| Author | Message | ||
     Gib Unregistered guest |
My name is Gib and I live in Redmond, Oregon. I am looking into coming to Argentina in 2006. Sending about 3 weeks and Fly Fishing everyday. I am not a person that needs guides or lodges. I like to do everything on my own. So here is my question. Has flyfishing become so commercialized that it is hard to gain access to rivers and lakes on your own? I can book my own fights, rent my own cars, make arrangements on place to stay. However what I need is information about rivers and lakes I can access. Your help would greatly be appreciated. | ||
| staff Unregistered guest |
Welcome! Dear Gib, I don't think anything has become "too" commercialized. It is just that as there are different people, there are also different segments in the market. There are those who would only want to fish with a guide because they have little time, perhaps 2 or 3 days and want to have the benefit of going straight to where the best fishing happens, including private lodges where you will never gain access or will never know of their existence. This knowledge or information comes at a cost. You gain the knowledge quickly in exchange for monies. Then, there are those like you (and possibly me) who prefer self-reliance, even if that means not the optimal trip but one that represents self-discovery. I went to Egypt on my own last year and although it was the trip I wanted, I realized I probably had missed a few things here and there because I didn't want to pay to those who knew every corner of El Cairo. Anyway, I personally do not have in-depth knowledge of the streams and lakes in Esquel, where the greatest "fly fishing" takes place, but I can put you in contact with one of our last, dear passengers who visited Argentina through our agency recently, and happened to have written a book specifically about fly fishing. The book has two chapters about fishing in Patagonia so he has the knowledge you are after. I can email him and ask him if I could provide you with his email address so that the two of you meet, or you can buy his book, which he has just updated. But then again, you seem not to enjoy exchanging money for information, so I do not know... Hope this gives you a greater view of how things work, no pun intended. | ||
| Gib Unregistered guest |
Yes, I realize you miss a lot of things by winging it but exploring is part of the fun. Anyway, I would love your friends' e-mail address or have you contact him for me. Buying his book would be a small price to pay for all his knowledge. Thanks for the help. | ||
| staff Unregistered guest |
Not a prob. Will try to get you in touch with him as soon as he replies to me. He is usually busy and travels a lot but I think he will like to help. | ||
| adrian latimer Unregistered guest |
Yes I'd be pleased to help. There is a wonderful amount of fishing for wild trout (rainbows, browns and sea-runs mainly, but also some brooks and a few salmon pacific/landlocked) in Patagonia. Some of it is the world's best (sea trout in Tierra del Fuego) so it is expensive, booked up and difficult to access on your own ie without an outfitter and guides etc. Other parts further north are also very famous and difficult to access. But then there is a ton of rivers where all you need is a local permit/licence and off you go. The only problem is physical access. Small rivers eg the Arroyo Pescado spring creek or Nant Y Fall all you need to do is book with the owners, get there and they will give you the key and off you go for the day. Big rivers like the Futaleufu (Rio Grande in Chubut) are easier to access if you have a boat, but much of it runs along the roads and some of it is open - obviously some of it is private. You can also walk into parts of fabulous rivers like the Rivadavia. As said, the problem will be the need for local knowledge of how to get to parts of rivers where you can fish, and as said for some of them a boat is useful. And for the small private streams you need to access the owners of course to buy a day's rod. You'll need to make some local contacts to find all this out. There are also a lot of lakes that have fish too. It might be worth using a local outfitter just for a couple of days to pick their brains and then go do it yourself... regards adrian | ||
| Kurt Iverson Unregistered guest |
Gib, I did a do-it-yourself fly-fishing trip to Argentina a couple years ago and wrote an article about it for the Winter 2001 issue of Fish and Fly magazine. I think you'd find the article helpful, especially a sidebar devoted to "how we did it" specifics. Back issues of Fish and Fly are available on the web site. In short, to answer your question: no, fishing in Argentina is not over-commercialized and fishing in solitude is the norm. Access laws are similiar to most of the U.S., where the streams and stream banks are public domain. | ||
| Kurt Iverson Unregistered guest |
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