We’re into the last week of January and summer is in full swing here at Estancia Las Buitreras. This week we welcomed a group of old friends as well as a few first-timers from the USA, Wales, England and France. The river level stayed at a normal summer low (-25 cm) all week and gave us some stable conditions which is usually a good indicator for fishing.
We had a mixed bag of weather conditions this week, with some days showing you the best part of Patagonian summer, and then we also experienced a day with a lot of rain at the end of the week, which is not happening very often down here. Air temperatures ranged from 12-20 °C (53-68 °F) with a favorable wind direction most days. In terms of fishing we fished our usual floating/intermediate setup, nymphs like Copper Johns or Vitamin Ds in size 8-10, in combination with our usual evening flies such as Sunray Shadow and various leech patterns.
The biggest fish this week was landed by Paul from Wales, visiting us for the first time and excited to see what Las Buitreras is all about. The start of the week was a bit slow for him, but this was a perfect example of how important it is to relax and keep believing. You can never force anything when it comes to fly fishing. It only takes that one moment, one cast, and it all changes. For Paul this exact thing happened during a session in Cogedero. Paul was fishing a Sunray, swinging it downstream as we normally do down here, when a proper Patagonian sea run brown launched at his fly and took him for the ride of his life. After a classic battle, including the all too familiar deep head shakes that makes you question everything from your choice of tippet size to why you didn’t double check your knot before you made the cast, he was able to land a beautiful 17.5 lbs fish. A perfect way to get introduced to sea trout fishing at Las Buitreras. Paul’s friend Berwyn, a great angler and caster, landed several fish over the course of the week, including 4 fish in Old Bridg with a 15 lbs fish as the stand out, and a few more in the double digit region.
Chris from the US has been with us for so many years that we’ve stopped counting. Some of you may remember the video he did some years ago with Hooked on the fly. If you haven’t seen it we strongly recommend that you go find it online. It’s well worth a watch. Chris knows what it takes to land fish at Las Buitreras and his biggest of the week came out of Barranca Negra and tipped the scale at 16 lbs. A nice fresh fish. Chris’s friend and fishing partner for the week, Harry, also did very well. Apart from demonstrating some great casting skills he landed several nice fish during the week.
Annakarin was her usual self, landing fish after fish such as a 12 lbs in Kitchen, another 12 lbs in 75 and a 14 lbs sea trout in Bridge pool. Her lucky pink puff jacket did the trick again and we love seeing her catching fish. Christer called himself the photographer this week, and on that part he did well.
Another old friend of ours, Jean-Luc, knows this river like the back of his hand and always does very well, but more importantly he is a beacon of positivity and happiness. One of his more memorable sessions of the week happened in zone 5, when he landed two double digit fish in quick succession. The first was landed in Barranca Negra, a pool where we saw big numbers of fish rolling during the week. During this particular session fish seemed to be rolling everywhere but refused our normal arsenal of flies. It wasn’t until Jean Luc tied on a small salmon fly that a fresh 11 lbs fish finally had enough and crushed his fly. To end the evening session they moved on to one of our all time favorite magic hour pools, Barranca Blanca, where Jean Luc went for a classic Sunray Shadow, casting slightly downstream, swinging it around before adding some movement to the fly. On a warm, windless night like this, fishing a Sunray on the surface is the most exciting game on offer. It only took a couple casts until a fish went completely nuts, hitting the fly and spending the next 2 minutes more in the air than in the water. After an insane fight, although more stressful than joyful while connected, Jean Luc eventually managed to land a solid 15 pounder to finish off his evening session.
Although this has been a relatively slow season so far, likely due to a very late summer, conditions seem to be improving almost on a daily basis. We see more fish coming up the river, more fish being active, and the landscape catching up in general, making us believe that there are good things to come. This week all guests landed their fish, and with all the rain that came at the end of the week we are due for yet another rise.
We will keep you all updated with news from Week 6 very soon. Thanks for reading!
Stats of the week
Biggest sea-run Brown Trout landed: 17,5 lbs by Paul from Wales
Average size: 9,6 lbs
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.
