I love rock-hopping and chasing wild trout under the canopy—it’s one of the many visceral experiences that fly fishers can collect over time spent afield. For me, chasing wild brook trout in cold, clear Appalachian waters is among the finest of times spent with a fly rod in hand.
When I first saw the video above, I was reminded of those days spent in Shenandoah National Park, miles from the road on the slopes of the mountain, hunting for trickles of trout water and reveling the chance to catch wild trout amid this old-America splendor. But this video is a little special. It’s not about Appalachia. Or chasing wild cutthroats in the shaded creeks of the Rockies.
This video is about chasing wild trout—some of prettiest little rainbows you’ll ever see—in the mountainous, high-elevation jungles of Costa Rica.
That’s right. The tropical central American nation of Costa Rica.
Certainly, trout aren’t the fish you think of when you think of toting a fly rod to this warm-weather country. You think of offshore billfish and inshore monsters like roosterfish and jack crevalles. But wily little rainbows in jungle plunge pools? Who knew?
Well, now, you do. And so do I.
— Chris Hunt