Fly Fishing in Patagonia!

Patagonia is famous among anglers the world over for the size, quantity and various prized species of fish that inhabit the amazing glacial rivers. Most of the fameous fishing locations are north of El Chalten, but with the river in our backyard, tales of fly fishing adventures to be had in the area, and a streach of poor climbing weather, we decided to give it a try. Both Soraya and I are novices in the whole fly fishing game, though I have been getting out a bit more over the last few years. We decided to hire a guide that could help improve our fly fishing skills, provide the necessary equipment, and get us on the fish.

Gustavo Minotti from El Chalten Anglers, would be our guide for the day, and we were certainly pleased with our leader. He picked us up in the morning and drove us about 45 minutes from El Chalten up the Rio de las Vueltas to near Lago del Desierto. On the way we got to know Gustavo, who turns out to be an avid alpinist/mountain guide. He was very hapy to share his countless adventures across South America and beyond climbing A5+ (very scary stuff!) in the middle of nowhere, without any chance of rescue. He has lived in El Chalten for over 15 years, and was climbing here before the town or weather forecasts exited here. Climbing here now is serious, but back then it was pretty wild!

Anyway, this is a fishing post. We got to our first location, and Gustavo worked with Soraya and I to teach/correct our casting technique. He gave us a comprehensive lesson in the various fly types, and strategies for catching fish of differerent species, in diferent locations, weather conditions and feeding behaviours. The fish species in these rivers are all imports from the northern hemisphere familiar to most Washingtonians including brown trout, rainbow trout/steelhead, brook trout, chinook salmon, and atlantic salmon. We moved to the next spot to try and catch some of these fish!

It was slow going at first. We were casting some dry flies meant to imitate the abundant horse flies in the area. We had a few nibbles, but no clean bites for the first few hours. It was sprinkling a little, but

the rain forecasted for the day never materialized, and we were having a good time.

The surroundings were about as pictureque as you could imagine for a Patagonian fly fishing day. The river was the same glacial turquoise as most of the substantail rivers are down here. We were in a valley surrounded by beautiful mountains on both sides. Just to the north were the steep glaciated peaks of Cerro Creston and Cerro Vespignani (apparently great skiing). To the south, Fitz Roy was begninning to emerge from the violent swirl of swift moving clouds that constantly form around the summit. The sun began to shine, and it was just about perfect, but we weren't getting many fish.

We decided to break for lunch. Gustavo pulled out a pack luch for each of us with a huge personal calzone, apples, chocolate, and other

goodies. Then he pulled out a bottle of good Malbec Argentinean wine and we toasted to a great start to the day, and to more luck with the fish in the afternoon.

Apparently that worked, because the next few spots we visited were full of fish! Soraya and I landed one after the other, and lost many more. The fish were very aggressive, and it was amazing to be able to see them attack the dry flies though the clear water. We were catching about a 50:50 mix of brown trout and rainbows, all relatively small, but with plenty of action. It was great to be in the fish, and we were both yelping with excitement with each new bite.

Eventually, it was time to go, and we reluctantly packed up for the short trip wading across the river to the truck that would bring us home. We talked more about fishing and climbing on the way home, and thanked Gustavo for an amazing trip. We both learned a lot, and had a great time in the process. We look forward to applying these skills in Washington rivers this year!