By Peter Kaminsky
The world is full of fish--at least the watery parts are--so picking 10 of the world's best fishing destinations is a pretty tall order. It often gets down to a matter of personal taste. Still, most anglers would agree that the following places offer wonderful fishing, which is why they are rightly famous as angling Meccas.
The world is full of fish--at least the watery parts are--so picking 10 of the world's best fishing destinations is a pretty tall order. It often gets down to a matter of personal taste. Still, most anglers would agree that the following places offer wonderful fishing, which is why they are rightly famous as angling Meccas.
By Peter Kaminsky The world is full of fish--at least the watery parts are--so picking 10 of the world's best fishing destinations is a pretty tall order.... more
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Created 03/24/09
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1
Montauk Point, New York, U.S.A
Many naturalists believe that more fish swim by this glacial cliff at the tip of Long Island than any other spot on Earth. Striped bass, tuna, marlin, weakfish, mackerel, cod, and great white sharks all pass within a lure's toss of New York's oldest lighthouse. On the rocks below the beacon, the lucky and persistent can experience the world's best surfcasting.
2
Manitoba, Canada
Although Canadian pike are the same fast and fierce predators that can be caught in the lower 48, they seem bigger and meaner at the northern limit of their range. Pike can put the fear of God into fly-rodders who approach them with a popping bug. One of the most famous American lures, the Daredevle was designed with this fish in mind.
3
Seychelles
Located off the eastern coast of Africa, these tropical islands in the Indian Ocean are a hot new destination for catching bonefish. Powerful and skittish (the fishing world's nervous wrecks), bonefish are a great challenge and an even bigger reward when stalked and taken on white coral flats.
4
Labrador, Newfoundland, Canada
Although development and competition have driven them out of much of their home range in the United States, the native brook trout still reigns supreme here. It grows to prodigious sizes during the short summers of the Canadian north. Fly-rodders will appreciate the fishing conditions: When the wind is down and the sun is out, brookies take only huge flies.
5
Test and Itchen rivers, England
Hard to believe, but some of the most beautiful trout waters in the world are within an hour's drive of London. This locale offers fish, big mayflies, idyllic countryside, and as a bonus, the chance to catch an Atlantic salmon in the same water as a trout. It's all private, so you'll have to pay for the right to fish, but it won't break the bank.
6
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, U.S.A.
Although it receives millions of visitors a year, Yellowstone offers the greatest variety of quality trout fishing in North America. Stocked streams abound with easy-to-catch trout that taste great in the frying pan. Wild rivers like Slough Creek have trophy catch-and-release fishing for beautiful wild trout. Nearby streams in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming are legendary.
7
Key West, Florida, U.S.A.
If you are thrilled by the chance to wet your line where Ernest Hemingway fished, Key West is still as good as it was when Papa was fishing, fist fighting, and boozing here. There are few spots more pristine than the nearby Marquesas Islands, which, like most local waters, offer heart-stopping tarpon fishing, bonefishing, and even a shot at catching the elusive permit.
8
Ozark Mountains, Missouri, U.S.A.
The smallmouth bass has been called "the gamest fish that swims." And there's no place more beautiful to fish smallmouth than under limestone bluffs on the lazy, winding rivers of the Ozarks. Pick a river, launch your canoe, and catch fish all day.
9
The Outer Banks, North Carolina, U.S.A.
Like Montauk to the north, these sandy spits witness huge fish migrations. The great Southern hunting writer Havilah Babcock once titled a book My Health is Better in November. Instead of his beloved quail, he might well have been thinking of the huge and ravenous false albacore that stream by here between Halloween and Thanksgiving.
10
Patagonia, Argentina.
Old-timers always claim the fishing today is nothing like it used to be. In the streams on the flanks of the Andes of Argentina, it is still "the good old days," with just about the best trout fishing in the world. The streams aren't clogged with other anglers, and the fish take flies when they're supposed to. Don't neglect to pry yourself from the water to take in Argentina's famous steaks, wine, and chic gaucho style.
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