The DrakeCast #65: A Flyfishing Trip Derailed by War

Alex Gonsiewski is a flyfishing guide in Oregon, where he targets trout and summer steelhead on the Deschutes River, summer steelhead on the John Day, and winter steelhead on the North Oregon coast. Between rainbow runs, Alex hosts angling trips around the world. He’s taken clients to Mexico, Belize, Bolivia, Alaska, Christmas Island, and Puerto Rico.

In 2023, Alex and a group of clients flew to Sudan for nine days of fishing on the Red Sea’s Nubian Flats. Unfortunately, while Alex and company were on the water, the country fell into a vicious civil war that has since claimed the lives of 150,000 people and displaced more than thirteen million.

Below are some choice quotes from Alex.

A bird’s eye view of some of the most productive flats in the world.

“The impetus of this trip [to Sudan] was a client of mine who we had a day on the coast. He hooked three winter steelhead. We had a little bit of a celebratory drink or two at the end of the day, maybe three. And over the course of a couple hours of enjoying the fact that we’d had such a good day on the water, he was the first one to say yes. And then the dominoes started to fall after that. The other guys, just guys that I knew that would enjoy the trip and all guys that I trusted that if things went awry. I never expected this to happen…”

“Day three was when everything started to click. The guys were starting to get their eyes. The weather had stabilized. The fish were happy. We wailed on them on day three. We were starting to be like, Okay, we understand why we’re here. So day four, we came back to the boat at the end of the day. Everybody’s in a great mood. And I had a Garmin inReach. And I had some messages from my girlfriend Olivia informing us that fighting had broken out between the RSF and the military in Khartoum.”

Make sure this man does not run out of cigarettes.

“I’ve never smoked a cigarette in my life. I’ve had one or two cigars, maybe a spliff or two, but never a cigarette. Never wanted to smoke a cigarette, but I’ll never forget this image of James (the head guide) on the sat phone just smoking cigarette after cigarette after cigarette. And sitting there watching him and being like, I want one of those right now. I think this could drive me to smoking, like there’s something about this anxiety that I think that would help with. But I also feel like if James runs out of cigarettes, we’re not getting out of this country. And so I am going to refrain from smoking one of the cigarettes and I’m gonna make sure that everybody else gives James some cigarettes so that we get out of the country.”

The hookah lounge, their home for the 3.5 day escape-by-sea from Sudan.

To find out more about Alex and see his stunning photography, you can visit his website: www.alexgonsiewski.com/ or find him on IG: @alexgonsiewski

This episode is made possible thanks to generous support from the folks at Patagonia Fly Fishing, who are celebrating the launch of their improved Swiftcurrent Waders.

For more information on the waders, and how you can win a trip to Alaska with Frigate Travel, follow this link!