 |
|
Briscoe and rainbow |
 |
|
Jorge with his next meal |
The white sand spots Jorge spoke of mark the inflow of additional springs along its course. Larger trout upwards of 8 to 10 pounds frequently lie on and around the edges of these sand-spot inflows, but are notoriously difficult to catch. But I did see a couple of Jimmy Durante-size snouts poke through the surface.
Earlier, I had spied one particular fish camped out on a sand spot. He looked like a good 22-incher, but I could not get him to look at any of the dries I tried. I switched to a #18 Brassie and put it just off to his side. He left his lie in a flash, took the nymph right under my nose, and peeled off 30 feet of line before I even picked up.
He was gone before I knew what happened.
After lunch, we returned to our fishing in one of the lagoon-like holes. The banks were spongy out to a point where they dropped off to about 18 inches deep. Then, ahead in the water 40 or so feet out were stands of cattails and reeds. It looked more like a bass pond than a trout stream, yet the water was flowing along noticeably.
The abundant bug life included caddis, mayflies, scuds, and dragonflies. The surrounding pasture and frequent breeze added terrestrials to the soup, with hoppers, ants, and beetles being good summer bets. I put on a Humpy, Jorge went with his own Pancora tie, and Jim stuck with his Jim's Green—all attractors.
For these fish, good casts were necessary, right to the base of the cattails. The fun part was watching the reeds move as the fish made their way to the inspection, and sometimes attack. Once a fish was hooked, he was immediately back into the reeds or down into the underwater cover. The fish had the advantage, but we managed to prevail often enough to feel victorious.
Native Catch
Jorge had a particularly splashy rise and was fast to a little acrobat that looked different. The fish ran and jumped like a baby tarpon. On landing, he showed us a 15-inch pejerrey (peck-ar-ay), or Kingfish. Arroyo Pescado is catch-and-release for trout, but the pejerrey is an allowed dinner fish.
Jorge said the cook at the lodge would give him a big hug for bringing it home. The pejerrey looked a bit like our Rockies whitefish, but it was clearly a new one on me. Jorge said it is one of the area's very few native fish.
The season at Arroyo Pescado runs from January through April, summer and early fall in Argentina. As you might expect, the Arroyo is a popular day trip for many traveling anglers. Several outfitters work the lakes, rivers and streams of Chubut Province between Esquel and Cholila, and there is a lot of area to work, but the Arroyo Pescado is a particular gem.
Despite all this, we encountered no other anglers that day. The ranch is owned by Americans who manage their resource carefully. The cattle have been moved away from the stream, and the owners have implemented the catch-and-release policy. They also limit the pressure to six to eight rods per day. Jorge said fishing is as good or better as it's ever been.
Where are you going?
What do you want to do?
