We started the week with a river at -20 cm, which is quite normal in the summer. As luck would have it, a sudden and unexpected push of water helped the river rise to around -5 cm which is very good for this time of the year. As for the weather we started the week with quite warm temperatures, but then experienced a couple colder ones.
This week’s group brought together anglers from various parts of the world, including the United States, hosted by our longtime friend Michael B. The group also had anglers from Norway, Sweden, and Germany.
Our initial go-to setup with a low and clear river was floating lines and longer leaders. After the push of water we started mixing it up with intermediate lines. Flies of choice for the week were the trusty Copper John fly in sizes 6-8, proving its effectiveness in low water conditions. In addition we had the usual EMB flies and Sunray Shadows in smaller sizes (around 1″ in total length).
It’s worth mentioning that our long time guest and friend Thomas L. achieved great results with an EMB variation that he tied and baptized the “Psycho Fly”. This variation with a spiky black and red chenille body along with same toned rubber legs and an orange bead head produced at least 7 sea trout for him, including the biggest fish of the week, caught and released in the all time favorite pool “Upper Limits”. The fish weighed in at 14 lbs! Just a few minutes later Thomas landed another 13 lbs fish in the same pool. Grattis Thomas!
Our friends Fred and Michael, part of the famous “Shaman fly-fishing club”, persevered through the week showing an incredible improvement in their casting! Fred was rewarded with a remarkable 11 lbs fresh fish that was landed in one of our favorite pools “Cogedero”. Zone two produced quite a lot of fish this week, and our famous pool Old Bridge was holding fish in the main pool and in the lower Rocky point. Jim P was rewarded with a beautiful 12 lbs sea-run brown in Old Bridge on Day 1 and Thomas L landed four fish in total, one of them 12 lbs, in this holding pool.
Clients who are visiting us at this time of the season are always lucky to get a glimpse of the hardworking “Gauchos” at the Estancia as this is the time for sheep shearing. Our guests witnessed the work of the people who inhabit these lands and keep the traditions of their homeland alive adding an extra touch of true Southern Patagonia authenticity to the Las Buitreras experience.
We were still waiting for the big sea trout schools from the ocean but during the last day of the week the river started to come alive as various schools of fresh fish showed themselves in the lower zones of our fishing beat, foretelling the arrival of the awaited big summer run. Several fish showed themselves in numbers creating a lively spectacle and making the river surface appear as if it was boiling water, a real nature show! Our guides were reporting on one scenario: when they arrived at one of our holding pools they saw fish moving in the top of the pool and in the bottom, not far away from where you stand. One client hooked up immediately on the top corner and broke off, a few seconds later they made another cast in the lower part, just into the middle where the water was boiling with fish, and it took exactly one second until they were on. After that they moved a little upstream where they had another big school moving through the pool, our guide said: “it was crazy, the fish were moving over each other like tuna schools!”. We can’t wait to see what will happen next week!
As we wrap up our second week at Estancia Las Buitreras, we want to thank all our guests for all the fun, good times, and hard work. It was such a pleasure to host all of you!
Stats of the week
Biggest sea-run brown trout landed: 14 lbs by Thomas L from Sweden
Average size: 7,3 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.
