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Subscriber Brad Neff filed an upbeat report on Fly Fishing Patagonia for a trip they arranged for him to Argentina this past January. He fished the Limay, Caleufu and Manso rivers, plus Hess Lake, on a trip arranged by Fly Fishing Patagonia.
Neff says that both brown and rainbow trout were abundant and eager on this trip, and that services across the board were excellent: “The guys at Fly Fishing Patagonia did an amazing job,” Neff writes. “Our guides, Martin, Juan and Alex, were fun to hang out with. They made this experience the trip of a lifetime.”
Neff tells us his was a three-part trip and they floated or waded depending on the location. He writes: “We started with a four-day, three-night float on the Caleufu River. The fishing was incredible! We fished big Chernobyls and, when the winds picked up, switched to streamers on sinking lines. We took 20 to 30 fish a day averaging around 17 inches, with several over 20 inches. The big boy of the trip was an eight-pound, 26-inch brown. Each day, when we stopped to eat lunch along the river, the second boat with our gear would pass us and go ahead to set up camp for the night. When we reached our camping spot each night, our guides (Martin and Juan) would cook amazing dinners and we would drink wine and beer by the fire.
“After the Caleufu, we drove two hours to our next destination – a 25,000-acre working sheep ranch. We fished the Limay River for two days here, and we quickly discovered that the average fish here was even bigger than on the Caleufu. We had a BBQ along the river for lunch one day and the meals at night were amazing.
“Our last destination was Rio Manso Lodge in the Nahuel Huapi National Park. The drive up there was stunning. The rain forest areas were particularly noteworthy. The views were simply beyond imagination. The lodge itself was the newest and most modern of the places we stayed. Each room had a great view of Hess Lake.
“For the next two days, we fished Hess Lake and the Manso River. The action on Hess Lake was a little slow, as it was really hot with no wind. We still caught fish on big dragonflies, however, and it was exciting watching hungry fish hit those big dries. The average rainbow was probably 22 inches. The last day we floated the Manso River. The fishing here picked up a bit and we caught some really nice rainbows. We floated through rain forest that was straight out of the movie, Gorillas in the Mist…”
Among the highlights of the trip, Neff lists getting completely spooled by a big brown twice before finally losing him only a few feet from the net. “That was still one of the more memorable fights of my life!” he writes. He gives the cost of his trip as around $3,700.