Scott Loudon | Sunday, 23 August 2015
How do you go about planning big trips? Is it a picture, something you heard on the grapevine, where your buddies are going or just some sort of inkling about wanting to try a particular kind of fishing?
Outwith standard domestic fishing I've done a few big ones - a couple of seasons in NZ, a couple of trips to Australia including blanking with Paul, chasing carp in Victoria, fishing Tassie and spending a few months in Exmouth and I'm starting to feel it's about time for another big one. Not the two week holiday type trip but at least a month, maybe more.
Most of my trip ideas have come from thinking about the fish (imagine that!) as in "It'd be nice to catch a tarpon, wouldn't it?" and then exploring options for doing so. The other day though I was watching a nature documentary - which if I'm not watching rugby on TV, chances are it'll be something about nature, and saw the most amazing looking archipelago. Instantly my mind started racing about fishing in such an idyllic place chasing all kinds of warm water fish and in particular GTs.
I started looking into it and found no guides – ideal, very cheap accommodation – ideal, marine conservation – not so ideal but it doesn’t cover the whole area, super fast tidal currents – not so ideal for safety but good for the fishing. It might also be semi difficult to source a boat. The catch however is I’d need to get myself to remote Indonesia. It’s a work in progress right now and it might materialise next year but right now it looks really bloody interesting.
One of the most fun parts of any trip is the endless hours researching, planning, imaginging.
Currently my criteria list looks something like this:
1) Interesting fish – difficulty, species, size
2) No compulsory hiring of guides
3) Reasonable options for accommodation – camping or low cost
4) Flights that won’t need a bank loan
5) Probably warm but I could go cold and freshwater too
What gets your excited about a trip? What factors really tick the boxes for planning the next one?
Currently flying around in my head is:
Indonesia – salt exploration
USA/Carribean – salt
Patagonia – trout/dorado
Greenland – arctic char
Iceland – trout/char
Malaysia - whatever Paul has in store
Malaysia - whatever Paul has in store
NZ and Australia will always be in there as places to return to.
And then there’s the complication of the winter ski season – maybe Japan this season… See you next week folks, I’m off the buy a lottery ticket.