Archive for April, 2019
Barra del Colorado Fly Tying Project
The fly-tying project was a huge success. I don’t know what I really expected, but the actual experience definitely surpassed all my pre-trip anticipation.
There was the logistics to deal with; this wasn’t like teaching a class in our local communities.
Damond and I did prep work for weeks in advance. We decided on a selection of patterns for tarpon and snook that we thought beginning tyers could handle. We chose patterns that started simple and got progressively more complex, while still being popular and effective for the fishing they do on the Rio Colorado. Since some of these patterns were new to us, we sat down and tied a few so we’d know what we were doing. (I did learn a couple new tying techniques that I’ll be incorporating into my flies.) I created step by step fly pattern sheets for each pattern, then translated them into Spanish. I pulled pages from my fly-tying manual about thread control, then modified and converted them to Spanish as well. We poured over a materials list for the flies, trying to balance cost verses quantity. Then we had to figure out how to pack all this stuff into the two suitcases each we’d be traveling with. I’ll share that both of us just squeaked under the 50lb mark on luggage, and our carry-ons were heavy; but we made it without any excess baggage charges.
However, we didn’t make it through Customs in Costa Rica. The vises, and an outboard steering unit Damond brought, flagged during the X-ray process and we got pulled out of line and asked for invoices on those items. Unfortunately, both items exceeded the allowable limit for import, and even though the vises were gifts, it was decided that they were subject to Costa Rican import tax. Which, by the way, would be decided later by another Government agency that we would have to deal with the next day. The short version of this story is that with a little help from our local contact, who was translating for us, we were able to pay the tax out of pocket for a piece of paper that allowed us to get our stuff out of lock-up. And it only took five hours instead of two to three days, which would have killed our timeline. We got lucky and learned a valuable lesson.
San Jose itself sits in a valley surrounded by mountains. However, like any big city, people and traffic are everywhere, and I would hate to navigate the through the barrios downtown without a GPS aid. Once out of the city and headed up through the mountains we saw some amazing landscapes, and since it was a four hour drive east to the river, we got to see some of the rural country side as well as we drove through some of the smaller communities.
Due to our delay getting out of San Jose, it was dark by the time we reached the river for the ride downstream to Barra del Colorado. The captain of the transport boat wasn’t very happy about running the river at night, but Franko convinced him to get us to our final destination. The transport boat runs back and forth all the time, so the captain knew the river like the back of his hand. We couldn’t see much, but what was cool was the fireflies. They were twinkling in the trees along the shoreline as we slowly made our way down river. The river was low, so the captain idled over several sandbars. The trip downriver took almost an hour. I understand that it’s only about 30 minutes when the water is up, it’s daylight, and the boat can run under full power. Once at the lodge, we met our hosts, had dinner, and decompressed a bit. It had taken us two days of travel and had been an adventure up to this point, but we had made it!
Brisas del Mar (Sea Breezes) was hosting the tying classes and owner Lorena had arranged for us to use part of her covered veranda as a classroom. Being in the tropics, this area is also the main dining, sitting, and social space. Outside of the guest rooms and kitchen area, the veranda makes up most of the covered area of the lodge.
At the lodge, everyone is up early; anglers are off to their morning fishing as early as 6AM, and they’ve already been served breakfast by then. Since our classes started at 9AM, Damond and I slept in a bit, but spent time after breakfast prepping the tying area and sorting out materials. Once everyone started showing up, we realized that word of the tying classes had spread around the community and we now had twelve people interested in tying instead of ten. Nothing like being popular! To our rescue, one of the guest volunteered two of his (traveling) kits and we shared tools to make sure we could accommodate the extra people.
Like any class of beginners, it was pretty chaotic at first. Language was the biggest challenge. Fortunately, we had a couple of great translators. Franko (our primary contact in Costa Rica), Josue (a good friend of Franko’s), and Diane (an ex-patriot from Canada that lives in Barra) are bi-lingual and all had experience in tying flies. Between the fly pattern sheets, and someone translating what I was saying as I demonstrated techniques it went fairly well. Everyone would watch while I demonstrated, then return to their vises to duplicate what they had seen. With one-on-one help with students from Damond, Franko, and myself by the end of the first session that morning, we had tied the first two of the patterns on the list. Lunch break… for two hours! In Barra they seem to do a leisurely lunch. Anglers come back from their morning fishing and a hot lunch is served. Then everyone seems to just chill for a bit. Naps I would assume, but don’t know as we were busy prepping for the afternoon session that started at 2PM.
It was during the afternoon session that we started seeing the interest level kick up a bit. Students were asking for help with techniques they were struggling with. There was more interaction between the tyers as they helped each other. And everyone seemed to be having more fun with the process. It was encouraging to see the effort they were putting into each step as we pushed through a couple more patterns that afternoon. The three-hour class went by fast, and by the end of the first day the students with natural skills, and the ones with the drive for doing it “right”, were starting to show themselves. It was a good day!
That evening there was a bit of casting practice in front of the lodge and a cold beverage or two before dinner. We got to officially meet the anglers staying at the lodge; a group of three from France and a couple from Argentina. The guys from France were mostly gear anglers, but Daniel from Argentina was a fly fisher. Not only did we have an opportunity to talk fly fishing, but I learned a simple foam rubber-leg bug pattern from him that I incorporated into the next day’s tying class. Seems that Costa Rica has a few freshwater species that, although not as popular as the tarpon and snook, can be a lot of fun on a lighter rod. We stayed up way too late visiting; but hey, we figured we could rest when we got back home.
Day two – Intermediate level flies. Everyone showed up on time and ready to learn. The first thing Damond I did was teach the students how to do a whip finish with their fingers. We’d been using the whip-finish tool the first day, but Damond had brought his “sticks with strings” and the students had the technique down in no time. By the end of the morning session, we had four more patterns tied, including the foam bug I had seen the night before. Skill levels in individuals were really starting to develop and students helping students was common. You could almost see the excitement as their flies appeared in their vices.
The afternoon session only included two patterns, but both flies used unique tying techniques and we spend a fair amount of time going over the skills in-depth. Apart from material bulk, I have to say I was very impressed with the quality of the construction from all the students as they finished their last pattern. As an outsider, both in language and culture, it was hard for me to gage how much they recognized my praise; but I did try to let them know that as a groups of beginners, I had never seen so much improvement in such a short amount of time. They all worked hard at learning the skills we had come to teach.
So, as I said in the beginning, I’m not sure what I expected, but the project went well past what I was hoping for. The project created excitement within the community of Barra; we had a fishing skipper (Cliff) volunteer to spend his time with students interested in continuing to develop their tying skills (Come to find out, he ties a pretty mean fly himself and showed us a box that he has for his clients. Good flies!); we were told that at least two of the students expressed interest in tying for retail sales and will be coached by Diane (mentioned earlier) in business skills and marketing outside of the local fishery; everyone kept expressing how grateful they were that we came down to teach and how much they had learned.
It was decided that the equipment and extra materials would be kept at the lodge for any of the tyers to use on an as needed basis. They are going to run it like a co-op, with all the people who participated able to check out what they need to practice and/or tie flies with. Franko will stay in touch with Lorena to make sure they keep the equipment up and arrange materials as needed. (Franko lives in San Jose and has better access to tying materials.) I hope to make it back to Barra in the near future; to fish mostly, but to also check in and see how our kick starter project does in the long run. Hopefully we have made an impact and influenced the future of some lives through this project.
An extra loud shout out to the following that helped us make this project a reality.
Alaska Fly Fishers – Mossy Fly Shop – Peak Vises – Brisas del Mar Lodge – Franko Avarenga, our Costa Rican host, and everyone who contributed to our Go Fund Me account. This project would not have happened without you.
Some parting notes:
We did have an opportunity to fish for a day. However, the weather turned on us and temperatures dropped 10 to 15 degrees. When that happens, the fish go down and there is no bite. So, we spent the day “fishing”, not catching.
The day we left, we got out for about three hours in the early morning. The temperatures had come back up and Damond & I managed to hook a couple of Jack Carvalles on fly rods, and Josue (on our boat) hooked a couple tarpon casting jigs. Damond jumped one tarpon on the fly rod, but it threw the fly on its first jump. Saul (on another boat) lost one of the biggest tarpons of his life drifting a fly just inside of the river mouth. Tarpon do seem like flies!
The more we visited the more we learned that there’s lots more to Costa Rica fly fishing than saltwater. There is plenty of freshwater habitat for Machaca, Guapote, and Mojarra; all of which will come to fly patterns and are great sport on lighter rods. On our next opportunity to go down, we’re planning on exploring those options as well.