Patagonia! Dreamed by many and lived by the few.
In this season after so much planning, we decided to explore a little more deeply the region of Esquel in Chubut in Patagonia Argentina. We stayed at the lodge of our great friend Richard Williams, who lies on the banks of the Futaleufu river about 60km from the town of Esquel.
Our adventure was divided into three of the most representative fishing spots in the region: Rio Rivadavia, Arroio Pescado and Rio Futaleufu.
Today the first leg of our journey takes us to the enchanting Rivadavia River and the legendary Spring Creek Doña Rosa.
After the warm welcome from Richard's staff at the Lodge and a great night's sleep in private suites overlooking the river and at the foot of the Andes, we woke up early and soon after a reinforce View more...Patagonia! Dreamed by many and lived by the few.
In this season after so much planning, we decided to explore a little more deeply the region of Esquel in Chubut in Patagonia Argentina. We stayed at the lodge of our great friend Richard Williams, who lies on the banks of the Futaleufu river about 60km from the town of Esquel.
Our adventure was divided into three of the most representative fishing spots in the region: Rio Rivadavia, Arroio Pescado and Rio Futaleufu.
Today the first leg of our journey takes us to the enchanting Rivadavia River and the legendary Spring Creek Doña Rosa.
After the warm welcome from Richard's staff at the Lodge and a great night's sleep in private suites overlooking the river and at the foot of the Andes, we woke up early and soon after a reinforced breakfast, we headed towards the National Park Los Alerces, about an hour from the Lodge.
As soon as we entered the park, we went on for approximately 30 minutes on ground roads where we had as scenery the most beautiful scenery formed by a nature preserved, amazing lakes with perfect lines that seemed to be drawn by time and rivers that flowed like music with extraordinary colors .
With that uncontrollable will to catch the rods and go fishing, we soon reached our point of support and began to assemble our equipment. Rivadavia is a river where floats are commonly made, because this is a river with ideal conditions for it, but we decided that we would wade the river in some places where this is possible.
We used rods n ° 4 and 5 with floating lines, the first more indicated for the Donã Rosa channel, and the second for the Rivadavia river, almost a must for the strong Patagonian winds that were present a great part of the day. We also use leaders from 9 to 12 feet with tippets between 4X and 6X.
All set, we started our walk to the river and from the beginning, we were presented with a quick change of the climate, which changed from fresh and clean to cloudy with rain and wind. As we expected, we followed the path and finally reached the banks of the river Rivadavia, there we realized the level of difficulty that we would face, with a very crystalline water that follows downstream with extreme force, although on its surface seems to be very slow and calm.
Soon we began to wade with nymphs on the sighted fish, most of them rainbow trout, there were a lot of them throughout our river, but getting a good trout in waters so restless and at the same time deep and crystalline is a great challenge. We were unsuccessful with the nymphs and decided to move to an Adams, and soon after the first shot and after a few minutes of careful not to screw the tippet 5x into the numerous trunks and rocks our friend Jackson Alencar was able to take a beautiful copy of approximately 1.5kg.
Arriving lunch time, as scheduled we were already approaching our next fishing spot, so we decided to take some time and recharge the batteries for what we would have ahead.
After a few minutes rest and a good lunch, we follow the Spring Creek Doña Rosa. A stream of crystalline and cold waters that are born from slopes and runs like a serpent in the middle of the forest, with its banks full of trees and with its final section that runs through an extensive open area before reaching the river rivadavia the Doña Rosa channel is without doubt one of the most challenging and charming places for fly fishermen, there all your skills and techniques will be put to the test.
In small wells formed by the curves of the channel are concentrated a large amount of rainbow trout, fontinalis and brown, the latter being more common in the more open areas of the channel.
The rainbows in greater numbers dominate the wells where they are always very active and feed in the bottom, as we present them an irresistible little nymphs Ramellina Amo # 12 which provoked them by instinct but rejected them at the last moment. Rain, seeing, lack of space, trees and tricky trout! Even with all the difficulties it was possible to get some good examples between 800g and 1.5kg.
After a couple of hours fishing the weather changed, the rain stopped and the same timid sun came back to shine. But the trout were now untouchable, no longer following the nymphs and it seems we would no longer have contact with the famous trout of the Doña Rosa channel until our friend Jackson changed the story drastically by changing his tipped from 5X to 6X and leaving the nymphs on their sides to prove a black zonker, a small black strimer. This change changed the scenery, it seemed that all the trout were happy to see the black zonker in action, we had many slugs, brown trout and rainbows divided the scene. For the rest of our afternoon the fishing remained incredible.
Great company, nice weather, good fish and a unique experience lived in the middle of Patagonia Argentina, what more could I want? One more day of fishing in this incredible place? Maybe...
But we finished our day, already thinking about the fishing the next day, while we returned to the Lodge planning the next four days of fishing where we will explore the Arroio Pescado and the Futaleufu River. And so was our first stage in Esquel, in the next few days we will be reporting the next two experiences. Hope you like it.
I remind those who are interested in this fishery please contact us, who will certainly be happy to help you plan your next fishery.
Thank you
Ocellus Fishing
