PPS Destinations Report 

Jurassic Lake and Patagonia , Argentina

Date:        January 2010

 Reported by Dr. Brian Griffith, USA

  I have fished in Argentina 4 times but never had I been to Patagonia for trout.  The problem was not a lack of desire but rather too many great sounding choices all of which had glowing reports.  So I enlisted the help of Mike Nelson of the Patagonia Fishing Company headquartered in Bozeman, Montana to narrow down the choices.  After a few phone consultations he arranged a varied and interesting itinerary for me and I was on my way.

  After staying overnight in Buenos Aires I was up early for the 8 am two hour flight to El Calafate.  The temperatures were brisk (around 50) and the wind was blowing hard.  The drive to Laguna Verde Lodge near Lake Strobel (aka Jurassic Lake) was a five hour marathon with the last two hours on some of the roughest road I have ever been on.  The last 15 km took over an hour to cover.  The mesa that Strobel sits on is like a moonscape.  I have rarely seen such emptiness over such a large area.  The mesa is approximately 100X50 km in size, is very flat, and is dotted with huge craters some of which are partially filled with water (lagunas).  Many of these have been stocked for commercially harvesting trout as all contain heavy scud populations. The estancia on which Laguna Verde sits is huge, 150,000 hectares and besides trout farming, cattle and sheep are raised although I have no idea how they survive.

  At first glance the Laguna Verde Lodge is not much to look at.  It is a smallish stone building sitting between the rim of the mesa and Laguna Verde.  After the next few days I would see why they picked this site as.  Once inside I was pleasantly surprised by a nicely appointed dining/common area.  The four double bedrooms with private baths were large and comfortable.  The lodge boasts of internet, fax, phone service as well as a large screen TV.  The service was a bit sketchy but it was nice being able to keep in touch with my wife.  A well stocked bar completed the picture.  The food was exceptional, by far the best I had on this trip, and our guides and hosts were excellent.  There was an American guide as well as two Argentines that spoke excellent English.

  Upon waking for the first day of fishing the temperature was 45 and the wind velocity was 78 km/hour (48.5 mph) and this was the slowest I would see for the next 48 hours.  Despite the wind we got in our waders and headed for the lake.  The lodge sits where it does as some protection from the wind, on the mesa it was blowing harder.  After a fifteen minute drive that covered probably no more than two miles we walked down a steep trail and got on ATVs for the five minute ride to the lake (total time from lodge to lake is about 25 minutes).  The lake is large, roughly triangular in shape, and outside of a few areas serviced by Laguna Verde and Loop, pretty inaccessible or difficult to fish due to the winds.  The primary spot for Laguna Verde is moderately sheltered from the wind by a hill behind the bay and this proved to be our saving grace.  It was still tough to cast and certainly not pretty but we were at least able to fish.  The first morning I landed three fish of respectable size and one in the afternoon.  They were all over 8 pounds and certainly among the largest rainbows I have ever caught but I was a bit disappointed in both the numbers and fight they offered.  I was beginning to have some doubts about this place.

  The following morning the conditions were about the same although the wind had picked up at camp to 81 km/hour.  Fishing was even slower the next morning and I was getting pretty bummed about the whole experience.  My guide, Juan Pablo, suggested an ATV ride over to the river, the Rio Barancoso, to try our luck there.  The river is the boundary between two estancias.  Loop is on one side and Laguna Verde is on the other.  Both camps have access to the river as all lakes and rivers are public in Argentina.  The loop camp sits at the boca of the river and has easy access to the lower river while Laguna Verde has easier access to the upper river (a 1 mile walk).  The ATVs are nice in that it gives Laguna Verde considerably more water to fish as well as easier access to the entire river.

  The river is a small freestone rarely more than 10 meters across.  It tumbles down through a beautiful rocky canyon with pools, riffles, and an enormous amount of pocket water.  Tying on a foam hopper I caught a small (14 inch) rainbow on the first cast and 2 casts later in the same small pocket an 11 pound trout.  The water is crystal clear and you can often spot fish and watch their takes.  The remainder of the afternoon was spent catching a lot of small trout and one other large one on the hopper.  I was now enjoying myself immensely.

  The following day I went directly to the river and landed well over 100 small (10-16 inches) trout plus 3 of more than 11 pounds, the largest being 15 pounds in pools the size of an average bedroom.  Occasionally you could sight fish to them but often they would just appear from a shadow and engulf the hopper.  I’m not sure I have ever enjoyed a morning of fishing more.  The sight of a 15 pound trout rising to a dry is something I will never forget.  The walking/wading on the upper river is rugged.  There is a lot of climbing over boulders and up around cliffs and is certainly not for anyone not in decent physical condition but it is definitely worth the price of admission!

  That afternoon after lunch at the main fishing area on the lake Juan Pablo and I took the ATV and moved down the lakeshore.  Once again, we walked through some seriously rough terrain but got to a protected cove and in the course of two hours proceeded to catch 12 very large, very hot trout.  All were over 10 pounds and the largest was 18 pounds.  This, I was told, was a lot more representative of normal fishing on the lake.  This day the wind was a mere 25 mph.

  After reading Chris Travis’ report on Strobel I was struck by how much competition there is between the two camps and how they spin each others facts.  My stay at Laguna Verde did not have the numbers of fish that Chris had but on the two days I fished the river I could clearly see the Loop camp and on the second (and windiest) day there were no fishermen on the water due to less protected site and on the third day while there were four fishermen in the water I did not see any bent rods.  I believe the fish were just off during that period for whatever reason.  In any event I was glad to be inside a stone structure for the two windiest nights rather than a tent.  One night the wind woke everyone up and you could actually feel the vibration in the masonry walls.  A hot shower and comfortable bed after a great dinner certainly made it a little easier to accept any lack of fish.

  The following day I did the five hour drive back to El Calafate, flew 1 ½ hours to Bariloche and spent another 4 hours driving with my guide, Willie, to the Estancia Quemquemtreu on the Rio Collon Cura where I would fish the next four days.  The estancia (70,000 hectares) and the valley it sits in are lovely.  We had spectacular weather 80-85 degrees, sunny, and NO WIND!  Most of the fishing was with streamers even in the bright conditions although there were several spots we stuck with dry flies.  The fish were much smaller 10-19 inches but beautiful, wild, and surprisingly strong.  If the fish at Strobel Lake were as strong there would be no possible way to land one.  I caught a good number of fish (30-50 per day), mostly rainbows, largemouth perca, smallmouth perca, and a few browns.  There was a lot of wildlife on the estancia (guanacos, foxes, rabbits, red deer) and ample bird populations.  The river is maybe 100 meters across and is generally floated.  We did three floats and 1 wading day in a side channel and the best part of the deal was that we saw exactly one other boat each day.  I found it amazing a river that size could be so deserted.

  The accommodations at the estancia were comfortable and the food was moderately good, neither exceptional nor awful.  I enjoyed this part of the trip as it reminded me very much of fishing in Montana and it was a pleasure to wet wade under sunny skies and catch cooperative fish.  It is not a place I would do again but it was a pleasant experience.

  Willie and I then proceeded to the Limay Medio and the town of Piedro del Aguila, only a three hour drive!  We stayed in the only hotel in town, a clean but spartan affair, and took our meals at a local restaurant.  I found this interesting because this was a “real” Argentine community, not an estancia or lodge, and you could get a better feel for how people actually live here.  We floated the river twice over the same section (about 20 km) but covered very little of the same water as this is a big river (300-500 meters across).  There were enough islands and side channels to make this a very interesting fishing venue.  I used mostly streamers although there were a few rising fish I managed to land but the reason for coming here is BIG browns.  The locals call them zapallos (pumpkins, pronounced zapajo).  In my two days of fishing I landed a lot of rainbows and browns with 10-12 browns of 20-24 inches but these did not qualify.  At the end of the second day I did hook one that went at least 8-10 pounds (the water is so clear you can watch the takes) but managed to lose him after 15 seconds.  This was really fun fishing.  The weather continued to cooperate with warm temperatures (in the 90’s) and no wind plus once again we had to share the river with exactly two boats each day, needless to say-not much pressure.  Probably the most unique fish was a 16 inch brown caught the second day.  After landing it we noticed a 6-8 inch baitfish called a pejere sticking 3 inches out of its mouth.  It was choking on its last meal and still took a streamer!  That is the kind of fish with attitude we can all appreciate.

  The landscape around the river is extremely arid-as close to desert as I have ever experienced but was starkly beautiful with red-banded cliffs and open plains.  The river is a tailwater and the water level changes quickly and at the whim of the power needs of Buenos Aires.  This occurred both days I was on the river but did little to alter the fishing.  This was my favorite spot of the entire trip and I could have easily spent another 2-3 days here.  There were enough fish (20-30 per day) to keep you interested and throwing streamers onto dropoffs, into pools, and behind willows all day is great entertainment for me, especially when there is a chance of hooking a monstrous brown trout.

  After leaving the Limay Medio we drove to Bariloche and the trip home.  Patagonia is a spectacular area, incredibly vast and empty.  I could spend years just trying to photograph the place although I do not believe they could begin to do it justice.  My trip was planned by the Patagonia Fishing Company and both the plan and its execution were flawless.  My guide, Willie, was very fluent in English and it was a pleasure spending a week with one guide as you could really get to know him.  I could not have been more pleased with Mike Nelson’s service and would recommend them highly to anyone planning a trip to Patagonia. They can be reached at 1-888-FISH ARGENTINA.  If anyone has any questions please feel free to contact me at traydog@enter.net.

 Following are some thumbnails of trip photos.  Please click on them and then return to this page by hitting the ' back ' button on your browser.