Graduating from the Sea Trout University

And so it was that I was lucky enough to become ‘our man in Patagonia’ (with apologies to the author Bruce Chatwin!).  Getting to Southern Argentina is a modern adventure in itself: a 16 hour flight via Rio de Janeiro (or indeed a European Airport) to Buenos Aires, before onwards passage to El Calafate (although future trips will fly into the town of Rio Gallegos, which is much closer to the Estancia).  We allow an overnight stay in Buenos Aires either side of the fishing - Argentina’s cultural heart – which allows plenty of time to pack and re-pack flies and reels and of course to sight-see and indulge in the City’s culinary delights!

Estancia Las Buiteras was leased by Christer Sjoberg (the founder of Loop Tackle) 23 years ago; it is his family’s second home and he has built a substantial and comfortable lodge on the property, which is designed for fishers.  It sits in the middle of the 40kms of fishing the Lease gives Christer access to.  The water is split into 6 beats, each of which is fished on rotation by two (paired) anglers in each session, of which there are two per day; each beat has famous and ‘record-breaking’ named pools.  The excellent food the lodge chef prepares at lunchtime and in the evening, punctuates the sessions, accompanied by smooth ‘Las Buiteras’ Malbec, or local beer!

But what about the fishing…

The river is shallow and low gradient – so although at a good height there is plenty of flow, riffles tend not to be as marked as they would be on other sea trout rivers; the character, perhaps oddly, is that of the Welsh Towy, or Teifi for those who have fished them, albeit your fly swings at a good pace in almost all the pools.  They are not easy to read; you have to think and need the Guides.  The pools tend to be 1-2m in depth, with some deeper holes in places.  The water is clear and pure, although it adopts a peaty tinge from the Rio Penitente closer to its source after rainfall, but it is rarely unfishable.  The nutrients in the water do three things: they feed weed cover in many pools on slower corners and encourage healthy growth of aquatic insects and a prolific brown trout population, allowing the indigenous fish to grow fat and strong.  It is their inevitable abundance and competition which has encouraged the fish (introduced by the British at the beginning of the last century) to seek the sea, where they patrol the coast largely unaffected by netting and trawlers.  The sea trout grow big and fat – much more so than their British cousins – and are in greater abundance than I have seen on any equivalent river throughout my sea-trouting career.

The nature of the river means that to catch the fish and make the best of the conditions, a guide is essential.  Unlike other rivers where your guide follows you from beat-to-beat, the guides at Las Buiteras become expert in one beat and stay with it throughout your stay – that’s good for competition between them (!), but obviously fosters expertise and they are all first class fishers with an instinct for the pool to fish and indeed the side of the river for the prevailing weather, of which more later!

You go to Rio Gallegos to ‘graduate’ as a bachelor, or master, depending on your experience.  The better and more-experienced you are, the better your prospects, but quick learners can traverse the steep learning curve and achieve fantastic results by the end of their week regardless of their start standard.  In stable water you don’t need more than a scandi line and an intermediate tip…but leave your salmon tactics at home.  You are effectively fishing for the very spooky Sea Trout you would usually pursue at night in the UK, but during the day, so a long fluorocarbon leader 15-18 ft) tapered to 13-15 lbs accompanies your fly line and will allow you to present the fly quietly and at a true 45 degrees – the fish MUST NOT see the line before the fly; you will ruin the pool if they do.  Fly size will vary depending on water temperature and height as would be the case anywhere, but it is rare that you would need anything more than a sink 3 tip even after a rise.

Rods and lines will to an extent depend on skill, but a 12’6” for a 7# will do it all; sometimes a switch rod (I used one) and a single-hander will be appropriate depending on the conditions.

So what about the weather – the later in the season the more stable the conditions, but the weather can vary between 26 degrees and a flat calm and 6 degrees with gale force (and I MEAN gale force) winds all in the space of a day…but don’t be daunted.  You learn to live with (and indeed pray for) the wave that the Patagonian winds encourage – it helps enormously to camouflage casting and fly lines and it is often in the toughest conditions that the biggest fish are caught!  The guides always know where to put you to make the best of it.

So what of our week?  The average weight was comfortably 10lbs and despite extremely challenging weather conditions we had well over 80 fish between us, with the biggest just under 20lbs; several fish were of course lost after blistering runs and cartwheeling leaps.  We didn’t count the brownies, but my biggest was 7lbs and I must have caught at least 30 of the obliging blighters! 

But how DO you catch these Sea Trout…?  Stealth is key, paddling quietly on the edge – you rarely need to go much deeper – careful casting of a single generally small fly (a small rubber legged, beaded nymph, or leech pattern was found to work best, but size 14 salmon flies were sometimes employed) always at a steep angle to ensure that the fly is what the fish see first.  Moving the fly erratically was absolutely key and stripping as the line straightened often induced a savage take.  Being prepared to ring the changes, particularly if a fish was nipping at the fly – often removing a rubber leg! And rather than going smaller (as you would with salmon) going bigger to give them something to chew on.  Why nymphs and leaches?  Well here’s the thing…sea trout DO feed (at least sometimes) in fresh water!

So, Alistair fishing the Island Pool on Beat 2 in a terrible wind…with an 11’9” switch rod and a Rio AFS, with a 15 foot leader and a size 12 black rubber leg nymph…the wind blowing across the pool and me paddling on the side of a run of weeds which covers a drop off and the channel where most of the fish are likely to lie.  We feel confident.  Short line first, lengthening with each cast until the fly is ¾ of the way across and swinging across the best of the channel in the middle of the river…nip, nip. Nothing.  A couple of steps back and then re-attack.  Nip, nip and nothing again – rubber leg missing, so not a brownie (they tend to take quite freely).  So back again – a slim panatela and then re-attack, this time with a small (size 10) rubber-legged wooly bugger; bigger and more of a meal.  A good cast, but the wind blows the line all over the reel causing a running line knot, rapid untangling as the fly swings towards the hot spot, quickly sorted out just in time to catch up with a figure-of-eight retrieve….then WHAM!  The line cuts into my fingers as it is ripped from my hands; 10 minutes later and the 15lb fish is in the net…Magic!

There is quite simply no better sea trout fishing in the world, and no better university at which to learn.  The lecturers are the guides, the professor of fishing is the Camp Manager (Lawson Jones), himself a veteran of the (very similar) Welsh rivers in their heyday and the Chancellor is Christer, ably supported by his family team, who have grown up around this fantastic and unspoiled resource.

Where Wise Men Fish go again in March 26 – a more stable month (in weather variation and temperature) and traditionally highly productive.  Will you catch the Sea Trout of a lifetime?  Come, see and learn, you will be a better and more technical fisher for the experience and you might yet qualify for your Masters from the Sea Trout University!