Week 11 and this was a special one! We started the week with a low water scenario, but two days in we had a big push of water raising the river to a perfect level, and once the water settled we were left with a river in peak condition. When the river is in this type of condition it’s become normal to expect good numbers, and this time was no different, ending the week with a solid three digit number of landed fish in the books.
Our group of clients from the USA, Lithuania and Italy, got to experience the whole range of fishing situations. We started the week with floating lines and intermediate polyleaders paired with small nymph/girdle bug patterns during the day, only to switch to Float / Intermediate Lines combined with Sink 6 tips and big tube and intruder flies midweek, and then finally, ending the week with floating lines and intermediate/Sink3 tips and our medium-sized flies for higher water, such as the Yellow Yummy, Green Lantern or Poisson. To quote one of our clients: “I don’t think I’ve ever had a more versatile fishing experience than this trip here at Las Buitreras”.
It was great to meet some new friends from the USA, assembled from the well-known “Swing the Fly” magazine. Zach, one of the young guns of the group and already well versed in the many aspects of fly fishing, was excited to keep developing his Spey casting skills here in Patagonia. Zach went straight to work, landing a great 12 lbs fish from one of our faster salmon-style runs “Machaca”. So did Tom when he hooked up in pool “79” further upriver, landing his biggest fish so far on a fly rod, a magnificent 13 lbs hen fish.
The rest of this hosted group also landed some great fish during the week. Just to name a few: Mike F. with a stunning 15 lbs on the first day out of Cantera, or Rick who was on a roll with his self-tied yellow yummy tube fly, landing several fish over 10 lbs throughout the week. His new personal best came from Bridge Pool just after the big push of water mid-week.
The biggest fish of the week was landed by Mike P., a first-time guest here at Las Buitreras. Mike was fishing the upper part of Little Corner, an ideal swing section of the river, especially in high water levels, when midway through the run he connected with a big male fish which we bump into fairly often now in March. Seeing the fish jump, Mike immediately knew he was fighting a proper fish on the other side of the line. After several runs up and down the pool, a couple full stops followed by violent headshakes, with the fish always staying in the deep main channel, our guide Charly was finally able to get close enough to net the fish in the very top of the pool. Mike celebrated together with fishing partner Joe who came flying upriver to film the whole show. Good team work guys and congrats Mike!
Andrea and John were on their second straight week at Las Buitreras and had really found their groove, adding double digit fish to the catch book every time they came back to the lodge.
It was encouraging to see that one of our “big fish”, holding pools, La Curva, came back to life this week. John landed a beautiful 15 lbs seatrout with the Poisson fly, the same fly he used when he landed a 16,5 lbs in Pollos pool. Both Andrea and John ended the week with a small highlight for them when they each landed a fish in the last pool (Old Bridge). First out was John who got a violent bite on a big intruder fly, resulting in another 16,5 lbs fish for him. Andrea didn’t wanna end on a lesser note and followed suit by landing a nice 13,5 lbs fish on one of his last casts of the week. A great way to end their 2-week trip and we are already looking forward to seeing you again next year!
Marius and Olegas, good fishing friends for many years, have been with us many times and knew what they needed to do in order to be successful here. One of their more memorable sessions was in Zone 1 when they hooked 9 fish in one session, landing several of them with the biggest weighing in at 16 lbs. Olegas had another great moment in Bridge pool where he landed two fish in a short time, with one tipping the scale at 15 lbs. Marius was very successful with his yellow yummy pattern hooking up with many double digit fish throughout the week, such as a 14 lbs in La Recta, a 14 and 15 lbs in C-Pool, and a 16 lbs in Molino.
We are ending the week with a river in excellent condition, although we are expecting more water to come down from the mountains. If the water level drops back to a normal level this second part of the season could be very interesting! Stay tuned.
Thank you to everyone this week, it was so nice to have all of you here!
CONTACT US
Our fly fishing specialist Peter Collingsworth has been over to Las Buitreras, fishing the banks of the famous Rio Gallegos many times, so if there’s anything you would like to know about the fishing or if you have any questions you’d like to ask him, you can contact him on 01603 407596 or email at peter@sportquestholidays.com he would be delighted to speak to you.
