Did you notice the word “fishing” wasn’t included in the title? Our second week of in Patagonia found us fish hunting at Casa de Campo with SET Fly Fishing. It was our third year with SET Fly Fishing and we were looking for options where we could mainly walk and wade fish. SET has several options and we decided to give Casa de Campo a try.
For those of you who are familiar with the main fly fishing area in Argentina, Casa de Campo Lodge is about a 2 1/2 hour drive north of San Martin de Andes, which is where most anglers arrive by plane.
Casa de Campo Lodge is the base for all the medium size streams and spring creeks around the town of Alumine which is only a couple miles north of the Lodge. Guides locate and target specific fish to cast to. Having experienced the fishing, it is one of the toughest fly fishing we’ve experienced.
There is the possibility of a two day float and spending the night along the river and we took advantage of this option. I’ll provide more information about our fishing on the Rio Alumine in an upcoming post.
The Lodge is capable of hosting eight anglers in four cabañas. We shared four days with another couple and were the only guests the last few days.
Casa de Campo Lodge
Casa de Campo Cabaña
Here we are with our hosts, Daniel, Marisa, and their sweet daughter Rocio. They took very good care of us.
Many people ask us how many fish we catch in Patagonia, either in Argentina or Chile. From our experience, you might have a banner day where you catch the most fish ever or in your life. But realistically, it’s similar to fly fishing your home waters.
This is what I call “managing expectations”.
We chose Casa de Campo specifically for the fish hunting in smaller waters and spring creeks with the knowledge catching a lot of fish isn’t something we’d experience. Walking and wading can be difficult here, not impossible by any means, just walking and looking for fish to target. That is what we experienced on many of the waters we fished.
Our first day at Casa de Campo, we fished the Río Relem.
This was the first pool we stopped to fish. We’d stand back from the shore and watch for trout swimming around the pool. The water was slow enough it reminded me of lake fishing. The fish seemed to have a route they’d travel and we could watch them return. I had one chance at a nice fish and ended up pulling the fly out of its mouth.
We looked for other opportunities, but decided to continue our path upstream looking for more fish.
It wasn’t long before Dancingtrout hooked into a nice Rainbow. Birdy, our guide, had her cast to a spot, but when a fish didn’t rise, he continued upstream hunting for more trout. She continued to cast at likely spots while slowly walking upstream in this nice run and a fish was waiting in a likely spot.
It was a nice strong fish!
Our trek upstream continued and Birdy located a fish feeding in a side channel, but I missed my chance again!
We stopped at this nice looking pool and it was Dancingtrout’s turn. A few fish could be seen occasionally rising just below the riffle.
She didn’t waste any time before hooking and landing another beauty! Look at the size of the tail!
They seemed to like our black and red Perdigon nymph.
It was a nice spot to stop for lunch and rest the pool a little.
While resting at lunch, I found this black beetle on the streamside grasses. No wonder black beetle imitations work so well in Patagonia!
It was my turn after lunch and I was able to hook and land this Rainbow.
We kept walking upstream and Birdy continued to find a fish or two in the slow moving water and we’d try our best not to scare the fish, hoping they would take our dry fly or a dropper.
Another strong Rainbow.
Below is the last hole we fished. Birdy spotted a cruiser for me, I made a decent cast over the brush, and the Rainbow swam to and ate the beetle!
My last fish on the Rio Relem with a dry fly.
This is a view of the last pool as we left the river. It was a hot day and we decided to head back to Casa de Campo and enjoy a cold cervesa on the porch.
Our first day on the river was challenging.
I enjoy this type of fishing occasionally, but it’s not for everyone. Finding the fish can be difficult, but not for our guides Birdy and Gonzolo. We continually heard the question “see the fish?” while they pointed in a direction. Even when they continued to point, we couldn’t always locate the fish…and we fish quite a bit!
Welcome to fish hunting in Patagonia!
Enjoy…go fish!
