Three happy Fly Fishing Patagonia anglers reflect on their 2 week adventure:
Today is sadly our last day at Las Buitreras, fishing the mighty Rio Gallegos river for sea run brown trout. Our tri-nations team (a NZ, a South African and Australian) has had an unbelievable week here, following a stellar week at Lago Strobel ( aka Jurassic Lake). Everything we have read and heard about both of these places is completely true. In fact, its better. This has been our fist time to fish in Argentina and THE trip of a lifetime.
The Fishing
Jurassic Lake – its a mission even getting to this remote corner of Patagonia and as expected there is lots of wind and lots of fast furious and massive rainbow trout. We fished hard at times, relaxed at others and didn’t keep count but easily caught hundreds of fish…..each. Biggest fish 21 lb (two of), many over 15lb, average probably 8lb. Jurassic is the the place to go to cure any big fish lust.
Rio Gallegos – In a word: Heaven! Good water levels, stable weather (even warm) and a fresh run of fish saw us time our trip perfectly. That said, this is challenging fishing and sea run trout are notoriously unpredictable…just when you think you have cracked the code, the next day is like fishing an entirely new river. Nervous about double handed rods (none of us have used them before), the amazing guides had us casting them and catching fish within a morning. Others successfully managed single handed rods but a double is definitely an advantage. The tri-nations team caught over 30 silver chromed beauties, with 80+ fish landed (and released) by 8 anglers during the week. Plus many pretty resident brown trout as welcome by-catch. Biggest fish 23lb with two others over 20lb and numerous well in excess of 10lb. These are the best looking fish ever and they fight like hell!
The People – The legendary guides, camp/lodge staff and friendly fellow angling guests (many of whom visit Las Buitreras year after year) add so much to the experience. One story sums it all up: on my first day at Las Buitreras, a thoughtful guide handed me a radio when I chose to fish during the siesta break (we typically fish over 11 hours per day with a siesta in the middle). He showed me where to fish, instructing me to call him if I hook a fish. As it turned out, I radioed him within the hour and two minutes later, he bounded over the fence and launched himself into the river, waders barely on, just in time to net my 15lb chrome hen. He still had bed hair! All that after teaching me how to use the double hander just an hour beforehand!
Now thats what I call going above and beyond!
Cheers
Josh
