Rio Grande Fishing Report, January 19 – 26, 2013
Kau Tapen Lodge, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina
This was another great week at Kau Tapen lodge and a lot of fresh powerful fish are in the river, which has a perfect water flow, temperature and clarity. So perfect fishing condition, great fishing and a nice group of people! What else to make this week so special!
We had for our 4th week a special group of people from U.S.A.who have been coming at Kau Tapen since more than 20 years! They like to have the whole lodge for themselves and they were 6 people, all using single guide and single beat, which is a great option as it is very productive!
The water level and river conditions were ideal at the start of the week. However, when we started (Saturday and Sunday) the week the weather was very hot, too hot for sea trout fishing (up to 27°C!!) and warmed up to much the water ( up to 17-18°C) putting down the fish for almost 2 days.
Then on Monday we came back to normal condition, with windy days, cooler weather and better water temperature from 11 to 13°C which is the optimum for sea trout.
When the water cooled off, the fish were present everywhere in Kau Tapen water both on the upper and lower beats. On Monday the fish were jumping, rolling and boiling everywhere! It was something to see so many fish in the pools! We had excellent fishing catching a very good amount of fish per rod per day this week and a total number of catch impressive for such a small group of people. It hasn’t happen since few years and our guests delighted the fishing, using light rigging and small flies and were very pleased to experiment the river in such condition.
Fishing full floating line or floating line with an intermediate tip was the norm, ended by along leader and a green machine, rubber legs nymphs or small nymphs, changing to a dark woolly bugger and leech for the last hour of the day. The Sunray shadow worked too in some condition, on fast runs or when nothing was working!
I would say that 95% of the fish or more were very fresh and more than anything very strong. We were very surprised to see how those medium size fish (7 to 14 pounders) were fighting as they took so much line and were jumping so many time that it was like catching a 20 pounder fish each time! Strong takes, and boil at the flies was common, and it was very enjoyable to both guides and guests.
Besides the fishing our guests enjoyed having the lodge for themselves and we looked after them very well, having a lot of attention and great service as usual at Kau Tapen lodge. A lot of fishing stories obviously and it’s always great to receive Randolf group, who knows so well the people that have worked, fished or guide and some Rio Grande legend.
Both staff and guides worked very hard to please our guests and give them the best experience possible. It is for sure some of the reason our guests keep coming back and some for 10, 15 or more than 20 years! The Rio Grande fishery is something else, which you can not find anywhere else in the world. Adding great Argentine quality of hospitality and service, with a great team of guides, and you have a top 5 quality lodge, world renown!
This group will come back next year as usual for the same week and they are already looking forward to it after that very good week of fishing and moments on the river and at the lodge.
The moon is getting full this week and we will have a very big tide as well which should bring another great number of fresh fish to the river ready for a hard fight!
We will be there to catch them and have great moments on this outstanding fishery that is the Rio Grande!
We are looking forward to having you here and be a part of Kau Tapen 2013 season.
See you soon,
By Jean Baptiste Vidal
Kau Tapen lodge, Fishing Manager
