Tuesday, April 28, 2020
Friday, March 27, 2020
FLY FISHING WAY SOUTH IN PATAGONIA - BIG RAINBOWS AND CHINOOK SALMON
When I got a phone call from a ranch owner in Southern Patagonia and he told me he had a place near Jurassic Lake (Lake Strobel) loaded with big fish I thought that this is another Jurassic Lake. The kind of place that bores me to death.
See, I was born and raised in Patagonia, Argentina and been fly fishing since I was a little kid with my late Grandpa and my Dad. I lived in the town of Bariloche most of my adult life until I moved to the USA and fly fished almost every river, creek and lake in Patagonia. About 15 years ago I fished Jurassic Lake a couple of times but like I said, it bored me to death. It is like hunting on the zoo, or fishing at an aquarium for that matter.
I did let the gentleman talk (he was a very nice guy) and he explained that he had a spring creek (I raised one eyebrow), a small river with very large trout early in the season (another eyebrow to the sky) a big lake with a creek flowing into it and a lagoon loaded with large rainbow trout prefect for sight fishing and me, being a saltwater guide who loves the hunt and sight fishing I decided to give it a try.
I called a few of the anglers that fish with me on a regular basis and suddenly I had a group.
We flew direct from Paris, Atlanta and Miami to Buenos Aires where we spent the night and the next morning we were off to the town of Calafate (3 hr. flight). Once in Calafate, our guide picked us up at the airport for a 5 hr. drive to the lodge. Despite being a (literally) pain in the buttocks we spend these hours listening to our guide about the fishing opportunities in this lake and on a "new" river that was supposed to have large Chinook salmon and watching herds of Guanacos (Patagonian Llamas), Nandu (ostriches), condors and other critters.
When we arrived at the lodge we took a walk to the nearby spring creek and we couldn't believe what we saw.
There were 16" to 24" rainbows all over the place on a creek that it was between 2 to 5 feet wide.
We rushed back to the lodge for an Argentine asado (BBQ) and get our gear ready for the following day.
We stayed there for 5 full days of fishing and I will describe below each of the spots we fished.
SPRING CREEK
This was my favorite. Perfect for a 5 wt rod and floating line and sight fishing for large trout.
We fished 3 areas of the creek. The upper part that had mostly brookies in the 10" to 16" range (required a long walk), the middle stretch loaded with rainbows from 12 to 24" (and a big fish estimated at about 12 lbs that broke my client off behind while going down 2 ft high cascade) and the lower part loaded with rainbows, brook and brown trout. The big fish were always the rainbows between 12" to 24".
We started fishing with nymphs and it was literally a fish on every cast but mostly the smaller fish, only when we put very large dry flies we started catching the big rainbows.
Upper spring creek, Laurent with a large rainbow trout that broke him off.
I can asure you, my dear fellow angler that we had a blast, there was not a single day when we didn't catch a lot of fish. The lodge was very comfortable and the food/wine combo was as you would expect every time you go to Argentina, AMAZING.
We were so happy that I reserved two full weeks for the 2020/21 season (if COVID allows us)
After fishing the Capitan lodge area we decided to go to the town of El Chalten to fish for Chinook salmon. The town of El Chalten is a mountain climber mecca. If you look at the Patagonia clothing logo, the mountains you see are the Fitz Roy and cerro Torre, in El Chalten.
There are no fishing lodges there so we stayed at a small boutique hotel and went restaurant shopping every night (that is, the nights we could walk after wading all day).
We fish the Rio de las Vueltas for 3 days and despite all of us being novice Chinook salmon anglers we managed to catch a few each. The river is stunning with clear water and perfect for sight fishing. Michael, one of the anglers had a fish estimated at 60 lbs that broke him off on a log jam and I had another biggie that broke me off as well. Next year we will give it another try with the right flies and tackle. Apparently you need a 10 wt rod with heavy sink tips to get down where these guys are comfortable staging.
We had a fantastic week with my client friends and we caught a bunch of fish in places so remote you feel like living in another era.
Note:
See, I was born and raised in Patagonia, Argentina and been fly fishing since I was a little kid with my late Grandpa and my Dad. I lived in the town of Bariloche most of my adult life until I moved to the USA and fly fished almost every river, creek and lake in Patagonia. About 15 years ago I fished Jurassic Lake a couple of times but like I said, it bored me to death. It is like hunting on the zoo, or fishing at an aquarium for that matter.
I did let the gentleman talk (he was a very nice guy) and he explained that he had a spring creek (I raised one eyebrow), a small river with very large trout early in the season (another eyebrow to the sky) a big lake with a creek flowing into it and a lagoon loaded with large rainbow trout prefect for sight fishing and me, being a saltwater guide who loves the hunt and sight fishing I decided to give it a try.
I called a few of the anglers that fish with me on a regular basis and suddenly I had a group.
We flew direct from Paris, Atlanta and Miami to Buenos Aires where we spent the night and the next morning we were off to the town of Calafate (3 hr. flight). Once in Calafate, our guide picked us up at the airport for a 5 hr. drive to the lodge. Despite being a (literally) pain in the buttocks we spend these hours listening to our guide about the fishing opportunities in this lake and on a "new" river that was supposed to have large Chinook salmon and watching herds of Guanacos (Patagonian Llamas), Nandu (ostriches), condors and other critters.
When we arrived at the lodge we took a walk to the nearby spring creek and we couldn't believe what we saw.
There were 16" to 24" rainbows all over the place on a creek that it was between 2 to 5 feet wide.
We rushed back to the lodge for an Argentine asado (BBQ) and get our gear ready for the following day.
We stayed there for 5 full days of fishing and I will describe below each of the spots we fished.
This was my favorite. Perfect for a 5 wt rod and floating line and sight fishing for large trout.
We fished 3 areas of the creek. The upper part that had mostly brookies in the 10" to 16" range (required a long walk), the middle stretch loaded with rainbows from 12 to 24" (and a big fish estimated at about 12 lbs that broke my client off behind while going down 2 ft high cascade) and the lower part loaded with rainbows, brook and brown trout. The big fish were always the rainbows between 12" to 24".
We started fishing with nymphs and it was literally a fish on every cast but mostly the smaller fish, only when we put very large dry flies we started catching the big rainbows.
Photo provided by Estancia Capitan
LAGOON
I loved fishing the lagoon. It was small, protected from the wind and it had a flat that was 1/2 mile wide and went into the drop off for about 400 ft with clear sandy bottom and cruising rainbows.
Being a saltwater guide and bonefishing being my favorite pass time I truly enjoyed this kind of fishing. You spot your fish, cast the fly a few feet in front of it and BOOM, fish on. These fish were feeding primarily on scuds but at certain times of the day they were focusing on smallish stone flies.
We had 15 to 30 fish days, unbelievable. One day the wind was so strong that we needed to blind cast into some weed lines we knew held fish and we did very well.
These are the typical rainbows from the Lagoon. Great 5 wt fish.
In fact one day I caught so many fish in a couple of hours that I spent the entire afternoon looking for fossils, arrowheads, fossilized oysters shells and prehistoric shark teeth.
On one of the walks I could see a puma looking very seriously at a herd of Guanaco, but took of when he heard or smelled me. Probably the latter.
CAPITAN RIVER
We tried fishing the river but the water was way too low and the wind was so strong that we just fished an hour and went back to the lagoon. But the photos below provided by the lodge will show you what it looks like when you can fish it.
I can asure you, my dear fellow angler that we had a blast, there was not a single day when we didn't catch a lot of fish. The lodge was very comfortable and the food/wine combo was as you would expect every time you go to Argentina, AMAZING.
We were so happy that I reserved two full weeks for the 2020/21 season (if COVID allows us)
After fishing the Capitan lodge area we decided to go to the town of El Chalten to fish for Chinook salmon. The town of El Chalten is a mountain climber mecca. If you look at the Patagonia clothing logo, the mountains you see are the Fitz Roy and cerro Torre, in El Chalten.
There are no fishing lodges there so we stayed at a small boutique hotel and went restaurant shopping every night (that is, the nights we could walk after wading all day).
We fish the Rio de las Vueltas for 3 days and despite all of us being novice Chinook salmon anglers we managed to catch a few each. The river is stunning with clear water and perfect for sight fishing. Michael, one of the anglers had a fish estimated at 60 lbs that broke him off on a log jam and I had another biggie that broke me off as well. Next year we will give it another try with the right flies and tackle. Apparently you need a 10 wt rod with heavy sink tips to get down where these guys are comfortable staging.
We had a fantastic week with my client friends and we caught a bunch of fish in places so remote you feel like living in another era.
Note:
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