Our friend Barrett send us this  picture from the other day from Patagonia.  He was fishing on Lago Wilimanco, just outside of Esquel, Argentina. The weather has been terrible, but he said, We had about 2 hours of great weather, sight fishing to big bows, and then a 40 knot wind beat the crap out of us, and we couldn’t row back to the car. Had to drag the 200lb boat 500 meters across a swamp of cat tails. Not too much fun. ”

Dragging the boat might not have been fun, but worth it for that nice rainbow trout!

Links to stuff in this post
* Check out Barrett’s Brand New book on Fly Fishing Patagonia called Fly Fishing Patagonia; A Trout Bums Guide to Argentina
* Lateral Line Crisfield Fishing Shirt – Check it out here
* Lateral Line Signiture Fishing Hat – Check it out here

Barrett Mattision (a friend who we originally met while fishing the Rio Grande River in Terra Del Fuego, Patagonia) and his good friend Evan Jones recently released a fabulous new book called Fly Fishing in Patagonia: A Trout Bums Guide to Argentina. Barrett and Evan have spent many years traveling in and around most all parts of Patagonia in search of trout and their book provides details of where to go, what you will catch, what to bring and when to go to most all the places in Patagonia that have trout fishing. I have not yet visited all the places that they document in the book, but the many places I have been that they cover in the book are spot on, all the way down to the flies you need for the different trout that haunt the different rivers and spring creeks.

If you are intrigued by the trout fishing in Patagonia, want a handbook on how to do it yourself, or are planning a trip to Patagonia this book really is a must have. You can learn more and purchase the book here.

*note while we are friends with Barrett we do not receive any kick backs from sales. All the sales go to support Barrett and Evan’s trout bum lifestyle and trust me, we have seen Barrett’s  truck, he’s not getting rich 🙂

Northern Patagonia Fishing – Aoniken Spring Creek Hike-in Adventure

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Pulmari River Fishing Report – Rainbow and Brown Trout Fishing

Weather: Moring was a bit chilly in the low 50’s and later warmed up during the day to get into the middle 70’s
Water Conditions: The Pulmari River as a bit low, but has been fishing OK
Fly Fishing Equipment: 5 and 6wts with floating lines and dry flies

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Northern Patagonia – Alumine River Fishing Report – Rainbow and Brown Trout Fishing

Morning Session
Weather: Morning was a bit chilly in the low 50’s and later warmed up during the day to get into the middle 70’s
Water Conditions: The Alumine River as a bit low, but has been fishing OK
Fly Fishing Equipment: 5 and 6wts with 250 and 350 sinking lines drifting nymphs.

Report
I fished with Mapu alone, Tom and Ryan fished with Javier. Mapu is a Park and Fisheries Ranger. His family owns a camp ground which we floated by and his Mom came out and took some pics. Fishing was a little crazy in that we drift double nymph rigs, but actually stripped them in. I caught a fish almost immediately as we started our drift fomr the put in. It was pretty consistent hooking and a good amount of catching the entire day. Mostly rainbows, but I managed two nice browns. First one was very large, but I was holding the fish just above the water so I did not keep him out of the water long and he slipped out and he went right back to his home waters before Mapu could get the shot.

We stopped for lunch around 2pm where Slyvia (the outfits cook) had set up a great little camp with everything including a tent to keep the bees out. Interesting things on the bees (yellow jackets) in Argentina. They are not native and were introduced to eat the horse flies. The problem is that someone did not seem to do their research because the two do not seem to come out during the same season. As soon as the late summer comes the horse flies disappaear and the bees appear, which means the bees never have a chance to even eat the horse flies. And when the food comes out, man so do the bees. As long as you do not swat and make them mad you are good and will not get stung, start swinging and your about garentees to find yourself with a nice welt. After lunch we took about an hour and a half siesta, then loaded into the boats and contiuned on down the Alumine. About fifteen minutes into the float I hooked into another nice brown, this time I held on to the fish and Mapu was able to take a few shots. The rest of the day was smaller sized rainbows landed with a beautiful backdrop of the Alumine River basin. We fished up the drift around 8pm,jumped in the trucks and headed back to the Patagonia Fishing Club’s Lodge. On the ride home we talked about the day and Tom and Ryan we not able to land any larger fish, but caught plenty on the numbers side.

We were greeted by Guy who had apetizers ready and a bottle of Argentine wine already opened. We showered, grab some apetizers, talked about fishing and then sat down to dinner around 9:30pm. For dinner we had Argentine lasanga followed with flan for desert. We wrapped up dinner around 10:45pm and decided to get an internet connection which required us to pack into guy’s truck and head into downtown Alumine to the internet cafe. We each logged on to the painfully slow connection, checked what email we could and closed the place down at midnight. For the three of us for an hour it was 6 pesos or $3US. By 12:20am were were back at the lodge and we were beat, so we hit the sack.

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Northeast Argentina – We Leave Pira Lodg/ Iberia Marsh and head to The Patagonia Fishing Club in Northern Patagonia located in the small down of Alumine

Morning Session
Weather: Cloudy, warm in the 70’s
Water Conditions: N/A
Fly Fishing Equipment: Packed for the next stop

Report
Today was a big travel day taking us from the north east side of Argentina to the Northern Patagonia region. Yesterday evening just after we arrived at the dock a good sized storm rolled in dumping a good amount of rain resulting in what was he final blow to our chances of having the charter plane land on Pira Lodge’s private air strip. While the rain was good for the marsh helping the water quality and possibly the water level, it was not good for our backs as it meant we had to take over a 2 hour truck ride, half of which was on dirt roads, to Goya where we would meet the plane at Goya’s small airport. We left Pira at 7am, loaded up the plane and headed to Buenos Aires. Two hours and a few minutes later (the flight back was a little shorter because hte charter plane was a different model (a Mitschabie that could do 300knots) we arrived at the private flight terminal where we were met by ____________from Prana Tourismo. We loaded up the small bus which took us to the domistic terminal across the airport which took about ten minutes. From there we loaded up and took a two hour flight to Baraloche. At Baraloche airport we were met by Guy who is the Assistant Manager at the Patagonia Fishing Club. We loaded up his Toyota Hilux and set out for the four and a half hour drive north to the lodge. We took a less direct route to the lodge, but the route has more paved then dirt roads which allows for a better ride and a bit shorter, though the distance is longer. Guy entertained us with Argentina history and a commentary on Argentina modern politics. It was quite a ride. We arrived in Alumine around 8:45pm and traveled five minutes out of down to the lodge which is located on an enstancia which is about 400 hectors or 800 acres. Small by Argentina standards, but a very nice place. The Patagonia Fishing lodge is as authentic as it gets.

We unpacked some of our stuff and apitizers was served at the “bar” at 9:30pm, followed by dinner at 10:00pm. Dinner was a beef dish with pan friend potatos with a while sauce. Guy continued his entertainment talking to us about Argentine politics, about some of his adventures with clients and followed up with information about how our stay would unfold. Tomorrow we would be floating the Alumnie in rafts with fishing guides Mapu and Javier. Wake up call is 7:30am, “early” for Argentine standards, breakfast at 8am and the guides would arrive around 8:30am.

We finally got to bed around 1:30am.

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Morning Session
Weather: Heavy Rain, Thunder and some Lightening
Water Conditions: Marsh is on the lower side with just a bit of stained water. Noel explained that with the arrival of the rain should come a little clearer water conditions which can improve the fishing
Fly Fishing Equipment: 5 and 6wts with 250 and 350 sinking lines and 5 and 6wt floating lines for fishing the main march area in the morning
Report
Tom and I left the dock at 7:30am and headed to the main part of the marsh with Nicolas. When we loaded up the boat it was a steady rain, by the time we got to the marsh( after a side trip back to the dock after getting five minutes from the dock because we realized we had our rods in the other boat ) it was a constant heavy rain with thunder and lighting looming. We decided to give it a go and play it by ear as we went along. As we made our way out into the marsh we could see pushes and wakes everywhere. It was similar to fishing for redfish in shallow water were you can cast to the wakes. We made our way into a cannel and it was only a few casts before Tom was hooked up. The fish are much darker color in the marsh because of the water color and conditions. The rain kept on coming and actually picked up. After Tom hooked a few I took the bow as Nicolas poled us deeper into the marsh; a few cast and I was hooked up the the acrobatic show was on. Tom and I switched two more times and then we decided to call it a morning. The rain was pouring and it was getting colder the harder it came down. We headed back to the dock which was a lot closer then the 20-30 minute ride to the river when we fish that. Ten wet cold minutes and we were back to the dock and in the lodge where I find myself now writing this fishing report. Just as I am typing this the sun is starting to come through the clouds and everything around is turning a bright shade of green. One of the really cool things here are the variety of birds, it’s almost daunting the variety of species that you see. There is a tree right out in front of the lodge just beyond the pool that is filled, and I mean filled, with parakeets or small parrots. i do not know which one yet and need to look it up in the bird book before we go. I have never seen a more concentrated area of hawks then I have seen here. When we fish the river we go through a large portion of the marsh and you see hawks everywhere, sitting in the trees and flying around often with some creature they caught held in their talons. Another interesting variety of bird that we have seen is the red shouldered stork which I had very seen before. They are huge and look like cross between some sort of herring and have the colors like a wood duck on their neck in bands. Another crazy thing we have seen are ___________which look like guinea pig pigs on steroids.

We are going to grab some lunch in about an hour, then siesta and then see what we can find on our last afternoon of fishing.

Afternoon Session
Weather: Warm upper 70’s with partly sunny skies, light breeze
Water Conditions: With the arrival of rain storms in the morning came a good amount of rain which cleared the water up a bit giving it better visibility
Fly Fishing Equipment: 5 and 6wts with 250 and 350 sinking lines for fishing the river
Report
Ryan and I fished with Filipe while Tom fished with Noel and Nicolas. Because the morning session was cut short because of pouring rain, thunder and lighting we got an early start and left the dock around 4pm. We decided for the last session we would go and look further down river for a few of the bigger fish. We rode down river about 15 miles until we came to a few deep pools that Filipe called his hot spots. The lower portion of the river has more weeds/reeds long the shore which makes for better fishing out of the boat so we decided to stay on board and fish this way for the afternoon. We cast down along the weeds and it only took two casts before we were hooked up. It was pretty steady catching 2-4lb golden dorado, with the occasional piranha, for the rest of the afternoon. Filipe said our trip would not be complete without catching a camon (aka crocodile) on the fly. So we set out to look for one that was on the smaller side so we could get him in the boat. Ryan hooked three before he was convinced they would bite a popper and tied one on. We found a little cove that had a good number of small camons. Two more hooks ups but both came off. It was about 8:30pm and the sun had about set, but Filipe was determined that we needed to land one. Ryan tied on one last popper, make a cast and the camnon snapped….but missed….another cast and sure enough he was hooked up, game on. A few violent head shakes and some strong pressure and the camon was boat side. Filipe quickly boga gripped the fish and brought him onboard where we took some video and snapped a few photos before releasing him to be caught another day.

Dinner
Noel, Pira Lodge’s Fishing and Lodge Director, joined us for dinner on our last night. The dinner started off with some grilled sausage and rips with a healthy green salad with fresh tomatoes and of course Argentine wine. Tom had spent the afternoon fishing with Noel and talking about the possibility and feasibility of conducting a tagging study with the golden dorado in the Iberia Marsh and Corentie river system. Noel was enthusiastic about the idea and said it could lead to some interesting findings about the golden dorado. To date all the information on how, where and when the fish go to different areas of the ecosystem has been done through observations and hypothesis. Noel explained how he had dedicated his life to fishing for and understanding golden dorado and his passion is evident as you sit and listen to him. Golden Dorado is Argentina’s National fish and is protected, however commercial fishing in the lower part of the river is allowed. As Noel explained and we all know, nets are indiscriminate in what they catch and when they happen to catch and kill golden dorado as by catch the fish are often sold at market and can actually be found in some restaurants in the northern part of the country. Noel explained that while a formal study would produce great scientific data, it would also show a seriousness in the appreciation of the species to the commercial fishing communities which might lead to more awareness and conservation consciousness. Another interesting fact that Noel reminded us about the golden dorado is that it is indigenous to Argentina. While Argentina and especially Patagonia is well known for its trout fishing, the trout are not indigenous, but rather were introduced in to the country over 100 years ago. The original trout were brought in from private individuals from California’s cloud river to create fishing opportunities in the country. As people began to enjoy the fishing hatcheries were created, first in the Baraloche area, to start stocking as many rivers as possible in the Patagonia area which now reaches all the way to Terra de Fuego. Noel continued that while he has appreciation for Argentina’s great trout fishing, it is really not that interesting to him because it is not authentic to the country like the Golden Dorado. I thought about these comments as I went to bed and I think Noel has a great point and one I will continue to ponder in our travels as we explore the many trout fisheries of the Patagonia region. We are excited about the possibilities of a tagging study here on these great fish and will sit down after the trip to see what we can get going.

As the main course of barbecued lamb arrived Noel entertained us with his stories of his adventures in pursuit of golden dorado in other parts of Argentina as well as his fishing adventures in Bolivia and Peru. Noel is a true fly fishermen in every sense of the description. He has been at Pira Lodge for eight seasons. He runs Pira from December through the beginning of April (their season) and then returns to his home town of Buenos Aires for a few weeks to visit with family and friends. After visiting he embarks on 2-4 week fishing excursions around Argentina and in other parts of South America mainly in search of new areas where Golden Dorado swim, but also for other interesting fish, some of which even he does not know what they are called.

Dinner ended with more wine, more fishing stories and an amazing apple pie. After dinner Filipe and Nicolas emerged and we shared a few more stories in the living room and dumped some of the pictures we took over the last few days to their computers for them to have and enjoy. After enjoying the company it was time to pack for our 7am departure. Our journey tomorrow brings us to Northern Patagonia in search of trout and understanding the different rivers and ecosystems in the Patagonia region. Because it rained our plane can not land at the lodge’s grass landing strip, so we will take a 2-2/12 hour car ride to Goya where we will rendezvous with plane where we will take a two hour plane ride back to Buenos Aires. From there we will go across the airport to the domestic portion and grab a one hour and fifty minute flight to Baraloche. From there a transfer (Argentine for a car/truck/ride) will pick us up where we will head north on a four hour ride to the Northern Patagonia Fishing Club Lodge where we will call home for four nights and three days. Until tomorrow, buenos noches.

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Weather: Overcast with periods of sun
Water Conditions: Marsh is on the lower side with just a bit of stained water
Fly Fishing Equipment: 5 and 6wts with 250 and 350 sinking lines

Fishing Report

Morning Session
Tom and I left the dock at 7:30am and headed out to the Corrientes River with Nicalous. We hit several of the deeper holes looking for some of the bigger dorado. We used strickly sinking lines (250-300 grain) with about 5 feet of leader and wire tippet with flies in the 3-4inch range. Anything with black in it is a great fly and the hot fly of the morning seesion was a red spun deer hair head with black feathers out the rear. I jumped two fish all morning, while Tom jumped three and landed two, one being of the top of the season coming in at 7lbs. Tom caught it fishing a deep drop off casting from a point. The fishing was not fast and furious, but if you want to hunt big fish you have to be willing to not get the numbers of fish with the hopes of landing a big one.

We came in from fishing at our regular scheudled time around noon. We had lunch at 12:30 with a meat apitizer followed my the main couse of pork barbacue.

We then took a siesta until about 4pm. I do not think I have totally adjusted to the time zone change yet. When we get up at 6am it is 3am at home and after about the first hour of being awake I need a good hit of caffine to keep rolling. By the time we get back in the morning and I get some grub in my stomach I am out like a light for a few hours.

Afternoon Session
Tom and I left the dock around 5pm and headed out with Felipe. Felipe is the son of a very famous Argentine fly fishermen named Marcelo Morlaes. The Morales family started Buenos Aries Fly Fishing Shop many many years ago and to this day Marcile guides guests in the Patagonia area. Felipe has been fishing since he can even remember and at nineteen is clearly already an excellent fly angler who has a keen sense where to find fish and can cast bank to bank with little problem.

It was not long after we make our first stop on the river that we were hooked up with a golden dorado. The highlight of the evening was finding some dorado on a sand bar and sight casting to them. I made a cast and put the fly about 2 feet of the dorado’s nose; as soon as the fly hit the bottom the dorado jumped on the fly like a mad man and I was hooked up. It was a nice 4-5lb fish, three jumps and he came off. I made another cast to the bar, let the fly sink and started to strip, two strips and whack, another golden dorado hooked up. This one was a little bigger. Determined to get a picture I put a lot of pressure on him and dragged him up to the beach. Filepe made his way down to get the fish and as it was flogging around the fly came out and he quickly to our dimay, but to his delight, found his way back to the water. Tom was snapping some shots and did catch a shot or two of the fish that Filepe estimated to be a little over 5lbs. No picture, but the memory of sight casting to golden dorado will remain for ever.

We caught several more fish into the eventing casting to pushes and jumps that you could see in the shallow banks. We also would cast out into the current, let the fly sink and swing back to the edge of the bank of the river that all seem to have deep drop offs. I would liken the fishing when fishing the river banks to fishing for striped bass along edges of islands in places like Crisfield where you hit the bank with in 3 inches and out comes a fish. it might also be compared to fishing steamers for large trout along river banks.

The smaller 1-5lb dorado do not scream drag like a bonefish or albacore does, but they do put on an exciting arobatic show that gets your heart pumping.

We returned for evening around 9pm just about out of sunlight. We had some ordorvies and drinks and got ready for dinner. The evening dinner started off with pumpkin nut soup and was followed by a beef based rosatto dor the main course and a maheto sorbe desert.

Evening Session
For the evening session we headed about after dinner around 10:30pm to catch a few golden dorado. Felipe said earlier in the day that we could catch them with out a rod and reel and with out evening touching them. He promised we would catch at five fish. We loaded up the boat in the pitch dark and Noel (the Pira Lodge Fishing Director) took the bow and turned on a minuture Max Million spotlight and shined it in the water. With about 30 seconds we have our first fish in the boat, it literally jumped in the boat. As we motored through the channel towards the marsh you could literally see hundreds of fish swimming in the water and ever minute or so one would go airborne towards the boat. They literally launch themselves into the air and often times you had to watch yourself from getting hit in the head. Another really cool thing was seeing the literally hundreds if not thosuands of birds that could get up as we made our way through the marsh. When Noel shined the light in the air it was birds as far as you could see. There there are the camones or crocadiles as we call them back home that are all over the marsh. The March is really an amazing place to see a varity of wildlife. We traveled around looking at the wildlife for about an hour and then made our way back to the dock and got ready for bed. After answering some emails and things I manged to to make it to bed around 2am to get a few hours in before our 6am wake up call where we will do it again.

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