Patagonia Early Season Fishing tips

Rio Malleo action - Spring loaded! (click image for detail)

EARLY SEASON FLY FISHING TIPS  Early season (November-December, early spring) in Patagonia means high water, “moody weather” and big, hungry fish, some rivers and Lakes with lots of them.   

At first glance, most rivers are difficult to fish due to high water covering its banks and making it difficult to cast, but with the right techniques you can have the fish of a lifetime at the other end of your fly line.

Here, I will give you a few tips to maximize your success if you encounter high water conditions.

 Fly line selection While floating, the easiest and sometimes most effective technique is dead drift a heavy nymph and either a strike indicator or a big bushy dry fly on a weight forward floating line.  Since the rivers will be running high and fast, most trout will be tight against the banks, where the water moves slower.  They will be resting against the bottom or lying behind rocks or logs, protecting themselves from the current and feeding on every piece of meal that drifts in their feeding lanes. Early season also marks the end of the rainbow trout spawn, so check carefully for shallow gravel bars as it is great sport sight casting to rainbow trout before they make their pilgrimage to the lakes.

Since the water is also cold, due to snow and ice melting in the mountains, the will not move far to save energy and gain body fat. 

To be successful while fishing like this you will have to anticipate the best holding spots and cast and drift your fly in your target zone.  Lazy anglers will succeed just letting the fly drift and mend occasionally but the active angler will catch more fish. 

  Another successful technique is the use of a large weighted streamer with sink tips or shooting heads with Amnesia monofilament as running line.  You will place the fly in the same places as if you are dead drifting but you will have to make the streamer look alive with little twitches of your rod tip or short strips of the fly line. 

I like to use Amnesia instead of standard running line for my shooting heads because it’s lower diameter cuts better through water and get the fly to my target faster.  It may be more difficult to handle than standard running line, but the rewards are worth the effort.

If you like to make your life easier, just use a standard Teeny type fly line in 130 to 200 grain.

  If you are wading try to put your fly in the same spots as floating, which means casting upstream, near the banks and not to the middle of the river.  Wading will be limited because of the water height.  Places you could wade in summer will be a couple feet deep.

 Fly Selection For nymph fishing with a floating line I will be using a small selection of nymphs in different sizes as trout will be more opportunistic than selective.

Large size nymphs: Bitch Creek, Girdle Bug, Kaufmanns Stone rubber legs # 2 - 6, Hare’s ear rubber legs # 8 – 10, 6X long wooly worm rubber legs # 4, etc

Small nymphs: Pheasant tail, Prince, Lightning bug, Ramirock, little black stone, and others.  I use the lightning bug or Ramirock on bright sunny days and dead drift it with a little swing as it may suggest an emerging nymph or baby fish.

Streamers:  Wooly buggers, Rubber legs wooly buggers, San Fermin, Churrasco Special, Abomination, Marabou muddlers and bunny rabbits.

 Fly rods My rods of choice will be 9’ to 9’6” fast action rods.  I like the 9’6” length because that extra length helps me a little while mending and these rods tend to have a softer tip than the 9’ version protecting lighter tippets (in case I need to use them).  My early season all around rod is a Scott 9’6” E2 # 6 weight.  I can cast to the far bank with the shooting heads and heavy flies or fish a # 12 Parachute dry fly with delicacy below the ever present willows.

 Leaders For my floating lines I use 9’ top 12’ leaders with a tippet to match the fly size.  For a size 2 weighted nymph I will use a 0X leader and for a size 12 (this is the smaller size I use early season) I will choose a 3 or 4 X tippet.

For my sinking lines I use a straight 4' # 12 to 20 lb Frog Hair Fluorocarbon.  It may seem too heavy, but, I like to catch and release my fish as fast as I can in fast moving water.  

 Accesories A good pair of polarized sunglasses are must have items for every angler as sight fishing is the noblest kind of fly fishing. 

Weather will be unpredictable so come prepared with good breathable waders and jacket.