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Fly Fishing Argentina

Jan. 15-30, 2010

Our Argentina trips for 2010 will combine 8 days of fishing to the south of Bariloche, down to Rio Pico and then we'll return to Bariloche and fly even farther south, to Califate, where we will fish for our final three days at Estancia Laguna Verde and the famous Jurassic Lake for huge rainbows that average 6-12 lb.

Cost per person: $8900.00, which includes everything except your airfare from home to Buenos Aires and gratuities.

406-222-7130

georgea@yellowstoneangler.com

jamesd@yellowstoneangler.com

Don't forget to Read George's letter on Tackle, flies and gear for Argentina!

Our total package includes:

8 days fishing
All meals and Lodging (from Bariloche)
Fishing Licenses in Argentina
Fishing Licenses in Alerces National Park
Rod Fees on Arroyo Pescado Spring Creek
Rod Fees on the Gualjaina River at La Elvira
Flights from BA to Bariloche, and from Esquel back to BA. (There is a $200 allowance for each of these flights, $400 total. - if the actual cost is more (or less) we will adjust your final payment accordingly.)
All transfers and transportation from Bariloche on throughout the trip and back to Esquel.
All beverages including wine with meals other than breakfast and all liquor.

Additional Limay Camping Float:

3 extra days (2 nights) floating and camping on the Limay River (north of Bariloche)
Exclusive offer: only 4 anglers for this trip
Streamer fishing with 8 weight rods for big browns (9-15lbs.) while camping in style
Includes two nights in Bariloche (one night before and one night after)
Additional costs: $2100.00
Brown over 10 lbs: Priceless.

Not included:

Your air fare from home to Buenos Aires
Gratuities for the guides and staff at the various lodges where we'll stay. (figure about $400-$600 total)
Meals and misc. expenses in BA
First night dinner in Bariloche for Limay anglers
Ice Cream in Bolson

Deposits and Refund Policy:

Deposits required:

We require a 50% deposit upon booking, or $2900.00 for the first 8 day portion of the trip, and

$3950.00 if you are doing the whole enchilada including the Limay Medio.

Please make your check for the deposit to the Yellowstone Angler Inc. and send this to us at P.O. Box 629, Livingston, Montana 59047. I'm sorry but we cannot accept credit cards for deposits on these Argentina hosted trips.

Our refund policy:

We will refund your deposit in full if we can fill your spots on this trip with another angler or anglers. These trips are very popular and it has been easy for us to fill cancellations unless it occurs within sixty days or so of the trip. You can be assured that we'll do everything possible to fill your spot if you must cancel. We strongly suggest trip insurance which is available from your travel agent.

This run on the Rivadavia holds land locked Atlantic salmon

The Itinerary

Day 1: Fly from your home to Atlanta or Miami (or other port of entry) and on to Buenos Aires.

Depending on which port of entry you are flying from to BA, you will want to arrange for an evening flight to Buenos Aires. If you have a lot of air miles, this is a good flight to step up to Business or First Class. Get the good food and drinks and sleep in a big, reclining seat. Arrival in BA will be early, between 7-9 AM. If this is your first trip to Argentina, you may want to arrive a day or two early to enjoy one of South America's most impressive cities. We know all the hot spots and can fill you in on what to see, where to eat, and where to stay. Click on the photo above to see more about BA.

Day 2: Bariloche to Cholila and El Trebol Lodge

We will arrive in Buenos Aires at the International Airport but we'll fly to Bariloche from the Domestic Airport. You will be met outside the baggage claim at the International airport (look for a driver with your name on a sign he'll hold up). The driver may wait to pick up other members of our group or he will take you directly to the domestic terminal, where you will check in for your flight to the town of Bariloche. We'll have vouchers and tickets at the ticket counter in your name. Then we'll all meet there at our departure gate or close-by in a cafe or bar before our flight to Bariloche. Our flight to Bariloche will most likely be around 1-2 PM. We'll be flying a jet like a 737 or something similar, and the flight will take about two hours.

On our arrival in Bariloche, we'll be met by Patricio and Marcos, our guides and hosts in Argentina. Then we're off on a spectacular three hour drive through the Andes down to Cholila. We'll stop in scenic Bolson, a wonderful little mountain tourist town where we'll gas up and visit the ice cream shop, where we'll pig out on the best ice cream you've ever tasted! On the way into Cholila, we'll make another short stop to see Butch Cassiday's ranch. Minutes later we'll arrive at Marcos' El Trebol Lodge where we'll have a wonderful dinner and spend our first night.

Days 4,5,6 -Float fishing and camping on The Chubut

This river is what makes your Argentina trip different from

all the rest...... The section we'll float is exclusive to our guides only, which means this stretch of the Chubut we fish is getting fished by only throe boats one day every couple of weeks! Talk about a lack of fishing pressure - this is it.

The Chubut, a river with the flow of the Madison, is perhaps your best chance in Argentina for that 100+ fish day you've been dreaming about, and you'll have three days of hot action to get 'er done. The greatest concentration of rainbows is found on the first section, so everyone will be worn out after the first day. It's often a fish on every other cast! By the third day you will have caught so many fish that you'll be ready to kick back, smoke that big cigar, and see what flies in your box won't catch fish. You could catch a monster brown, but for the most part you'll be catching healthy rainbows in the 16 to 18 inch range with the occasional 22 incher.

One of the guides will take a gear boat ahead of us, set up our tents and warm up the water for our hot water showers. Thick, grass fed beef steaks grilled over hardwood coals and a glass of fine Malbec red wine to wash it down will help you forget all about that snow and cold back home. Man, this is living.

Read on...

Day 7: The Gualjaina on Estancia La Elvira

The Gualjaina is another exclusive stream offered only through our guides. This time however, you'll be fishing one of the largest spring creeks in central Patagonia on a private cattle ranch. You'll over 16 miles to fish to some real toads - some browns have even reached the two foot mark. And since there is hardly any fishing pressure, you can imagine what these trout do when they see a foam beetle floating down their residential lane or eddie. These fish love sipping on PMD's too, so you'll have some great dry fly fishing before you return to the ranch. When you finally get your fill of fishing, you'll get your fill of tender, roast lamb and red wine as well. The ranch gauchos here will prepare a special "asado" style barbeque that you'll remember for a long time.

Read on...

Day 8: The Arroyo Pescado

The Arroyo Pescado opens every year on January 1st, so

very few anglers will have fished this wonderful spring creek prior to our arrival. The fish will be fat and stupid. The Arroyo Pescado is famous for the terrific numbers of 18-20 inch rainbows that inhabit the creek but as we found last year, there are also some really huge rainbows and browns in some of the spring fed ponds. I caught a brown that went over 25 inches and Jeff Carder landed a brick solid 26 inch rainbow that nearly took him to the cleaners. Small nymphs were deadly sight fishing to these big fish in the crystal clear spring water. Everyone had excellent dry fly fishing, even in the wind. Rubber leg hoppers and Turk's Tarantulas in sizes 8-12 were deadly. Twitching them along with the breeze got plenty of aggressive takes. This was easy fishing with 3X tippet.

The lower section of the creek fishes more like a slough, with patches of reeds, and a size 8 multi-colored wooly bugger or black leech patterns are extremely effective. As an added bonus, there are big "Perch" in this water. They will blast a streamer, and fight like walleye. In fact they look more like a walleye than a perch. There are also some very nice brook trout in the creek. The are as vibrant as they come with thick sides and red bellies. We don't catch them every year, but they are certainly in there. Some of the biggest will be over 20 inches!

There are insect hatches of mayflies, caddis, and damsel flies to provide some good dry fly fishing on non-windy days. The spring creek is crystal clear so if you have sun the sight fishing is excellent with both nymphs and streamers.

Read on...

Day 9 :Rio Pico Lago No. 3

You might not think much of lake fishing, but this place will change your mind forever! You'll love the mountainous Patagonia setting just miles from the Chilean boarder. You'll also love the way these big rainbows and browns can light up your reel, peeling off backing faster than you ever believed possible. Using tippet lighter than 2X was a big mistake, as some of us found out. Fishing streamers, OX was a better choice, if you really wanted to land the big boys.

There are some enormous trophy fish swimming around this lovely 800+ acre lake. The guides will use boats with motors to take us to the reeds on the far side of the lake where most of the big fish hang out. few, if any kick boat enthusiasts ever make it out to this area, especially if there is any wind. You may experience first hand what the words "Patagonia Wind" really means, but it will be more than worth it. Expect plenty of 23 to 25 inch rainbows to slam your nymphs and streamers, with a very good chance for a rainbow in the 28-30 inch class. You might get the chance to land that 10lb brown on your list as well. Keep your fingers crossed for the big one and whatever you do, don't forget your camera!

Read on...

Day 10: The Rio Pico River and Spring Creek

I don't want to say we saved the best for last, but feel confident that your final fishing day will be a blast. The Rio Pico (and the spring creek that feeds it) are great streams to wrap up a week of incredible fishing. When we were there last December, the Rio Pico itself was slightly off color, but the spring creek and the outlet from Lago No. 3 were crystal clear and presented some challenging opportunities to catch big fish, both

browns and rainbows. You'll enjoy fishing for some of the most beautiful browns in the world, not to mention the view which unmistakenly belongs to Patagonia. You'll appreciate the fact that the spring creek is out of the wind and you'll love the added challenge of keeping your hooked monster out of the willows. Don't even think about using less than 2X tippet, (that is unless you don't mind crying in front your guide). Read on...

Well if you don't need a vacation from vacation at this point, you are one tough hombre. It's rare to see guides who fish such long hours with such intensity. Guiding for 10 hours a day, day after day, consistently with 110% effort? No wonder they drink maté! Lucky for you, sleeping on the ride back up to Esquel, and on the plane home will be no problema. You'll be sad to say hasta luego to the Andes and exciting waters of Patagonia, but you'll most likely be back some day. Maybe even the following year! After our afternoon flight from Esquel to Buenos Aires, we'll have time for another glass or two of Malbec wine and dinner at the International Airport before we catch our evening flight back to the States. We'll arrive early AM the next morning and connect with our flights home. You'll have the rest of the day to get home. After your friends see your pictures, they will be ready to sign up for next year too! Contact us ASAP to guarantee a spot for yourself and friends on this unbelievable trip.

Read George's letter on Tackle, flies and gear for Argentina.

Check out Jamie's photos from Argentina 2007

Visit our Fly Fishing Travel page to learn about other great destinations and hosted trips.

Please call us

with questions...

406-222-7130

Hosted Travel

Meet the guides

You are cordially invited to join us on one of the best fly fishing trips to Argentina's Patagonia.

For the past ten years we have utilized the services of Esquel Outfitters. These Argentine Outfitters have been in the fishing business for over twenty years and we have been fishing with them for the past ten years. Their experienced guides speak excellent English and are some of the hardest working guides we've ever fished with! They do everything they can to make this trip one of the best fishing trips you'll ever experience.

Great guides that really know the rivers make a huge difference but the key ingredient is the fact that over the years Patricio and Marcos have established several exclusive arrangements with landowners of some of the huge Estancias in Patagonia, and this gives them exclusive access to several of the rivers we will fish.

On one river we'll float, the Chubut, they have exclusive access to the best fifty miles of this river, which is about the size of the madison! We'll float and fish for three days and never see one other angler or boat. On the Gualjaina we'll stay at another large Estancia where they have exclusive access to 25K of water, more than anyone could fish in three days! On other streams like the Arroyo Pescado, reservations are made for the day for only our fishing party.

Having all this water and country to yourself is delightful. Getting to fish pristine rivers and streams like these, where there is little or no fishing pressure makes you think of what fishing the American West must have been like seventy five years ago!

If you have never fished Argentina, this trip is a wonderful way to sample what Patagonia's streams rivers and lakes have to offer. While we can't promise the fishing will be great all the time, (it was this past winter), we are confident you will enjoy the exciting fishing as well as the companionship with some of the finest guides and gentlemen you'll find anywhere.

These fellows are always working at securing more exclusive access to new waters, and are even exploring the idea of offering some helicopter fishing to even more remote areas in the near future. Everything comes together to make this one of the most enjoyable fly fishing trips we've ever offered.

The total package

We have put together a total package that includes just about everything other than your air fare from home to Buenos Aires. our misc. expenses and gratuities. The package includes our flights from BA to Bariloche and back from Esquel, all the guiding, lodging and meals as well as wine and liquor. It also includes our fishing licenses, Park licenses, and rod fees on the private water we'll fish.

Ladies are welcome!

We encourage ladies and couples to come along on these trips as the accommodations are excellent. Even while camping on the Chubut, we'll have hot water showers each night and plenty of privacy in spacious new tents with comfortable cots and sleeping bags.