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Jack Montague Wolfglen Fly Fishing School
29320 Pine Villa Circle Punta Gorda, Fla. 33982
JACK@WOLFGLEN.NET
Check out the Woflgen Videos or the Wolfglen photography
Well, just taking a few minutes here to bring you up to date on the progress at Wolf Glen Fly Fishing Schools in Punta Gorda. As you probably know, Hurricane Charley did a number on the community in 2002 and there are still thousands of homes with blue tarps over them, hundreds of commercial buildings which have been abandoned because of the short comings of the insurance industry and the unwillingness of government to make them pay up.
Here at Wolf Glen, we lost about 100 of the big trees, over 2,000 orchids along the nature trails and total destruction of the inside of the lodge due to the negligence of the contractors for Suwanee River Log homes, the refusal of Suwannee River Homes to make their contractors come back and fix their poor work, the negligence of Universal Property Insurance Company to send adjustors (they didnt even send an adjustor to the site until 8 months after and would pay only a fraction of the cost of rebuilding, not even covering the cost of materials)
Interior walls are having to be redone or replaced, floors, ceilings redone, building new cabinets, etc., but were fighting the odds and rebuilding. It seems that we would have been better off if we had no insurance, as FEMA wont help people who had any insurance even if the insurance companies default. And the apparently arent any programs available to help small businesss get back on track. (SBA said that my disabilities suffered in the storm and earlier ones made me a bad risk for a SBA loan).
Hey, were resilient and will get through this. However, repairs are progressing slowly, but Wolf Glen is open for lessons on a private lesson basis. The nature trails are being replanted: When finished, there will be a total of about 6,000 feet around the ponds and through the palmettos, pines and oaks.
The fishing has been fantastic. There are plenty of fish up to 6 pounds which can be taken on dry flies. Last month, I caught and released a blue tilapia 28 long and about 12 pounds. 5 and 6 pounders are very common.
We have added a bubbler system to the ponds (3 ponds, the largest 400 feet in length) which permits teaching of dry fly trout techniques. Thousands of immersed flowering plants (duck potato, blue pickerel weed, Florida Swamp lilies, water lilies, spatterdock and canna lilies have been planted around the ponds creating a spending fishing environment when they are in bloom.
The fly tying room is still under re construction, but the art studio is almost restored and fly tying lessons can be conducted there.
Wolf Glen is easy to find, directions are easy to remember if you think of the three sevens;
Take I SEVEN-ty five to Punta Gorda.
Take US SEVEN-teen north
SEVEN miles where you will see a sign for Hudson Airfield on the right.
Look SEVEN hundred feet to the left and you will see the log home.
(You will have to take the next U turn and come back to Pine Villa Circle, look for the yellow sign, WOLF GLEN at 29320 Pine Villa Circle.)
If you are coming from the north and want to bypass the traffic mess around Sarasota, take the scenic route of SR 70 or 72 to Arcadia and then south of US 17 to the Charlotte/Desoto line. Pine Villa Circle and Wolfglen is just 1.3 miles past the county line on the right, the first street after the Peace River Fish Camp.
We are still keeping private lessons affordable. We know that lessons at $75 to $100 an hour do not allow the average wage earner to get enough instruction to become a truly proficient caster, so they remain at $30 an hour for one or two persons; $40 an hour for 4 and $50 an hour for six students.
There is no charge for nature and photography tours if you make an appointment first.
Look to our website for photos of our bird and other wildlife. We even have an occasional eagle and bobcat drop by during lessons. Meet Igor the wood stork, Robert Bird (after the Senator with the white coat and Fred the blue heron after Senator Fred Thompson) who are almost always here looking for a free handout of tilapia fingerlings.
Yes, Brutus the gator will pose for you at a respectful distance for those timid of heart.
We go through hundreds of pounds of food for the fish and animals to keep them happy for your enjoyment.
Of course, the birds available for photo shoots vary from season to season, but a partial list includes:
Wood storks, blue herons, Great and snowy egrets, little blue herons, anhingas, mallards and wood ducks, black vultures, ospreys, (once in a while a bald eagle), cardinals, towhees, blue jays, kill deer, screech owls (have a family now living in the barn loft), red breasted and pileated wood peckers, Eurasian and turtle doves.
After all, how many fly fishing schools in Florida offer real live fish on retainer for your angling pleasure? Come and learn our five day system for becoming a truly proficient fly caster and use our casting simulator for building muscle memory.
The website is still under partial construction, but some streaming video is already on it (Hey, I'm of the old school and a lot of this computer stuff is still Greek to me, but there is video of the five axioms of casting and the five day plan for better casting as well as video and stills of Wolf Glen, the nature trails and birds.)
Contact us at Jack@wolfglen.net or phone at 941 639-4007 or 276 2391 if that line is in use.
The best to you in your fly fishing adventures this coming year...
Jack Montague
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