Highlights
Villa Maria Fishing Report Jan 22 to 29 - Most fish ranging between 14 and 20 pounds
This week we have welcomed a full group of repeaters from Switzerland. Another group from Roger Tour Fishing Agency. They have been coming to Villa Maria for the last 2, 3 or 4 years. They all know each other, the atmosphere at the lodge was great and we had a lot of fun during the week.
The week started with a bit of coloured water while we did the warm up session and the first day of fishing, but then the water cleared up pretty well and the fishing was very good. A lot of nice size fish have been caught, with most fish ranging between 14 and 20 pounds! We had a big surprise when Rolland caught a very nice fresh Chinook on Villa Maria beat, which seems to be the first ever caught on this water. The fish fought very hard, and after long runs and a great fight for the angler, the 17 pounder Pacific salmon gave up and was landed! But then, we had more rain, as the weather seems not to be steady for more than 2 days this season, and the water level started to rise again.
As it was already high, and a bit murky, we did try to fish on Tuesday morning, but without any luck, not one pull, so we all decided to make a break and we didn’t go out in the afternoon. We had to stop fishing the Rio Grande as the water was getting worse and the chance of catching fish very poor. The next day, on Wednesday, we organized an alternative so our guests could fish, and we went to Yakush lake and also fished the river running into it, called the Rio Indio. The scenery was outstanding; the lake is surrounded by an old forest of “Lenga” trees, home of beaver hut, and beaver dam.
The water is crystal clear, and we could fish both the river and the lake. There, we caught some nice fish (2 to 5 pounds) and we were lucky enough to catch the three species living in this lake, brook, rainbow and brown trout. All our guests were very happy with this program and congratulated us on the trip . On Thursday, the last day of the week, we went back to the Rio Grande with the all group, as the water was clearing up and dropping.
The morning session was a bit slow but got better during the afternoon, and we got some nice fresh fish up to 18 pounds, fishing deep, with heavy lines, big flies and lots of mend to put the flies down and present the fly slowly. About numbers, Rolland was by far the Top Rod, having caught 17 of the 42 fish caught this week (4 days of fishing actually). The average weight has been very high this week and reached 12,45 pounds. The biggest fish of the week, a beautiful 22 pounder fish was caught by Thomas.We caught 12 fish over 15 pounds, and 4 fish over 20 pounds.The fly of the week is still the leech (chartreuse, purple and black).
As the activities on the “Estancia” (ranch) has been quite high these last few days for shearing the huge amount of sheep that are bred down here, our guest requested us to bring them, before taking their plane to go back home, to see one of the biggest shearing and wool operations in the world at the Estancia Maria Behety. It is quite amazing to see the volume of sheep that pass through the shearing shed and how quickly this is done. They can shear up to 1000 sheep a day! So as a resume of the week, as usual at Villa Maria lodge, all the staff members have worked very hard to take care of our guests and provide the best possible service, even in very difficult conditions.
Our guests have been pleased and congratulated us on doing so well and had a great week and will come back again next year, as they usually do.A special thanks to our guests whom have been very easy going and above all great to be around, always having a good laugh and understanding our goal, make them happy and allowing them to appreciate the magic of Villa Maria.
By Jean Baptiste Vidal
Villa Maria guide
For all bookings in Argentina, contact Axelo at Lax-a office
Axel Oskarsson axelo@lax-a.is
Direct tel nr in Office +354-531-6108
Direct Mobile nr +354-895-5202
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