Fly fishing and horseback riding often go well together. The best places for both sports are beautiful, wild and unspoiled areas with clean water and air. A fly fishing lodge in a wilderness setting can make an ideal riding center as well. The Equitours headquarters at the Bitterroot Ranch in remote, northwest Wyoming is a prime example with a private stream full of wild trout running through the center of the ranch. Anglers can often fish all day without seeing ANYONE. The main focus of Equitours is obviously riding so most of the guests come for that leaving the river for the few who are dedicated fishermen.
Often a great advantage about a fly fishing lodge with riding is when a husband and wife team want to vacation together, but he wants to fish and she wants to ride. It works even better when one or both of them want to combine the two sports. This can also help sooth sore riding muscles for those not used to spending all day in the saddle. Many anglers who enjoy riding find a horse a convenient way to reach remote spots. There are stocked ponds on the ranch as well where occasionally novice fishermen want to have a try at the sport. They are sometimes so impressed by how dedicated fly fishermen often are that they want to have a shot at it themselves.
Philosophically there are strong similarities in fly fishing and riding. Both require intense concentration, leaving no room for other thoughts. Both also require an intimate interaction between two living creatures. Fishing has a huge atavistic appeal from the days when we had a hunter/gatherer society. The fish are released unharmed these days, but the challenge is still there. Some don’t realize they had that instinct until they feel a fish on the other end of the line. Riding entered our scene more recently of course, but was quickly embraced by our culture as a way to enormously enhance one’s speed and strength with a willing partner.
The Bitterroot Ranch is the most convenient place to combine riding and fly fishing but another place for both is the Okavango Delta where the mighty tiger fish abound. These are perhaps the toughest fighters of all freshwater fish and worthy opponents for anyone. Good streams for trout and salmon are also to be found near all our rides in Ireland. Mozambique, near the southern tip of Africa, has a thousand miles of sparsely populated beaches and reefs near where the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic meet offering some of the best fishing in the world. It rivals Cabo San Lucas in Mexico.
