We have started our third season here on the island of Punta Pajaros, and things are running right along. In honor of Thanksgiving, a small tribute to our Mexican Family.

The season has almost passed here at Casa and Playa Blanca...We have worked hard, played hard, and posted far too little! Here are some of my favorite photos from our underwater adventures....

This last week the wind disappeared completely, a rare event in salt water fly fishing. Our guests at Playa Blanca Lodge were coming back with some serious fish tales, so we decided to go see it firsthand....

We were suffering from a bad case of island fever and needed to remember that there is a world out there beyond our own. It might seem an odd choice to leave one remote island for another, but we reasoned that at least this one had a population over thirty.  And a reputation for massive tarpon.

Walking the beaches of Punta Pajaros is always interesting if you keep your eyes peeled...

It's been a busy few months here at Casa Blanca and Playa Blanca on Ascension and Espiritu Santo Bays, and the action never stops...

We arrived back on the island two weeks ago to find it an even wilder place than when we left...

Our season is winding down here at Casa Blanca and the rains have begun. Despite the weather drama, we’ve managed to get out on the water quite a bit, and it’s all about the surface flies….

Out exploring the waters around Casa Blanca and Punta Pajaros this week we found the usual suspects and then some…

We’re almost at the two month mark here and we’ve hit our stride. Though it is still a bit of a shock to find ourselves in high heat amidst coconut palms and blue water, the inner workings of a flats fishing lodge have become routine. Our days are inevitably filled to the brim, but that hasn’t stopped us from exploring this island paradise every chance we get….

We hit the ground running here in paradise, and we haven’t stopped yet...

It has been a wild month of whirlwind trips and developments for Rio Rose. We flew to Mexico City last month to interview for a position as lodge managers at Casa Blanca and Playa Blanca, two world renowned bonefish, permit, tarpon and snook lodges in the Mexican Caribbean, and less than 24 hours later we found ourselves in a tropical paradise with rods in hand and bonefish on the line....

Spring is here and we are fishing hard, despite the ever present winds...We've made two forays to the Arkansas River over the last two weeks with the raft, and there's no place I'd rather be this time of year; minimal crowds in a truly special part of the world...

I'm sitting here looking out at snow and it's 10 below. Dreaming of better days when temps were more like 40...Montana in fall.  We fish the Paradise Valley on our way back to winter in NM every year. This year we were amply rewarded....

Our trip this year to Great Inagua was spectacular....We had several days chasing tailing Permit in the dozens. I caught this fish on our first day. The take was so violent I thought he was spooking from the fly. He was actually charging it! A seven foot lemon shark tried to take him from me, but somehow he came home unscathed. Our trip only got better from there...

2010 was a spectacular year on the water, and 2011 looks more promising still. We're Bahamas bound in ten days! My dad and I hiked into the Red River Canyon here in NM on one of the last days of the year. The first real snowstorm we've had so far hit while we were fishing and we hiked out in a white-out....

I've started to post videos of our fishing adventures on You Tube. I'm quite the amateur videographer, but sometimes I get lucky and come up with a cool bit. It's uncanny how the best stuff evades the camera! Check here for links to new videos...

We’ve had a week of biting wind. The high peaks are white with snow; none yet in the valley. We’re holding on hard to Indian summer for now. We’ve been in the gorge every day, mostly targeting Pike. The coming cold has them hungry, and the low waters have them concentrated and exposed, but nothing about this kind of fishing is easy.

In my fly fishing career thus far, I have scoffed at lakes. Lazy, boring fishing. Tolerable if I'm really hard up for a tug. But in recent years I've started coming around. Lakes have their place. Here in Northwest Montana, I have stumbled upon some real stunners...

A blanket hatch of ants. Sizes 22-24. Cinnamon wings, black bodies. Aggravated angry responses from fish. Frustrated guides. Oh the ants come marching, one by one...