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

Glyn Freeman and friends on the Rio Grande

Glyn Freeman writes about his week at Villa Maria on the Rio Grande, Argentina:

A change of venue this year from the Rio Gallegos to the Rio Grande a little further south. I went with a couple of friends Mark and Phil booking through Jim and Bob at Halstead and Bolton and have to say that all the travel arrangements were flawless, ran very smoothly and with no delays. We were looked after royally from the beginning of the week to the end of the stay at Villa Maria on the lower Rio Grande. There is a shop at the Villa with anything you may need from flies to waders if you have forgotten something.

Phil on the home pool which was a five minute walk from the fishing lodge.

The food was good, an endless supply of big juicy steaks, fine wine and beer in copious quantities, the staff were fantastic and friendly, the fishing guides Gaston, Pele and Ben really knew their business. There are two lodges, one you sleep in, have breakfast and evening meal and one on the river during the daylight hours where lunch is served and siesta, all very civilised.

That fish looks just like how I felt after a couple of days of fine living!

You could fish the very productive home pool during siesta time if you felt you had any strength left after the morning session and big lunch, not many did!

Guanacos were a regular sight along with the huge Condors.

 

Mark into a nice sea trout.

I have to say that the sea trout fishing and tactics that I was used to on the Rio Gallegos did not work that effectively on the Rio Grande, the pools are really quite deep in places and heavy tips were the order of the day to get down to the bigger fish. It took me a couple of days to get tuned in to what was needed and after that thankfully it was fairly plain sailing.

There are a lot of very big fish on the Grande, many were lost that week from our party with some in the high twenties. it was surprising just how small some of the successful flies were during the day and how big the leeches that were used just on dark.

The wading is very comfortable and the pools fairly easy to read, there is plenty of water to go at and if one pool is not working the guides are quick to take people to another. We shared the week with Skyler an American who did very well, Tony from the north east and two south Africans Richard and Richard, all were excellent company with a good humour which makes the week enjoyable.

There were pools that required some long casts and others less than twenty yards or so, all very manageable with the right outfit.

Some of the fish were like hooking the back of a passing car.

Very fresh fish just off the tide.

The biggest fish of the season so far at Villa Maria was taken by Mark at 26.5 lbs, followed by…

24 lbs, the boy done good! (pictured with Gaston the head guide)

 

The last evening was just something special, I did not want to come home!

Highly recommended!

Amazing Argentina - H&B Hosted Trip 2012

Expectations were high for our annual Argentine sea trout extravaganza this year - but even we never expected the size of fish our team landed. Here are the first pictures of some of the most incredible sea trout you'll ever see.

Paul Lalwan's 26.5lb monster sea trout. Look at that smile!

Paul Lalwan gets star billing with not one but two sea trout topping 26lbs. Yes, that's correct, two over 26lbs in  a 24-hour period. I still don't think he knows what hit him! It was an amazing achievement for Paul who had never picked up a double-handed rod before last October. He worked really hard with almost weekly Spey casting lessons with Bob and plenty of practice over the winter - and boy, did it all pay off. There's proof that it really is worth putting in the practice with an H&B instructor before the big trip.

Richard was back yet again for more big sea trout

The Rio Grande in Tierra Del Fuego was very low having had no rain for weeks, but our team were in the right place at Villa Maria on the lower part of the river, as hundreds of fish were held up in the pools down at the bottom end of the river. The big leeches were left for last light and our rods did well with small rubberleg nymphs on floating and intermediate lines with light tips. Even so, the pools were easily spooked and we had to cast and wade with care.

David's first H&B trip to Argentina

We were delighted to be joined by some old friends. Richard Williams was back for his fourth H&B Argentine sea trout adventure - and kicked us off in style with a 19lb fish within just a few casts of the warm-up session. David Ecclestone was after the Rio Grande sea trout for the first time after H&B trips to British Columbia, the Bahamas and Cuba - and he got some crackers.

Heart-stopping battles in low water conditions 

With the staggering average size of the fish we landed this year - following on from the exploratory trip Bob and I did last year when we hooked some colossal fish - we are now convinced that the biggest sea trout enter the river later in the year and tend to remain lower down the river. That makes our Villa Maria weeks in March prime time for the biggest fish, in our opinion. Given the low water, we didn't catch quite the numbers of fish we might have expected - five rods landed 51 sea trout and lost a bunch more. But among them were no less than seven fish over 20lb, and the average size was incredible at almost 13lb. Paul Lalwan alone landed 8 fish with an average size of 18lb. That is mind-blowing sea trout fishing. 

Keith with a beautifully spotted, fresh sea trout

The rest of the team was made up of Keith and Rock, a great pair of anglers who fish regularly together and were making the trip of a lifetime. It certainly lived up to its billing and Rock was particularly successful with a couple of twenties and an ability to keep hooking fish throughout the week.

Many of the fish came at last light

Fishing through last light into the Patagonian darkness was especially exciting and produced many of the fish for the team. This was the time to switch to the big leeches and hope for that big thump somewhere out in the blackness, feel the rod hoop over and wonder just what was on the other end. If you've never done it, I can assure you it is one of the most exciting moments in all of fly fishing.

Just another 26lb sea trout for Paul!

Of course, Paul had to crown the week with his second 26lb fish on the last day. It's no wonder he and the great guide Pablo were both in tears! As ever at Villa Maria, the guides were superb, with their intimate knowledge of the river and the care they show in returning every fish. The food and hospitality were as lavish as we have come to expect and the Patagonian scenery never fails to take your breath away. It's no wonder we'll be back next year.

In fact, given the demand for this fabulous trip, we are planning to host two weeks on the Rio Grande next year. Some of this year's team have already booked their places and the rods are going quickly so get in touch with Jim or Bob as soon as you can if you are interested in joining us next year to swing flies over the biggest sea trout on the planet. Details on our hosted trips page and check out our trip reports for more more details of the Villa Maria experience.

 - Jim