Argentina Fishing days 1 & 2

Posted on March 25, 2013, 3:00 pm, by Gary Borger, under Argentina, Fishing Venues.

Sunday, March 10^th, we travelled by car from Mendoza south on Hwy 40 and then onto other highways for about 6 ½ hours to Las Lena (pronounced Lenya), the most famous ski resort in Argentina, still within the Mendoza Region, where we stayed 3 nights and fished in local mountain streams. We being Benito and Pablo Perez (owners of the Mendoza fly Shop), Polo Rossi, Exequiel Bustos, and me. Sunday afrernoon we fish a small, very fast, pocket water stream, the Rio Desecho. I landed three rainbows, 10,” 8,” 6.” The fish are very strong for their size and extremely healthy.

Exequiel lifted rocks from the river and they were alive with size 16, dark mayfly nymphs. Every rock had 10 to 30 nymphs on the bottom side. They were very active crawler types. So we fished several different small nymphs on which we took the trout. The flies were all bead head, and the indicator was positioned only a couple of feet above the fly.

I fished with a Hardy 10 foot 3-weight Zenith, and was most pleased with its performance. The length allowed me to hold line off the water very easily, and yet there was plenty of power for casting, even into the Argentine wind. The evening wind is cold, and back at the vehicle, I broke out jacket.

As we waited for the evening meal to be prepared, Pablo came in carrying some rods, and showed me the new model that is being made just for the Mendoza Fly Shop–the Aguas Claras brand. Lovely, chocolate brown matte finish, mid flex rod. Great reel seat, perfectly coated wrappings. Sweet. He presented me a 9 foot 5 weight, complete with reel and line. I was very delighted to have it, and will fish it tomorrow on the Rio Tordillo, a large trout stream in the next valley beyond the mountain.

Pablo also presented his father, Benito, with a special, full flex 7 ½ foot 2-weight glass rod built just for him. It was very nicely outfitted and included a reel and line. Exequiel had drawn Benito’s logo fly on the reel seat, and the rod was inscribed to Benito. He loved it and will fish it tomorrow.

The evening meal was at 9:30 p.m. The meal was roast beef with grilled slices of potato, onion, zucchini, eggplant, and sweet potato. We had a bottle of Zucculi, Series A Melbec wine. The world’s finest Malbec wines come from the Mendoza region of Argentina, and this one was perfect for our meal.

On Monday, the 11^th, we headed west over the mountains in 4–wheel drive for about an hour to the Rio Tordillo, at an elevation of about 10,000 feet. The river is fed by glacial melt, so contains glacial flour and never gets totally clear. It was about as clear as it ever gets, however, and we fished under a bright blue sky. The air temperature never got more than warm, and the wind was always cool.

The river is very swift and subject to massive flooding annually. As a consequence, as soon as it leaves the canyon, it is a vast alluvial wash area. This is the area we fished. The wading was not difficult, but the many rocks were tiring on our legs and lower backs.

I fished the new Aguas Claras 5-weight that Benito and Pablo gave me last night. It is a very impressive rod. It is built on the narrow-diameter/thick wall design with a medium action. The rod has very quick rcovery, and allowed me to readily cast into the occasional howling gale-force Argentine wind that roared alternately up and down the river.

The fish were mostly small to medium sized (8 to 15 inches) with an occasional big brown or rainbow. One big brown took my Styrofoam ball indicator, and held it so tightly I couldn’t slide the leader through its mouth and hook it. Exequiel hooked a big rainbow that tore off after only a few seconds.

We fish bead head flies two to three feet under an indicator. I used a very simple, but highly effective fly, the Massarta, developed by Benito, sometimes with a Prince Nymph hung tractor/trailer style about 15 inchs below. I tried Styrofoam ball indicators, Thing-A-Ma-Jigs, and yarn. The best was chartreuse yarn—easiest to see and cast.

We fished the Secret River, exclusively. The takes were quick and the fish very scrappy for their size. Of course high velocity current help them a great deal.

Polo found a side stream and located some slow water pool areas where he landed ten fish between 15 and 18 inches. I landed 23 fish, 13 rainbows and 10 browns and lost at least 8 to 10 more, either to the current or the barbless hook popping out on the jump or during the fight. All in all it was a fun day in beautiful country.