Due to the Covid-19 pandemic we are currently in a holding pattern on booking trips. If you
are interested in joining this trip please call James at the shop for more details: 406-222-7130
Included: 8 full days of fishing, accommodations, and meals, beverages including beer and wine, transfers between the airport and hotel in Bariloche (or Esquel depending where we fly into), guided fishing, fishing license.
Not Included: International airfare, domestic airfare (from Buenos Aires to Bariloche or Esquel), meals in Buenos Aires, Bariloche/Esquel, airport transfers (from the international airport to the domestic airport and vice-versa upon your return if needed), fishing equipment, hard alcohol, and guide gratuities. Also not included (but recommended) are trip insurance and global rescue.
Deposit Information: Half the balance is due to reserve a spot. The full amount is due 2 months prior to your trip.
Join us for a real adventure next winter in the wilds of Argentina, catching big browns, rainbows, and brook trout from some of Argentina’s finest rivers, spring creeks, and lakes! There is no better way to beat the cold weather than to head south for a week or two… way south!
This will be our eighth trip fishing with Esquel Outfitters. Although new outfitters have set up camp in the Esquel region, Esquel Outfitters remains the only outfitter that can book camping trips on the Chubut river, as well as the only outfitter who has private access to a large section of the Gualjaina Spring Creek. This equates to over 80 miles of exclusive private water that is only fished by Esquel Outfitters! Even better, they rest these fisheries appropriately, so the fish are always fresh and never pounded unlike many privately managed streams and lakes in Montana.
From our experience, these are some of the hardest working guides on the planet, much less in Argentina. They are up early in the morning and working pretty much until midnight. No siestas here. Since it stays light out for so long, many days we’ll be fishing 8-10 hours, and even 10-12 hours if you feel up to it. The guides all speak excellent English and are great anglers themselves, making it easy to learn new tricks and become a better angler, all while fishing some of the most beautiful places in Argentina.
If this was a trip to Montana, you’d be picked up at the airport by the guides, then taken to fish the Yellowstone, the Paradise Valley Spring Creeks, the Missouri, a private lake, plus 3 days camping/fishing on a privately owned Beaverhead. It would also be like fishing these Montana rivers, lakes, and streams 100 years ago with far less fishing pressure and in general, bigger fish.
Since we are moving from spot to spot, we’ll have three main lodging arrangements. The first lodge we’ll be staying at is El Trebol, located in Cholila, Argentina. The lodge is owned and operated by our head guide, (and Esquel Outfitters part owner), Marcos Jaeger. The El Trebol Lodge is close to the Los Alerces National Park, with two excellent rivers to within a 30-minute drive – the Rivadavia and the Carrileufu. The El Trebol has been in Marcos’ family for a very long time, hence his personal connection with many of the estancia owners in the area.
The electricity is 220 in Argentina. The outlets they use are the slanted two-prong type or the two round prong types that are common to Argentina. Bring adapters and a power strip if you have multiple cameras plus a phone to charge but be sure your power strip has a power surge function on it. After fishing the Rivadavia, you’ll want to re-charge everything as the next three days we’ll be camping on the river and won’t be able to charge anything until we get to the La Elvira Lodge.
Have you ever wanted to camp along the side a beautiful private river, without having to set up a thing? If you like the sound of fishing all day out of a raft, and pulling up to a fully set up camp with drinks and hors d’oeuvres ready to serve then you will love the luxury “glamping” offered by Esquel Outfitters on the Chubut.
Esquel Outfitters has set up a private arrangement with the owners of the estancia which allows them to float 60 miles of private water on the Chubut River. Each day the gear rafts will head out ahead of the fishing rafts and completely set up camp so all the work is done when we get there. To make matters even better, each person will have their own personal tent, equipped with a cot, sleeping bag, and pillow. Dining tables, camp chairs, a dining wall tent, and even a hot water shower (with a curtain for privacy) will all be set up ready to use.
Our third home away from home will be the rental cabins near Lago Tres, (Lake #3) in the Rio Pico area. Nestled below the Andes and within view of the Chilean border, the Rio Pico area lakes are breathtakingly beautiful. Lago 3 has become the more famous lake in the area, however, Lago 1 and Lago 4 are coming into good fish cycles as well, and offer excellent dry fly fishing to big rainbows and browns. The cabins here are more simple than the other lodges but are clean, nice, and roomy. Usually, we will rent 3 or 4 cabins so two anglers will share their own cabin, complete with two bedrooms, a bathroom, kitchen, and a small living room.
Our meals will be traditional Argentine cuisine. Often for breakfast, we’ll have bacon and eggs, some type of sweet roll or toast with butter and coffee or maté, Argentina’s answer to coffee, which is kind of like tea, (on steriods). Lunches range from empanadas to pork, chicken, pasta, mixed salads, excellent salami and cheese, all to be washed down with fine Malbec wine, soda, water, or an ice cold Quilmes Cerveza. Dinners are usually served a little later than in the US, often we’ll be eating at 9:00 at night since we will be fishing until 7:30-8:00PM each day. Dinners often consist of salads, potatoes, vegtables, and serveral types of meat, (grilled over hardwood coals). At least one night of the trip we’ll have a traditional “Asado” dinner, where they cook a whole lamb on a stick over hardwood coals, just like the real gauchos do. We’ll also get to enjoy gormet desserts such as chocolate cake, flan, and dulce de leche, even in the middle of nowhere while camping on the Chubut.
Fantastic Argentine wine (typically a local Malbec wine) is served at lunch and dinner as well as cold beers like Heineken, Stella Artois, or Quilmes (Argentina’s local brew – similar to Budweiser). Soft drinks are available every day, so if you pick up a bottle of your favorite booze at duty-free you can make your own cocktail drinks. The crew also brings bottled water along every day.
