Fly Fishing Patagonia
A Travel Guide
Well, I’m still recovering from Argentina. It was a trip unlike any other—dream fishing all over Patagonia. I recommend heading south (with a few days in Buenos Aires, one of the world’s great cities) in the strongest possible terms.
Patagonia, of course, is huge, so there are some decisions to be made. Whenever you’re planning a fishing trip I always advise to be honest: do you want to catch many smaller fish or fewer but larger fish? Do you want to be isolated? Do you want luxury or rusticity? Do you like to wade or fish from a boat? There aren’t wrong answers.
In Patagonia there are lodges where you drive every day an hour (or more) to world class angling. Other people would rather fish on the property if the fishing is good (which, in Patagonia, is still better than just about anywhere else).
Here are some lodges that can help you settle on a good plan. You can fish until April or later this year. Or start planning for next season (which starts in November, but really gets going in December). Every time I’ve gone has been in January, to pretty good effect. I made all my arrangements through Patagonia River Guides, which worked out very well. They have their own lodge and outfit many other operations with their terrific guides. They can also help with all travel to an within Argentina, all Covid-related issues, so you don’t have to worry about the logistics and can focus on more important things, like casting into the wind to a rising trout that’s the largest fish you’ve ever seen in your life.
You can enjoy a seriously good fishing trip with five days on the water. But if you’re making the long haul you might want to try to split 7 or 8 days between a few of these lodges.