Argentina Sea Trout 2013 Report

Our teams caught so many great sea trout in Argentina this year, that it took Jim a while to recover enough to complete his report! Here it is - the blow-by-blow account of an incredible season on the Rio Grande:

2013 Sea Trout Season at Villa Maria Lodge by Jim Curry

Villa Maria on the Rio Grande in Argentina’s Tierra Del Fuego delivered another great sea trout season in 2013 for us here at Halstead and Bolton. Our rods throughout the season caught some fantastic fish, including Mark Riley who landed the biggest fish of the season at Villa Maria with a bright 26½ lb fish. Mark now has his name forever displayed on the roll of honour on the wall of the lodge!

Out two hosted weeks produced more than two hundred fish for our rods. It was a pleasure to see clients from previous years returning and beating their personal bests as well as new rods living their dreams of catching some of the biggest sea trout in the world.

Week 1 - 1-8 March 2013

We arrived to find the river low but full of big fish! One of the advantages of the Villa Maria water is that, even in the lowest water conditions, fresh fish will enter the system on every tide and hold with us. Due to the low water the fish had dropped back into the deep pools so a Skagit line and 15ft of T-14 tip was the order of the day to get our flies down to the fish. Flies varied wildly in size from tiny nymphs to large leeches. The evening sessions saw us switching in the main to large, dark leeches which where savaged by the huge sea trout. 

This week was fished by one of the strongest teams of anglers I've ever assembled, with a great mix of experience on either sea trout or Atlantic salmon. All were good casters and handled the conditions very well indeed. Helped by the constant flow of red wine from the lodge wine cellar, they went on to catch 125 sea trout for six rods - with no less than ten over 20lbs. That made it the most productive week of the season at Villa Maria in terms of numbers of fish caught. 

Richard Williams, who was enjoying his sixth year with us chasing sea trout in Argentina, and his chum Andrew (Watty) Watson hooked and lost more big fish than I’ve ever seen. They went on to catch some great fish but I know they will remember some of the wild things that went berserk and threw the hooks.  These beasts take some landing!

Paul Lalwan and David Eccleston picked up where they left off last year by landing giant fish. Incredibly, Paul landed a 26lb fish for the second year running (and won the bet for the biggest fish of the week!).  

Nick Moody and Phil Walker, our most experienced destination fishers for Atlantic salmon, went steadily through the gears, picking up the tactics and learning the river and the demands of the evening sessions. As expected, they just got better and better and I was fortunate to spend the last day with these guys as they switched into overdrive and took fish out of every pool they fished - including the home pool during the siesta.  Great work boys an absolute pleasure to watch you all at work (and play). 

Week 2 - 8-15 March 2013

This week saw a lift in water and a change in tactics as the week progressed. Again, it was to prove another excellent week, especially for big fish. It was especially interesting for me to see the fish moving out of the deep holes as the water lifted a foot and into shallow water in the fast necks of pools as well as dropping into the tails as I would have expected.

Also many of the pools that were too low to fish properly the week suddenly became perfect fly water. And even in the most coloured water we still caught fish on the biggest tube flies – to the surprise of some!

Keith Graham and Rock Wallace returned for the second successive year after becoming addicted to the runs of these sea trout. They hit the ground running, landing five twenties between them on just the first day! The guys covered the water beautifully and the sound of Keith's Hardy Perfect screaming could be heard in the Andes, I'm sure. 

Mike Cooney and Chris Noble, first timers on the Rio Grande, formed a great team. Chris landed five fish over 20lbs - an incredible achievement, especially as a bad back had stopped Chris travelling last year at the eleventh hour. Mike who had a rough time on another river in Patagonia allowed me to persuade him to try the Rio Grande and he did fantastically well catching great fish to a staggering 24lb everyday. Mike also persevered and took fish in the high water conditions when everyone else had retired to the lodge. 

Joe, Joe jnr and Chris Gallo from California are generally more at home running the Gallo wine empire. However these guys did so well learning to Spey cast proficiently and always listened to the guides’ advice and,  as a result, caught some huge fish. 

So, two great and very memorable weeks for us again. This year was made even more special, not simply for the fish which just keep getting bigger, but also because of the great team of guides run by head guide Gaston and the house staff led by Analia. They combined fantastically well to make everyone's trip such a memorable one. 

It all just confirmed to us what we already know: that the Rio Grande is the finest sea trout river in the world and the Villa Maria water is the best and most productive beat on the entire river. 

Can’t wait for next year!

- Jim