CHICAGO — Sixteen years ago, as a recent emigree from Ecuador, Javier Guevara began his American experience by fly fishing spots near his Lincoln Park apartment.
"Just going around to the Chicago River and Lake Michigan and Navy Pier and fishing those areas," said Guevara, then 18 and now 34.
Guevara, a lifetime fly fisherman, now takes clients around the world to fly fish for tarpon in Mexico, peacock bass in the Colombian jungle and trout at 14,000 feet in the Ecuadorian Andes. Guevara's company — Ecuador Fly Fishing Tours — is strictly catch and release and costs his customers no more than $3,000 a trip, which includes everything but airfare.
"We try to find places that people have never really fished," said Guevara, who moved to Chicago to live with his brother and go to school at College of DuPage, from where he graduated with a degree in graphic art and Web design.
"Nothing to do with fishing," Guevara said, laughing.
Guevara spent four years in the city and has since moved to suburban Wheaton, where he's married and has three children: 12, 7 and 15 months.
A good portion of each trip, which last as long as 10 days, has nothing to do with fishing. Guevara immerses his clients in the chosen country's culture and spends days with local residents, sometimes living in their villages.
He said his catch-and-release mantra overseas is rarely, if ever, seen.
"When I first started putting fish back in the water, people were looking at me like I was crazy," he said. "We try to take care of the species. If we don't have the fish, we will not have fishing to do. The fish are part of our team."
Guevara also hosts tours in the Midwest, as close as Wisconsin, but nothing — yet — in Chicago.
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