Fly Fishing & Tango, Bariloche, Argentina

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After dropping the car off and giving Mel hugs goodbye... John and I met up with Norway traveling friends at an EXCELLENT hostal called Patanuk Hostel that was alongside Lago Nahuei Huapi. This hostal boasted giant windows, a terraced back deck, good music, and an excellent microbrewed beer called Manush, which means ¨deep sea¨ in French.

John: As some of you know, I have really been looking forward to fly fishing the streams here, some of which are hailed as the best in the world. For the past couple weeks I have searched the internet, stopped in many fishing shops, and talked to backpackers at every oppurtunity to find the ¨budget¨ route to making this happen...only to find it doesn´t exist! I posted blogs searching for used equipment and even entertained the idea of buying a new rod and reel, but after the license fees, and all the misc. gear that I would need it was out of the question. This decision would have been easier to make if all the Outfitters/Guide Services weren´t so outrageously expensive! In the end I found a great guide, Martin Angaut, to fish the Pichi Leufu river for the bargain price of $350 (USD)... (Believe it or not, some were nearly double that) Once the damage was done, there was little to do but sip Manush and look forward to the following day...feeling better already...

The next morning on the drive to the stream, we passed a teenage boy who was dressed for school and hitch hiking.... we quickly came to a stop and picked him up. After 30min we finally dropped him off at a tiny school house. I asked Martin ¨thats a long walk to school isn´t it?¨ which he simply replied, ¨I don´t know why he wasn´t riding his horse...¨ no school buses out here 😊

Well, the magazines and fishing guides don´t lie... it was all unbelievable! We were graced with sunny skies with only the patagonia wind to deal with. To my surprise we only used 2 different flies all day. We started with a top water terrestrial fly (which landed a nice rainbow trout on the second cast) and caught fish continuously until 2pm that afternoon. THEN suddenly there was a mayfly hatch and there were fish striking on the top of the water all around me! By 3pm the hatch was over and we broke for a quick lunch, stream side, with a table and chairs, and a cooler full of drinks.

After lunch we drove to a different section of stream that was waist deep at the center with a deep bank and a rock wall on opposite sides of the stream. That afternoon was unbelievable, exactly what I had hoped for. I was left with only a story of THE ONE that got away...I had landed an enormous brown trout and instead of netting him, I posed for a picture with the rod bent and this giant fish visible thru the water at my feet...rookie mistake...one last jump and he was off! So it goes...it was still a great day!

Chrissy: I slept in!! As many of you know... I just love to sleep. 😉 It was nice knowing John was fishing and I had the day to myself. I had a nice visit with the girls from Norway and was invited by Andrea from New Orleans to a Tango Show!!! How exciting. The show was more than I had anticipated. Not only was there dancing... but many incredible musicians!! A few favorites were Miriam Sofia & Gabriela Maceira, Gabriela Novaro, Silvia Gaudin y Tango Cinco. Even though I had NO IDEA what they were singing about... I imagined tragic love stories and soul inspiring lyrics.

When I got back... John was completely zonked out from his fish fighting day on the river.

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Comments

[bill]

Bariloche
enjoyed your comments, esp about fly fishing in area. I plan to go down in Dec. and will keep in mind what you said about expenses. I am esp interested in fishing Rio Limay outside of Bariloche--I have heard there are big brown in those riffles. thanks and good travels,,, bill---------------Rio de Janeiro