Argentina Trip Report 2010

By Doug Mcknight

Well, another winter is halfway through and I just returned from another incredible trip to Argentina.  Fishing was outstanding, just as it was last year.  We had exceptional company and guides, food and wine, and went to bed every night exhausted from fishing hard.  Our weather was well…unsettled to say the least, what do you expect on a hosted trip from a shop that is headquartered in Livingston, one of the windiest places in the Lower 48 states?  I swear the wind follows me, especially when I go on a highly anticipated trip like this one to Patagonia.  Although the famous Patagonian winds made casting and positioning boats difficult, it did nothing to slow down the fishing, which was at times absurd!  Below is a day-by-day report of our hosted trip.

Days 1-3:  Chubut River “No Time to Deslime!”

From what I remember from last year’s first day of a 3-day float on the Chubut River, we caught huge numbers of fish from 10-20”.  Would anything change this year?  After the first 1/4 mile of river the answer was no.  None of us bothered counting numbers, but the first day of this magnificent 3-day camping float each of us put some ridiculous numbers of fish to the net.  I remember distinctly dropping a streamer into a small opening into the willows and watched two medium sized fish racing at mach 2 to intercept my streamer only to run and get out of the way of 3 pound rainbow who had the same idea!  I talked to one of the guides about a fish count per mile on the Chubut, they estimate it somewhere to be between 3000-4000 fish per mile, this in a river that runs between 500-1000 CFS.  There are literally fish everywhere you look, and these fish only see around 30 anglers a year.  Needless to say they are not hard to catch.  For me the coolest thing about the Chubut, besides insane action, deluxe riverside camping, beautiful riverside scenery, most of the bigger fish on the Chubut really like to hang out in skinny water and you often see these fish clobber your fly.  I can’t tell you how many times we pulled big fish out of a foot of water or less, the sight fishing on this river is simply top notch.  On day two, I tried my best to count how many doubles Willy Palmer, my fishing partner for the trip, and I had.  I lost count before lunch somewhere in the high teens I think…After day two and three, if your head isn’t cleansed from all negative thoughts, there may be something seriously wrong with you.

Days 3-6: Gualjaina River & Arroyo Pescado “Streamers on spring creeks, are you sure?”                           

I love fishing out of a boat, but three days of wade fishing at Arroyo Pescado and the Gualjina River had us all giddy with excitement.  We spent the next three days walking from spot to spot on these two incredible spring creeks.  Each of these creeks, despite there close proximity to each other, are really quite different in every respect, except how well the fish like my Home Invader Streamer as everyone had some hellacious action on this baby trout imposter.  The Gualjaina is a special place.  The best way to describe the fishing on this creek is it feels like you’re the first person to ever fish it, the Rainbows and Browns that call this place home are among the most aggressive fish I have ever encountered.  We caught fish of all sizes, but perhaps the most memorable fish are the bigger fish in the 18-21” range hiding in fast, shallow slots between the weed beds.  The takes in these spots have the tendency to make people yell out loud!  Our accommodations and hosts at Estancia La Elvira were excellent again, and we all very much enjoyed spending a few nights at this wonderful working cattle and sheep ranch. 

Arroyo Pescado was a real treat this year, we caught and landed some exquisitely beautiful and large fish this year on this famous private fishery.  All of us landed fish in the six pound range, these are big, strong and athletic fish that challenge your casting and fish fighting abilities on a this wide, crystal clear creek.  We had good weather here with few clouds and lots of sun, making it easy to spot these beasts at longer distances.  We also had some calm conditions, but also dealt with heavy winds at times.  We never had great dry fly fishing on either day, but we did manage to get a few of these oversized Rainbows to come up and slurp a Hopper off the surface, I can’t imagine what it would be like for all of these fish in the 3-6 pound range to get keyed on Hoppers.  The streamer fishing was epic both days, we each had multiple fish in the 21-24” range each day.  The violent water displacement associated with these large fish eating a small streamer in skinny water is unforgettable.  Seeing large, often multiple bow wakes charging around the vicinity of your streamer make your adrenal gland work overtime on Arroyo Pescado.  When the grab comes, these leopard spotted tanks will work over your tackle and test the drag on your reels, and your ability to keep them out of the weeds. 

Days 7-8:  Lago Tres’: “Not a place to dangle your hands or feet in the water”

The Rio Pico area of Patagonia, was the place that I was looking forward to fishing the most on this trip.  Last year, I saw and experienced first hand what this area is all about, a shot at some of the biggest and baddest trout in the world.  Unfortunately, the dirt road to the Rio Pico River, Pampas River, and the spring creek was a muddy mess and a few vehicles were badly stuck on this nasty 6 mile road to access this confluence of three exceptional waters.  It could be days to get the vehicles out, so we opted for another day on Lake number 3, which is one of the premier Stillwater fisheries on planet earth.  These broad shouldered Rainbows and Browns average 3-6 pounds and often reach double digits, landing one of these giants is a different story no matter how heavy the tackle you are using.   Typically, a day on Lago Tres’ is good for a few fish, but very large on the average and each one is memorable, but a few of the guys in the group had their “Mojo” working and landed over a dozen of these fish each day.  The hot number was fishing a #12 Copper John on 1X tippet on an eight weight with a sinking line, with the weak link between these white hot fish and you, a small nymph hook.  We all had numerous encounters with fish that would take you deep into the backing and the strain of the fish along with all of the line in the water, would cause these hooks to open.  We also fished some larger Dragonfly nymphs with great results, along with some streamers on certain areas of the lake.  Both days there was a lot of chatter on the Radios between the guides sharing the memorable catches, we had hit this lake on two great days.

 That afternoon, I had one of those “Oh S#$!” experiences that only happen once in a great while, unless your in Rio Pico, where they seem to happen with shocking regularity.  Towards the end of the day, we began drifting down the lake towards the take out, right through some of the best Brown trout habitat on the lake.  Everything was setup just right, lower afternoon light, a good breeze and three foot swells, we got out of the reeds and slowly drifted into a rough rocky bank with huge boulders submerged in 5-6’ of water.  It looked like the perfect place for “Biggornia”, as our guides would say, to lay up and wait for something to make a mistake.  This was going to be a one shot deal, and I waited patiently the whole day for a shot at walking a streamer through this very rough neighborhood.  First fish on a streamer, a 20” 4 pound Brown that hit the fly with a solid thump that I thought was the bottom.  Another 75 yards down the bank I will never forget, I laid a long downwind cast into the rocky swells and stripped a small Home Invader back towards me with a stop and go retrieve.  Normally, I always bring my streamer up to the surface where I can see if anything is following it, as big fish will sometimes follow a streamer quite a distance.  On this cast I didn’t, I wanted to get my fly back out there immediately, so I yanked about 18’ of line and leader out of the water, only to have a Huge colored up Brown explode off of the bottom creating a massive boil on the surface a mere 15’ away.  I immediately yelled as I stared at this monster looking desperately for the meal that just waltzed through it’s living room.  Marcos, our guide went bananas as he saw what was happening just after I did.  I quickly dropped the streamer right back in, the Brown heard it drop and with one strip, he charged and engulfed the streamer into it’s huge mouth, just feet from the boat.  All hell breaks loose with yelling and screaming, after I drove the hook home and I got tight to this monster.  Believe it or not, this is just the start of the “Fire Drill” that would ensue.  As I gradually wore this huge bulldogging Brown down, I told Marcos to grab my large McLean folding net, he unfolded it and leaned over the side of the raft to get ready to take a shot at netting this pig.  I picked the fish’s head up and began sliding the nearly spent monster towards him.  You almost never net a fish like this on the first try, but that didn’t stop Marcos from making a huge lunge towards it, he went so far he didn’t stop until he was completely underwater!  I nearly fell over with laughter and excitement, he then surfaced and handed me the net where I scooped the spent monster, then trying to cover up my laughter as best as I could asked him if he was OK.  He was soaked, cold, and a little embarrassed, but fine and we spent the next few minutes crying with laughter while taking some pictures and reviving the fish.  I have been fortunate enough to be around a few great and dedicated guides, and Marcos, along with his entire staff, are simply among the best I have ever been around.

Day two on Lago Tres’ would not be a let down, as even bigger fish were eating on this day.  I hooked 3 fish before lunch, saw lots of backing, yet didn’t land a fish and was still happy.  The hook pulled on a Rainbow in the 30” class a short distance from the boat, but we got a pretty good look at it, the rest of the group picked up right where they left off the day before, picking up multiple bruisers.  The afternoon streamer fishing produced for me an even bigger brown than the previous day, a beautifully put together, 30” 10 pound plus brown fell again to a small home invader!

Days 9-11: Jurassic Lake: “Redefining the term HARDCORE”:

During the previous week, all of the members of the group who had signed up for the final three days of fishing anxiously awaited the highly touted Jurassic Lake and Estancia Laguna Verde.  We all saw pictures of enormous Rainbows, well up into the double digits, and were excited to get down there and see what this place was all about.  We were warned about what it takes to get to the lodge, a long tough drive through empty country.  How bad was the drive, I can say unequivocally that the last 60 km of the drive, which took almost 3 hours, is the worst road I have ever been on, and we found out what those grab handles in trucks are really for as we drove on a jeep trail hand cut through an endless lava field.  The talk in the vehicle changed from I can’t wait to get to the lodge and drink a few cold beers, to talk of Jack Daniels and other harder drinks, then finally prescription drugs.  We made it in to the lodge about 7pm, we all felt like kissing the ground, we enjoyed a great meal with the staff and guides at the wonderful lodge at Estancia Laguna Verde.

 We woke up the next morning, had breakfast and made our way down to Jurassic Lake, the weather was OK cool, and windy up to 30 mph.   We separated into 2 groups, Willy and I went down the Rocky wind and wave exposed left bank, while Kevin and Brent took up residence in the protected Bay where we drove in on ATVs.  We landed a few fish before lunch, my first one was a mere 30” 9 pounder!  Willy and I leapfrogged each other down the rocky bank, wading out precariously to large boulders off the bank in order to get our flies into deeper water.  I have never felt so under-gunned with an eight weight.  We had some good sight fishing during the morning, seeing large Rainbows cruise just off the bank.  During the afternoon, it got windier.  I went around on the other side of the bay to the other exposed shoreline and had a few takes and missed them all, until I connected with the biggest trout I have ever hooked.  After a short, but intense fight on 01X fluorocarbon I landed a huge male Rainbow of about 14 pounds.  This was what we came here for, and I am glad I got this fish because if the weather wasn’t rough enough, it was about to get really gnarly!  That night at the lodge, the wind gained momentum as a cold front came through, we went to bed that night wondering how we were going to fish the next day.

As dawn came the entire lodge was moaning with vibrations from hurricane force winds.  As we drank coffee, we watched water being violently sucked off Laguna Verde, a smaller lake in front of the lodge.  No one was in a rush to get down to the lake, but when we did get there the protected bay was still fishable, and we fished it all day and managed a few but big Rainbows.  We took a walk away from the protected bay, and tried fishing in 5-6’ surf and sustained 55 mph winds, but it was just too much.  We returned to the protected bay and fished out the day.

Miraculously, the wind died down over night back down to windy but doable, but the fish were not really on the bite, likely due to the front and pressure change, but at least we could get around on the lake and fish it.  We managed a handful of great fish that day, but our hopes of catching a pile of huge fish were waning, just not in the cards this time.  But every member of the group managed to land the biggest trout of their lives and the guides and staff of Estancia Laguna Verde Lodge were top notch and made our stay very comfortable.

I would like to thank the guys who signed up for the trip, Willy Palmer, Brent Nickerson, Kevin Wong, and Dan and Tom Tisone, your company was great, thank you!  I would also like to thank George, for allowing me to fish in Argentina for 2 weeks, Mike Nelson of Patagonia Fishing Company, and finally the guides and staff of Esquel Outfitters and Estancia Laguna Verde for taking such good care of us.