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Patagonia's Trout

The famous Canadian writer and fly-fisherman Roderick Haig-Brown was eager to fish year round and thus explored remote destinations when the fishing season in home British Columbia was not right. He wrote four books, named after the four seasons, available today in a complete package. One of these books is named "Fisherman's Winter". Although written in 1954, it gives a vivid, entertaining and faithful account of the fabulous trout fishery awaiting the fly angler in the Argentinean Patagonia.

 

This book was the trigger which sent me to this remote part of the world. Once read, I reserved straight away my plane ticket to Bariloche, in the heart of the Argentinean Andes. I would arrive in Argentina just after Christmas. My plan was to set up a base in Junín de los Andes, strategically located within short distance of famous waters such as the Chimehuin, Aluminé, Collón Cura and Malleo rivers.

 

In the months prior to travelling to the south hemisphere, I started by filling up my fly boxes with new exotic flies supposed to resemble the local fauna. Especially one freshwater crustacean unknown to western anglers had to be imitated: the pancora. It is a small brownish crayfish looking much like a crab, on which trout feast and grow big! So I set to tie various imitations (which plenty of rubber legs) of this little animal, plus other more classical trout streamers, nymphs and dry flies. For my preparation, I got also a lot of inspiration from another well-written book, "Argentine Trout Fishing", by late William Leitch, who travelled and explored the area extensively. The book is well documented, and is as much a fishing guide as a travel guide.

 

The date of travelling had come; I was excited like a little child in front of a gift to be unwrapped: I would soon fish some of the best trout waters in the world! I first landed in Buenos Aires, known to the locals as Capital Federal (C.F.). Tango dancers with an attitude, strolling locals in the numerous parks, colorful La Boca: this cosmopolitan city holds a special atmosphere, and is one of the few I would agree to live in. I only stayed there for one night though, as I was eager to meet the Andes. Next day I took off from the domestic airport in the city heart, headed for Bariloche, on the eastern slope of the Andes, right on the banks of the beautiful Nahuel Huapi Lake.

 

Travelling and fishing in a foreign country is always a thrilling adventure. On a new continent and new hemisphere, even more so! I was struck by the aridness of the landscape, which made me think of Sergio Leone's spaghetti western films. Isolated grass patches, cactuses, and these araucaria trees (also know as monkey puzzle trees), so special to Patagonia! Through this dry country, wonderfully clear rivers flowed. The setting was prepared; I was ready to hit the water!

 

After having driven along picturesque River Limay for several kilometers, I arrived in the quiet town Junín de los Andes, located just on the bank of the Chimehuin River, one of the fabled streams described in Haig-Brown's book. I visited the local fly shop first, in order to get a license and a few advices on the way. I also grabbed a couple of streamer patterns the shop owner advised me to try out. Fishing would have to wait until tomorrow, as dusk crept in. I checked into the town's camping, set up my tent, ate a well-deserved home-grilled piece of beef meat, and drank a maté, the traditional Argentinean tea-like drink sipped through a metal pipe.

 

More photos from the trip can be accessed here.