On Friday, March 15, we fished the bigger waters of the Codihue in the canyon downstream from Georges and Nicole’s home. The morning was overcast and cold. I wore a light jacket with my rain jacket over it to stay warm. My hands got cold, but little matter. Little matter because immediately Exequiel took a 21 inch rainbow. For the rest of the morning and early afternoon—until 2:30—we caught many bigger fish. Of the 23 fish that I took, 1 was 21”, 2 were 20”, 2 were 19 inches and most of the others were 14 to 18 inches. Several were on the small side—8 to 10 inches. I took all of them on a dark gray Hen Saddle Matuka—which simulates the pancora. It was a good day for all of us; Benito, Pablo, and Exequiel took many sizable fish, too.

Around noon, I saw a good fish rise, but it would not take the Matuka. A couple of hours later as I worked back upstream, I tied on a Stimulator and took the fish—a 20 inch rainbow. Quite a good fight on 4X. During the day, as Exequiel and I were fishing together, he noted that he loved to curve cast because all the other anglers in Patagonia just make straight line casts. I told him it was no different anywhere else. Exequiel is an excellent angler and has a background in biology. He and the others asked very pointed and pertinent questions about the biology of the trout and the quality of the aquatic habitat.

They noted that 20 years ago, all the public waters in Patagonia were made catch and release only. Since then, the size of the fish in many streams has constantly decreased while the number of fish has increased. This is not any uncommon happening when there are no natural predators and the fish are not pressured with established catch limits. The Codihue population seemed quite normal, however, with a classic, triangular shaped spread of many small fish, fewer medium sized fish, and fewer still large fish.

We quit fishing about 2:30 so that we could attend an Asado at 3pm, hosted by Georges and Nicole. An Asado is an Argentine Bar-B-Que. Not just hunks of meat on a grill, but an entire animal, usually split and held in a metal frame and roasted next to a wood fire. In this case it was a entire lamb,, cooked for 2 ½ hours. The Asado pit is specifically designed to reflect the heat toward the meat. The meal lasted until 5:30. Afterward, Exequiel and I went fishing, and Pablo followed later. I landed a couple of small ones and lost several larger ones on a mix of pancora and Stimulator flies. I left the river at 7 to tie pancora flies for the next day.

Today we fished the waters of the canyon downstream from Georges and Nicole’s home. I’s big , swift water.

Almost immediately, Exequiel took a very fine rainbow on a nymph.

There were smaller fish in the canyon, but many of them ran in the 12 to 15 inch size.

Benito with a nice rainbow. These are strictly wild fish and they fight like wild fish.

Pablo fishing a run at the top of the canyon. The walls of the canyon close in on one side and then the other, necessitating a great deal of wading in strong, swift currents.

Pablo with a great fish at the top of the canyon stretch. Pablo is an excellent caster and fly fisher, and the Aguas Claras rods that he designed are great tools, indeed.

Notice the body on the bigger fish. They look like Alaskan rainbows at the end os the summer season. That’s because the bigger fish feed heavily on the pandora of the river and put on a lot of weight very rapidly.

The Asado (Bar-B-Que. A whole lamb was roasted for 2 1/2 hours. Bread warms by the fire. Note the design of the pit; it reflects heat toward the roasting lamb.

The table is set. Even though sunny, the day was cool, and jackets were required.

Our hosts and owners of the El Halcon estancia, Georges and Nicole Andrieu.