Cal-culated Mentorship

Although I was previously aware of his starring role in the Tackle Tour empire, I first met Dennis “Cal” Shew at the 2007 ICAST show in Las Vegas, at which time I also took possession of a coveted yellow JDM Daiwa Pixy finesse baitcasting reel. Dennis immediately offered to upgrade the gears on that reel to turn it into a “Pixzilla” and I knew that I’d found someone with a whole lot of knowledge who shared my values.

At that point I’d been to Costa Rica and Alaska (both 12 years prior), and two years later I’d begin my obsession with El Salto, but I hadn’t really caught the fishing travel bug. Part of it was finances, but it was also the fact that I didn’t have anyone to guide me. Consequently, when I saw the pictures from Cal’s 2010 trip to the Amazon, I knew I’d found someone with mentorship potential.

Fortunately, he was going back to the Amazon in 2011, and there was space for two of the Robbins crew on that trip. I knew that if it was Dennis-approved, it was going to be exceptional, and indeed it was. The trip was led by Steve Yatomi of Adventure Travel Alliance, with whom we’ve now been to Brazil twice, plus a three-week trip to Africa. In many respects, Steve has become my global fishing travel guru. That’s the benefit of finding travel mentors – they typically provide more access to a vast wealth of human resources.

With the rise of social media, it’s even easier than ever to find people to help, although you do have to be wary of people with something to sell or something to gain. Make sure that you take everything with a grain of salt, and also find mentors who share your tastes and budget. For example, if you scrimp and save for each trip, and have a friend who will only tolerate bespoke experiences, you may not be on the same wavelength. If you weigh 500 pounds and require an oxygen tank, your tastes might not be the same as someone who prefers wilderness experiences with long hikes into and out of the fishing zone.

An example of this came during the trip Hanna and I took to Zambia (with Steve Yatomi) in 2016. We stayed at sister lodges Chiawa Camp and Old Mondoro Bush Camp on the Lower Zambezi River. Although both were luxurious and marvelous, the former was a bit less “rustic” than the latter. It had wi-fi and both hot and cold running water (the latter is of utmost importance when you’re looking at 105-110 degree temps every day). At Old Mondoro, they had a gravity-fed water system which at its coolest produced lukewarm water.

There was a French family staying at Old Mondoro at the same time we were, and the mother railed against the conveniences at Chiawa. In particular, she seemed upset about the presence of wi-fi (although she pronounced it “wee-fee”). She’d been traveling to bush camps for decades, and valued them as an escape from being connected. While we were thrilled to have both experiences, she clearly preferred one over the other. If we’d only been able to visit one, and we’d asked her prior to the trip which to try, we might have gotten a heavily-biased answer that was wrong for us.

The lesson is to gather as much information and guidance as you can, but always be aware of who it is coming from.

Find your Yatomi.

Find your Dennis.