeing another fishing skiff outside of those in...

With such a variety of waters to fish on a fly fishing trip in Patagonia, a combination trip is often a great idea. In April we did a combo trip of Magic Waters Lodge and the River of Dreams Basecamp. The River of Dreams Basecamp on the Rio Blanco in the Aysen region near Coyhaique features some of...

Patagonia is one of those places that you’ve got to experience at least once in your lifetime. If you love fly fishing, there’s no place like it. Spanning Chile and Argentina, the region holds a vast diversity of fishing opportunities. Trophy trout are a reality here, as are dramatic landscapes...

Magic Waters Lodge Trip Report 2024 “Hold on, here comes a big one!” shouted Jaime over the thundering whitewater as he maneuvered the 14’ raft through a slot in the rocks and over a class IV drop. With a 5-weight rod in my right hand and grasping the frame with my left, I peripherally noticed a...

The traveling angler is frequently faced with the first world problem of deciding between making a return trip to a favorite destination vs.checking off new locations from the bucket list. With so many amazing locations to visit across the globe and not enough time to see everything, returning to...