PPS Destinations Report
Jurassic Lake (aka Lago Stroebel), Santa Cruz, Argentina
Date: March 25th to April 1, 2011
The difference between a 'bucket list' and a 'wish list' is that you actually do something about a 'bucket list'. With that in mind, a group of us rendezvoused in Buenos Aires, had Argentine steak dinner at Cabanas Las Lillas, took the next early morning flight to El Calafate and then drove for nearly 8 hours before arriving at the Loop Jurassic Lake camp. During this whole episode, we had plenty of time to discuss our overall objective, which was, to catch the biggest still-water rainbow trout of of our lives. Not only that but to catch numbers of them. Even with the pre-trip report warning that the expected fall rains/snows did not materialize and that the resulting low water in the Rio Barrancosa would mean that we should not expect 30 fish days, we were still up beat and relieved to finally get at the camp.
Having been given impressions from other people who have been to this and the other camp, I thought I would lay out my experiences and highlight how those have differed from what I've heard from other individuals. Definitely, this should at least give the reader a better understanding of the differences that might be encountered.
Getting There
Like all venues, the difference between perception and reality is always a subject for debate. The drive in was billed as '...the drive from hell to the lake from heaven..... The drive was slow and tedious but maybe not as bad as it could have been. The first leg of the trip involves a couple of hours on a paved road. You travel along and cross two major river systems as well as some of Argentina's biggest lakes, like Lago Argentino. The scenery is wonderful, featuring the emerald waters with the high mountains in the backdrop. From there, there is another two to three hours on a high-speed gravel road although sections were under construction and we had to take several slower detours. Finally, there is the off-road section as you get closer to the final destination. As you approach the lake, you travel over a rock-strewn mesa with unobstructed views of the mountains to the west. Interestingly, the lake sits in a crater entirely surrounded by a steep and impenetrable escarpment. This became evident as we arrived and crossed the Rio Barrancosa after only 5 hours of travel. At that point, I knew we were close to the lake and thought it would be shorter than expected drive as we were so close. Wrong! Basically, we had to crawl to the very head of the lake in order to penetrate the escarpment at the only possible spot. From there, then crawl the final leg, all the way back down the lake until we arrived at the mouth of the Rio Barrancosa where the Loop camp is situated. The final sections involved slow going with the vehicles travelling in low-range four wheel drive and weaving through and over the boulders. Once at the camp, there would be no driving or travelling for the next 6 days as the main fishing beach and the river are all within eyeshot and within a 5 minute walk from the camp.
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On your way in/out of the camp, expect to see the rheas ( a large flightless bird; cousin to the ostrich/emu), flamingos, foxes, guanacos and other bird life.
The Camp
Although the camp was billed as luxury in the wilderness, it turned out to be a spartan complex placed on the lee side of a rubble pile which protected the camp from the heavy prevailing winds. I suppose you could consider the camps luxury when considering how difficult getting materials into camp is. Meals were taken in a common dome-shaped tent with a clear view of the lake and the 'cabins' was little more than a corrugated shack with four rooms and a basic washroom at one end. Each unit was partitioned with paper-thin walls and the corrugated roof which, when raining, sounded like a drum during the nights. Maybe not the most spectacular accommodations but placement was strategic with regard to wind shelter. Each room was furnished with a regular single bed as well as bunk beds and a chair or two. At first, the bed looked 'nothing special' but I have to admit, the mattress and the duvet cover was wonderful for sleeping. As dawn did not occur until nearly 8am, it was nice to sleep in once you were cozy. Each room had a small propane heater which, when finally warmed, gave the room a very warm and cozy feeling. On the first night, we all went to bed with half our fishing gear on, only to shed half way through the night as the room finally warmed up.
A basic washroom was attached to one end of the 4 suite 'apartment complex' and showers could be taken in a separate shower house. As electricity was not always provided, you needed to give the boys the 'heads-up' prior to showering in order to make sure there was ample hot water. Although a bit cold before you got in, the shower was an excellent tonic to a long day.
The camp was operated by three chaps from Rio Gallegos. Pollo (pronounced Po-zho and meaning chicken in Spanish) spoke the most English and appeared to be the 'manager' of the operation. Albert was our cook and Christian was there in support as well. Meals were served in a dome-like tent and, when the light was pleasant, served as a great spot for lunch or breakfast. In the evening, there was a feeble propane heater which helped to take the bite out of the cold evenings. On one or two nights, no matter how much we wore, we found ourselves uncomfortably cold during and after dinner. Our cook Albert, worked in a small shed just across from the dining tent and meals were more than generous and full meals served three times daily. Good Argentine wines were also served ad libitum. Lunch was humongous and we had to ask him to cut that in half. After lunch and dinner, desserts were also served. In general, the meals were good to very good and the fresh desserts even better. In short, the meals were beyond expectation and certainly left nothing to complain about, except maybe the portions were too large.
Considering the remoteness of the location, we were, by and large, comfortable although we were cold occasionally. As power was cut off at about 10pm, we all went to bed early and awoke feeling refreshed. A bonus to our trip was when another small group came to visit for 2 days. Their guide and driver, Juan Manuel, also possessed amazing talent with the guitar and entertained us with songs ranging from Bob Dylan to Johnny Cash. He was nothing less than amazing and we had a great time for those nights.
Our hosts were very good to us and we had little to complain of other than being cold the odd time. This camp was run by the Loop Company of Sweden.
The Terrain, Lake and River.
As mentioned earlier, Jurassic Lake lies in the middle of the Stroebel Mesa (plateau). One of our group described the area as wasteland that was either beautiful in an ugly way or ugly in a beautiful way. The landscape was a boulder-strewn, treeless semi-arid setting with nothing but small bushes for vegetation. Getting around was easy as vegetation was usually isolated by a small patch of bare ground. Getting down to the lake (from the Mesa) is very difficult as the entire lake sits below the mesa and is surrounded completely by a steep rock-strewn escarpment. Although there is no outlet to the lake, the only inlet is a small river, the Rio Barrancosa, which flows from the mountains to the west and enters the lake where the camp is situated. The rainbow trout, which were apparently stocked about 25 years ago, are self sustaining and must use this river for spawning. This is a very peculiar arrangement as the river is essentially ascended by the trout over a 6 month period. Instead of having a mass-spawn in the spring, the fish tend to spawn during the open water season pending flow rates. Even though the river is inhabited by many smaller fish, there are always some big fish to be found. The river is quite amazing in that it relatively small compared to the lake, yet seems to hold a fair number of fish. At the time we were visiting, the river was considered very low. The flow is basically a cascade of pools and riffles as the river drops fairly quickly from the escarpment area. In most reasonable riffles and pools, several larger fish may be seen. These may be any where from 5 to 15 pounds and they are mixed in with the smaller resident rainbows.
The lake itself is gin-clear and highly productive. Much of the shoreline is rocky/boulders with some of the rock piles showing a soft calcium-like crust covering these rocks. Judging by the rocks that are bleached and 'high and dry', it is clear that the lake levels have been dropping for some time. This is confirmed by the camp staff who have noticed a demonstrable drop in the lake level over the past 5 years. Interspersed between the rocky shorelines are several beaches of varying size. Most notably, the river estuary is a pebble/sand beach making for ideal casting, wading and fishing. The big advantage to this beach is that it has the highest concentration of fish, especially when the river level is up, and is the easiest place to land a fish. With only one exception, all fish were released. The one fish that served to feed us for one evening, showed that the primary food source in the lake is a dark-olive/orange scud that is about 4mm in length. Its clear that this 'beefy shrimp' must be in amazing abundance in order to support so many fish and to make them grow so quickly and large.
During our week, we experienced a wide variety of weather conditions. At one extreme, the weather was calm and a balmy 60F and this would vary with cold mornings at 27F or gale-force winds. Occasionally, the arid landscape would see rain, hail and snow during our week. Although the heavy winds could, at times, make fishing uncomfortable, the main fishing beach lies in the lee-side of a large rocky island/peninsula. Given the wind shelter as well as the wind direction, casting (at least for a right hander) was rarely a problem even in the heaviest winds. On one memorable afternoon, I came back from a walk where I decided to hike up to a small plateau just above the lake, but still below the main escarpment, only to find it difficult to penetrate the 60+mph winds. After walking like a drunkard against the wind, I came back to camp and watched some of the anglers fishing in the most amazing conditions. To my total amazement, I could not get over guys catching fish in conditions which would be described as gale force winds and far too windy in almost every other place in the world. Fortunately, if inclement weather would descend, we just needed to take a break for a while as we knew the weather would be entirely different in a matter of an hour or two.
The Fishing
At this point, one must be wondering why anyone would travel such a long distance to be at this place. Well, after hearing from at least three other anglers who had preceded me, I decided to see if this was really the fishery it was billed as. In my mind, no destination is too hard when the possibility of 20 pound rainbows caught from shore is a reality. Although the river level was low and the fish weren't stacked in the numbers they could have been, we slogged our way 'through' the tough fishing. At the end of the day, I was more than happy with the fishing. In fact, it was one of he pivotal moments of my lake-fishing 'career'. I could not imagine catching fish, as described by others, who fished under better conditions. During my week, I had a 3 hour period when I did not touch a fish. Otherwise, it would range from 10 fish on the slowest day to 30 fish on a relatively fast day. As billed, these fish ranged from an average of 7 to 8 pounds with a daily catch of at least one fish in the 14 pound + range. Our best fish landed must have approached 20 pounds. One of my best fish was 31 1/2 inches long and had shoulders like I have never seen. Although it might have appeared deformed at first glance, it was so well formed and symmetrical that you just had to accept that it was an amazing fish. Other than that, I had many fish in the 26 to 29 inch range, some obscenely fat. The short of it was that these were the trophy fish that we all travelled so far to catch. Personally, I caught at least 25 rainbows which were bigger than any other lake rainbow I ever caught.
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The most successful method for catching them, at least as far as I was concerned, was to use either a dry line or an intermediate (full sink or tip) with a #8 or #6 wooly bugger in either midnight fire or flash green shades. What's more, the fly worked better when it lost its hackle and was slim. I would cast out and slowly strip back to shore. I caught fish on a variety of flies but these were the most consistent for me. I used a 10 foot leader and quickly realized that an 8.8 pound frog hair was inadequate. I tended to use 13 pound tippet as well as flies tied on extra strong hooks. If I didn't, then many fish would break me off on the take or bend the hook in the fight. I learned, using this tackle, to crank down the drag to quite a degree. Whenever, I hooked a fish 10 pounds or less, it could only run a short while and then had to jump as it couldn't pull line against the tight drag. Contrary to what one angler told me (fished another camp at a different time of year) which was that the fish never pulled line and went into the backing, I immediately knew when I had a quality or trophy fish. As soon as it was hooked, with or without jumping, it immediately headed to the far side of the lake at high speed. We each had a fish or two which kept going, never to be landed. Our premium fish would easily take out 3 x the fly line length (about 100 yards) and make quite a battle of it. The best fish gave us the best and most memorable fights to be sure.
As mentioned, the river was remarkably low for this time of year. Regardless, several of the members fished the river for part of each day. There was enough action to make it fun. You never knew if you were going to catch a lovely 15 inch rainbow or its big cousin. At one pleasant bouldery-run, I was fishing an elk-hair caddis and having fun with the smaller fish. This was a great diversion during the times that the wind was howling on the lake. Out of no-where, a relatively huge fish came up and engulfed my fly. I managed to hook quite a few of these fish but this is the only one I was able to successfully land, the others going downstream and breaking me off. This fish was beautifully coloured, a bit like a spawning cutthroat and was in prime condition, all 12 or so pounds of him. I should also mention that there was one very large pool fairly close to the lake. This was the 'honey hole' to be sure and it held large numbers of big fish - up to 15 pounds - as well as healthy smaller fish. Had the river been in ideal shape, I think we would have thought we had 'died and gone to heaven'.
All in all, the facilities and experience matched the isolation and quality fishery that this lake has become known for. Although this destination does not match the amenities of other Argentine locations, the traveler will seek this destination in order to experience, what is arguably, the best lake rainbow trout fishing in the world. Naturally, this fishery would not be what it is and would not be so highly valued if it weren't so difficult to access. I am certainly glad I did this trip and consider doing it again.
This is one of the very few times where the fishing has lived up to, or surpassed, my expectations. Given that we did not experience ideal conditions, I was more than happy with my experience. For more information, please feel free to contact me at pps@shaw.ca . Ernst 'Ernie' Schmidt.