5 Places I Want to Fly Fish After Quarantine Ends

5 Places I want to Fish when Quarantine Ends

Spending all this time inside has given me some opportunity to self-reflect and think about priorities for when quarantine ends. One of those priorities has become traveling the world and fly fishing during that time. I came to realize that although I’ve always enjoyed the outdoors, I need to take more advantage of them, because who knows when something may happen again where you’re told to spend 3 months indoors. Out of that train of thought came a bucket list of fly-fishing destinations for me. Here they are:

1. Alaska

I’ve always wanted to go on a float trip in Alaska, carrying a pack, and just a rod and reel to get down the river. Catching troves of Salmon swimming upstream along the way. I recall Alaska’s nature being truly majestic, but that was while being closer to the cities of Anchorage and Juneau…I can’t imagine how it’d be to float in a more remote area, closer to the Kodiak, or along the Aleutian Islands.

2. White River Arkansas

For having lived in KC now for a while, and for all I’ve heard of the great White River, I’ve still never taken advantage and fished down there. I’m told that it’s great fishing year-round and is one of the best fly-fishing destinations you can find in the US. And most of all, would be a short haul to bring all my Fresh Water Fly Fishing Gear. For being only a short 5-hour trip away, I think this would be the first and easiest destination to cross off the bucket list, and from what I understand, it’s open year-round. This would be a perfect trip for Bob and me to go down for a one-night trip and get two days of fishing.

3. Patagonia

I think Patagonia is a way off for me, due to the price point and complexity of the travel to get there from Kansas City. BUT, if from this list I was able to pick just 1 spot to fly fish, this would be it. The pictures I’ve seen and stories I’ve been told seem to not do this landscape justice.

4. Henry’s Fork Idaho

One of my closest friends and mentor told me if he could spend the rest of his life somewhere, this would be it. Having said that, I’ve never been out to the Henry’s Fork. I would love to go on a trip out there with my dad, spend a few nights camping in our gear, slip into our Simms waders during the day with our hatch reel and g.loomis rod and throw back a couple whiskeys at night, just to spend some quality time together. If time permitted, I’d like to extend this trip for a guided experience with the guys at Dupe a Fish.

5. Iceland

Of all the trips listed, I think this would be the easiest to convince my wife to join me on. Iceland looks like another world from many of the pictures I’ve seen. It has the natural beauty of Patagonia/Alaska, paired with the refinement of Europe. And if I say so, the marketing of the Deplar Farm by Eleven Experience, is enough to make anybody’s jaw drop. I’ve also always wanted to see the northern lights, so that’d be a bonus!