Flying into Ushuaia is always an interesting experience, to say the least. The plane flies low over snow covered craggy peaks, bumping and tilting in the omnipresent wind. It then approaches and lands on the runway that pokes out into the Beagle sound, a reclaimed mass of land built to solve the many bad landings that plagued the previous "too short" runway, as well as the constant crosswinds. These days the new landing strip is long enough for 747s, which is comforting. After collecting my bag I walked out and found my good friend Diego Castillo waiting for me. We had a quick coffee and then hit the road for Rio Grande, a roughly 3 hour drive. On the way we stopped at the Panaderia La Union in Tolhuin for empanadas and "dulce de leche" stuffed churros - a must!
We arrived at Villa Maria Behety which was going to be my home for the
next few days, and after a quick unpack we headed out to the river to
see what was happening - fish were being caught by the group of anglers
at the lodge. Diego had all the right double handed rods, and the
evening session was perfect for getting the cobwebs out of my Spey
casting - a few bumps and fish rolling but nothing to the bank.That
evening at dinner I met the rest of the people at the lodge, it was a
group doing some filming for the lodge, Pablo Perez from Aguas Arribas -
ESPN, and a few of his friends - one of the guys had caught a 22lber so
things were looking promising.
The next morning after a good breakfast Diego and I headed to the river. First pool we fished was Pecera, and it didn't take long for me to come tight, and what a fish it was - a 16lb male that put up a great fight
After an incredible morning session it was time for lunch and we then headed to the Quincho for an amazing asado lunch - the cordero was the best lamb I have ever had - after a good cordero you will never be able to look at lamb the same way
Then it was back to the lodge for a well deserved siesta, before heading back out for the afternoon session, where things were going to get very very good.
We drove to our assigned beat and the first pool we went to was called Giles, and we had to wade across to get to the "sweet spot". Diego tied on a black Rio Grande queen with a cone and I started fishing down the pool. All of a sudden I felt weight, and the fish turned and started heading downstream. It felt very heavy and Diego called it for a King salmon, but then it stopped and started slugging it out. The 13'3" rod shook with the headshakes, and after what seemed an eternity we finally caught a glimpse and realised it was a massive sea trout. After some nervous moments I finally managed to get it into the shallows where Diego was able to tail it, and then reality started to sink in - it was huge! Diego didn't have any scales with him, so we took accurate measurements and and it was 99cm with a girth of 53cm. We had to wait till we got back to the lodge to finally confirm the weight - 25lbs and a fish of a lifetime.
After pictures and some video it was finally time to let the big girl continue her journey. An interesting thing we noted was the small size of the adipose fin - this indicated a young fish on probably it's first run up the river - incredible to believe that it was so big already, who knows how big it will become. The rest of the session was a bit of a blur, and we finished off back at Pecera where I had many bumps and hits, and caught an 8lber, a great finish to an outstanding day.
Back at the lodge we stayed up late celebrating with lots of Malbec and went to bed quite late - the days on the Rio Grande tend to be like that as the fishing in the middle of the day is no good, so normally the afternoon sessions finish at sunset which is around 10:30, and after a quick shower, dinner is at 11:30, with a few drinks afterwards. In the mornings breakfast is at 8am, and the midday siesta is a must!
The next day was wet and windy, but it didn't deter the fish, with a 12lber in the morning and a 7lber in the afternoon - but the river was clearly rising.
The next day the water was high but still yielded a lovely 14lb buck - this fish had quite a large adipose, so probably on it's second run up the river
That evening I was allowed to go down into the cellar and chose whatever bottle I wanted - a reward for the 25lber. Not being much up to speed with Malbecs, I asked the chef for his advice and we ended up with 3 different bottles and tried them all - I found one I preferred and many glasses later hit the sack
The last day arrived, and I managed to catch 2 more seatrout, bringing my tally for 4 days fishing to 8 seatrout, 6 over 10bls - a great result for the time of the year
And with that my seatrout experience was over, and I can't thank Diego enough for his help in setting up the trip, and his excellent guiding and advice on the river. The next morning I bade farewell to Diego and all the wonderful lodge staff and headed back to Ushuaia, where I boarded my flight to El Calafate - the giant rainbows of Lago Strobel were waiting for me.
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