Text by Mary Peachin with photos by Suzie Peachin
Vol. 29/30, No.12/01
September/October (30 years), 2025
If you have been reading Peachin.com for the past 29 years, you’ll recall many exciting fly and offshore fishing adventures. There is a single commonality: releasing the fish and concerns about conservation. Refreshing memories, you might recall my adventures that included fly fishing for mako shark in San Diego, salmon fishing in both Alaska and British Columbia (sometimes surrounded by grizzly bears), offshore fishing for blue fin tuna (prized as sushi), triple hookups for Guatemala sailfish, panga riding the surf in Zihuatanejo for roosterfish, overnight boat rides in San Diego for Pacific albacore.
There was line fishing for piranha in the Amazon. I took a jaw to my dentist requesting similar teeth. Yes, there have been a few exceptions when I eaten the fish: Dorado (mahi- mahi), and even a pompano. I released the trout and the salmon.
The experience of being in the outdoors, wading or floating a stream, enjoying the sighting of whales, dolphin, sharks, and turtles is exciting. We’re not talking about standing on a pier, but we’ve done that as well.
Daughter Suzie has become a real fly-fishing champion, a three-time winner of the International Women’s Fishing Association Arostegui award for trout releases. In 2024, when Suzie was told that she had the point count to win the award, but was short 10 rainbow of the 4 required trout species, trout season was over, lodges were closed. She flew from Portland to Cody, Wyoming. She connected with her longtime guide Chad Olsen in Cody to fish the Shoneshone River. In 2 days, braving snow and rain, Suzie released more than 100 trout including the required 10 rainbow, and enough brown trout to garner a second award for brown trout.
The past three summers, Suzie has included her nephew (my grandson) Ben on her Montana river float trips with Chad. At 17, he’s quite the fly fisher.
More recently, Ben’s brother Zachary, a junior at the University of Wisconsin took a quick break between final exams to meet us in Boca Grande, Florida joining us for tarpon and snook action. Releasing three tarpon and multiple snook, Zachary earned his fishing credentials.
Salmon fishing in British Columbia and Alaska have proved successful, I can’t say the same about tiger fishing in Tanzania. Rooster fishing in Zihuatanejo is a great experience, but now sail fishing in Guatemala and Panama, where the fish are protected from longlining, has won my attention.
Stay tuned, the Peachin family likes to release fish, and there will be more adventures in the future.