Last week we hosted some dear guests at our Corcovado Lodge in central Patagonia. They arrived into Esquel where they were greeted by our team at the airport and shuttled straight to our lodge. At their request we had traditional Argentine Milanesas for dinner accompanied by mashed potatoes, salad and plenty of Malbec.
The first day we planned a combination hiking and fishing expedition at Los Alerces National Park. This UNESCO world heritage site was created over centuries of successive glaciations. The landscape is full of moraines, glacial cirques and clear-water rivers and lakes. It was named after the Alerce trees found in the region, the second longest living tree species in the world. This park gives guests a wide variety of activities including hiking, fishing, rafting and bird watching. We hiked in the upper alpine forest of the park, stopping to take in the views of waterfalls and snowcapped peaks. After lunch we descended down to the lake to fish the incredibly clear water for trout.
We put our boat in the main portion of the lake and navigated to the portions where smaller creeks and rivers feed in. Here we threw streamers and dry flies at incredibly gorgeous rainbow and brown trout. Everyone in the group landed several healthy fish with both varieties of flies. The lake offers amazing variety of fishable water. After everyone had their fill we returned to the shore and headed back to the lodge for empanadas and roasted chicken.
The next day we set out early for a full day float trip on the Rio Grande. The day started off busy with lots of rainbows aggressively taking our streamers. After a solid morning we stopped for lunch and cooked lomitos on the riverside. The afternoon got a tad windy and we stayed closer to the banks and switched up our flies to some San Juan worms and leaches, putting several healthy browns in the net.
The next day with windy conditions persisting we started off floating a spring creek. This option, tucked away and out of the wind, gave our guests some amazing site fishing opportunities as the water is gin clear and has little movement. We landed several healthy brown and brooke trout that rose to hoppers and took streamers. After lunch the wind died down and we returned to the main section of the Rio Grande. We floated to the Chilean border while putting several healthy fish in the net.
That night we returned to the lodge to a traditional Argentine Asado, complete with all the appetizers, sides and deserts. What a memorable trip, we look forward to having these guests back for another very soon.
