954 | Belize Bonefish, Tarpon & Permit: One Angler’s First Flats Experience

00;00;01;29 – 00;00;23;02 Dave Sometimes you don’t realize how much you’re missing until a guide starts calling out fish you never saw. Today, we’re heading to Belize for a first shot at Flats Bonefish, Ms. Tarpon and the real learning curve that hits when it all finally comes together. Today, we’re going behind the scenes with a person who’s been on the fly swim team for quite a long time. 00;00;23;15 – 00;00;37;26 Dave Excited for this one. This is the Web fly swing podcast ratio. The best places to travel to for fly fishing. How to find the best resources and tools to prepare for that big trip and what you can do to give back to the fish species we all love. Our guest today is Chris, who is my right hand man. 00;00;37;26 – 00;00;57;11 Dave Where Fly, swing. And we’re going to spotlight his recent trip to Blue Bonefish Lodge in Belize. We’re going to find out today what that moment was like when everything changed. When you step on the flats and he did for the first time. This is exciting. Hear the story. Why casting at home doesn’t prepare you fully for all the saltwater conditions. 00;00;57;11 – 00;01;16;23 Dave We’re going to talk about that today. We’re also going to get into the exact eat on Chris’s first bonefish and we’re going to talk about that rod that he was using to land that fish Pescador on the fly shot out there. And we’re also going to get into some tarpon, some missed shots and what he learned on his first trip fishing in Belize. 00;01;17;06 – 00;01;33;18 Dave When you get into travel gear rise and how Chris handled his first saltwater set up. If you want to follow everything you can, head over to VI swing dot com right now. We can have a blog post there that sheds light on everything we have going. If you want to follow up here, you can follow up with Chris at five swing dot com. 00;01;34;01 – 00;01;37;29 Dave All right, here we go. Let’s get into it. How you doing, Chris? 00;01;38;11 – 00;01;39;19 Chris Good day to. Thanks for having me on. 00;01;39;27 – 00;01;57;15 Dave Yeah. Yeah. This is exciting, man. This is something that we’ve been talking about for a while. We’re kind of introducing you to the. The wet fly swing audience here behind the scenes with what we do. You work with kind of on the kind of the sponsorship side. We’re also going to be getting you more into the pro and I as we go. 00;01;57;16 – 00;02;13;27 Dave The hope is that you’ll be doing more, more stuff with, you know, as we go. But just want to introduce you to everybody out there. You’re with us and all that. But we’re also going to talk about this trip to Belize that you went to recently. But maybe give us a heads up. What’s going on? We’ve heard a little bit about the you’re in Colorado. 00;02;13;27 – 00;02;20;03 Dave We’ve heard a little bit about the snowpack in Colorado. How is that is there any good thing any good out there? 00;02;20;10 – 00;02;37;29 Chris It’s actually raining right now. I’m looking out my window and it’s rain. But it was a pretty dry one winter. A little freaky as far as snowpack goes. I’m a skier. I think the chance to ski this year, I kind of took a year off, but it was not a good year. So it ended up being a good time to take a year off from skiing, that’s for sure. 00;02;38;09 – 00;02;56;18 Dave Roy Yeah, yeah, exactly. So we’re hoping for the best. You know, again, we’ve all been dealing with this out West occasionally, right? But I think we’ll figure it out. We’ll make it through. But we also want to talk this trip. I want to maybe started off on that because you went down to Belize. And this is a place that I actually haven’t been to yet. 00;02;56;18 – 00;03;07;04 Dave Blue, bonefish, Belize. And we’re maybe doing some other cool stuff with them this year. But talk about that. What was what was it like getting down to believe? Had you been there before or was this your first time? 00;03;07;09 – 00;03;27;03 Chris Yeah, I had been down there where I was a little bit younger. I went with like a family vacation, so I didn’t do any, you know, flats fishing or anything like that. It was mostly, you know, snorkeling. I did some reef fishing, but it was kind of family vacation stuff. But yeah, I know we got to go down there for, you know, a week and hang out with Chris and Mary at the Blue Bone Fish Lodge and know it was awesome. 00;03;27;25 – 00;03;38;26 Chris Like you said, I’m in Colorado, so it’s pretty easy to get down there. You can fly direct through Southwest or you can, you know, I think on the way back we stopped in Houston, but pretty easy flight as far as, you know, international travel is concerned. 00;03;39;05 – 00;03;46;09 Dave Yeah, right. That’s right. So you just saw so direct flight from Colorado right down. And what was the flight? What’s the what’s the length of flight? 00;03;46;22 – 00;03;48;01 Chris I think like four and a half hours. 00;03;48;01 – 00;03;48;26 Dave Yeah, that’s not bad. 00;03;48;26 – 00;04;08;09 Chris And then so that’s you fly in the city and then, you know, you got to go through the customs and that and it’s a small little airport. And then you actually catch a puddle jumper from San Pedro Hurdle from a Belize City to San Pedro, which is where the lodges and, you know, it’s like a 15 minute, you know, pull a puddle jumper or flight that’s, you know, pretty cool. 00;04;08;09 – 00;04;09;28 Dave Like a little like a pretty small plane. 00;04;10;05 – 00;04;14;20 Chris Yeah. You know, if the flights fold or even have someone like, set up shotgun next to the pillow. Oh, cool. 00;04;14;20 – 00;04;16;07 Dave But how many people were on the. 00;04;16;07 – 00;04;26;27 Chris I think it was like eight or ten, I think, right around there. So but yeah, it’s a super short flight. You kind of get a, you know, bird’s eye view of the island. Oh, that’s cool. You know, you land and yeah, it’s pretty cool. 00;04;27;21 – 00;04;39;24 Dave Wow, that’s amazing. So you come in, so you get on this little puddle jumper, you see it all as you’re coming in and then you’re landing, right? What’s that like when you’re landing on the is it a massive island or is it fairly poor? Fairly small. 00;04;40;01 – 00;04;56;06 Chris No, it’s you know, you when you’re coming down, you can, you know, the runways in the middle of this little stretch of land. And, you know, you’re coming in and you get the front seats of the landing, too. So, you know, you’re looking out the window while you land. And I have flying doesn’t really bug me. So it was kind of it was kind of cool for me. 00;04;56;20 – 00;05;01;21 Chris But yeah, seeing them kind of line everything up and, you know, lands. Yeah. 00;05;02;02 – 00;05;11;05 Dave That’s so cool. Yeah. I haven’t done a ton of the flights with these small planes, but when we went into Togiak, we had one of those. We landed on a actually a gravel. Oh yeah. Strip. Was this gravel or was this paved. 00;05;11;09 – 00;05;15;02 Chris No, this is a proper, you know, asphalt landing strip. 00;05;15;08 – 00;05;20;21 Dave Gotcha. So you land there, you get out. Now you’re, you’re and then you hop in a car. What is it to the lodge? 00;05;20;28 – 00;05;44;18 Chris Yeah. They, they pick you up and that was, you know, it’s kind of the airport is kind of like right in the middle of town. So it’s pretty you know, there’s it’s pretty busy. But, you know, we walked right up and they picked us out. There’s actually another group that landed with us. They weren’t on the same flight or anything like that, but we kind of just congregated in the same area and they picked us up and it’s like a 15 minute ride in like a van to the south side of the island. 00;05;44;18 – 00;06;01;20 Chris So it’s which is completely different than, you know, the middle of the island or even like the north side. It’s pretty like remote, I guess, like quiet, very quiet. You know, there’s some other, you know, hotels and the houses along the beach and stuff, but it’s definitely not as busy. And, you know, you pretty much take a dirt road. 00;06;01;20 – 00;06;06;06 Chris You know what you get out of town and, you know, you’re pretty much on the south side of the island, which is pretty sweet. 00;06;06;16 – 00;06;11;10 Dave And then you get there and then you settle in and have dinner. What time of day is that when you get in there? 00;06;11;13 – 00;06;28;12 Chris Yeah, I think it’s a lot. It was a long day. I think we all got in, you know, at like 4:00 Billie’s time and I think there’s Central Time. So somewhere time zone to the U.S.. Yeah. I got in and met Chris, who’s the owner. You know, talked with him for a bit because we had talked a little bit before that. 00;06;28;12 – 00;07;05;25 Chris So we kind of, you know, socialize and, you know, got to see where we stayed. We stayed and they have these cabanas or not a cabin. It’s like a condo story and they’re unreal. It’s a sea king. Beds, TV, you know, big bathroom, really, really nice. So we got a beer Belkin’s the the local beer there that you’re going to that are Landshark are the two that I was drinking a lot of And then you know you got to meet the people you’re there with right it’s a lot so you know I think there were four or five other groups there and we actually flew in when the NFL playoffs are going on. 00;07;06;06 – 00;07;20;16 Chris I’m a Broncos fan. So the Broncos were actually playing that that day. So we got settled in, had appetizers and was, you know, watching the Broncos for a little bit and you know what up for dinner and you know it’s a homemade meal so it’s really cool stuff. 00;07;20;27 – 00;07;28;00 Dave Wow. Wow. So pretty much just getting the lay of the land, kind of enjoying the I guess, the weather. What was that like? 00;07;28;06 – 00;07;45;25 Chris Oh, it was perfect. It was perfect. You know, I think it was in the, you know, high seventies, eighties, you know, and especially coming from Colorado in January. I love that feeling of, you know, because you got to wear pants on the flight out, you know, because it’s so cold and then when you land and you kind of walk through the, you know, the terminal and it’s super hot and humid, I love that feeling. 00;07;46;01 – 00;07;50;19 Chris You know, that’s one of my favorite things about vacation going somewhere warm in the winter. 00;07;50;28 – 00;07;57;01 Dave Yeah, that’s right. Wow. So you did that. So you get there and then and then the next day, are you getting ready to head out fishing? 00;07;57;14 – 00;08;13;15 Chris Yeah, I think they it depends on there’s a couple different things you could do. I was actually there with my wife, so we did like, a couples package, which is cool. They were also, you know, so you can do like three days of fishing or you can pretty much do it however you want. So some guys were fishing fish every single day. 00;08;13;18 – 00;08;22;26 Chris But yeah, I think I only did three days there just because I was with my wife. So, you know, wanted to spend some time with her. But yeah, next day went fishing and yeah, got after it right away. 00;08;23;06 – 00;08;25;29 Dave You did. And did you. And you guys found some bonefish. 00;08;26;14 – 00;08;43;19 Chris Yeah. That first morning, you know, going out there. I’d try to practice my pass a little bit, you know, and, you know, I’m not a great caster. I’m not terrible. Probably like a C minus. And, you know, I practice out in the field and, you know, I was shooting my line like, you know, 30, 40 feet type of thing, and. 00;08;43;19 – 00;08;45;22 Dave Doing it for the little hoop sort of thing, trying to. Yeah. 00;08;45;23 – 00;09;00;22 Chris Yep. And that’s, that’s what I was practicing and then but once you get out there it’s so different, you know, So we kind of spent the first part of the morning kind of getting like my legs underneath me because, you know, you account for the, the boat’s bobbin and you know, when swirling. So that stuff you can’t like recreate. 00;09;00;22 – 00;09;21;09 Chris But yeah, it’s kind of took a morning just to kind of get my cast a little more dialed in. I actually had some you know we kind of looked for some Kermit and some tarpon in the morning. We saw some tarpon, but no permit that morning. And then, you know, they give you a lunch, you know, so had lunch while we went to, you know, another zone and that’s when we got on. 00;09;21;09 – 00;09;39;01 Chris The Bonefish was like later in the afternoon when, you know, I didn’t realize so much of it is dependent on the sunlight, you know, because you can’t you know, you’re looking for the fish or if it’s overcast or rainy or anything like that, you can’t see them. So, you know, the afternoon provides some good sun. And yeah, we got some bonefish that afternoon and that was my first bonefish on the fourth. 00;09;39;01 – 00;09;39;27 Chris Yeah, it was sweet. 00;09;39;29 – 00;09;41;27 Dave What was it like? What was it like it and your first. 00;09;42;01 – 00;09;58;10 Chris You know, it was so I had a couple hits before that and I just missed them. I didn’t, you know, didn’t keep stripping and, you know, whatever. I messed up. And, you know, Darwin, my the guide was kind of like coached me through it. And then that yelled, I think it was like my third hit. I finally got it. 00;09;58;10 – 00;10;11;23 Chris And it was it totally surprised me because, you know, it wasn’t anything crazy, but it was like only like a 14 inch bonefish. But they have so much. Yeah, they have so much power, though. So that thing is, you know, we’re on a few little runs and, you know, when I finally got it to my hand, it was. 00;10;11;23 – 00;10;12;13 Chris It was awesome. 00;10;12;23 – 00;10;18;03 Dave Yeah, that’s it. Yeah. The thing about Bonefish is that even the small ones are just. I mean, it’s like a steelhead on their right. They just tear. 00;10;18;03 – 00;10;20;15 Chris Yeah, Yeah. You can tell that thing lives in the ocean, that’s for sure. Yeah. 00;10;21;02 – 00;10;26;23 Dave Yeah. Wow. So you get your first bonefish. What is that? What does that feel like? It in your first one? Now you’ve actually it was. 00;10;27;01 – 00;10;42;19 Chris It was cool because you kind of feel the pressure a little bit when you’re you know, because they’re calling out, you know, the how far away, you know, 60 feet at 11:00. And, you know, you go from, you know, not doing anything to you got to be, you know, turn it on pretty quick. So it was it was a little bit of pressure. 00;10;42;19 – 00;10;47;06 Chris So it was kind of like a relief to get the monkey off my back a little bit and get the skunk out of the boat toy. 00;10;47;12 – 00;10;53;19 Dave Were they kind of like moving? Did you have to were they feeding or how were you were you dropping? You’re thinking the line down to them. Yeah. 00;10;53;19 – 00;11;11;10 Chris So this that one I caught, that first one I was we actually saw them tailing and, you know, a shallow section and I put a good gas on them and yet ended up just, you know, because you’re stripping it in and, you know, I ended up just taking it on the strip and, you know, and then that’s you’re off to the races. 00;11;11;10 – 00;11;13;21 Dave Wow. What what fly where he is on that one. 00;11;14;03 – 00;11;23;17 Chris It was actually a crazy Charlie It was actually when I tied which was which was really cool I think crazy Charlie with with like the beach and ice. 00;11;23;17 – 00;11;32;02 Dave Yeah. Big chain. Okay. Crazy Charlie. Wow. So you get your first bone, Now you’ve got, you know how to do it. And did you guys just keep fishing for Bonefish that day? 00;11;32;05 – 00;11;50;28 Chris Yeah, it got a little rainy. He actually. What? You know, I think everybody usually comes back around three. He let me stay out a little bit later because we were we were trying to get some good shots at him. And then, you know, they’ll kind of weather turn and then, you know, after that, it’s, you know, you get back and, you know, everybody else is kind of getting back and, you know, it’s time for a beer. 00;11;50;28 – 00;11;52;18 Dave And so I just had appetizers. 00;11;52;18 – 00;12;10;24 Chris Yeah. That’s the cool thing about Blue Bonefish, too, is they they always have you know, they’re it’s really inviting and it’s like very communal. So afterwards, hanging out like in like the, you know, the overhang, like the patio area, the TV out there and beers and just kind of talking. So. 00;12;10;26 – 00;12;16;13 Dave So you’re hanging out with I kind of everybody just kind of chilling and just enjoying the I mean, you’re in Belize, right? 00;12;16;21 – 00;12;37;15 Chris Yeah, exactly. Toes in the sand having a beer and then the staff there’s, you know, awesome. I don’t know what you would call his role. His name, Steve, my guy Steve, he’s like the head of hospitality. He’s, you know, super involved around the property and stuff. And pretty much as soon as he stepping off the boat, you’re, you know, they’re taking your rods, you know, and they’re washing them down. 00;12;37;27 – 00;12;52;04 Chris You know, you’re, you know, and then you’re walk it up to that, you know, you go get changed, you whatever. But I, you know, walked up and, you know, I had a beer in my hand or they have, you know, rum punch. And then that you know, they’re bring in their brand, you know, appetizers and chips and salsa. 00;12;52;04 – 00;12;59;13 Chris I think we have like fritters one day, you know, So the appetizers in the food are, you know, pretty good, too, after a long day out there. 00;12;59;25 – 00;13;17;11 Dave So good. So you’re just basically just chillin, enjoying it and then. Yeah. And so dinner I mean, what is the how do you describe Belize, I guess that you’re out there, you know, give us that picture of are there lots of other boats, people out there you’re seeing, is this the only lodge out there? What what does that look like. 00;13;17;21 – 00;13;38;05 Chris On that south side? It’s pretty you know, it’s pretty quiet. You know, I would say like in the middle of San Pedro, it’s pretty busy. You know, it’s it’s a cool little city. But that south side, pretty quiet, which was so nice that, you know, you’re kind of just out there by yourself. I know there’s a few other lodges out there, but on that south side, I don’t know of any there. 00;13;38;05 – 00;13;50;01 Chris And then diners all at the lodge, it’s all inclusive there. So, you know, there’s really if you don’t want to leave, you don’t have to. There’s really, you know, if you wanted to go, if you want to go explore, you can. But really, if you didn’t want to leave, you could stay there the whole time. 00;13;50;03 – 00;13;59;06 Dave Yeah, Yeah, I know Chris was talking about it’s kind of a like family, right? I mean, he runs it. It’s kind of you get this family atmosphere, which is kind of the cool. Another cool part of it. 00;13;59;07 – 00;14;16;23 Chris Yeah, that’s kind of one part I was a surprised on. I’m a pretty introverted person, you know, I’ll talk to, you know, whoever. But, you know, I’m not trying to, you know, I’m not going to be the first one talking. And I was a little not as attuned, but I wondered how it was going to be, you know, hanging out with like ten other people that you don’t know. 00;14;17;07 – 00;14;34;00 Chris And I kind of thought, you know, I didn’t know. I would like talk to as many people as I did. And, you know, by the end of the trip, you know, one guy was actually from Colorado and and I exchanged numbers and, you know, oh, cool. We’re probably in a together at some point. But yeah, I know it’s I thought that part was like really cool. 00;14;34;00 – 00;14;51;14 Chris And that was the part that surprised me the most. And I think it’s because, you know, it’s almost like, like an RV park or, you know, any other kind of group. You know, everybody’s, everybody’s like minded. So, you know, you’re kind of all on the same wavelength as far as like, you know, what’s you know, personality types and yeah, at least what you like to do, which is fishing. 00;14;51;14 – 00;14;51;25 Chris So. 00;14;51;25 – 00;14;56;21 Dave Right, exactly. Yeah. We’re all in it for the same thing, right? Fishing. That’s what kind of brings us all together. 00;14;57;00 – 00;15;15;23 Chris Yeah. And it was cool to kind of just hear, you know, they’re all from all over the country, you know? So there are two guys there from Arkansas, and they were telling me about trips I had done or they had done. And I, you know, I told them about a trip. I did. And so it’s cool kind of comparing notes on, you know, where everybody’s going and and, you know, kind of give me some ideas of, you know, maybe some stuff I’d want to do. 00;15;16;01 – 00;15;23;11 Dave Nice, nice. So and then that day, too. So it sounds like you had three days of fishing. What did you guys do? So, yeah, we. 00;15;23;15 – 00;15;31;24 Chris When we were down there, the weather was kind of a little turbulent. I don’t know if you remember, this was back in January, but the Southeast was getting, like, pounded with snow. 00;15;32;09 – 00;15;33;04 Dave Oh, yeah, I remember that. 00;15;33;04 – 00;15;51;20 Chris I don’t know if you remember that. You know, that that system actually worked its way down. So we actually took an off day or I took an off day fishing was the second day or so. I guess the third day, technically we were there. So we actually took a day off and part of our like couples package was a massage. 00;15;52;15 – 00;16;03;12 Chris So yeah. And so my, you know, my wife and I got a massage and, you know, we didn’t have to leave the property. We got a massage there. That was awesome. After having to, you know, travel and fly and, you know, you’re so. 00;16;03;12 – 00;16;06;28 Dave You got a massage. So they do this at the lodge. Do they have services? 00;16;06;28 – 00;16;23;26 Chris Yeah. Yeah. You know, I guess I’m. I’ve been a few places. I’ve, you know, I had been Belize before, but it was one of the nicer places I’ve ever stayed at as far as, you know, accommodations. The staff, like I said, is so friendly. The person who was doing the massage was super nice and she. Yeah, she had some. 00;16;24;05 – 00;16;29;16 Chris Yeah, I don’t get a whole lot of massages, but it was really nice to get one after flying and stuff. Gosh. 00;16;29;16 – 00;16;37;29 Dave So you have so that’s they basically tourist day three whatever you’re getting this massage now you’re really really raw And then then the next day. What do you got going next? 00;16;37;29 – 00;16;56;07 Chris Yeah, we went, we went. So we went and it was also nice. It took an off day that day because like I said, that weather pattern came through, so it’s pretty overcast and a little tough, tougher conditions as far as fishing went. And then after that we got back out there, I had a different guide and that was it was an exciting day. 00;16;56;07 – 00;17;15;00 Chris I actually didn’t I didn’t catch fish, but man, I had a bunch of opportunities that if I, you know, was a little bit more seasoned and, you know, my first fall trip, I think I could have gotten more a few fish more efficient. The boat, the big one was the one I still think about was a tarp. And we we went, you know, kind of cruised by these docks. 00;17;15;00 – 00;17;21;01 Chris You know, that they know they hang out at. And I had a couple, you know, follows, you know you know. 00;17;21;02 – 00;17;21;23 Dave If you really happen. 00;17;22;08 – 00;17;41;08 Chris To know and they were, you know, I don’t know they were saying like 5 to 7 feet, some of them. And, you know, stripping them in. And then you get in close and they would see the boat and they would spook and get out of there. And then, you know, this is my you know, you know, seventh or eighth shot at is the same group of carbon that’s cruising by these docks kind of thing. 00;17;41;21 – 00;17;50;05 Chris And it rolled on my fly on the top. And I was at the end of my trip and I just didn’t have enough left know arm to strip. It could, you know, because I was at the end and I missed them. 00;17;50;15 – 00;17;51;04 Dave No kidding. 00;17;51;04 – 00;17;52;02 Chris Yeah, but it was. 00;17;52;06 – 00;17;53;28 Dave So you missed a giant tarpon. 00;17;53;29 – 00;18;08;20 Chris Yes. Yes, I did. And I still think about that one. But it was it was it was so cool to see see that roll on it, you know, coming out of the water and rolling on my fly. Yeah, It was it was still cool. And, you know, I, I got some shots at permit later to sell. 00;18;08;25 – 00;18;14;25 Dave Oh, you did. So you got some a permit too. Yeah. That’s Yeah. Well and what Rod were using. Do you switch your rod when you went to the Tarpon. 00;18;15;06 – 00;18;31;09 Chris Yeah. We were using a ten way. I forget what service rod it was. All of they use all of this stuff from what I remember. But yeah, ten way. And so yeah, I had even really casted a ten weight before I was down there. My, a day was the biggest ride I had really used Well. 00;18;31;09 – 00;18;35;17 Dave And what was it And you had a passenger or on the fly Rod. Right. You’re using what was that, What was the way to that run. 00;18;35;18 – 00;18;37;12 Chris Yeah, that was in a way. 00;18;38;07 – 00;18;38;26 Dave That was neat way. 00;18;38;26 – 00;18;41;18 Chris Yeah. Yep. And that was my that was like my bone fish rod. 00;18;41;18 – 00;18;47;28 Dave Is that was a bonefish. Yeah. Yeah. What was that? So tell us about the. PESCA Was that a how many pieces was that? Like a. 00;18;48;21 – 00;18;50;04 Chris Six section travel rod. 00;18;50;04 – 00;18;50;28 Dave Succession? Yeah. 00;18;51;10 – 00;19;08;11 Chris And that was super sleek. As you know, when you get into the puddle jumper, you know, they’ll usually let you fly, carry it on down there. But I kind of read on some different, you know, Reddit forums that, you know, once you get on the panel jumper, they’re going to make you take it out of your backpack and then this fishing rod tube laying it around. 00;19;09;04 – 00;19;23;21 Chris And I just had my and the six piece stuff, you know, it’s about as tall as my, you know, just a normal backpack. So I just had it in my water bottle holder and it sticks up about two inches above my backpack. So actually what I was getting on, the guy stopped me was like, Hey, they let you carry this on. 00;19;24;01 – 00;19;36;14 Chris And I was like, I was like, Yeah. And was like, Oh, well, it’s like we usually make you take these out and put them underneath the, you know, underneath the plane because like, you know, it’s so small. He’s like, I’ll, you know, just keep it. So I never even had to like part with my rod, which was really, really nice. 00;19;36;24 – 00;19;44;22 Dave There you go. So and that was the that’s the whole thing, you know, that Jeff talks about is that there would have been a four piece rod. It would have stuck out way out of your pack. 00;19;44;28 – 00;19;59;25 Chris Oh, yeah, yeah. No, there was there were a bunch of guys there that, you know, they were all, you know, sweat and if their how their rod was going to cause you essentially what, you fly into Belize City, you’re getting on the bubble jumpers, they put you on a conveyor belt, but the conveyor belt just goes straight outside like you can see outside. 00;20;00;04 – 00;20;05;24 Chris So you’re like, oh, man, I hope my rod gets on the right on the puddle jumper here. Also, this trip is going to be not as cool. 00;20;06;02 – 00;20;09;07 Dave Oh, my God. Right. Yeah. So? So that all went good. And then. 00;20;09;08 – 00;20;09;27 Chris Yeah, it was sweet. 00;20;10;12 – 00;20;23;26 Dave So in the end, you had the in the. PESCA was the eight way. What was it like fishing? So I did see some bonefish at least one photo of you with with a nice bonefish that you caught. What was it like, you know, using the rod, the eight weight on those bones? 00;20;24;02 – 00;20;41;27 Chris Oh, it was really cool. You know, it’s a little bit faster action, I think. And I was actually talking with my guide about that and he kind of let, you know, I was just talking about actions and what he likes. He’s like, I like this action right here. And it was awesome, man. I like I said, I don’t have that was the heaviest rod I’ve ever casted. 00;20;41;27 – 00;21;02;26 Chris But you when you get one of those double hauls down, you know, it’s such a good, tactile feeling. I was I think I told you earlier that kind of reminded me of like screwing up a baseball or hit a golf ball perfectly where you don’t even feel it. It’s just all, you know, the the rods doing all the work and, you know, and when, you know, you shoot, then you shoot all your line and yeah, it’s a it’s a really good feeling. 00;21;02;28 – 00;21;09;16 Dave Right when you get a good cast. And then that’s the other nice thing. Right. You had some wind it sound like out there a little bit. So you’re having to battle the wind. 00;21;09;17 – 00;21;25;25 Chris Yeah, a little bit. And that was, and that was really cool. The guides, I think, you know, Darwin was the the guide I fished with a couple of times and he was awesome. He really got, he kind of like pulled me aside and like we did a little work on my cast in like by that third day of my cast was so dialed. 00;21;26;02 – 00;21;27;13 Chris It was awesome, really. 00;21;27;22 – 00;21;30;21 Dave So he gave you a couple what he tell you to get you dialed in? 00;21;30;22 – 00;21;44;03 Chris Yeah, You know, and I maybe I was watching the wrong YouTube videos because, you know, they talk about, you know, just, you know, straight back and straight forward on the double double hall. But they don’t you know, you got a tower behind you with your guide, you know, on the on the stand your. 00;21;44;04 – 00;21;44;19 Dave Pony or. 00;21;44;21 – 00;22;01;24 Chris Pushing you around so, you know, getting out wider and then, you know and he really enforced like it’s like your own timing. You know, I can’t really tell you on your own timing, but you just see the like, you know, you make sure you come to a stop feel, you know, and you just kind of explained the feel really well. 00;22;02;20 – 00;22;08;05 Chris And yeah, by the end I was, you know, 80 or 90 foot casts and, you know, I was I had some pretty good casts by the end of it. 00;22;08;15 – 00;22;09;06 Dave And you were good. 00;22;09;25 – 00;22;10;06 Chris Yeah. 00;22;10;17 – 00;22;13;03 Dave Well, now, was this your first time? This is your first time Bone fishing, right? 00;22;13;06 – 00;22;17;03 Chris This is my first time. Salt, fish, fly fishing, anything? Yeah. You had had. 00;22;17;03 – 00;22;29;19 Dave Been to Belize, but not. But not for fishing. Yeah. Gotcha. What was the couple of things that you, you know, maybe some tips you tell somebody that’s new if they’re doing their first trip that you’d get, you know, anything that you learned that was helpful. 00;22;29;24 – 00;22;58;00 Chris Yeah, I guess. You know, I would definitely still practice from the field. I know I said you can’t really, like, replicate, you know, the boat bobbing up and down in the surf, in the waves or the wind kind of swirling, but just getting our feel for what it feels like to cast that much, you know, line. You know, I’m in Colorado, so like, you know, January and probably last time I fly first was, you know, October and all summer I was using like a three weight rod, you know, fish and small creeks. 00;22;58;00 – 00;23;17;25 Chris So, you know, I was just roll I you know, I had even put out a long cast in a long time. So getting a feel like that. And, you know, I would definitely recommend getting some kind of guide the DIY bone fish. And I ended up doing a little bit of that later. But being on the boat, it’s such a nicer intro to the Species, that’s for sure. 00;23;18;05 – 00;23;21;22 Dave So you did a little DIY? I tried to do it. Just get out there on your own and cast off the duck. 00;23;21;22 – 00;23;39;20 Chris Yeah. So after that third day I caught a I kind of 20 inch bone fish and I was like, It was sweet. Got into my backing. I don’t think I’d ever had a fish get me into my backing before and after We actually stayed down with the blue Bonefish folks for a week, and we actually stayed another week afterwards. 00;23;40;03 – 00;23;41;27 Chris And then that’s when I did the DIY stuff. 00;23;42;11 – 00;24;01;05 Dave Nice. So yeah, we’re looking at now a little just a shot of the blue Bonefish Lodge here and they got some good photos here of of some of the of the area. So this is I guess now it’s cool it must be cool to come look at this right Because you’ve been there and you’re kind of like, okay, I know this. 00;24;01;06 – 00;24;06;13 Dave This is the place I’ve been to. What is that kind of like now that you’re you’ve been to it, you kind of like you look at that fish and you’re like. 00;24;06;24 – 00;24;10;19 Chris Damn, Yeah, that’s. It’s definitely it. I told you I. 00;24;10;20 – 00;24;11;18 Dave Stand a little bit better. 00;24;11;18 – 00;24;27;06 Chris Yeah, I told my wife it’s going to be hard going back to, you know, the freshwater stuff after, you know, I, after I got done with those guys, you know, because the fall games just, you know, it’s just a whole nother beast. And whole nother type of fishing. 00;24;27;14 – 00;24;43;28 Dave Yeah, it is. It is. Right, Right. So you’re you always hear that. You know, I think that, you know, again, I haven’t even got to anywhere, you know, at that level. But you hear about the Salt Lake, once you start doing it, you know, you start the trout and then you start slowly, you test it out and you see and you feel like it’s something you would you would do again. 00;24;44;04 – 00;25;02;26 Chris Oh, I don’t already. Trying to ski my way back back down there, try to get some kind of salt in my life. Yeah. Even, you know, even just getting shots at permit and seeing how how big they are, you know, And it’s so technical and, you know, hard at times that it just makes you want to come back, or at least for me, that’s how I am. 00;25;02;26 – 00;25;06;07 Chris It makes me want I just I, I get back down there so I can go try it again. 00;25;06;10 – 00;25;12;16 Dave So yeah, because it’s the hardest, right. You hear that permit is like pretty much one of the hardest fly species to get. 00;25;12;16 – 00;25;16;14 Chris Yeah, and I see why now. I see why now after again down there. 00;25;16;22 – 00;25;23;29 Dave Time and then tarp and of course or you know I’ve heard that a lot to people say that Tarpon is if they had to have one fish, it would be Tarpon. 00;25;23;29 – 00;25;30;11 Chris I was actually talking with my guide about that. And, you know, I was asking what he did on his off days. And what he does is he goes in these like tarpon hundred. 00;25;30;12 – 00;25;39;25 Dave Pieces for Tarpon. Yeah, yeah. It’s pretty cool. And then you’ve got, of course, Bonefish, which is the other cool. And those are the three are there’s other species potentially out there. They talk about that at all. 00;25;40;05 – 00;25;58;00 Chris Those are the three that you’re targeting. You know, on my when I went out DIY, I caught like a, you know, a couple of red snapper. I caught another another fish. I forgot what it was called another like reef fish. But those are the ones you’re going after and those are the one you’re targeting I guess, on the fly. 00;25;58;06 – 00;26;07;12 Dave Yeah, Yeah, those are the big ones. The big three, right? Those are the. So you get that and then you’re there and then you were on your own a couple and you stayed a little bit longer too, right after that. 00;26;07;16 – 00;26;24;17 Chris Yeah, we stayed a week after we got done there. So we, we also went snorkeling one day. So, you know, and that was really cool because a lot of those big guys, you know, you can go through any like tour group or whatever, but you know, the boat size is like 20 people. But with the blue Bonefish, it was just. 00;26;24;17 – 00;26;26;11 Dave So you snorkel with the blue bonefish. Yeah. 00;26;26;15 – 00;26;40;15 Chris And that’s part of like the couple stuff. And they actually do a really good job accommodating it. And, you know, I’m lucky my wife, just like hanging out on the beach and reading the book. So that’s what she was doing when I was fishing. They have a private beach with the lodge. So it’s, you know, you pretty much have a beach to yourself if you stay behind. 00;26;40;15 – 00;27;00;24 Chris But yeah, though daily what snorkeling. It was me, my wife and another guy that was staying at the lodge that, you know, signed up circled. So it was just like a three person tour essentially. Yeah. And they and they and you go in a reserve, so you have to have, you know, a guide with you. But, you know, I the guide was, you know, just hanging out with the three of us for the day. 00;27;00;24 – 00;27;01;21 Chris So, yeah, it was cool. 00;27;01;24 – 00;27;06;20 Dave Just hanging out. And what did you see? What was this snorkeling that you jump in there and what do you like What are you looking at? 00;27;07;09 – 00;27;08;11 Chris Oh, man, it’s are you. 00;27;08;11 – 00;27;10;22 Dave Seeing are you seeing like the tarpon and stuff and. 00;27;10;22 – 00;27;31;06 Chris But any tarpon I saw that was about as big as I was though that, you know, it made me melt underwater. Yeah, but you’re snorkeling at Marine Reserve, and I didn’t know this. This is all regurgitated facts, but Belize has the second largest Great Barrier Reef in the world. So the surfing’s really, really good I a bunch of huge barracuda. 00;27;31;17 – 00;27;51;24 Chris There’s a lot of new sharks around. But those are like they kind of look like catfish. I’m sorry. You know, you’re not really too scared of them. They’re like bottom feeders, I believe. Crush and shells in college, the shark shells and stuff. I saw that huge permit for a bunch of sea turtles, which was cool. And then all the, you know, colorful little reef fish snorkeling or, you know, swimming around the coral. 00;27;52;00 – 00;28;05;02 Dave Or all the coral. Wow. So you get that in What was the, you know, like, again, back to Belize? What was that when you get there, you you had been there, but was there a moment when you’re like, oh, man, this is why people come to police? 00;28;05;03 – 00;28;24;21 Chris Oh, yeah, it was man, that even that first night, it was just so nice to get off the plane and have a beer. It just, you know, you’re looking at, you know, this private beach, you know, and it’s the sunset and and, you know, you got a drink in your hand and yeah, it’s yeah. And especially going from January in Colorado, I was in flip flops and shorts and a t shirt. 00;28;24;21 – 00;28;49;16 Chris So just the weather difference just felt so great. And yeah, just the properties like immaculate I would say out there. So yeah, it was, it was really, really cool. And there is a couple of times, you know, on the, you know, out on the flats just kind of like looking around, you know, watching stingrays go by and, you know, sardines bubble in and all the birds and yeah, yeah, it’s, it’s a really cool spot. 00;28;49;16 – 00;29;12;09 Dave Pest control on the Fly offers a full spectrum of fly fishing gear for any angler at any budget by bring in high performance rods directly to the angler, they eliminate the middleman mark markup saving you time and money. The top tiered El Ray series is designed for serious anglers with the El Rey g6 being the most packable high-performance rod on the market and most anglers who try the G6 can’t believe it is a six piece rod. 00;29;12;09 – 00;29;30;06 Dave It performs just like a four piece. There’s no difference in performance whether you’re fishing local streams or embarking on your next adventure. Across the world, the G6 delivers precision and power. Wherever you go, you can get 10% off your next order. Right now, if you use the code wet fly swing at checkout. That’s pescatore on the fly dot com. 00;29;30;06 – 00;29;52;10 Dave Use the code wet fly swing for 10% off. Never fly without your g six. Discover the El Rey series and more at Pescatore on the fly up. So you have I mean yeah obviously you’ve got just being in this tropical place right You’ve got that whole environment but you have this really cool lodge that’s out there that sounds like it’s pretty remote, you know, there’s not. 00;29;52;15 – 00;30;05;23 Dave You got your own little spot out there. Yeah. And where are the guides and what was it like with the guys? You know, these are native guides that are taking you out. Are they? Yeah. So what’s that like? Are they, are they pretty. I’m, I’m guessing they could speak pretty good English out there. Oh yeah. 00;30;05;26 – 00;30;25;05 Chris So everyone speaks English very well in Belize. I think it was an English colony. So I think that’s why if I remember correctly. But yeah, they all speak English and they’re all super nice dudes. And I would say that for all the little girls and you can kind of tell, you know, when you land, everybody is just really happy. 00;30;25;16 – 00;30;41;20 Chris And I know that’s kind of a cliche thing to say, but the vibes are just really, really good. Everyone’s super happy, all the locals are really nice, you know, even like, you know, you kind of get to know the people that are, you know, serving, you know, for sure at the Lodge. You know, I love the guys. All the guys at the lodge. 00;30;42;10 – 00;30;49;00 Chris I got to know them very well. But even in town, you know, you find one bar that you like and, you know, in San Pedro. Yeah. 00;30;49;09 – 00;30;54;19 Dave So you guys went into. So is that the town? So when you drop on the island is San Pedro is kind of the bigger town there. 00;30;54;20 – 00;31;08;22 Chris It’s like Yeah it’s like the city. It’s like a little little city. But it’s, you know, it’s all on this island. And you’re, you know, a lot of restaurants are out on the water, so they have a big, you know, dock out and then the restaurants on the water. So a lot of that kind of dining and stuff. 00;31;09;04 – 00;31;12;05 Dave Is that what you guys did on your other the other week you’re there? Did you just kind of. 00;31;12;07 – 00;31;29;04 Chris Oh, yeah, we just ate a bunch of seafood. My wife and I love seafood, so just eaten a bunch of seafood, you know, hanging out. But I got a couple of days or I got a couple of days to do some DIY stuff while my wife laid on the beach and read her book and hung out and yeah, so it was a fun time. 00;31;29;13 – 00;31;34;03 Dave Well, what were some of the meals you guys were eating? Like, what’s the seafood? What’s the typical. 00;31;34;18 – 00;31;53;27 Chris Man? Well, at the lodge, it’s all home cooked meals. So, you know, I would say we ate the best at that week at the lodge, which was, you know, you’re getting breakfast every morning, you know, and and that’s kind of fun, too, because you’re eating with everyone to at the lodge. So you wake up and have breakfast and, you know, everybody’s kind of buzzing because, you know, we’re going fishing. 00;31;54;02 – 00;32;20;09 Chris And then that was like breakfast sandwiches, us pancakes, you know, whatever traditional, you know, an omelet, you know, that kind of stuff. And lunch, we, you know, it’s kind of, you know, a sandwich or whatever they, you know, kind of pack. And then dinner was then we had, oh, man, what did we have? We had, I think, the best meal we had was this coconut wahoo curry. 00;32;20;19 – 00;32;21;08 Chris Oh, wow. 00;32;21;08 – 00;32;23;00 Dave Coconut, wahoo curry. 00;32;23;00 – 00;32;38;24 Chris Yeah. And like they, they actually so that you can do like more than fly fishing there if you one day. So these two guys I met from Arkansas were actually down there and they did a day of deep sea fishing. They got the boat and everything to accommodate that kind of stuff. If you want to do one day that. 00;32;38;27 – 00;32;40;03 Dave So you go do deep sea, too. 00;32;40;04 – 00;32;49;09 Chris Yeah, I didn’t do any of that. But those guys did. And they brought home this law who that was, and it had to have been set six or seven feet. It was huge. Yeah. 00;32;49;09 – 00;32;52;21 Dave And Oahu is. And what is Oahu is a it’s like a it almost. 00;32;52;21 – 00;33;00;03 Chris Looks like a like a barracuda on walls. Okay. Maybe I’m going to get laughed at on that one. 00;33;00;04 – 00;33;02;15 Dave But. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. It does look like a bear. 00;33;02;17 – 00;33;04;06 Chris Yeah, it’s kind of toothy. Yeah. 00;33;04;07 – 00;33;05;18 Dave Yeah. But. 00;33;05;18 – 00;33;16;07 Chris But, you know, and like wahoo tacos, you know, that’s kind of like the only, like the chain. That’s the only place I’d really heard of that. They’re like, Yeah, there you go. 00;33;16;19 – 00;33;26;19 Dave There you go. Yeah, that’s Oahu. It was looking at Oahu, and it’s got it does look like Barracuda, but then it’s head. You see the eye, it looks like. Definitely more. Yeah. That’s amazing. 00;33;26;28 – 00;33;40;29 Chris Yeah. And so they, they caught that and then, you know, that night we were that’s what it was. And that was the wahoo that was in the curry. So and that was the that’s one of the best meals I’ve ever had. Like not even just that vacation, probably like in my life, right? 00;33;41;08 – 00;33;41;15 Dave Yeah. 00;33;41;21 – 00;33;49;25 Chris I’ve never had a wahoo that for Wahoo that fresh. It was. Yeah, it was on Unreal. You could definitely tell that thing was thrown around a few hours ago. 00;33;50;04 – 00;34;03;20 Dave Yeah. So yeah basically so great food. You’ve got the wahoo. Go. And then, and then when you were when you’re out in your own, you guys basically believes you’re kind of cruisin And did you stay in another place in town when you’re the week the second week you’re there. 00;34;03;24 – 00;34;11;03 Chris Yeah. We sit down there in an Airbnb on the other side of the island but yeah. Nothing like the the lodge though. 00;34;11;17 – 00;34;11;28 Dave Really. 00;34;12;02 – 00;34;29;23 Chris Yeah. Yeah. My, my wife was, I did a good job in pressing her on that one and it was a good spot to bring her. Yeah. So she was. Yeah. You know, it’s just so nice and like you said, the area is just so close knit, like you’re having dinner with the owners. Chris and Mary, you know, every night, and they’re hanging out, you know. 00;34;29;23 – 00;34;30;28 Dave They’re there with you, hanging out. 00;34;31;06 – 00;34;44;27 Chris And you get to know the staff. Like I said, Steve is a super nice guy. You know, his son works there and he’s a cool dude. So, yeah, there it’s it is very family friendly and very, you know, close knit as far as, you know, family vibes. 00;34;44;27 – 00;34;52;04 Dave Yeah, definitely. Yeah. And then how did you guys, when you went from there up to the other north side of the how did you get up to the other side, the lodge or the other side. 00;34;52;16 – 00;35;00;20 Chris And so that, and that’s another thing. They just make day. They pick you up, you know, they’ll take you to wherever you need to go. They’ll take you to the airport. They took us to our Airbnb. 00;35;01;04 – 00;35;03;04 Dave So they just they’re just taking me around to wherever. 00;35;03;04 – 00;35;07;23 Chris Yeah. And they just took us there and it was, you know, door to door delivery, essentially. 00;35;07;24 – 00;35;15;08 Dave There you go. Yeah, there you go. So you guys get that and you get another weekend and and this was kind of you’re a little bit of the celebrate, right? You guys got married. 00;35;15;08 – 00;35;28;22 Chris It was kind of you know, we were here on our honeymoon. We were there and about not moon. So yeah, it was it was really, really cool. Yeah. And then that second week, we just kind of bopped around, you know, we went snorkeling another time, you know, it just kind of relaxed. 00;35;28;29 – 00;35;29;14 Dave Until. 00;35;29;25 – 00;35;36;20 Chris He and I got one day of what a DIY stuff it and cow and DIY which you know was a confidence booster. 00;35;36;20 – 00;35;38;00 Dave For sure Did you got one DIY. 00;35;38;00 – 00;35;40;12 Chris Fix? Yeah, yeah that was a that was what I was pretty stoked about. 00;35;40;12 – 00;35;43;18 Dave I was with that off of like the shore hat where we Yeah. 00;35;43;18 – 00;35;58;29 Chris Yeah. I was, it’s, it’s a little bit tougher seeing them, you know. And I think that’s another thing is I used to consider myself pretty good at spotting fish, you know, and it’s so different, you know, trying to see, you know, because it’s, it’s all just different silhouettes and shadows and yeah. 00;35;59;08 – 00;36;03;19 Dave What are you looking for? What are you looking for? Just a shadow or just any little thing? 00;36;03;20 – 00;36;23;16 Chris The times I could see them best is when they were rolling underwater. So you’d see a shine. But you know, little shadows moving. And if they’re, you know, going left to right, you can kind of follow them. But yeah, I just happened to see one in like a little sandy area surrounded by grass and, you know, kind of put a cast on it and cut a couple out of that hole. 00;36;23;16 – 00;36;27;28 Dave So kind of cast and then do your fly drop down towards them so they could see it. And then you just did a little strip. 00;36;28;08 – 00;36;30;28 Chris Yeah. And you’re kind of toying around with that, too, you know? 00;36;30;28 – 00;36;32;16 Dave All right. Trying to figure out what they want. 00;36;32;17 – 00;36;37;23 Chris Yeah. How long, you know, and, you know, with the guy, they’re, you know, walking yet you’re holding your hand through. 00;36;37;24 – 00;36;40;14 Dave What were they tell you? Where the guy is when you’re on the boat? Are they a little bit deeper. 00;36;40;14 – 00;36;49;25 Chris It was like, you know, hold weight and then you’d wait like 5 seconds, like, like strip strip. And then they kind of give you the cadence, that kind of thing. But. But yeah. 00;36;50;07 – 00;37;00;23 Dave Wow, That’s so cool. Well, tell me this. I want to go back to the fly swing because I think that this is pretty cool story. I basically talk about that because you came and you’re listening to podcast right back in the day. 00;37;00;25 – 00;37;02;19 Chris How I felt, how we started working together. 00;37;02;24 – 00;37;03;26 Dave Yeah, yeah, yeah. 00;37;03;26 – 00;37;22;05 Chris So I actually, you know, I listen to the podcast for a little over a year. I actually found the podcast because I was going up to Montana for my buddy’s bachelor party and was looking for stuff on the Madison. And, you know, I forget which guests you had on, but you heard about it. And then I just kind of kept listening. 00;37;22;05 – 00;37;34;01 Chris And then I think I heard an ad, you know, you at the end of an episode like, Hey, if you want to, you know, work or work with me or, you know, one of those type of things that. All right. But it was from an episode like two years earlier. 00;37;34;07 – 00;37;35;10 Dave Oh, right. And I was. 00;37;35;10 – 00;37;56;00 Chris Like, Man, I wonder if you still looking for somebody. And I got on the website and, you know, I think I found a little section on the website and I had your contact is like, you know, if you want to work, you know, drop a line and I searched my resume and, you know, told you I’d be, you know, I’m a fan and I like podcasts and I think I can maybe help you out with, you know, some odds and ends type of thing and oh, yeah, just try my shot. 00;37;56;00 – 00;38;17;10 Dave Essentially That’s it. And it was so cool because it was just like the perfect it all came together. And we for those who don’t know, I mean, a lot of the basically the stuff we do, I mean, we a number of different things, but the editing is done by virtual assistants in the Philippines. I’ve a long time learning how to work with Filipino Vas from other stuff that I’ve done, and it’s great. 00;38;17;10 – 00;38;33;17 Dave We got a whole team of great editors that do an amazing job and do a lot of other stuff too. Yeah, but you are the first person really the kind of in the team, you know, that was from, you know, us. Yeah, Colorado and all that stuff. So it was kind of cool. And, you know, just like the stuff you’re doing has been super helpful. 00;38;33;17 – 00;38;36;28 Dave I mean, we couldn’t have done a lot of the stuff you know, that we’re doing now without it, right? 00;38;37;03 – 00;38;55;04 Chris Yeah, It’s been fun, man. You know, I get to talk to a lot of cool people. I never Yeah, it’s really cool to hear people’s stories, you know? Yeah, we have a lot. We work at a lot of lodges and stuff, and even Chris and Mary have an awesome story of how they kind of got started. But I really like hearing how people kind of, like, reinvent themselves. 00;38;56;07 – 00;39;12;10 Chris You know, my dad, as you know, worked at the same company for 40 years. So, you know, I never even really thought you know, I thought you just, you know, got a career and you try to stick it out, you know, and try to find the same place it on the end, you know, And these people are reinventing themselves at like 45. 00;39;12;10 – 00;39;21;21 Chris And, you know, so it’s a really cool perspective on, you know, their, you know, how they were working in corporate America and doing whatever. And then, you know, now they own a lodge in Montana type of thing. 00;39;21;29 – 00;39;42;25 Dave Yeah, that’s so cool. Yeah, I was just listen to Pablo Signori. He has the he’s the host of the New Beano, our podcast with Lance Egan. And and he reached out to me to a while back and was like, hey, you know, we kind of connected and, and I just I can’t remember how it went down, but basically we connected and we did a podcast and I just and he was telling us his story is amazing. 00;39;42;25 – 00;40;00;05 Dave He’s got this, you know, got this crazy story. But he was saying he I think he was reading the book that was talking about exactly that. They’re saying, like reinventing yourself. You don’t have to, you know, do the same if you’re a musician. Right. Or whatever it is. You don’t have to be a musician your whole life. You can actually go and you’re free to go do other stuff. 00;40;00;14 – 00;40;17;14 Chris Yeah. And, you know, I kind of thought, you know, 45 and out a little bit older, you know, I don’t think 45 is as old as I used to be. But yeah, and, you know, it doesn’t mean, you know, just because you’ve been doing something for ten years or 20, you know, you can still, you know, find a new passion and, you know, go a different direction. 00;40;17;21 – 00;40;43;02 Dave That’s it. And that’s what’s been cool about this because, yeah, I mean, having you on here and we’ve got all sorts of cool stuff coming like we said, think pro as we continue to grow that and have more members join that I think it’s going to be awesome to have you in there to help with all the events and stuff we do there and and trips you know, we’re going to be doing more trips and, you know, I think so I really wanted to do this too, for you to talk about everything, but just introduce you to everybody, because I think they’re going to be hearing more from you out there as we go. 00;40;43;02 – 00;40;57;10 Chris So, yeah, for sure. No, I’m for sure looking forward to the what voice the pro stuff in the shop and you know, kind of connecting with anybody. And so, you know, if anybody’s in the shop right now, that’s an you know Colorado feel free to hit me up and you know, connect. 00;40;57;22 – 00;41;10;14 Dave Definitely I will do that. So that’s a good good shout out to what five swing pro like we said, we’ve been talking a little bit about but we are going to do another boot camp. I’ve decided I had a lot of feedback from people that that were in the last one, the first one we did and that just a lot of good feedback. 00;41;10;14 – 00;41;18;06 Dave I feel like it’s a real nice way to to do something different that provides value and gets people, you know, get some better ready for these trips we’re talking about, right? 00;41;18;06 – 00;41;23;24 Chris Oh yeah. I the there’s some really good stuff in that boot camp stuff. So if you guys get a chance, you should definitely check it out. 00;41;24;07 – 00;41;42;15 Dave Cool. Before we get out of here, I want to hear we talked about a little bit of advice, but as far as, you know, casting is one thing. I think we always hear the challenge, right? It sounds like that was a little bit of a challenge for you. What is your take away now that you’ve done it? You’ve battled some weather and stuff when you come back, when you’re getting ready for that next trip, what you going to do to get ready for it again? 00;41;42;23 – 00;42;03;29 Chris Oh, man, I definitely think, you know, just as much time as I can get practice casting with that, you know, bigger rod, you know, And, you know, I definitely it’s not like I don’t cast in Colorado, but, you know, it’s a lot of role casts, you know, You know, you’re not you’re definitely not casting, you know, 90 feet to a fish that’s moving like left or right and you got to lead the fish. 00;42;04;24 – 00;42;12;01 Chris So, yeah, I would just get as much as as comfortable as you can get with your rod in your hand. You know, nothing to replace the seat time with that kind of stuff. 00;42;12;11 – 00;42;22;13 Dave Just practice practice and the and the tips on I’ve heard, you know, just spotting fish and seeing fish. I mean obviously if you’ve got your you just got that time on the water. Right. To get better at that. 00;42;22;17 – 00;42;43;10 Chris Yeah. And you don’t even really know what you’re looking for until you see it. And then you know, and you know, luckily I was lucky enough to go with the guide. So, you know, they were, you know, kind of coaching me up on all of that and what to look for and stuff. But yeah, just, you know, just getting out there and I am sure people are maybe hesitant if you’ve ever done the salt stuff for before, but it’s so it’s all worth it. 00;42;43;10 – 00;42;47;10 Chris It’s, it’s really, really cool from a guy from a landmark state in Colorado. 00;42;47;10 – 00;42;52;21 Dave It’s right and it’s not too hard to travel like Or do you love to travel? That’s always a good question. I like to think. 00;42;52;21 – 00;43;15;23 Chris Yeah, I like getting around. You know, I definitely have my spots that, you know, I go to frequently, but I’m always trying to convince my buddies to, you know, go try a new piece of water. Sometimes it doesn’t work out so well for us. And, you know, the fishing, you know, it’s a it’s a learning curve. But yeah, I just getting out and trying new stuff and going new places, especially with fishing, you know, you get to see such awesome landscape. 00;43;16;04 – 00;43;21;24 Dave What do you think is your your bucket list or do you have another saltwater species or just bigger trip you’re thinking about? 00;43;21;28 – 00;43;53;03 Chris Oh man, I would love to go. I want to go run that back again down in Belize. And now that I kind of and, you know, try and get on some permit because I was seeing some huge pyramid down there. But, you know, I would even out the freshwater stuff, too. There’s so much out there that you know musky and yeah you know the red I think the next natural like salt one I’d want to do is like maybe that wasn’t Belize is like redfish maybe down in Louisiana I think that would be super cool but yeah yeah just anything with a bigger rod, I guess. 00;43;53;03 – 00;43;54;07 Chris Trying to get after some bigger. 00;43;54;07 – 00;43;58;16 Dave Fish, right? Yeah, exactly. What what’s your typical Colorado rod? Years. 00;43;58;16 – 00;44;12;07 Chris And last summer I was fishing a lot of small creeks for cutthroat. I actually double the pond, this creek at a ski resort I like to go to. And I got a three way for this little creek you can. I just hammered this creek all summer. 00;44;12;18 – 00;44;14;08 Dave And one of the cutthroat. What are these? Cutthroat? 00;44;14;12 – 00;44;15;21 Chris They were Colorado. Cutthroat. 00;44;15;22 – 00;44;16;12 Dave Oh, Colorado. 00;44;16;17 – 00;44;19;20 Chris None of the greenbacks stuff. I had all you could probably get it all. 00;44;19;20 – 00;44;25;25 Dave But of Colorado is amazing, too. I mean, that’s a cool thing about the curries, because, I mean, I there’s no Colorado cutthroat where I’m at, you know? I mean, so. 00;44;25;25 – 00;44;36;20 Chris Yeah, I know. And they’re so cool and I’m a I love the dry fire stuff that’s probably my favorite. So just see in a meet the dry fly, you know, the you know, the either smoke it or they’ll sip it, you know, and just trying to is. 00;44;36;20 – 00;44;44;17 Dave That dry fly stuff? Is that really where you’re, you know, the entomology stuff I think is really interesting. But is that something where you really get down or is it more like you’re getting a tractor and sort. 00;44;44;17 – 00;44;59;00 Chris Of, Oh, man, Dave, I, I tried it in super tacky with it. And, you know, you know, I’m like, how is this a you know, what kind of bug is this? I’m trying to see if it’s a, you know, blue winged or you know what it is, right? I’m trying to match it up and, you know, get nothing. 00;44;59;04 – 00;45;14;00 Chris And then so then I just, you know, go to the Old faithful, the Adams, they advertise the Adams and and that I couldn’t keep them off so that I tried to get into the entomology stuff, but I feel like you get it Sometimes it gets complicated a little too much in your head. I know. 00;45;14;04 – 00;45;24;20 Dave That’s so again. Yeah, I feel like it’s kind of I mean, it’s all good, you know? That’s the cool thing about it. It’s all right. I think that’s what we love. And it’s you can go down that rabbit hole or you can just throw on a parachute. 00;45;24;20 – 00;45;40;10 Chris ADAMS And yeah, and I’m definitely not a purist by any means. So, you know, by the, you know, first hour and I was, you know, in your see and refuse it too. So, you know, I tried to cycle through a couple of different specific bugs and then I was like, let’s just try this. ADAMS And of course, you know, that works like magic works. 00;45;40;17 – 00;45;44;00 Dave Are these little Colorado, like, what, six Inchers. 00;45;44;00 – 00;45;51;19 Chris I got I got one that was like 14 inches. But yeah, this little creek course at the lower section has brook trout. So you can catch. 00;45;51;26 – 00;45;52;08 Dave All right. 00;45;52;13 – 00;46;11;00 Chris You can keep the brook trout off, you’re off your fly, you can use whatever. But the farther you hike up, that’s where the cutthroat are. So I was told how long. Yeah. So, you know, I just trying to keep pushing up towards the, the source up river, up creek and try to get into those cutthroat. That’s, that’s what I was doing a lot of. 00;46;11;04 – 00;46;16;27 Chris I also fished the Arkansas quite a bit. Oh yeah. That’s probably the second spot I fish the most is. 00;46;17;07 – 00;46;17;10 Dave The. 00;46;17;10 – 00;46;17;29 Chris Arkansas. 00;46;18;15 – 00;46;37;24 Dave Gotcha. Cool. Yeah. We’re going to be doing the land in mayor school this year, which is going to be awesome. The South Platte, right? Oh, yes. A kind of pretty famous river out there. You hear about the South Platte quite a bit. It’s definitely lots of people know about it, right? It’s not a it’s a technical, would you say have you fished that at all or do you know? 00;46;37;24 – 00;47;04;23 Chris I actually have I’ve done the deckers shoulder to shoulder, you know, Cheesman, same thing. It’s all good water and there’s huge fish in there. It’s just so packed sometimes. And unfortunately, I’m a, I’m a weekend warrior, so, you know, a Saturday. Deckers is pretty packed even anymore during the week I’ve taken Wednesdays off or Tuesdays off. And it’s there’s still people that, you know, you’re not going to get totally away from it but you can kind of find a little bit more space on the Arkansas for. 00;47;04;23 – 00;47;07;20 Chris So that’s kind of why I only know a little bit for to of a drive. 00;47;07;20 – 00;47;20;06 Dave But yeah I yeah it’s interesting with the crowd stuff I think that you know it’s one of those things that’s just there’s more people out there right It’s just something you got to, you know and I don’t know what the the you know, again it’s just part of the part of what you deal with. 00;47;20;09 – 00;47;28;10 Chris Oh, yeah. No. And it’s yeah. And you can’t hate anybody. They’re all just trying to do the same thing I’m trying to do is get out, you know, just get out and touch some grass. So. 00;47;28;11 – 00;47;43;24 Dave Yeah, yeah, yeah. That’s the biggest thing. I think that it’s, you know, I’m going to do more of this year when out there and really just connect with people on the water. I think I’ve been really in my own zone and being like, you know, But I feel like, you know, you’re out there, somebody out there is busy, Hey, take this whole. 00;47;44;02 – 00;48;02;01 Dave Yeah, I mean, like just, you know, it seems like that’s the better way to do it. Then I feel like, you know, I think steelhead fishing especially, I’ve been in situations where, man, it’s hard core, man. You got that really sweet run. Yeah. And, you know, you want to get it and it’s I’m, I’m guessing the deckers and that’s is probably similar so yeah. 00;48;02;01 – 00;48;17;05 Chris And and I feel like it’s just so you know I think I mean there’s not a spot that’s not popular in Colorado you know it’s not like I’m going to some secret spot nobody’s ever heard of, but I feel like that’s one of the main ones. Kind of if you Google fly fishing, it’s the South Platte and Deckers and Cheesman. 00;48;17;12 – 00;48;33;12 Chris So that’s where I feel like a lot of people go just because it’s so pop, you know, so Yeah, it’s a household name. But no, I think, yeah, seeing people out there and it’s, it’s honestly nice way it makes it that much better when you run into someone cool out there, you know who you know. It’s like, Hey, I’m fishing this way. 00;48;33;12 – 00;48;46;13 Chris Are you fishing this way? You care if I go this way? And then it’s like, Oh, yeah. So I did fish right next to me that, you know, if you’re going to ask, you know. So I think makes those interactions a little cooler. Yeah. Just because, you know, there’s a little bit more rare. 00;48;46;27 – 00;49;04;05 Dave Yeah, that’s a nice well, I mean, as we take it out here, let’s hear back to, you know, just Belize, the takeaway on Belize. So I think we’ve covered pretty well. It feels like I’m getting fired up for it. I want to get out there and see if I can track down a permit or something. Yeah, but what do you you know, somebody again, they’re thinking about this trip. 00;49;04;05 – 00;49;10;10 Dave What sort of advice or what are you telling them to maybe prepare for that first, you know, or maybe that next trip? 00;49;10;12 – 00;49;27;15 Chris Yeah, I you know, if you don’t have a rod or any of the gear, Chris will at the blue Bonefish will take care of you, man. Like I said, I had a date, Wade. But, you know, I had a nine and a ten for a permit and a typing rod, so I was using their stuff. You don’t need to bring, you know, I think they like it when you bring some flies down. 00;49;27;28 – 00;49;49;14 Chris But, you know, if you don’t have any of the stuff, you know, let you use it. But yeah, I just try and get down there and it’s they’re really accommodating. And, you know, like I said, it’s super family oriented as far as like the vibe and everybody’s kind of together, you know? And they I think one of the big things is they’re they’re one of the only lodges that cater to like, you bring in like somebody who’s not fishing, right? 00;49;49;14 – 00;49;53;28 Dave So, yeah, that’s right. Yeah. You bring your family, you go down there as a Yeah. A couples or whatever and. 00;49;53;28 – 00;50;08;28 Chris Doing a little bit of research, you kind of look at these lodges and it’s like the schedules of your fishing for six days and then you’re out of that, you know, every day. But you know, they really accommodated my wife and, you know, she loved her time down there, which is always a plus. And for her to work with. 00;50;08;28 – 00;50;25;02 Chris Yeah. You know, it’s you know, if you want to go snorkeling, will take out snorkel if you want to try spearfishing or go deep sea fishing a day, they’ll take you out and kind of let you do whatever program you want. But yeah, I’ll get down there and check it out because yeah, it’s a really, really cool way to experience Belize, that’s for sure. 00;50;25;15 – 00;50;29;14 Dave Did you see any other when you’re there? Were you the only couple couple. 00;50;29;14 – 00;50;45;07 Chris No, there was, there was a couple other couples there. I think they their wives like the fish. They you know, they took off days too, but they went fishing one day. My wife didn’t really I had no interest in it. But there were two other couples there. There were two guys who were solo, so they were just down there by themselves. 00;50;45;19 – 00;50;49;25 Chris And then they had one. There was one pair who were like buddies. 00;50;50;02 – 00;51;07;22 Dave So yeah, there you go. Cool. I think we’re going to be talking more about this as we go. I know we’re going to be talking more because hopefully I’m going to be getting down there and we’re going to be digging more into this because I feel like, again, these, you know, Belize, these species is something that I think is on most people’s bucket list, you know. 00;51;07;22 – 00;51;17;29 Chris Yeah. And it’s it’s pretty easy to get to, too. It’s not like a whole ordeal. And Chris and Mary give you an itinerary and line everything up and, you know, they pick you up, they drop you off. It’s yeah. 00;51;18;02 – 00;51;20;27 Dave Four and a half hours. I mean, that’s like, that’s easy. 00;51;21;00 – 00;51;23;18 Chris No, pretty seamless as far as international travel goes. 00;51;23;22 – 00;51;41;26 Dave Yeah. Yep. Exactly. Cool. Well, like we said, Chris, this has been awesome to chat with you find here. We’re going to be doing a lot more. And fly swing of course Fly Swing Pro people can check that out and we talked about blue boat and fish bellies as well and and pedicure on the fly, which I’ve been doing some more cool stuff. 00;51;41;27 – 00;51;49;16 Chris Yeah they help me out with a rod and you know it was it was awesome to get to use that and you know, give me the opportunity to do some DIY stuff. I was down there. 00;51;49;25 – 00;52;03;17 Dave So yeah, we’re going to be I’m going to be when I make the trip, I’ll be for sure having to travel the six piece. Yeah, I know. When we did our trip up to what was the last one, I think the Alaska thing, it was the same thing. It was like, man, you know, I put it inside my pack completely. 00;52;03;24 – 00;52;06;11 Dave You know the rod, right? It so it was like it was just gone. 00;52;06;11 – 00;52;22;23 Chris You could, you could. Yeah, it definitely kind of opened my eyes to how you could possibly travel. You know, I got to Utah for work every once in a while, so, you know, I was like, maybe I can, you know, maybe I need to add a four weight or something to my my quiver here. And so I haven’t really. 00;52;22;25 – 00;52;23;00 Dave Yeah. 00;52;23;16 – 00;52;25;27 Chris Yeah, exactly. Be ready to go out there. 00;52;25;27 – 00;52;41;29 Dave That’s awesome. All right, Chris. Well, we’ll leave it there for now. Again, thanks for everything you’re doing out there and for, you know, working with the community and everything we have, going with all of the sponsors and everything. So I’m excited to keep this going this year and beyond. And yeah, yeah, until we, till we talk. We’ll see on the next one. 00;52;42;05 – 00;52;45;12 Chris Yeah. Thanks, Dave. Thanks for having me on. 00;52;45;12 – 00;53;01;11 Dave The good chance you wanna check in with Chris, you can find him. Obviously. Fly swing pro in our community if you go to fly swing dot com slash pro you can sign up there add your name to the waiting list and we’ll let you know when we are next cohort opens up. And that’s going to be coming up soon. 00;53;01;11 – 00;53;18;09 Dave Very soon. So stay tuned for swing dot com slash pro want to let you know we have a big week next week we’re kicking off the fish out expeditions giveaway event. This is the big Alaska trip. If you want to get a chance of this you can check in next week, get your name entered there and you follow up with us on details on that as well. 00;53;18;14 – 00;53;36;05 Dave We’ve got a great couple of episodes we’re leading off with. Next week we’re going to be talking about conservation, some of the big issues in Alaska right now, things that we all need to be aware of. So I’m excited to share those episodes next week and I think we’re finishing up the week with Kristian Pretorius, another international angler, a really fun one next week. 00;53;36;05 – 00;53;53;26 Dave So stay tuned there. That’s all I have for you. I hope you enjoyed this one and we will look forward to catch in you on the next episode. Hope you’re having a great afternoon. A great evening. Or if it’s morning, if you’re just getting going this morning, getting that cup of cup of coffee going, I hope you enjoy it and we’ll see you hopefully on that next podcast up. 00;53;53;26 – 00;53;55;19 Dave So talk to you then. Thanks for. 00;53;55;19 – 00;53;56;04 Chris Listening. 00;53;56;04 – 00;53;57;11 Dave To the wet fly swing. 00;53;57;11 – 00;53;59;29 Chris Fly fishing show for notes and links from this. 00;53;59;29 – 00;54;08;17 Dave Episode. Visit Wet Fly, swing, Dotcom. I’m.