ESTANCIA MARIA BEHETY LODGE
&
LA VILLA DE MARIA BEHETY LODGE
Feb 25- Mar 4, 2017
Estancia Maria Behety Lodge Report, Feb 25 – Mar 4, 2017
End of the week of February 25 – March 04, 2017 here at Estancia Maria Behety. Fishing was not easy for us, as unstable weather and mostly east wind and rain. All the guests worked very hard to catch fish. The river is dropping a little every day and clearing up, with good water visibility. We had some good sessions fishing Sun-ray shadows on top. 64 fish were landed, with 10 fish over 15 pounds and 3 fish over 20.
Top Rods were Kent Brodie and Susan O´Neil. Kris Timken landed the fish of the week a 22 pounder.
Water Conditions:
Water color and visibility: Water is getting very clear again, visibility 3 – 4 feet. Water temperature: 40°F – 56°F
Weather Conditions:
Wind speed ranges through the week: Very unstable weather. We had just one day with normal wind from west, it blew mostly from east and sometimes from south and north. On Wednesday a west wind win blew up to 40 mph.
Air temperature ranges through the week: 31°F – 68°F
Fishing Conditions:
Flies that are working the best: We fished mostly big flies including, leeches, intruderes, big tube flies, Skagit minnows, and Paul Millers. By the end of the week we used smaller flies. Medium size buggers, Tdf Taxi, and Yuk Bugs. We landed some fish on top with Sunra yShadows and some skaters.
Fly lines (tips, heads, lengths, densities, etc.:
Light tips and Scandi heads for low water condition together with Poly-leaders and Spey Versi-leaders.
Heavy tips and Skagit heads for high water conditions with different lengths of T-14 and T-17. We also used T-20 in some pools.
Short leaders for heavy tips, 3 to 5 feet and long leaders for lights tips, 10 to 15 feet.
Fish Catch Statistics:
Number of anglers for the week: 12
Total number of fish landed for the week: 64
Weight of the biggest fish: 22 pounds
Number of fish landed over 15 pounds: 10
Number of fish landed over 20 pounds: 3
Notable Catches:
Kris Timken landed a 22 pounder.
Ted Reznik landed a 21 pounder.
Jordan Brodie landed a 21.5 pounder..
By Federico Molinolo – Head guide @ Estancia Maria Behety Lodge
La Villa de Maria Behety Lodge Report, Feb 25 – Mar 4, 2017
The fishing for week number 9 was good, despite the challenging weather and river conditions. We landed 82 fish, 30 of which were over 15 pounds and 6 over 20 pounds. The average weight was 12.5 pounds, another great average – typical for the season.
We had a great group of people with us again this week, friends and longtime guests. Keith and Jean Howman were here once again; always a pleasure…
We had dirty water all week; however we took a lot of fish on top with floating lines. Mostly we fished heavy sink tips and big flies, which together made for difficult casting.
Most of the fish were in the lower and middle part of the river, we didn’t get many fish in the upper part.
Top rod of the week was Jean Howman with 18 fish on the net, the biggest 20 pounds.
Robert Prentice landed the biggest fish of the week at 24 pounds.
Water Condition:
Water color and visibility: dirty water all week, however it started clearing on Thursday.
Water temperature: 7⁰ – 13⁰ Celsius (45⁰ – 55⁰) Fahrenheit.
Water Level:
Higher then January, but the river is at a very good water level, may be same level than November.
Weather Conditions:
Wind speed ranges: The wind blows northwest as usual, it wasn’t so strong.
Air temperature ranges: 2⁰ – 14⁰ Celsius (35⁰ – 57⁰) Fahrenheit
We had heavy rains through the week which made the river increase in level.
Fishing Conditions:
Flies that are working the best: Big flies for the last hour: Leeches, big tube flies.
The best flies of the week were intruders and chartreuse a leech.
Fly lines (tips, heads, lengths, densities, etc.):
Skagit heads with different lengths of T-14, 17, 20
Floating lines worked well and, we got some fish on top with plastic tubes, up to 15 pounds. We used heavy sink tips, even T-20, up to 15 feet.
Length and strength of tippet and leaders: 3 to 6 feet, 12 to 15 pounds.
Fish Catch Statistics:
Number of anglers for the week: 6
Total number of fish landed for the week: 82
Weight of the biggest fish: 24 pounds.
Number of fish landed over 15 pounds: 30
Number of fish landed over 20 pounds: 6
Notable Catches: We land the same fish twice in 10 minutes; a 20 pounds female.
By Diego Motter – Head guide @ La Villa
