While finishing up week 9 here at Las Buitreras, fall is slowly embracing southern Patagonia. This past week however, the weather gods decided to bless us with an extra week of peak summer conditions, seeing the thermometers reach and go beyond the 20 C marks for a number of days. Despite the warm weather the river remained relatively stable, offering super clear conditions at a level between 10-15 cm below zero.
For those of you reading our reports, you probably know what that means: yes, we were back to full stealth mode using small, rubber leg nymphs such as Copper John or Prince nymphs while adding another foot or two to our leaders. Our group from the USA who entered their second straight week with us were accompanied by Scottish casting guru Gary Scott who brought along his two friends Colin (UK) and Fritz (Germany). All three were visiting us for the second time, hoping to set some new personal records in both fishing and eating.
As if low and clear water conditions didn’t make the fishing challenging enough, we experienced several days with unusual northerly winds, meaning upstream winds in most zones here at Buitreras. Luckily all clients were capable casters and were able to cover the water well even with the wind straight in their face, while casting with their least favorite hand. We saw a lot of fresh fish in the system, most in the 5-7 lbs range, mixed up with some real pigs. The group hooked a few fish close or well over 20 lbs but with small flies and thin leaders it is very hard to land them.
On day 4 our long time friend Dayne showed us how to do it when landing an amazing 19 lbs chrome cock fish in Goat using a Copper John nymph. The fish did four really good runs in the faster water until finally giving in, allowing Dayne to pose for a quick pic before sending it back.
Our friends from the UK and Germany had a good week as well, all of them landing their personal best sea run brown trout ever. Colin went on a real hot streak mid week and caught a nice 15 lbs fish in Kitchen pool, which he followed up by hooking but unfortunately losing another fish well over 20 lbs in Goat the day after. Gary, always the cool cat, waited until the last day until landing a stunning 17 lbs sea run brown in Wagon Wheel. Reason enough for another round of Gin & Tonics.
This week’s top rod honour’s were shared between Brian and Kim, both landing 11 sea-run brown trout each. A very respectable number in these tough conditions.
Stats
Biggest sea-run brown trout landed: 19 lbs by Dayne H from USA
Top rod of the week: Brian T and Kim N with 11 sea-run brown trout landed
Number of fish over 10 lbs: 10
Average size: 7,13 lbs
