Adventurageous

Part of the draw of fishing is sharing the experience with friends.  Probably more in flyfishing as it is more focused on the experience than about the catch.  So this post is to share with my fishing buddies that were not able to go to Argentina with me, I missed you guys out there, and also to my new fishing buddies of Bariloche.  I realize landing a trophy brown trout seems uneventful if I am not able to share the moment with you guys.

With not much of a guidance than a childhood dream of flyfishing the Patagonia and a guidebook written over 20 years ago, I packed up my rods and headed for Northern Patagonia for 5 weeks.  The guidebook “Argentine Trout Fishing” stated that the northern area is the most accessible in terms of roads and most popular with the town Junin de Los Andes as the Capital of flyfishing in Argentina using Bariloche as a starting point to rent a car and get familiar with the area.  I arrived on a Saturday afternoon after about 24 hour bus ride from Buenos Aires.  The shops were closed already and will be closed on Sunday also.  But I was lucky enough to find an inexpensive car rental for about $600 for a month. After asking around, I could not wait to get on the river first thing in the morning on Sunday. The closest river was the Limay which as just out of town about 10 miles.  The author of the guidebook mentions that the river is popular with locals but he has never caught anything after numerous tries on the river.  I surely would have more luck.  Sunday, I arrived at the river to find one that is perfect—crystal clear, good flow from a large cold mountain lake.  I immediately looked for fish in the river being able to look right to the deep pools to the rocky bottom.  I fished the river for about 10 hours with everything, nymphs, streamers, stimulators and a variety of terrestrials.  The excitement grew to frustration..how could such a beautiful river be so difficult, or maybe the river has been recently polluted recently that is not mentioned in an obviously outdated guidebook.  I casted endlessly to a seemingly perfect river but not seeing any fish at all.  I went back to the hostel that night wondering that I have just traveled across the globe to be skunked thinking is this how my fishing for the month will be like, maybe I should make a early reservation for a flight back.