Week 10 and what turned out to be the last week of the season. Due to the now all too familiar Covid-19 situation, it was a smaller group of only six anglers that made it down to Argentina and ultimately Rio Gallegos this week. Even though we only had six anglers for the week we still had no less than five nationalities represented, specifically: Lithuania, UK, USA, Sweden and Norway. Kerry and Marius had both been here several times before, while Giedrius fished with us for the second time. The rest of the group were all new to the river and excited to get their first go at it.

We started the week with a lower water level, around 15-20 cm below zero, but experienced a push of water that raised the level to around zero mid week. This allowed us at times to fish slightly bigger nymph patterns in addition to our usual small nymph/salmon patterns. Small copper johns, very small salmon flies, and bead headed bug nymphs in green and orange with hook size 8 still seemed to produce the best results as the water remained very clear.

That particular bug pattern also enabled Zebastian to land the biggest fish of the week. He experienced an incredible evening session on Day 2 starting with hooking into his biggest sea run brown trout ever. Quietly covering the famous hole in the lower part of Little Corner, a big coloured male finally decided to go for his fly. The fish came out of the water several times, showing its amazing back and kype. Netting a fish here is always tricky as the bank is shallow and it’s hard to get under the fish, but after several close calls he finally managed to get the fish close enough to be landed.

Top rod of the week turned out to be a shared affair yet again. This week it was our friend Ladd from Alaska and Marius from Lithuania who got to share the honors with 8 fish landed each. Marius knew the river from former visits already, while Ladd visited Las Buitreras for the first time. Being a steelheader and keen Snap T advocate, it didn’t take him long to adapt to the softer Scandi style casting we normally preach in this shallow and oftentimes very clear river.

We would like to thank both guests and staff for yet another amazing week. While fishing was high on everyone’s agenda, experiencing Las Buitreras and everything that southern Patagonia has to offer was equally prioritized. It’s easy to get lost in the fishing but when you’re able to take in what’s happening around you and then top it off with some excellent Argentinian cuisine and wine it’s exceptionally hard to not have a good time down here.