March surprised us all at Tres Amigos Outfitters‘ Los Plateados Lodge. I wasn’t sure what to expect when our first guests arrived earlier than usual, but the argentinian steelhead fishery had some surprises in store for us. While preparing the lodge, we hooked enough fish to know we were in for an interesting season. Though the steelhead played hard to get that first week, it was the sea-run browns that saved the day – chrome-bright beauties that had our guests grinning, some tipping the scales into the mid-teens.
Cracking the argentinian steelhead Code
Let me tell you what I’ve learned about these fish over the years. These aren’t your average steelhead – our argentinian steelhead hold deeper and further out than most. I’ve watched many anglers struggle until they master the distance game. When fish are sitting 40-60 feet off the bank, you need to reach another 20 feet beyond that and get upstream enough to let your fly sink to their level.
The Cast That Changed Our Season
I’ll share our winning formula with you. It’s all about that perfect 90-degree cast perpendicular to the flow. Throw a big mend upstream, take two steps down, and here’s the crucial part – give that fly 10-12 seconds to sink before letting it swing. The argentinian steelhead showed us time and again that this was the presentation they wanted.
Dancing with Patagonian Weather
The Santa Cruz was running high when I first pulled up to the lodge – water nearly kissing the driveway. Week by week, we watched it drop, while the signature blue-green tint grew more intense as the glacial runoff decreased. Those conditions set up perfect opportunities for finding argentinian steelhead.
March threw everything at us this year. Some mornings I’d find frozen waders outside, but then our final week felt like summer – 60s and barely a whisper of wind, a rare gift in these parts. The most dedicated anglers consistently brought one or two fish to hand daily, and I’ll never forget that incredible day we landed ten argentinian steelhead.
From the journal of Lukas Young Senior Guide, Los Plateados Lodge
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