The new 2022 season at Las Buitreras has started and already it’s been producing the goods, as our guide reports from the banks of the wonderful Rio Gallegos River.
We can’t express how happy we are to write these lines, reporting about our first week of the Las Buitreras season in 2022. It feels good to finally be back, seeing clients and friends again after missing the entire 2021 season due to the pandmic. Although travelling currently requires a bit more paperwork than pre-covid, we’re happy to report that once you land in Argentina the entry process is as smooth as it could possibly be. Very good news after some challenging times and the excitement level couldn’t be higher. We are now finally looking forward to a new season at our favorite place on this planet.
The first group celebrating the start of this season with us was a team with great fishermen from Norway. The group was a mix of people that have visited Las Buitreras several times in the past and a few newcomers who were excited to get to know the Las Buitreras experience and see Patagonia in all its beauty. In addition to that, they were able to celebrate New Years at the lodge which is not a bad way to start the year! The water level was quite low the first few days but it didn’t affect the fishing too much as we saw plenty of fish in the system, especially in our holding pools, and as the week went by we also saw a few pushes of water which encouraged even more fish to move up the river from the estuary.
To find success at Las Buitreras during low water conditions requires delicate presentations and gentle wading. Elements which this group mastered to a tee.
During the daytime we mainly fished different versions of the popular Copper John nymphs in size 8 and 10, mixed with the occasional girdle bug. Once the light started to fade and we approached the so called Magic Hour, nymphs were dumped and replaced by leeches and sunray shadows. As is often the case the last hour of fishing produced some magnificent fish in the 15 – 20 lbs range.
The biggest fish of the week was landed by Anders B (“El pensativo”), the only Swede in the group. Anders was covering Barranca Blanca, fishing a black leech as we often do in the evenings when the light starts to fade, when he ran into what would turn out to be the biggest landed fish of the week; a super fresh 20,5 pounder coming straight from the ocean and still having that blueish shine we love so much.
A few days later Marcus G (Rey de la noche) decided to give his 7 wt single hand rod a workout in Old Bridge pool. After fishing the pool through once without any luck Markus guide Santiago convinced him to start at the top of the pool again and it took him only 3 casts to justify this decision when he hooked into a stunning 20 lbs seatrout. Anyone who knows how it is to be connected with such a fish on the single hander will agree that this is probably one of the most special experiences there is. Well done Marcus!
Our Norwegian friends did an amazing job hooking into fish over 10 lbs. Due to the conditions and requirement to fish very small flies we unfortunately also lost quite a lot of fish which just shows that we had a great amount of seatrout in the river and the run is on! The prospects for next week are looking good as we have just yesterday seen even more, mostly good-sized fish, moving in the lower beats.
Top rod of the week was a split family affair between “El Frijol”, Bjorn Hugo, and Marius, both with 12 sea-run browns landed.
A big thank you to Steinar S for bringing such a great group of anglers over to Las Buitreras. We enjoyed every minute of this week, a special one indeed!
Stats of the week
Biggest sea-run brown trout landed: 20.5 lbs by Anders B from Norway
Top rod of the week: Bjorn Hugo H with 12 sea-run brown trout landed
Number of fish over 10 lbs: 35
Number of fish with 15 lbs or bigger: 13
Number of fish with 20 lbs or bigger: 2
Average size: 10.6 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.
