Dial The Wild
Dial The Wild Podcast is an ongoing discussion with like-minded individuals who have a desire to engage the primal nature within themselves. Topics ranging from Music, Sports, Hunting, Archery, Jeeping, MMA, Comedy, Fishing, etc. what ever dials-in your wild!
Dial The Wild
Reeling in Adventure: Neil Armstrong's Fly Fishing Tales from Argentina
Neil Armstrong (no, not THAT one) stepped into the studio, fresh from his fly fishing conquests in Argentina. With the same precision he uses to land a feisty Patagonian trout, Neil spins tales of camaraderie, the serenity of the cast, and the strategy behind chasing the legendary rainbow trout across South America. He isn't just a master with a fly rod; his stories pull you into a world where patience is rewarded, and the thrill of the catch is matched only by the beauty of the journey.
From his three-year plan to combat the unpredictable Patagonian winds to the tactical choice of the perfect fly, Neil isn't shy about sharing his evolution into a fly fishing maestro. He takes us through the highs of a 16-minute dance with a great fish all while painting a picture of the delicate balance between the sport's required persistence and its unspoken peace of scenery. Lace up your boots and zip up your waders; we're exploring the backcountry of El Calafate, the art of roll casting in gusts that would knock your hat off, and the joy of reconnecting with nature.
Ending on a high note, his travels, sharing the Southern Cross's awe from remote corners of the globe, inspire wanderlust and the drive to capture those once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Whether you're an angling aficionado or a novice curious about the allure of the line and lure, cast your ear our way for an episode filled with the kind of stories that are best enjoyed like a fine wine—slowly, deeply, and with a smile.
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We'll see you next time.
Speaker 2:Welcome to another lovely episode of Dial the Wild. I am joined today by Seth. That's me. Kylie's in the room Boy. Yeah, there she is. Carly should be around shortly and, as always, uh pleasure to bring in mr neil armstrong. Good to be here again yes, are you a three-time offender now?
Speaker 1:I do believe it is three times. Oh man, if I'm in california, I'm going away for life call that a hat trick, right?
Speaker 2:hey, oh so, uh, mr neil, we caught up at the uh cabin fever open. That was a good day, that was a hoot I think we had a good time we? We had a very good time. If you don't believe us, go to youtube and check out the uh highlight video. Oh them, noon, whistles were feeling good, weren't they man?
Speaker 2:I'll tell you what such a good time for a good cause and uh yeah, I'm I'm excited for the next one. Honestly, that was a lot of fun. Did we wind up winning that thing? You and me, and Spencer and Carly, are the golfing putt putt champions of the Macomb world.
Speaker 1:Yes, you can put that up there.
Speaker 2:You can put that up there, and you can put that up there. And Spencer still gets to know that he is the second best putter in Macomb in 2024. Not that I'm holding that over him or anything, but when you got a golf channel and you know, I think we tied for score and he ended up, I ended up getting the hole in one of diggers, which is what they said was going to be the tiebreaker hole Right the very first hole of the day. So you know, keep keep working, Spencer, You'll get there someday.
Speaker 1:That's right. You know. I remember years ago at the country club in Macomb, I was looking at buying a putter and the uh, the young kid working at the pro shop said you don't need a new club, you need lessons.
Speaker 2:It was actually Spencer and I's friend, todd Dorsey had told me the same thing.
Speaker 1:I was like yeah.
Speaker 2:I'm thinking about getting some fitted clubs. He goes. I'm just going to be honest with you, trav. I mean we're both into archery. You know that buying new stuff doesn't make you better. I was like you're right, he goes. Probably I just take that money and put it towards some lessons, and I did so and he did actually uh leah over wiu the yep. I worked with her a little bit and she helped me out quite a bit.
Speaker 2:She's such a cool lady yeah, yeah, yeah played uh women's professional golf for a while and now she's the head coach of the men's and women's golf team at western so golf director is?
Speaker 1:I believe that's the director of golf.
Speaker 2:Director of golf, just kind of like our buddy. Cole Johnson's dad is the director of soccer. He's the head coach for both.
Speaker 1:Good old EJ.
Speaker 2:Lots of directing around here. Gotta love, gotta love the Johnsons.
Speaker 1:Gotta love directors Eric. Johnson, man United still sucks.
Speaker 2:Ah, If I cared about soccer I'd be offended. Neil's the resident soccer guy if Cole's not around. So there you go.
Speaker 1:Arsenal top of the table.
Speaker 2:Arsenal and I just like Arsenal because of the cannon, that's how I found the 2006.
Speaker 1:That's how I came to follow that team.
Speaker 2:Arsenal. But we're not here to talk about soccer, are we? Nope, we're here to talk about the trip of a lifetime. Mr neil armstrong, here, did not go to the moon, he went to argentina.
Speaker 1:Whoa, it's this whole other country they got nothing but barren landscape down there on big trout so you've been planning this trip for how long? Oh, I put it on about three years. You've been planning this trip for three years. By the time in, from from planning to execution, it took about three years okay, and was it because of covid?
Speaker 1:no covid really didn't have anything to do with it. It is uh, finding the right time for the three of us to go, ah, um, making sure the lodge had space for us three, that they weren't booked up at that time, and then, um, on a trip like this, making sure finances were put together. So I mean, this was uh a trip that was um wow, that's all I can say say, well, we'll start from the beginning.
Speaker 2:You, you've been planning this for, you know, like you said, about three years. Um, there was a lot and when we talked about it I was like, man, it sounds more like an elk hunting trip because you're talking about, you know, getting, getting the um, getting the trip planned and everything else. You're just like it wasn't that big a deal. Getting all the crap you need to do, what you wanted to do on the trip was like another story, like as far as all the fishing equipment you were gonna.
Speaker 1:Right, right, right, and I've been in the fly fishing for um about um close to 10 years. Um, and and and fly fishing is probably. Well, no, it's. It's. It's made me a better person. As far as the patients, it's, it gives cause.
Speaker 2:I am not a patient person by any stretch of the imagination, I mean I am not um and fly fishing.
Speaker 1:I can go out there and I can throw a line for two hours not cast anything, because um, and that just makes me work harder, because it's a lot of. It's about presentation, picking the right um, the right fly, or the right streamer, the right dropper to use to catch.
Speaker 2:There it goes. Or the right dropper to use to catch, there it goes, all right. So we're talking about like you've been fly fishing forever and you finally got the right equipment and yeah, and and put this together.
Speaker 1:Well, how the how this whole trip came about was um Ricardo Masa, who was an exchange student with uh with us at Macomb high. He was. He was actually a year older, or is a year older, in the class of 1987. Um and him and I, through um social media over the last several years, have got uh reconnected and um, you know, maintained a uh, uh you know chat frequently back and forth. And one day he had put up a picture, was holding up a picture on on uh Facebook that said uh, rio Gaishagos. Um, you know, that's my home, patagonia, or something similar to that. Right, and I sent him a message. I said I'd forgotten you were from Patagonia. It was my dream to fly. It's always been my dream to fly fish Patagonia ever since I got into this um fly fishing. And he sends me back a message. He says are you joking? And I said no, why he goes. My sister is management in uh Jurassic Lake Lodge. I said, are you kidding me? I said no. So he he sends me his sister's information and I reach out to her and she sends me some stuff. And I said, okay, I, I'll get back to you.
Speaker 1:And and um, I started, uh um, talk to uh my buddy, john Nelson. And uh, john's like I'll go. He'd never fly fishing before in his life. And I said, cool. And and then I was up at a conference in Chicago and uh um, met one of my uh oldest deers friends from college, shauna Kelly. We were having some cocktails and I said, oh, I'm getting ready to put together a trip to Argentina, um, in a couple of years and go down to fly fish. She's like I'll go. I said, oh, I'm getting ready to put together a trip to Argentina in a couple of years and go down to fly fish.
Speaker 2:She's like I'll go.
Speaker 1:I said, okay, I'm like, do you fly fishing? She goes, nope. I said, okay, she's like I want to go to Argentina. I said, okay, I'm going to Patagonia, I don't, you know that's, I'm putting this together. She's like I'm in. We started putting this thing together and chatting back and forth with john and and shauna and I, and, and we started getting stuff put together and we're like, okay, let's do this. So I emailed pia again, uh, ricardo's sister and she got me in touch with flywater travel, uh, who did a great job of of putting together our, our itinerary and the expectations and whatnot for this trip. But again, we had to. We had to book this a year out, um, and put a half deposit down and then, uh, I think it was 90 days before departure, we had to pay the other, the other half of the trip.
Speaker 2:So that was great, great um because they're getting their money either way yeah, and I mean you know it is.
Speaker 1:You are paying for a world-class fly fishing experience. Um, we went down there at the time of the season where you're catching fish, and we caught some, some good fish.
Speaker 2:But I'll get into that a little bit later I saw. I saw the picture, yeah.
Speaker 1:So, again, I mean, it just took this together and I, um, you know. So, going back, um, I, like I said, I had a, um, two rods, a uh, I've got a small stream rod and a decent size the three weight and then a six weight rod that I usually use mostly around here, like if I'm going to go do some bass, bass fishing or, um, um, something like that.
Speaker 1:And then the three weight if I'm looking for crappie or bluegill or okay I'll take that up something softer lipped yeah, yeah if I'm going to go uh fish the driftless area up in uh north northeast iowa or southern uh southwestern wisconsin or now, how often do you get? Around here and fish um whenever I can. I mean I've always got a fly rod, the car oh, okay, cool so you know, and the beautiful thing about fly rod is, you know, you can just, I mean, put it together. You don't have to carry a huge tackle box. I've got um several little small boxes of flies, I just keep in my, you got your vest.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, okay, yeah yeah, yeah and you know they're full tactical fishing gear.
Speaker 1:Right, I don't, you know, around here I'm not fishing in waders, you know, because there's no reason for me to get in the pond of the lake here. But, uh, you know, when I go up to, uh, the driftless, or even up in, um, if I want to walk the streams, when I was up, um, um, in northern w Wisconsin fishing for a little brook trout, um, you know, you can get your, get your waders on it up there and you almost need to to keep the mosquitoes from biting you. Oh, gotcha, but um, yeah. So I mean, you know, by the time we got it done, I needed it, uh, needed a bigger rod to go down to Argentina because we were going to be we knew we were going to be hooking into um up to 15 pound rainbow trout that time of year. Um, now, the three of us nobody was ever in the 15 pound class, but we were all over 10 pound class, uh, with some fish.
Speaker 2:A good fight in those fish.
Speaker 1:I got one uh. John Nelson recorded uh a video of me where I started up the river about 50, 60 yards and I wound up chest deep in the lake and a 16 minute fight.
Speaker 2:So you're literally river runs through it, yep, yep, brad Pitt out there stream taking you away, and it was it was the last fish.
Speaker 1:It was funny, it was the last fish of the. I think it was the first day we were there, um, and I had, we had gone up into the mouth of the river and I was like, like I said, about 50 yards up from the mouth of the river and just more or less that day was just getting acclimated to you know, thrown in the wind and because it was I mean, it was windy as all get out down there and uh, I hadn't caught anything all day and and John had hooked him to a couple and uh, shauna was skunked that day, I believe. Anyway, it was my last cast of the day because it was pushing eight o'clock at night and we're like, you know, we're done. And the next thing, you know, fish on. And I mean I and I, I changed to my six weight, my, my lighter rod, because I was just going to fish up in the, uh, up at the river, where I was probably holding smaller fish or so I thought, and my guide's like, yeah, go ahead and switch that six weight.
Speaker 1:He says you know that could be fun. It was like he knew something. He's like, well, anyway, I mean he's got me, he's guiding me over rocks, and all this when I'm starting up and I'm walking down, the next thing thing, you know I'm out. I'm out in the, the lake, you know. I don't know at least waist deep, if not close to my chest. But by the time we got this thing landed and then walked it back up and got the picture with it, so you know, in the sunset and all around it it was.
Speaker 2:Is that your profile picture now?
Speaker 1:Is it that fish? It's not that fish. I got you it's not that fish, but, um, I got it it's. It's a male, um, that you can see. It's really starting to, to, to, to become a uh, um, uh, a mature fish, because it's developing the pipe on the bottom of its mouth. So that little thing that we're uh shout mouth gets ugly as they, as they're maturing in the males. So, yeah, Um, but yeah, that that 16 minutes and change on that fight.
Speaker 2:What's crazy is like uh, it's kind of the same way with deer hunting. Like I've got big deer on the wall but those aren't always my most memorable. Right, Right, Right, yeah, Cause if there's different, if there's if it, if a deer enters the woods a certain way, or like I had a really cool encounter with that animal, like I'll remember that over, you know it being 150, 170 inches.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it was just. I felt like I got the experience right off the bat, you know. And then, uh, how many days did you do that we fished for? It was three and a half days of fishing. Oh, wow, yeah, uh.
Speaker 2:And what time were you up doing that each day?
Speaker 1:So we didn't. We hit the water at nine. We'd fish to about 1231 and then come in and you gotta love it, man, it was uh. We come in and they'd have appetizers laid out and grab a glass of Malbec or a beer and then, uh, you know my God, the, uh, the uh, sausages and the cheese was fantastic, you know, some chips and nuts and whatever else. And then, um, and then we'd have lunch and our lunch was, you know, lamb or beef or whatever.
Speaker 1:I mean you ate because you were burning a ton of calories down there, it was cold, it. I mean you ate because you were burning a ton of calories down there, it was cold, it was windy, you know. So we're eating like nobody's business down there and then usually be done with lunch around two and then, seriously, I'd go back to the, we'd go back to the rooms and and take a nap or relax, stretch out a little bit, and then at four o'clock we go fish from four to eight and then come back in, wow, and then repeat the process of having a beer or a Malbec or appetizers and then have a nice. A lot of times at night we'd have, you know, like a pasta dish or something you know get your carbohydrate load for the next morning and get your protein to sustain you through the afternoon with lunch. So I mean they did it right.
Speaker 1:Breakfast was always a couple of eggs and fruit mix. So I mean you know they prep the meals so you've got the fuel to sustain the day. It's done right, 100%, no complaints whatsoever.
Speaker 2:And you were there for how many days total?
Speaker 1:total trip was um. It was about 11 days because we left okay.
Speaker 2:So you went down there to do some sightseeing and hanging out too well, a lot of it.
Speaker 1:You gotta think about how we got there.
Speaker 2:It's uh, we flew from chicago yeah, I forgot to ask about that that's all right.
Speaker 1:We flew from chicago to atlanta and then atlanta to buenos aires and that's a 10-hour flight, and then it's recommended that we that uh, do you stay at night in buenos aires before you fly to El Calafate, and then from Buenos Aires to El Calafate was about three, three, three, 20 for a flight and then spend the night in El Calafate and then the next, and then the following morning the lodge will pick you up and they'll transport you out to, um, I'd like to call it the edge of the road.
Speaker 1:It's, it's, it's a national route, uh, in Argentina, route 40, but coming out at El Calafate, going back up North, you only have so much of it's paved and then it turns to gravel and it's still I mean, it's a national route, um, so when you're going, uh, so the the uh Mercedes van took us so far, and then, uh, the guys from the lodge came out. It's the first time I've ever ridden or seen a Toyota Hilux where insurgents weren't involved. So I got my first ride in a Toyota Hilux. I was, uh, I was, I was joking about that, so nobody else understood my excitement about seeing a.
Speaker 1:Toyota Hilux without uh, you know, without an insurgency.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm sure, if you Google that vehicle it's, it's probably not the showroom floor that their picture, that they're going to show you.
Speaker 1:No, no, no, Uh, that's that is true, in fact. Uh, what is it the awesome shit my drill sergeant said has has the uh Toyota Hilux for a regime change on a budget. So kudos to them. I thought that was funny. So, uh, but yeah, so I mean it was planes, trains and automobiles. So again, it was.
Speaker 2:So you're flying for three days before you even get there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I mean days before you even get there. Yeah, yeah, I mean it's because it's, uh, you know it's probably about the same on the way back.
Speaker 2:So of those 11 days you're flying, six of them you're you're traveling, yeah, yeah, you're definitely traveling, uh, six of them.
Speaker 1:So, you know, yeah, we, you know. Well, you know, the first night we were in bonazares, uh, ricardo, uh, he met us at the hotel, took us out to, uh, grandis Conocerios, this magnificent, uh meat Emporium restaurant. Oh my God, it was incredible. Um, you know, he got the meat sweats 20 minutes in. It was magnificent drinking bottles of Malbec that were just ridiculously good. Um, I mean, you know, I, I, I hate to, I hate to be that guy, but it was like man, you could go down there and be somebody on. You know, for a hundred bucks a night, I mean, you were having, you were having a hell of a night with food and wine and all that's on that last podcast we did with uh victor.
Speaker 2:He's talking about, like you know, how much fun I can have in kenya for 30, because it's ridiculous yeah, yeah, I said um, I'll um, I'll get to um um here a second.
Speaker 1:But, like I said, ricardo, after we had dinner, he took us out um over to san telmo, a great neighborhood, and uh, in one of the squares there was a live band and they were playing tango music and there's just the locals are just out there dancing tango and uh, we just had a fantastic time watching it and listening. And then, uh, the next morning we got up and got our ride to ride to the airport and flew to El Calafate. El Calafate was I'd equate it to like a little European mountain town, because you're right there on Lago Argentino, it's an active glacier lake, okay, so it abuts to Chile right there on the Andes, so you could see that in the background. Uh, unfortunately we didn't have the time to get over there and uh, see the uh? Um glacier, just because of time constraints.
Speaker 1:Um, but I, el Calafate I don't think that's the last time I'll be back in that area Um, I'd like to um, go further south, which isn't much further south, you can go but uh, down to tierra del fuego and uh, big browns, uh, rainbow or big browns, brookies, and uh um salmon, okay, down there.
Speaker 2:So, uh, how many, how many fish you think he caught in those three and a half days?
Speaker 1:he's thinking 30, 35 now not all of them were. I mean, we, we had several, um, there was a bunch that we'd catch in the two to four pound range, okay, uh, and some, you know, some of them were just fingerlings, but I mean, you know, didn't matter to me. I mean, I think, I think there was one day I was fishing, oh, it's what's called the pool, it's up the river and if, if, uh, if you ever look up Jurassic Lake Lodge, um, and they, they'll have some overhead pictures in the pool or even the mouth when you can see it, you'll just see, uh, trout just stacked up, um, this was just the. We were down there. They were just early in that spawn. They spawned twice a year down there, which I thought was interesting, um, but we were just uh.
Speaker 2:What the hell is that deal? That is a large ass rainbow trout.
Speaker 1:You never saw anything like that, did you? No, we were not there at that time of the year Now that's about this time of the year. I mean, it was amazing.
Speaker 2:I'm looking at the website, by the way.
Speaker 1:The difference of two weeks makes, because we were in the what I would call the fish catching time. Okay, now you know, now you're into the big fish, so there's probably less catching, but what's being caught? You got to bet, you got a better chance. So, like the beginning of the season and the end of the season, we were just at the tail end of the middle, so there was just a lot of fish but no trophies. I think the biggest fish caught while we were there, um, guy named D from San Antonio D, if you ever come across as man, pleasure to meet you. He pulled up a 15 pounder, okay, and it was a Haas. But uh, nelson had one I think that was in the 12 pound class and I think Shauna had one that was probably pushing that as well. I'm guessing my largest was right around 10.
Speaker 2:Oh wow, is as well. I'm guessing my largest was right around 10. Oh wow, is this still? Is this lodge is right on a beach? Is that what I'm?
Speaker 1:looking at, or well, it's not really a beach, it's still there's probably about a, I don't know dude, it looks like a beach.
Speaker 2:It looks like a beach, but it's not it's gorgeous, but it's not a beach gotcha it's it's got. Is it like going to Fort McCoy, Wisconsin?
Speaker 1:Think about like a half cross between Herb's Beach, walking down the rocky crack. Okay, all right, I was about ready to say so.
Speaker 2:It's like being at Fort McCoy, but you wake up to the Gulf of Sinai Right.
Speaker 1:Okay, but that was also. It was probably I don't't know, I'm guessing a 50 to 70 foot elevation change down, okay, um, and it's a lot further to to get to the river or to the lake's edge that it looks like. That's a great shot to make it look like it was. So, uh, I recommend anybody that's going to go down there make sure you've gone out and walked some hills for a couple of weeks prior to going down there, because when you're going down to the lake in full kit, going down is not bad. Coming up is going to kick your butt.
Speaker 2:Especially if you've got big fish you're carrying back.
Speaker 1:Well, everything goes back, does it? It's all catch and release. It's, you know, I'd almost call it ecotourism, because it's sustainable. It's pretty rustic, but with a world-class feed.
Speaker 2:Wow, that's, I mean that's, that's gorgeous.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so, and that's so. I was see where that, where it crooks in, let's see there's the mouth there, where it's, you know, coming out and go up, just up, just up, right about there is where I hooked it up into that fish and then I wound up down, um off that what you're looking at the right side, um, I came over that little nub out and then was out in the lake to about I don't know so he's saying he got that fish somewhere up here.
Speaker 2:He ended up at the lake. How far do you think that was you said earlier?
Speaker 1:I was, I'm guessing it probably took me 50, 60 yards, I don't know, oh wow, yeah, maybe I mean it was. It was like I said, it was a 16 minute fight and that's. That's awesome.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that was worth the whole trip right there. Oh yeah, yeah, it was a 16 minute fight and that's that's awesome. Yeah, that was worth the whole trip right there.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, it was great. Um, I mean, um, we all had a couple of good fights. There was, I think Shauna locked into one that when we were in the pool that I was fishing the left side of the pool, she was in the middle, johnny's over on the right, and by the time it was all said and done, I had to walk under her line or I well, she had damn near crossed over my line because of the fish fighting. So I'm trying to get my fly out, I'm walking out back behind, ducking into the water, so I, I walk out, you know out, you know, and, uh, come back. And then john had worked out of the way and oh, it was, it was a, it was a hoot. And then she pulls up that I mean it was a long, long fish, uh, and and a hell of a fight.
Speaker 2:So awesome, yeah, it was cool so coming back, was it as difficult as going down, or did you kind of have an idea of what was going on and I thought, for not having, uh, you know, made an experience in a trip like this.
Speaker 1:This trip went off without a hitch. Um, we really had no delays.
Speaker 2:Well, you had three years to play Right. But you know, you never know how things out of country are going to go right, right.
Speaker 1:so we, we never had that um, but we never had any issue other than um. Um, you know, just a four-hour layover in atlanta on the way down, and it was funny. And we were, we were trying, or we were waiting for a flight to go to El Calafate on the way down and we'd never heard anything. Never heard, never heard anything. And all these people were lined up and I said I haven't called our flight, have they? And and and John and Sean were both like no, we haven't heard her flight. I said okay, and I walked around just to take a look and I'm like hey, it's last call, we got to get on this plane.
Speaker 2:So I mean you wouldn't happen to have been in an airport bar at that time or anything.
Speaker 1:Well, the funny thing is, the bar was right next to the gate and we still couldn't hear it. So no, we'd only had one glass of wine at that point. One glass, okay, one glass. Not even a bottle, just a glass.
Speaker 2:That's awesome, malbec good. So is it a trip you're going to do again one of these days?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would definitely go back to um, um, definitely go back to Argentina. Um, I would never rule out going to, uh, uh, jurassic Lake lodge again. It was it's world-class. Um, in fact, um, all the, all the people, all the staff there were magnificent. Our guides were were incredible. Um, the people that we met there that were fishing, um, there was a couple of guys that were from Argentina who we couldn't understand very much, uh, between my broken or our broken spanish and their broken english, but we, we still managed to have a good time. And then there was fish, big, yeah, yeah, I see, yeah, right, right and uh, but, like I said, um, the guy we got to fish with d was from, uh, san antonio. Uh, wally's guy we met, um, strangely enough, he was from Chicago, lives half the year in Florida and uh, the other half in uh, yeah, the other half.
Speaker 1:Well, he, he and he'd put this trip together like two weeks, two or three weeks before you know where we planned a year. He just said you know, I'll have somebody figure this out for me. I'm going to go to Argentina while my wife goes with one of her friends somewhere. So that was pretty wild. Uh, luciano, uh was uh from, uh, tennessee. Uh, good dude.
Speaker 2:Kid could fish like nobody's business. Um and then, uh Well, the skills that it took to to to do what you were doing down there is. Was it comparable to the fishing that you did up here, or or is it a whole different monster?
Speaker 1:It is um, it's, it's, it's a different animal, um, because you're you're typically fishing in 20, you got to figure it'll be fishing every day in 20, 25 mile an hour winds. But there's no way around it, um.
Speaker 2:Mine just snowed. With grandpa growing up, it's fishing there, it's around it. Um, mine just know, with grandpa growing up, it's fishing there, it's.
Speaker 1:It's blowing that hard, we're not even going that's when you go down there, because that's it's stirring up the lake and it's turning, those moving, those rocks and those scuds are getting released, the things they feed on the trout, and so that's the time to go out there. Um, I think it was thursday um, thursday the um. We quit about an hour and a half early because the winds were gusting up to 70 miles an hour.
Speaker 2:Oh wow and I knock you on your ass. Oh boy.
Speaker 1:I mean, you know it, it was a little when, when, when I'm grabbing the arm of the guide to walk the rocks, I mean, you know, gonza, god bless you, dude, you were a world class or our world class guide. Um, you know, he had the arm strength to, uh, to help a 250 pound dude move around that water because it just was, you know, had five foot seven and a half on a good day. The waves are beating you right in the chest, you know, I mean, catch one sideways right in the well. You know what I'm talking about.
Speaker 2:It don't feel so good but, um, you know the things that make surfers just drool? It sounds like yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean there was some. We were fishing some serious swells. It was great because you could actually see, uh, at the break line where the you know like the rock line to the drop into the lake and the waves would move and the sunlight would hit the blue water and you could see the fish in the lake and the water. That's cool, nevermind what you could see in the you know the river when you were up, especially when I was sight fishing up in the one of the little pools. That was awesome. But, um, yeah, it was just you know, the the uh. At times it was the austerity of it. It was just incredible. But, um, now the the windy, if it's not windy, you're not catching fish down there. That's fair.
Speaker 1:And uh, um, you know, and it was boy, I thought, uh, I thought I was a world-class caster down there because you get some wind behind you and, man, you're throwing some long casts and I'm, like you know, ripping out some long roll casts and and uh, but definitely down there you got to practice those skills cause you were using a lot more technical. Um, you know, without knowing what I'm talking about, but I was roll casting back, loop casting into the wind, short cast, you're keeping things out of the wind. So sometimes we were up in the wind throwing, uh, as far as we could get out there, just to just to see what we could get. And it was incredible. And watching our guide gonzalo, I mean I, this dude, could reach out and touch someone.
Speaker 1:Man, he could, he could throw a fly like nobody, nobody, I've ever seen now is it all top water no, um, most of the time I was fishing uh woolly buggers, black, or uh olive woolly booger, uh buggers, uh, and then okay for so for someone who would live in illinois, who bass fishes.
Speaker 2:So if if I'm rocking a hula popper, I'm going out there top water and I'm popping that dude, if I'm rocking a crankbait, it all depends on if I've got a shallow runner or a deep runner, right, okay, so what are you doing most of the time?
Speaker 1:So I'm, I'm throwing uh, we were down there and they didn't it again trying to describe or a buzzbait. You don't have to be a hula popper, Right?
Speaker 2:So this is it just mimics something living in the water. Are you rocking like two foot deep? Are you rocking?
Speaker 1:a foot deep. What we were doing it was we'd throw it and let it sink five seconds and then doing slow, long retrievals, okay, and then just let it drop for a little bit, I mean and by drop I mean it was by the time you got your hand back up, so, and it was just working a long, slow retrieval that way, and then sometimes behind that I would run a copper, john, or you know a little, uh, um, uh, a nymph behind that. So it was a little bit lower, okay. So in fact I'm running, you know, um, running two flies at once. Um, I'll show you what a woolly bugger looks like.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the whole fly fishing concept to me is a little different.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It looks like a fly fishing piece, yeah.
Speaker 1:But like you know when, when you or a MEPs, if I was Right, it does without the, without the spinner on it, Right? So you just slow retrieval and then when it stops the, the, the hairs will fluff out a little bit. Um, so are they hitting?
Speaker 2:this dude while it's going down or while it's coming back, and when it stops the hairs will fluff out a little bit. So are they hitting this dude while?
Speaker 1:it's going down or while it's coming back up. A lot of times it was just if the presentation was right. You know, and that's the best I can tell you, I'm still such a novice into this, even after 10 years, you know I mean there's.
Speaker 2:I'm a novice, but I went to Argentina to go to the best place in the world to do this Right.
Speaker 1:Well, like you know what I said, Well, I mean you were probably.
Speaker 2:did you scuba dive when we were in Egypt? No, Okay. So and that's one of my biggest of being that far underwater and not breathing Right, the ocean's a scary place. Seth will not go to the ocean. No, please elaborate.
Speaker 1:Well, the ocean is.
Speaker 2:This is one of the funniest things I've ever heard, or maybe it's just the way you explain it.
Speaker 1:I don't know.
Speaker 2:The ocean's a big dark, scary place, yeah, and we don't know. The ocean's a big dark, scary place, yeah, and we don't. We don't know anything about it really. We don't know how deep it really goes. We don't know what else is down there. It's just kind of a but you think that walking into the ocean like two foot you're gonna get some creepy crawly thing from have you seen there's like these little worms.
Speaker 2:They can get up to three meters long. They just kind of sit in the sand and if you step on them they just reach up and grab you is it the amazon, where if you pee in the water there's a little thing they'll go up your pee worms. Yeah, the penis fish, yeah, and then it'll reverse. Spike you, yeah, yeah, get lodged in there. No, thanks, I'm gonna. But trout, yeah trout. You never know where our conversations are gonna, and if you don't believe us, uh, go putt putt with us sometime right yeah, um.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I mean that's you know, and there's all kinds of different flies. I mean some of them look like you know, the, the, the guy I was talking about, luciano. He would go out, um, and stay a little bit later, just as really as the sun was going down, and he would switch to some top water Uh, the top water dry flies. By that time I was tired and I was ready for a beer, so I wanted to walk up the hill, get, get warm clothes back on, or warmer clothes on, I mean, and I was never really cold down there, but I just wanted to put on something fresh and and go have a beer and dinner. So, uh, it was, and then, um, like I said, the, uh, everybody got there and then the last night we were there, I I never got to fish with these guys. Uh, uh, jack, I wish I remembered your last name. Uh, gentlemen from Manchester, uk, good dude.
Speaker 2:Apparently your soccer team sucks.
Speaker 1:Oh, we had a hoot talking about that. And then, uh, matt Harris, uh, who is a world-class photographer, fly fisher, conservationist, was there and we probably annoyed everybody else at dinner that night because of our football talk about. Matt was a West Ham United guy and Jack's man U and I was Arsenal and they all believe that Arsenal is going to win the league this year. So that was cool. I really liked those guys at that point. But, uh, uh, just, uh, just talking with with Matt though I mean he had been down there a while Uh, like I said, he photographs, he fly fishes, um, uh and uh, you know, this is a guy that could have probably talked about himself and we would all been like this is awesome, but he wanted to talk about our experiences down there, experience experiences fishing everywhere, uh, everywhere we have. Um, that's just the kind of guy.
Speaker 2:I was Did you tell him about like big, nasty mud cats and stuff like that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean he was like you know we, you know what do you guys fish for? I said you know, I grew up fishing um channel cats and, and you know, bass and crappie and all that good stuff.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And, um, I you know, I just don't know. I said yeah, so he was like you still do any of that and I said I'll and the you know the little lakes around here, but I haven't been catfishing in years, I haven't done it no, and I don't know why I don't care to eat it a whole lot so it's a little different yeah, it's one of them things.
Speaker 2:You either love it or you I I can. It just depends, it's all and how. It's right, and that's anything. I'm not a big trout eater, though, either. So you know if I'm going to go eat fish.
Speaker 1:I'm going to go have me some walleye and I get that, or I'm going to have some ahi gray tuna. But, A L D I.
Speaker 2:I think the cubs are getting ready to play All right, well, there was a little incentive.
Speaker 1:There you go. Oh geez, oh okay, we're good Toyota.
Speaker 2:Good job, Seth.
Speaker 1:Even your dogs don't like our Spanish.
Speaker 2:Oh man, all right. Well, thanks for coming on this. This was awesome. I knew that you had like one hell of a time and you know, all five people that listen to this podcast, you know, are going to remember the story forever and you can tell people hey, you want to hear what it was all about, you know, go over to the wild.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and I'd love to. I mean, if anybody has any questions about, um you know, putting something together, um you know they can reach out to you through the absolutely yeah. I would highly recommend, um, uh, if you're looking for a truly an adventure, I mean, if you're looking for a truly an adventure, I mean, I think, el Calafate. Um, it's about 1200, 1300 miles from Antarctica. I mean Utah, we're on the other side of the world.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so what was the average temperature each day?
Speaker 1:Uh, we get up and be in the mid thirties and maybe it might push 50.
Speaker 2:Uh but with the wind and the water I mean, mean I'm freezing the whole time I'll tell you this is what I was.
Speaker 1:I was wearing. I was wearing the old army waffle long johns okay yeah, um, you know, uh, uh, just some technical pants, and then, uh, I'd be wearing a um, a windproof or a, um, you know, nylon rayon henley, uh, um, maybe a light shirt over that, and then, uh, another fleece on top of that because you're still moving, you're still generating heat man yeah, yeah, walking to the deer stand.
Speaker 1:If it's 40 50 degrees out, I'll go there half naked, just so I don't sweat right on my way in right, right, you're laying up, but, like you know, if it was, if it wasn't uh, looking like it was gonna rain but it could rain any minute, but I mean, a lot of times I was uh, I was wearing that um puffy coat, when you know, or the other thing that I took, what I was so happy I did, was the uh, I've got one of the old army tricolor gore-tex raincoats that was a god send down there
Speaker 2:uh I didn't take a will be I didn't know.
Speaker 1:You're only limited on 50 pounds. That's all you can take. So I mean I had two fly rods, waders, um boots that should have been foams 50 there. So well, luckily I got I had lightweight boots, um, but I mean, I mean, I think I think I was good. You know, like I said, we were gone from a Saturday to a Tuesday and I took four pairs of pants and I wore one pair like the first five days for travel, just that, and just changed out shirts, yeah, um, and then I fished in the same clothes every day, um, what the hell else you're gonna do?
Speaker 2:I mean, I'm not impressing anybody in the stream, no, you know and what would you guess someone's gonna spend to do a trip like this? I'm not asking for your budgetary numbers, but just the, if you're gonna do a trip like this, what's your, what's your ballpark figure?
Speaker 1:Figure 11,000.
Speaker 2:Figure about 10, 11,000. Yeah, yeah, by the time.
Speaker 1:I mean we uh, it was for the four nights, five days at the lodge. I mean it was uh, right, yeah, I mean you're flying and you're, that was the lodge itself, was, I think, 45 or oh, did I get rid of it?
Speaker 1:Anyway, I think the lodge, I think you know, figure about a thousand bucks a day at the lodge, um, and then um, um, and then every day you're there, figure a hundred bucks, uh, gratuity to all the staff, and that's what, amongst the, there was, I think, three or four guides, and then the kitchen staff, um, the front of the house, and then the, the, the, um, uh, cleaning service, and we decided, um, we probably added a thousand to our trip because we decided to fly business class down. I mean, I'm, I'm going to point my life that you know that's still a thousand bucks, but it was, it was, it was money worth, well worth, uh, you know, from from Atlanta 20 years ago you might have done something different, right yeah?
Speaker 1:yeah, but um and again um, I don't delta. Delta business class has woodford reserve, so I was happy there you go, that's all you need perfect.
Speaker 1:But then, um, you, and by the time you figure you go out and get, um, I mean, you could spend your waiters. Um, I think we're, I, probably I, I should have bought a better or or or or a thicker pair, uh of waiters. Um, I might've been able to, um, dress down on my um, on some of my, you know, like my undergarments on that. But again, lesson learned for the next time, right, um, but you know, waders are going to run anywhere from four to 400 to a thousand bucks. Um, boots are going to be anywhere in that two to 500 range.
Speaker 2:Um, I, uh, I think my one of my rods and real combos is probably 600 and 400 on the other, you know, so that's a thousand bucks, right there, it's not a good thing, but you spent three years putting this trip together, trip together, so like you were able to find what you were looking for, find the best deals on that, and it kind of spaced it out at the same time, besides the deposits that they expected from you at certain times, yeah, and not just saying like you never know what's going to happen 90 days out. No, so like spending the rest of the money on that trip and then I I mean you had to have been clinching for like three months like nothing better happened. I'm gonna wrap myself in a bubble suit.
Speaker 1:Well, that's I mean because remember, last october I broke my arm yeah you know, and I was like oh man, thank god I didn't do this in february, you know, a month before we go. I mean, I still would have went yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:But I and you remember when we were in egypt there was the uprisings for a while and I I know a guy that was in our unit that lives in Macomb and he had planned actually to bring his family to Egypt and they were going to go to Cairo, they're going to go to Israel, they were going to do the whole spang. As a family and travel agency said, you know, if you look in the really fine print, um, act of God is not covered. So he lost about $4,500 just planning to have his family over, just because you know an uprising was considered an act of God.
Speaker 2:And sorry bud you're not getting your money back, so so he just kind of ate it we. A couple months later we went home. So yeah so you never know what's going to happen in the last 90 days. So if you plan a ten thousand dollar fishing trip and you just spent, you know, your last deposit on it, maybe maybe not go to the bar, maybe maybe not go do a whole lot, right, right, you know.
Speaker 1:And thinking back on it, we talked about it and we didn't do um, we didn't do any travel insurance on the actual travel itself and I, um, and I don't know if I would Right, you know that's, that's too tall to call Um. I think if I had to spend any more than what I did, probably I would have Right Um. I think if I'd have spent any more than what I did, probably I would have Right Um. I agree, um, but yeah, it was it's. I don't even think about the money.
Speaker 2:No, once you, once you get to a certain level of just like trip of a lifetime, I would 100% do it again. I had a wonderful experience. Um, yeah, at that point it's just like money well spent. I you know, if I had to do it again and spend another thousand or two, I just, hands down, would do it.
Speaker 1:Great, I mean I, you know it was. It was just funny. I mean I, I looked one night, one night I looked out the window. There was only two nights we had clarity in the sky, and the first night I looked out the window. It was like I could just reach out and touch the Southern Cross, you know. And then the last night we were there, the sky was open and I, um, because, uh, sean, I'd never seen the Southern cross before. So I went and knocked on her door. I'm like, hey, you gotta get out of here. I mean it was colder than all get out, but it was like it's bright and you could. It was like you could damn near touch it. And so that's the second time I've, I've, I've seen the Southern cross.
Speaker 1:You know, at that level, what I, when I was in Australia, it was uh, um, see it, but there there was almost no light pollution whatsoever. So you know, you remember what the stars were like on our outpost in Egypt? Oh yeah, you know it was incredible. So it was, it was just it was like that. And wow, you know, and and, being on the other side of the world, I mean antarctica is the only continent I've not been on so and I don't think you're itching to get there.
Speaker 2:You might end up like the penguins on madagascar you get there you're like, well, this sucks.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I got a feeling at some point. You know, if I ever get down to that, uh I figure it's. Uh, that's going to be a retirement. When I'm like, oh wonder what it's going to cost me to take a cruise from, uh, tierre del fuego or where you know to uh to to the southern, to the whatever it is, the northern tip of argent, or uh uh, antarctica.
Speaker 1:just to say that I set foot on it, so it was wild, though there were people that had, and I don't know I I need to look into, but there was a few people on our flight back that were wearing um Antarctica marathon shirts, so I don't know if they'd have been down there and ran a marathon or just found the right shirt shop.
Speaker 1:Well, either that or they were running it, you know, um in Southern Argentina or Chile, Um, I don't know, but it was like holy cow. That's pretty awesome. I'm not running that far, I'm not running anywhere I just want the shirt right, so all right.
Speaker 2:Well, thanks for coming on, dude. If anybody's interested in doing a trip like this, get a hold of me. I'll get you a hold of of neil, or you can look for Neil Armstrong it's fairly common name, apparently. You just look for the dude holding a huge trout and that'll be your dead giveaway. But yeah, get ahold of me on Facebook or Instagram. I'll get you in touch with uh, with Neil here. He, I mean, he loves talking about it, he loves doing things like this, and if he can help you on your trip, you know, even if you're just curious about it, he'll answer your questions or get you in touch with someone who can. So so that's awesome. Probably you might do it again. It might've been one of them once in a lifetime. Things, uh, you don't. You just don't never know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I, I hope it's not. Um, you know, I definitely uh want to go back to, like I said to, to Argentina. Um, and and down to that tier de fuego, uh, I think, my next one on something like this. Well, I in fact, um I'm going to go in um July. We'll be out in um Swan Valley, idaho, on Palisades and snake Um, we're out there for a family wedding, a family wedding, but um um, my cousin's son that's getting married, dylan um fly fish, is all the time out there, so he's got to set up for several days if he got to be out there right.
Speaker 1:well, and I'm the house, I um, you know, picked um is right off palisades creek, so and he's like, dude, you, he's like that's's a cutthroat. Uh, that is a, that is a great cutthroat stream. So you're going to love it. You're just going to walk out your house he said you don't even know wader up in it. He says the water runs about your knees and just throw, just find out, see what's hatching, and throw top water. So you'll be good this summer. So I mean, I'm, you know, I'm going to hit in one year two world-class destinations.
Speaker 2:Nice, you know it's, and if you play your cards right, you know it's. It's really I. When Seth and I talked about this uh, I don't know a couple of years ago, when we were talking about the concerts and the hunting trips and some of the things that we were doing, we're just like you know, we're not affluent dudes, we just, you know, there are ways for people to do these things. Yes, I'm a veteran. I have access to concert tickets and stuff, but even the concert tickets that we go to are between 10 to 50 bucks a piece. Maybe, you know, on on a given day and the the trips are out there.
Speaker 2:If you, if you know what to look for and who to talk to, there are ways for the working man to be able to do these kind of trips if you're willing to set aside a little bit of money, have a little bit of patience and, um, you know, just take it all in. Like you said, you didn't only catch the fish, you met all the people. Yep, you went outside. You looked at the sky. Yeah, you, you, just you tried to soak every little bit of it in instead of just, you know, you could have came back from that trip pissed off. Well, I didn't catch me a freaking 30 pounder, right you know. But that would have ruined ten thousand dollars for you. You know you went and took in the whole trip and that's what's important, you know like I said.
Speaker 1:I mean, I was in patagonia, for God's sake.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know, I was in freaking Patagonia, yeah, you know, and, and, and, and I mean you talk about this austere beauty, uh, incredible land. But it was in Buenos Aires. We got to see live bands and you know doing and people doing the tango, and then the next, uh, the, the weekend, we flew back in there. It was another type of, uh like indigenous music that was playing up in the square, but it's like south park, where they're making fun of peruvian flute music, you know, but it's so authentic, but you're, you know you're right and you're just living this, though, and and I don't know, it was just crazy and and I can't say enough about buenos aires.
Speaker 1:I thought, you know, for a big city and it's, it's's large, but it was I'd ever felt unsafe in it, you know, and if you're a, if you're a Leo Messi fan or Madonna, look out. It was great, I enjoyed it.
Speaker 2:So Well, I'm glad it went better than your trip to Spain.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, Spain was only one night. So that was just one little robbery along the way, no big deal.
Speaker 2:Oh man, that's a great place to end it, so All right. Well, thanks for your time.
Speaker 1:It was a pleasure.
Speaker 2:Thanks for your info. Look up Neil on Facebook and Instagram Neil Armstrong. If you're lucky enough, maybe he'll post a picture where he's holding a space helmet. It's awesome, all right.
Speaker 1:With a fish in it. There you go, oh, oh.
Speaker 2:That sounds like a plan. Thanks again, all right, bye, bye.
Speaker 1:Bye, bye.
