Our last two days of fishing in Argentina found us fly fishing the Rio Codihue with SET Fly Fishing. We planned an extra 4 days of fly fishing after the week of fish hunting at Casa de Campo. The new SET lodge is called Rakin (although we know it as Codihue) and was approximately two hours away by car from Casa de Campo.
However, you might have seen a recent post where we took a helicopter from Casa de Campo to Trocoman House to experience the willow worm hatch for an afternoon and morning of fly fishing. It was a slight detour of our original plan.
After a four hour drive from Trocoman House, which included an hour driving through the estancia before meeting the main road, we arrived at Rakin Lodge which sits above the Codihue river.
The house was built by a Frenchman and now SET is in the process of utilizing it as a fly fishing lodge. We passed by another house on the way to fish and found out it is the living quarters or what I assume is the main house for the new owners of the estancia. I must say it never ceases to amaze me how large these Argentina estancias are!
Here is a view from the river of the Lodge on the cliffs.
Upon reaching the water, I hoped we would find eager fish rising to dry flies. It turns out, the dry/dropper worked well with fish occasionally eating the dry fly, but many ate Perdigon nymphs. I really enjoy this size of river. We easily waded upstream while casting to likely water where fish would hold in seams and around structure.
Dancingtrout wasted no time in hooking fish, landing several nice Rainbows in this run.
We were amazed how hard the fish fought. They were solid fish with wide tails and didn’t want to be netted.
And another nice Rainbow from the same stretch. This was beginning to look like we’d have a great day of fishing!
After a shore lunch, we were back at it. We enjoy watching each other fish, taking turns as we walked upstream from run to run. I landed some trout and it was Dancingtrout’s turn again. And it didn’t take long…
The more she fished this run, the bigger the fish were. Here is a beautiful, fat Brown trout.
And the fish of the day…
It was a strong fish that didn’t want to straighten out for the camera!
That evening, I decided to go out and see if I could find the Milky Way.
It was a beautiful morning for our last fishing day and the view of the river and partly cloudy sky was amazing.
Here we are leaving the Lodge for a short drive to the river.
We fished a different beat and it didn’t take long after arriving at the water to begin hooking trout.
But not landing all of them! Most of them took the dropper to start the day.
The fish became more active as the day warmed and eventually, I put a fish in the net.
We caught a mixture of Rainbow and Brown trout.
Here are two samples of the runs we fished. It was intimate water, but deep and fast enough to hold very big trout.
While we did see a few insects, the fly on the end of our leader most of the time was a Royal PMX, a staple for our guides in Argentina for a dry/dropper setup. And they work!
Here are a couple insects we found while fishing.
I fished a run that looked really good. There were overhanging branches that made it difficult, if not impossible, to place my fly into slots where I thought the current would take the fly to good holding water next to and around sunken rocks.
I mentioned we fished dry/droppers quite a bit and the setup was very effective. However, casting a dry fly with the beadhead nymph creates a hinge which I find difficult to turn over. Especially when casting three quarter or sideways to the river in an attempt to place a fly into a small opening between branches. Oh, and not hook the branch!
I tried the best I could and finally asked Danny to remove the dropper. I thought I could more accurately place the cast where I wanted and coax a fish to eat the dry fly.
I would make a couple casts, then take two or three steps upstream for a better angle.
I made a lot of casts in this spot, hoping to coax a fish to eat my nicely presented fly with a drag-free drift. A head slowly broke the surface and ate my Royal PMX fly!
Franco taped it at 24 inches.
It was the biggest fish of the trip for me and I decided it would be my last Patagonia fish.
This was the experience I was hoping for. I fished the type of water I really enjoy for two days, catching our share of trout.
This is the last spot we fished and it was time for Dancingtrout to cast her fly again. Notice Danny on the cliff spotting trout? This is how Danny and Franco find trout for us.
And their strategy works!
Dancingtrout landed another 20+ inch Rainbow!
This was a good fish to end our wonderful Patagonia fly fishing trip! We made great memories in Chile and Argentina.
We really enjoy fishing with our guides Franco and Danny! They helped us create wonderful memories fishing the Codihue and Trocoman rivers.
Here are links to the posts I wrote about our 2025 fly fishing trip in Argentina with SET Fly Fishing.
- Fly Fishing at Trocoman House
- Fly Fishing the Rio Alumine
- Fly Fishing the Rio Malalco
- Fly Fishing the Rio Calfiquitra
- Fish Hunting at Casa de Campo
I highly recommend SET Fly Fishing to help you with your Patagonia fly fishing trips. The have several options for lodges and multiple waters to fish, including Casa de Campo, Spring Creek Lodge, and now their newest lodge, Rakin.
We are already looking forward to a return trip!
Enjoy…go fish!
