Fishing Patagonia
An Enthusiastic Guide
Me not catching a fish on the Filo Hua Hum.
My favorite trip is down to Buenos Aires for a few days then farther south to fish in Patagonia. The fact that Patagonia is hard to get to makes it even more wonderful—the effort pays off spectacularly. You’ll see the stunning Andes, drive on the gorgeous Seven Lake Road and wade some of the world’s great rivers. Add Argentinian hospitality (not to mention Malbec from Mendoza) and you’ve got a winning equation.
The first chapter of The Believer is set in Patagonia—based on an extended trip I took a few years ago. While I was there I fished with Peter, one of the great guides anywhere. He and I have fished together over the years and caught some large trout and camped on the banks of the Limay. Spend days together on the water and nights in campaign tents along the river and you’ll get to know somebody. We don’t need to get into what a Thunderbox is, but that, alas, adds to familiarity as well.
So last year when Peter told me he was starting his own company, Fish Patagonia, I was thrilled. I immediately booked Casa Quilquihue set right on a lovely river. He offers this house for private groups, so I corralled some friends. One of them was Michael Williams, and we talked about our time there on the last podcast, from the Casa itself.
Patagonia, outside San Martin de los Andes, is vast and gorgeous. There are immense rivers, like the Collón Curá and the Aluminé. There’s more intimate waters where you can wade, like the Malleo and Filo Hua Hum (where I had it handed to me). On this trip we also fished along the shores of Falkner Lake from a motorboat. It turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip. Jürgen, Peter’s brother, runs the boat and you cast along the bank and have a perfect view for large rainbows and the occasional even larger brown coming to take your hopper.
If you book with Peter you can also have him design an itinerary at other lodges—he arranges everything from room reservations to guiding to transfers. You can see the lodges he works with here. It can be overwhelming for the first-timer, but my favorites are Tipiliuke (if you’re with a family and want other activities besides fishing). Or Arroyo Verde, if you want to stay in a family home on an estancia and fish the legendarily difficult Traful. This is for pros only. Some of the most beautiful water anywhere but sight fishing to wary trout. You can catch a 25” brown, but it’s not uncommon to get shut out.
How to decide? Some things you want to consider before you go (incidentally, these are good guidelines for any fishing trip). When you know the answers an expert like Peter can help arrange the best itinerary.