About Sweetwater Travel Company
The three Vermillion brothers grew up hunting and fishing in Montana whenever possible. Sweetwater Travel provided us with the vehicle to see some of the world's greatest waters. Our travels have taken us to nearly every continent in search of some strange fish that absolutely had to be experienced. Along the road we have found some fisheries that we felt were worth investing in and working to help preserve. It should also be noted that we have run countless exploratory trips that were plain and simple an extended wild goose chase. It remains one of our specialties, but is in fact how great destinations come to be.Our first operation was Mongolia; a destination previously unknown to Western anglers. Together with Ron Meek and Hubsgul Travel, we built the first fly fishing camps for Taimen. Financing that camp, was done by selling personal vehicles etc, through client deposits and the help of our parents. During week one, we suffered floods, a near death collision with a cable on the first jet boat ascent of the Eg River, a near gas can explosion wiping our chef, a cholera epidemic, clients that hadn't ever peed outdoors and a fishery that was totally unexplored. Somehow we survived and our clients had the experience of their lives.
Mongolia taught us that running a fishing company should not be about taking the adventure out of trips so that clients received a brochure consistent program, but rather to encourage clients to enjoy the bumps and adventures of any ride to fishing in an exotic, undeveloped locale. We're not the Hilton, though we've got operations like the Dean, Royal Coachman or Mangrove Cay that rank higher on the scale of cuisine, service and comfort than any place we've ever been.
Now that we've survived those initial years, it's ok to admit we've been shot at, held up, sunk boats, pointed birds over fields of pot, fallen out of boats, been chased by wildlife, hired bi planes to transport our clients in a pinch and even had one notable pompous tv personality infect our entire bedding at an operation with little crab like things that had taken over his crotch. That's not to say our operations haven't always been safe, it's just that shit happens when you are the first to explore an area.
Everywhere we do business, we enjoy taking clients on the exploratory side of the adventure; it's a bonding experience like none other and it beats the usual fishing lodge routine: wake up, stuff your face, fish 9-5, drink and stuff your face and check your emails until you pass out. Nope. That's not our style. More like, why don't we fly jet units to Brazil and set up boats to run in an inch of water, put poling towers on them and see how far up the river we can go. Those exploration of the Agua Boa, led to development of the greatest peacock bass fishery anywhere. Fifteen years later, now marketed as the Agua Boa Lodge, that operation remains largely sold out. Why was it different? Think hundreds of shots at fish in a day up to twenty pounds in gin clear water over white sand, a staff and management team trained by Sweetwater and a design for the lodge that brought it all together.
The most notable fishing expeditions we have run are Taimen in Mongolia, Trout and Salmon in Alaska, Peacock Bass in the Brazilian Amazon, Payara in Venezuela, Dorado in Bolivia, Atlantic Salmon in Russia, Steelhead in British Columbia, Trout in New Zealand, Ecuador, Chile, and Argentina, and Bonefish, Tarpon, and Snook in Florida, the Bahamas, Mexico, Nicaragua, Tahiti and Costa Rica.
We hope that you will consider our signature Sweetwater Travel Destinations or call us to help plan your next fishing trip. If we plan your trip It will cost you nothing, but more to the point it will mean that we help find the right destination for your trip. It is our view as a company that if we take care in making sure we undersell and over provide that our customers will see the value in our services and appreciate our destinations.
Please call 888.347.4286 or email fish@sweetwatertravel.com.
We would be happy to talk with you.