Patagonian Sea Trout Trip - Travelling Fly Fisherman

Story of my first Patagonian SeaTrout Adventure

Flying out of Buenos Aires with its 14 million inhabitants reflecting on the Iberia Marshlands and the Golden Dorado with most of my saltwater flies in tatters thanks to the destructive nature of Golden Dorado with some help from the Piranha felt surreal.
Thinking of landing at Rio Gallegos in the Santa Cruz province at the southern end of the South American continent brought on a glowing feeling. Patagonia at last, and out of the still warmth of the marshes into the ????????, well I had heard a lot of different stories about the wind, cold and tough conditions. Now it was time to find out, was I ready, did I bring adequate clothing and fishing gear, what is it really like?
Could I handle the conditions and the style of the fishing after the unrelenting, fast paced Golden Dorado attacks and the warm still conditions of the Iberia Marshlands?

Reminiscing suddenly came to an end as the plane circled the Rio Gallegos estuary heading for the air strip on the other side. The estuary did look rough and blown apart, the landscape barren. Now where did I pack that soft shell, as the light fleece I had put on for the plane trip started to feel insignificant. A glance throughout the plane confirmed it, everyone was adding layers and the clothing looked substantial. The plane landed and I was as far south as I had ever been on the ground.
Gaston the head guide from the lodge, and a local from this town, met me coming off the plane. Gaston left me momentarily outside the airport to retrieve the vehicle I realised how well the soft shell technology actually worked, this jacket is windproof.
The hour long trip drive along the river to the lodge was passed chatting with Gaston about the area, the fishing and sea trout. Gaston has been involved in a government study on the sea run browns of the Rio Gallegos for the last 3 years and has guided for many years on this river. My appetite was more than whetted and I was keener than ever to get on the water and make some casts.

Arriving at the lodge was a pleasant affair and a chance to meet all the staff, partake of some refreshments, unpack, set up the fishing gear and get ready for the afternoon fishing session starting at 4pm.
I rigged up my single handed 8 weight Loomis with a 275 grain sink tip line and a sectioned leader tapering down to 15 lb fluorocarbon. Yes this was set up for trout fishing, but surely it was overkill! What trout would bite on 15 lb tippet and put more than a slight bend in an 8 weight.
The next surprise came at the river as I realised I was seriously under gunned for the current conditions. How could a cast be made in this wind, even with an 8 weight? Well Gaston had the answer as he took a 14 foot double handed spey rod from the vehicle rack and suggested we fish with this as the wind was up a “little” and the water was high and had some color. I say never argue with the guide, so an interesting afternoon was had learning to cast a 14 ft double handed rod. Gaston assured me I was learning well, I’m not so sure. Anyway it was an interesting afternoon, not every day you get to experience something totally new in fly fishing like casting a double handed spey rod. Right on dark fishing a very fast and rocky run, called Abbots, a huge fish rolled, about where my fly might have been…..hhmm.

Looking out of the window the next morning towards the river, I noticed that the trees were trimmed to the height of the fence protecting them from the wind and other older trees had no branches on one side. So that’s the direction the wind comes from, and it was windy. The morning session started shortly after breakfast and I was fishing with Nacho today.

Nacho proved to be one of the best guides you could hope to fish with. Although the river was dropping rapidly, due to the wind and high water conditions, I followed Nacho’s suggestion and fished the “big rod”. By mid morning this monster rod was starting to feel like just about the perfect weapon for these conditions and with the long butt tucked under the right arm and retrieving the fly with the left I was starting to feel like I was seriously fishing this inspiring piece of water.

Having carefully studied the diagram of the pool as Nacho had been drawing it on the chalk board for my benefit - prior to starting fishing, I knew that I had fished the main part of the run and covered quite well the channel and hot spots where the sea runners may have been and was coming to the end of the pool known as Fernando’s.
Fernando’s was named after the owner of the estancia, which has private fishing rights to approx 55 km’s of water on the Rio Gallegos, on which the lodge is located and has been operating for 15 years. And the owner was due to visit the lodge this evening with his friend Carlos. Was it good etiquette to be fishing in his personal pool?

Suddenly there was a pull on the line, I lifted the huge rod, but only a little way as it was pulled back down by something on the other end. Well I was surprised; the large articulated chartreuse leech fly I had been throwing into the water has actually got a response. Yes it is definitely a fish, the rod is bent right over and it is throbbing.
Nacho comes over with a giant net and calmly states that I have hooked a sea trout. The diesel I have hooked is casually making its way upstream towards me and I am thankful for the 15 lb tippet. The big rod helps with the sudden lunges and absorbing of the headshakes. I start thinking of what it would be like to hook this thing on a 9 foot single handed rod, my brain quivers and I get on with the task at hand.
The fight draws down, the color in the water makes netting difficult, but suddenly there it is in the net. I peer into the huge net and cannot believe what I am looking at, the bottom of the net is full, the fish looks incredible, it is a very silvery hen (fresh fish), with a small head and on her way upriver to spawn. Nacho weighs the fish and I measure it, 86cm’s and 20 lb’s.
My mind is boggling as Nacho takes some photo’s, we lift the fish quickly for a photo then put it back in the net. It is hard to get a good photo as she is so big and squirms and wriggles. Nacho shows me how to hold the fish for a great photo and I get a one of him which does not look like a father carefully cradling a baby.

The afternoon session provides the opportunity to get further acquainted with the river, catching some resident fish on the leech (!!), losing a sea runner and plenty of casting practice with the 2 handed rod. The evening is pleasantly spent in front of the fire sipping various beverages and chatting about fishing. Fernando is surprisingly nice about the fish I have caught in his pool, as he has flown in especially to fish it the next morning and the word poacher is only used once.

The next morning it is incredible to look outside and see blue sky and very little wind. Definitely down from the 60 km’s per hour or so of the previous day. Gaston, Carlos and I set off for the morning session, even though it is still the air is bitingly cold. Both Carlos and I fish single handed rods, the water is also a lot clearer this morning and our hopes are high.
Carlos pulls out of a large fish in the first few casts. I am having problems; the water coming off the stripped line is freezing on contact with the stripping tape on my fingers and falling off as ice. It isn’t too long before I have to take a break from casting, Gaston brings me a coffee and as the feeling returns to my hand with an incredible pins and needles type pain. Well the beautiful day is warming and I am back in action,

Carlos hooks and lands a 20 lb er. We move to another spot and it isn’t to long before I am into a fish on the single handed 8 weight. The fish jumps after the take and my heart starts to thump, the rod is jumping around in my hand and although there is not the fast sustained run of a bonefish this fight is incredible. The fish is a beautiful 76cm hen with a little color and Gaston says she has been in the river over a month.

We retire for lunch and siesta, I choose to fish the Rio Gallegos Chico for the early afternoon, which is a small spring creek on the property with over 30 km’s of water as the bird flies and a lot more on the ground as it twists and braids its way through the valley. This choice turns out to be a good one as after a ½ hour drive Gaston and I are greeted by one of the most perfect trout habitats I have seen.
The water is crystal clear, with abundant weed growth, deep holes and undercut banks. The braid we are fishing is about 15 foot wide, as the habitat is so perfect I throw caution to the wind and just walk slowly along the bank upstream. The next 2 hours passes like a dream as trout after trout is polaroided and comes up to the Chernobyl ant on 8 lb fluro carbon on the 6 weight. Some see me and spook, others are missed, and the action is incredible. As the light drops the fish come up out of the deeper holes and move into shallow feeding lies. Now I am spooking a lot of fish and realise I can no longer see into the water. Time to head back to the main river for the ‘magic hour’: that time just when it gets dark that the sea trout move around more and can be easier to catch.

We position ourselves on the main river just as it is getting dark and I start to fish the run. The fly is getting deep and bumping some boulders on the bottom occasionall,y and catching a bit of weed on this side of the channel. I am working slowly down towards the hot spot when the fly snags on the bottom, I pull on the rod, then I pull on the rod a couple more times to try and free the fly. Then the rod pulses in my hand, what have I hooked? The fish takes off downstream against serious drag, rolls about 50 meters’ down and is gone. Gaston says it is most likely a very big male fish. (the living rock?)

The last day on the Rio Gallegos (pronounced Rio Gaa-shaegos) heralds a beautiful morning and the wind is up somewhat from the previous day. Nacho and I hit the river, I am making beautiful long casts into all the right places with the single handed rod and feeling good, Nacho is entertaining himself making signs on the iced up little puddles and taking photos of me through bits of ice as I am casting. We move to the next run called Meteorite - after a boulder embedded in the hill on the opposite bank. The hot spot is as you are fishing opposite the boulder and sure enough a lovely 67 cm 10 lb silver fish comes to the fly and is landed.

The first part of the afternoon is spent at the spring creek and I land 9 fish on the Chernobyl ant, 1 of them tail walks right up on the bank and I quickly kick him back before the prickly grass hurts his eyes, and to continue the fight. The little net is 20 inches and he is curled up in it. The timer on the camera tells no lies and I have never had such fast fishing to such beautiful trout. Some of the fish have the most amazing fluro red and blue spots on the adipose fin and I am not sure I have seen this on other trout.
The camera does not truly capture the deep ruby coloration of these fish. Nacho is taking the photos as my battery is charging and while clicking away he tells me the sea trout do not run up this creek due to the ph of the water and the resident fish from the creek do not go into the main river. My time on the Rio Gallegos Chico ends with the sun dropping too low to see into the water.
Nacho and I head to the main river for the magic hour. Nacho is keen for me to try for the living rock fish of the previous night but my heart is not in it and the run ends quickly. I am keen to fish Abbots to finish my unsettled business from the very first night, and 4 casts into the run I bring a 67cm fish to the net, right about where that one rolled the first night.

Nacho encourages me to fish out the run. But I finish the day there, perfect in my mind, 10 trout for the afternoon finishing with a 10 lb’er on the last cast at Abbot’s. My time at this lodge has been fantastic and I feel like the king of the world. Muchos gracias Fernando.

The next stage of my sea trout journey involves travelling to the island at the southernmost tip of South America, Tierra del Fuego, the land of fire, named for its sunrises and sunsets and home of the Rio Grande, classed as the number 1 sea trout river in the world....
The transfer is 10 hours by land and involves 4 border crossings and a barge over the Magellan Strait. The barge was running this day as it was not too windy, although it was hard to stand up in wind blowing at about 85 kph. Amazingly the barges run in wind up to 105 kph.
It is good to be inside the barge eating a hot dog looking out at the wild weather and lashing seas. I am amazed by the Commerson's Dolphin’s coming alongside the barge in these conditions. Small and thick, black and white dolphins which have a beautiful name in the local Spanish language.

It is interesting to note that the country is a lot wetter and greener once we are on the island and as we drive across another spring creek on the Chilean side of the border I can’t help but think of the Chico I fished yesterday and wonder if all these creeks have fish. Although getting a fly onto them in this wind would be a challenge.

Finally I am at the quintessential fly fishing lodge and tomorrow morning will be fishing the Rio Grande, the number 1 sea trout river in the world. I enjoy the stone fireplace, meeting all the guests, take in the wooden beams and exposed timbers, unpack and rig up for the next day.

My time here passes in a flash, memories include that 14 lb’er hooked in the tail of a pool that is landed 250m downstream, the 4 fish landed on the afternoon session weighing in at 23lb, 18 lb, 17 lb and 14 lb, the 12 lb fish hooked and landed on the very first cast of the last morning, trying to get the fly onto the water by using 3 false casts at 10, 11 and 12 o’clock, directly into the wind up the bank, then releasing on the back cast towards the water.
Actually landing a backwards cast on the spot, 90 foot behind me in a 60 kph wind with a 275 grain sink tip, dead drifting, feeling a pluck and hooking up with a large belly in the line through the current on a very bright 9 lb fish, then saying that’s it - my hands are to cold to cast again after the release, then 5 minutes later remembering a small fish had risen not 20 foot from where I was standing, walking upstream a few meters to get the drift and first cast out to catch a lovely 5 pounder and finish the day with 2 fish in the last 2 casts.

South America –incredible lodges, excellent wholesome produce turned into mouth watering and tasty meals, not to mention catch and release fly fishing that creates lifelong memories.

Arrange your fly fishing trip of a lifetime contact me on 0458 239 542 or by email tomas@travellingflyfisher.com.au.