PPS Destinations Report 

 Far End Rivers, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina

Date:         March 14 - 21, 2009

 Reported by Dr. Brian Griffith, New Jersey, USA                                                                                                   

 On the south-eastern tip of Tierra del Fuego lies a beautiful valley filled with Lenga Beech trees through which a small river flows.  The Irigoyen (pronounced Irigojen) reportedly held fair numbers of sea run brown trout and I was fortunate enough to be selected by The Angling Report to visit Far End Rivers Lodge in mid-March to see for myself what type of fishing was available there. 

  The trip to the lodge is long.  You first fly to Buenos Aires and then proceed the next day on the four-hour flight to Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world.  Spending one more night in Ushuaia, while not absolutely necessary, does allow for any baggage problems to be resolved as well as a little sightseeing and rest.  Finally, when picked up by the lodge staff you face a 150-mile, 3 to 4 hour road trip, 60 of which are a dirt road with the last 10 being quite rough.

  Far End Rivers Lodge first opened in January 2008 through the efforts of Marcelo Perez of Untamed Angling, located in Buenos Aires, and there has not been a lot published about it thus far.  Sr. Perez is also the man responsible for opening up La Zona on the Rio Uruguay for enormous golden dorado.  I had experienced his operations there twice with Mark Cowan of Pescador Solitario and was highly impressed so I was definitely looking forward to another good trip.  I was not to be disappointed.

  The river and the lodge sit within the Estancia Maria Luisa, a 45,000-acre ranch that borders the sea.  The lodge itself is comfortable, inviting, and laid back.  Not a stuffy “proper” big time lodge, this place exudes a relaxed and warm atmosphere.  Fishermen stay in a guest cabin that has a large common area with a woodstove to dry waders as well as five rooms (double beds) with private baths.  Paneled with Lenga wood from floor to ceiling the rooms are large enough to be comfortable and provide more than enough storage space for the gear one might bring along.  There is also a dining/kitchen cabin that offers a gathering spot for meals, cocktails, and conversation.  Telephone and internet service is available although there were a few times connections were sketchy.  Electricity is provided by a generator that runs when fishermen are in camp.

  The lodge is situated on the leeward side of a hill abutting the south Atlantic and overlooking the river.  The view from the lodge is lovely, windswept grass on one side and the Irigoyen valley on the other.  The ocean and river mouth is a short walk away.  The coastline is stunning with high headlands dropping straight down to a stony beach that stretches for miles with absolutely no sign of man.  Wildlife is abundant if not overly diverse.  During the course of the week we saw guanacos, penguins, foxes, beavers, condors, and some very wild cattle.  The latter are escapees from the estancias and are magnificent looking animals.  These cattle are the most commonly seen animals and the bulls often have a bit of an attitude.  Bird species are plentiful and diverse.

  The Irigoyen River is, on average, about 25 to 30 yards across and winds through the river bottom producing may bends and turns with the resultant eddies, runs, and pools. It is easily waded and is beautiful water to fish.  Because of the forest there are a lot of logs in the water providing plenty of structure.  Since the river does sit in a valley filled with trees, the infamous Tierra del Fuego wind is not a major issue.  Not once in a week did it prevent me from making a cast even though at the lodge the wind might be whipping by at 25 to 30 mph or faster.  Temperatures ranged from the mid thirties to the mid fifties during the day.  Water temperatures averaged around 45 degrees, a little cool as 55 degrees is more optimal.  Single handed 8 weight rods were the weapon of choice and spey rods are absolutely not needed (a plus in my book) although my fishing partner opted to use one.  Due to the varying depth and current speed of the river a multi-tip line such as the Versi-tip was essential and I used every tip in the wallet with the exception of the floating line.  Leaders were 6-9 feet of 15-25 pound test and flies varied from #2 string leeches to #10 rubber legged nymphs with black being the predominant color.

  The fishing program is similar to many I have experienced in Argentina.  Breakfast is served at 8 followed by a ride on the 6-wheel Argo (an amphibious all terrain vehicle) to the designated beat.  These vehicles served as ground transportation as well as floating rafts to cross the river.  They saved miles of walking and are the only way to get around this river.  Fishing generally started around 9 and continued until 1.  We then had lunch at the lodge and a siesta until 5 followed by fishing until after dark, sometimes as late as 10:30 (the sun set at 8:30).   Dinner and drinks followed with everyone retiring around 12-1.

  Just before we arrived the upper valley and drainage had been pounded by rain and on the first morning the river was running 18 inches higher than normal and water clarity was nonexistent.  Needless to say no one touched a fish in either the morning or afternoon sessions on Sunday.  The following day the river had dropped 10 inches and continued falling throughout the week.  Water clarity was somewhat improved that morning and my fishing partner, David Hamill of Ireland, landed the largest trout of the week that weighed in at 22 pounds!   This occurred in knee-deep water and was thrilling to watch.  David and I each landed one more fish that day of 6 and 10 pounds respectively.  As the week progressed, the lower water and increasing clarity (by week’s end you could see through 3-4 feet of water depth) improved the fishing.  We each landed fish up to 12 pounds and averaged 3 or four fish per day although we also each experienced a “skunk” day.  The final day of fishing I landed eight sea trout.  Not all of these were large fish however.  There were several that weighed less than two pounds and these were generally brighter fish that had just come in from the ocean.  The larger fish we caught appeared to have been in the river for 2-3 weeks as evidenced by their color.  The bright fish were absolute rockets and fought hard despite their lack of size while the larger fish oftentimes bulldogged in the current and utilized any available logs to run to.  For the week I landed 3 fish of 10 pounds or better and 8 of 5 pounds or larger.  We each lost several fish of ten pounds or better due to logs, broken leaders, bent hooks, or pilot error.  Takes could be as gentle as to be almost imperceptible or as solid as a truck hitting the fly.

  The fishing at the Irigoyen is not the typical sea run trout fishing that you might experience at the Rio Grande.  The river is much smaller and much more technical.  Certainly on the Irigoyen there is the opportunity to cast quartering downstream, swing a fly across the current, strip back, step down, and repeat.  More entertaining, however, is the chance to high stick a nymph through a run, cast upstream behind a log jam or deep into the back of an eddy.  The variety of fishing techniques on this river is limited only by the imagination and skill of the fisherman and the most important factors seemed to be depth and speed control.  I have fished the Rio Grande twice and find the traditional style of fishing for sea trout to be a bit repetitive and boring.  The fishing on the Irigoyen was rarely the same from pool to pool.  Add to that the fact that there are only 6 rods at most on the river and 6 very large beats and there is very little repetition here.  I did not see another fisherman other than my partner all day.  Needless to say I enjoyed this experience a great deal.

  While I cannot verify this, I am sure that the run of sea trout in this river is nowhere near as large as the one in the Rio Grande.  The fish do not get as large nor are they as large on average as the much more famous river 80 km to the north.  If you are after an absolute monster or need big numbers of sea run trout you might be better off there.  But considering the vagaries of sea run trout there is no guarantee anywhere.  The Irigoyen River can provide fish of more than twenty pounds for fishermen with a little luck and the perseverance to fish hard.  My biggest fish of the week, a hen of 12 pounds, was caught in an eddy that I had made at least 50 previous casts into.  You need to work for these fish and the satisfaction they bring is similar to that felt when fishing for steelhead.

  The lodge does provide some fishing for a saltwater fish called robalo (Falklands mullet) earlier in the season on the high tides.  I was a bit late in the season and there were none that ran into the sea pool while I was there.  From conversations with the guides they can get up to 19-20 pounds and are a blast to catch.  They run primarily in January and February.  There is also a much smaller river, the Malenguena, four km south but since a flood changed the topography of the mouths of the two rivers (they have a common exit to the sea) it holds only very small sea trout and is generally not fished.

  On the down side, the fishing program can be a bit too regimented.  We actually had our best fishing around noon and during what is considered “prime time”-after dark- not one of the five fishermen present that week caught a single trout.  Still the guides were fairly adamant about fishing until well after sunset.  While the conditions were far from normal, a little more flexibility would have been welcome to optimize the most active fishing times.  There were times we felt the action was bit slower than we had anticipated but I think this was primarily due to unbridled optimism and the lack of information regarding the Irigoyen.  I also think that this week might have been a bit late in the season as the water temperatures stayed low throughout the week.  Certainly the guides could not be faulted for their effort.  They were all experienced sea trout and Atlantic salmon guides with seasons on the Rio Grande as well as in Iceland.  They worked tirelessly, knew the river intimately, and tried everything to put us into fish.  As the conditions improved and the trout settled back down their suggestions began paying off.  They did prove their worth and I think I would not have had the success I did without them.

  The lodge staff could not have been more helpful.  One of the guides, Alex Trochine, acts as camp manager.  Although only 22 he has experience far beyond his years and saw to everyone’s needs as if he had been doing this for decades.  The food was excellent as were the Argentine wines and everyone went away weighing a bit more than upon arrival.  There is no “bar tab” here and no one ever suffered from an empty glass!

  My contact person at Untamed Angling, Luciana Aczona, deserves special mention for her efforts.  All my in country reservations for hotels, airlines, and transfers were handled seamlessly and professionally.  Sr. Perez has a topnotch organization!

  During the course of the week and many conversations with Alex some of the facts and numbers associated with fishing the Irigoyen came up.  To date the largest fish caught has been 42 inches long and had a girth of 24 inches, somewhere in the neighborhood of 27 or 28 pounds.  The camp averages 1 or 2 fish of twenty pounds or better per week with about 80 fish between 15 and 20 pounds per season.  The typical rod lands 10 to 15 fish per week and to date the best catch has been 56 fish for a two-week stay   While talking about the fishing at Far End Rivers with the other fishermen it was felt that using a 5 or 6 weight rod and focusing on the smaller fish might be an entertaining way to spend some time if the bigger fish were not taking.  You certainly would stand little or no chance of landing a monster on a 5 weight but a bright 2 or 3 pound sea trout on it would be fun.

  Fishing on the Irigoyen is probably not for everyone.  If you need to catch dozens of fish everyday this is not the place to come but if you like technical fishing for trout you cannot help but enjoy fishing here.  This is technical fishing on a lovely small river for wily and potentially huge fish.  Imagine fishing a local stream but having the real possibility of landing a trout of more than twenty pounds!  The lodge is wonderful with good food and a great staff, the guides knowledgeable and helpful without being obtrusive, the scenery is spectacular, and the fishing is interesting in many different ways. Add to this being able to say you fished at the southernmost fishing lodge in the world and you have a winner in my book.  I am not sure how many more times I will have a chance to fish for sea run brown trout in my life but if I do, the first place I would return to would be Far End Rivers Lodge.

  The advertised price for 2009 was $4500 that includes your lodging, food, drinks, guides, fishing license, and transfers from and to Ushuaia.  You can reach Untamed Angling at info@untamedangling.com and anyone who has questions regarding this destination can feel free to contact me at traydog@enter.net.

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