“You know, Argentina is rapidly becoming my favourite country to visit!”  This comment, made by one of the PPS members on this last trip, is truly becoming a sentiment among more and more travelers to this wonderful land.  Fifteen PPS adventurers found out first-hand just how ‘user-friendly’ this great land is.  

The following trip report is a two-part/two-week adventure of dorado fishing in Corrientes and trout fishing in Patagonia, all arranged by Justi Campa and Oscar Dono of Fly Fishing Patagonia.  

Our adventure started with the group rendezvousing at the Amerian Hotel in Downtown Buenos Aires.  The anticipation of the impending adventure as well as the re-kindling of old friendships always makes this a highlight of the trip.  Being within walking distance of the historic Puerto Madera and its numerous restaurants always makes for a fun evening of excellent eating.  Although there is a significant Italian influence in Argentina , be prepared to have some of the best beef steaks in the world, lots of it.  Next day was a general day of sightseeing, visiting the San Telmo market, the Recoleta and its market and, of course, visiting the cemetery in the Recoleta district.  Although the final resting place of Eva Peron is certainly a major attraction and point of polarized feelings among Argentines, this site is certainly a must-see just for the beautiful architecture of the various family escutcheons.  In the evening, PPS members met in the office of Dr. Jorge Learetta for a very interesting presentation on the normal and pathological Temporomandibular Joint and system.  In this lecture, pathoses involving traumatic, systemic as well as bacterial/infectious were reviewed and taken with great interest by the members.

 Next morning, members boarded a domestic flight from BA to Santa Fe and were then transported by a four-hour bus ride to our next stop, Posada Hambare situated on the Corrientes River delta near the village/town of Esquina.  This very comfortable lodge was to be our home for the next six days and focal point for our fishing and other outdoor adventures.  This semi-tropical area is a United Nations Heritage site and is one of the largest Mesopotamia-like areas in the world, where the inter-river waters between the Corrientes and Parana Rivers span almost 100 kms.  Home to many fish and wildlife species, our main focus was the beautiful Golden Dorado fish of which none of our members had heretofore experienced.  While drifting down the various intimate channels, fishermen would cast large streamer patterns along the various vegetation lined banks.  During a typical day, 5 or 6 dorado were landed, weighing between 2 and 14 pounds.  These beautiful fish appeared to be hand-painted by one of the local artists and featured a sharp toothy grin which accompanied its submarine-shaped muscular body. These guys are definitely at the top of the local food chain.  Once hooked, these fish immediately jump several times in their spectacular fight.  In addition to the dorado, other species such as piranhas, palometas, chefalotes (‘dog fish’ with large lower canine teeth) were occasionally hooked.  While fishing the various channels, many wading birds, raptors as well as water buffaloes were commonly seen during the day.   Although the ‘ Mesopotamia ’ was flat, it still had enough features and variations of currents and vegetations to make it a very interesting and beautiful landscape.  All in all, all fishermen met with success, some days better than others.  This depended to a large degree on various weather patterns with the week starting out calm and hot, turning to heavy showers and cloud and then culminating with windier overcast days.  

One of the great features of this trip was that there was an organized spousal/guest program arranged by FFP.  While the majority of the members fished, spouses/guests were taken to various estancias for nature programs, horseback riding, polo lessons, spas or shopping trips to the local small towns.  This kept them busy and always occupied with many interesting options.  One of the highlights was a day-long horseback riding trip across an estancia spanning 15 kms.  Punctuated by an excellent lunch, guests viewed the plains and marsh areas, saw much wildlife including domesticated water buffaloes as well as the ubiquitous capybara, better known locally as the Carpinco.

At the end of the day, all members returned/rendezvoused at the lodge for pre-dinner drinks, followed by a delicious meal of prodigious quantity.  This theme was seen during the whole two weeks of our stay, namely; good food and tons of it!  Argentines are rightfully proud of their cuisine, especially their beef steaks.  One of the misconceptions I had stemmed from several trips to Chile and Brazil where meat dishes devoid of vegetables were quite common.  We found that not only were the vegetables varied and copious, but they were of excellent quality and taste.  One just had to get used to twice the serving of meat that one might be accustomed to.  

Special mention to La Senora (Mimi), her husband, El Senor and the wonderful staff at the Posada Hambare.  Our stay felt almost as though we were guests in a home as opposed to a lodge facility.  I should mention that there was a highlight and special treat given the guests by FFP owners, Oscar Dono and Justi Campa.  After some local music, four amazingly beautiful women in Carnival Costume gave us a sizzling dance to drum-beat music.  Participation by all members was mandatory as we all participated in this mini version of carnival.  Honestly, it took nearly two days for my laughing muscles to recover from fatigue!!!!  

This first part came to an end and, unlike other adventures where it was now time to go home, we were simply embarking on the next adventure.  Following a very short sleep-over in BA, we left early the next morning for Bariloche in Patagonia .  Fishermen were treated to an excellent lunch (no, this wasn’t your average excellent shore lunch) of a hot meal cooked on an open fire, excellent salads and wine/beer and then drifted the famous Limay River .  The first thing you note is the amazing clarity of the waters.  In total, many of us drifted the Limay two times but with little success.  Although you could see the occasional large browns holding in the deeper waters, only one decent brown trout was caught by New Zealander Don Wallace.  Otherwise, only very small or medium fish were caught.  One day was spent drifting the Rio Manso which, unlike the Limay River which drains to the Atlantic system, the Manso drains to the Pacific system and is therefore more lush due to higher rainfall.  Again, the fishing was down for our drift, however, the second drift the next day met with much more success. This was an interesting water since it was even clearer than the Limay and we were sight casting to fish that were swimming near the surface in holes where the bottom could be clearly seen 6+ metres deep.  Accommodations were at Estancia Puema Hue on the shores of Lago Gutierrez and could only be described as stunning.  Beautiful log structures and out-cabins made this a place where you did not necessarily want to leave.  As with the first venue, the spouses/guests had their own programs and spent their days visiting the quaint town of Bariloche , hiking and riding.  These were hosted and, in some cases, natural history or flora/fauna experts accompanied the trekkers to give maximum value to the outing. Definitely no complaints were to be heard!  

After the third night, the group was bussed to our final destination, Quemquemtreu Working Ranch on the banks of the eponymous river.  Although this facility was not as ‘beautiful’ as the previous one, this is a place where we all left our hearts and intend to return.  Aside from the excellent hospitality of managers Paula and Martin and their aide, Pepi, the feel and homeliness of this ranch was superb.  Meals were excellent and had the best atmosphere one could imagine.  Fishermen spent two and half days on the nearby Rio Collon Cura and were treated to calm blue skies.  Where the Rios Limay and Manso were stingy in their fishing, the Collon Cura decided to make amends and give generously.  Basically, many of us caught anywhere from 10 to 30 medium rainbows each day as well as the odd big brown trout.  The highlights of our 2 days were six to seven pound browns caught by Chris Travis, Maddy Tacy and myself as  this system also has perch up to five pounds which, when found in the slightly slower waters, are easily caught and make up some good sport.  Also, unlike the other venue, we had some decent dry fly fishing to a prolific small caddis hatch near the end of the day.  I thoroughly enjoyed catching 15 to 18 inch rainbows in one to two feet of water on the dry fly.  

Being a working ranch, Quemquemtreu has many horses and therefore great riding through the open hills was enjoyed by the spouses/guests and, as with the other venues, great bird and game viewing was also enjoyed.  This area is home to thousands of red deer and we saw many herds of females accompanied by their red stag in the bottom lands.  During the morning and evening, the constant roaring of the large stags was heard as this was the season of the rut.  One of the members, Ron Witzke, decided to take a day off and successfully hunted for red stag, bagging two.  

As this excellent portion of our adventure wound up, we headed back to BA – much to the protest and crying of Hannah, my fourteen year old daughter – for one final night before heading back home to Canada .  While half the members departed back home that evening, a few of us stayed on an extra night and went out for a great dinner to celebrate Chris and Diane’s 35^th Wedding Anniversary.  Next morning, our tour guide met us to take us shopping in some of the nicer parts of BA.  Well, although I am not a shopper by nature, I have to admit, this has to be classified as a shopper’s paradise.  BA is famous for its leather goods and jewellery –featuring the indigenous Inca Rose stone – and the prices are equally excellent.  Due to the devaluation of the peso, Leather goods/shoes of high quality were purchased for one third of the cost one might expect to pay back home.  Capybara, which is known in Argentina as the Carpinco, is an exotic leather that is really only used in Argentina .  Some of the best and nicest leather goods are made with this hide and is really a must-have when visiting.   

In any event, with mixed feelings, we all left Argentina only to know that we will definitely be back.  A summary of my overall impressions of this trip is as follows:

• Our trip was arranged through Justi and Oscar of Fly Fishing Patagonia (FFP).   I thoroughly checked their references before committing my group to them and am happy to recommend/insist that you use their services.  Not only was this one of the best organized trips for my group (actually, now that I think of it, it was the best organized trip), but it was also one of the best value trips we have done.  Top marks to FFP and they have my unqualified highest recommendation.  For more information, contact Justi at jcampa@flyfishingpatagonia.com.
• For your stay in BA, contact Monica V. De Ferrari at monicavaf@fibertel.com.ar.  This dynamic and animated lady arranged everything from tours, taxis, shopping, tango dancing or whatever.  She is a valuable resource, more than reasonable and can really make the most of your stay in this bustling city.
• Expect good food and lots of it.  This is not a trip for dieters!  Although this is billed as meat-eaters trip, I found it more vegetarian friendly than either Chile or Brazil .  Expect to eat at 10pm and go to bed with a full stomach!  Argentineans eat late as a rule and you will be hard pressed to find a meal before 9pm.
• Expect to wash down your meal with excellent Argentinean wines.
• Expect to work very hard on this trip.  The guides at all venues will fish from morning till last light and will only come in if you feel you had enough.  At times, some of us felt wiped from the fishing and might have welcomed a rest day where fishing was not permitted.  The guides in Corrientes did not speak much English but were fun and worked very hard.  The guides in Patagonia did speak English and were equally as hard working.  I have fished with guides in many different countries and these were the most fun and hardest working of any I have been guided by.
• Argentineans are very friendly and will easily make conversation.
• Stunning scenery.  I’ve always found the Andes to be one of the most beautiful backdrops whether on the Chile or Argentine side.  No wonder Argentines are so proud of their country.
• Great shopping and value for your money.  Expect excellent quality at a fraction of the price for any goods made in-country. 
• This is also a great place for families.  My son and I enjoyed the fishing while my wife and daughter had a great time shopping, riding, trekking, touring and more.  This is the very first trip where two-thumbs-up was given by everyone!!!  Trust me, its not easy to impress teenagers these days.
• Argentina has good wildlife and bird viewing opportunities.

As I initially indicated, this will not be a one-time venue.  We are already discussing a future trip with possible extensions to Iguazu falls or Mendoza for wine tasting.  As they say, Hasta la Vista !  

For more information, please follow the supplied links and/or email me, Ernst ‘Ernie’ Schmidt at pps@shaw.ca

  Here are more pictures or our trip.  After clicking on the thumbnail, please use the back button to return to this page and see the remaining photos.

Member's Gallery.  Here are more comments and Images of our Argentine trip.

Dear fellow PPS'ers:  Diane and I have decided this trip was the most organized program we have been involved with, and with three weeks to fill, that was a tall order.  We have to commend our fearless leader, Ernesto, who found maybe the best outfitters, Flyfishing Patagonia, in Justi and Oscar (Okie).  These two guys love their craft and have fun doing it.  That made us very much at home with them and the people we met, in Argentina.  We felt we sampled much of Argentina in the three weeks traveling from one great adventure to another.  How unique. In between, we toured the great city of Buenos Aires and sampled her great culinary establishments and tango shows.
Being part of the PPS gang for the length of time needed to visit Argentina, gave us enough time to re-aquaint ourselves and enjoy their company.  That was the highlight of our adventure.  It is always the people.
To end our adventure in great fashion, we enjoyed our 35th wedding anniversary with the Schmidts and Richard Rotter at a very nice Italian restaurant, in Buenos Aires, called Bice. As we left the establishment, the skies opened up and we ran back to the Amerian Hotel singing in the rain and soaked to the bone. What an ending to a great time.
Chris and Diane Travis submitted the following photos:

Report and photos submitted by John and Anne Barrett:

Photos submitted by Rod Wentworth and Jill DeMarco:

Photos submitted by Richard Rotter:

Photos submitted by Justi Campa:

Photos submitted by Bob and Maddy Tacy

One last shot for good measure: