2023-2024 Fishing Season

We are thrilled to share some highlights from the season with you! Whether you’re still dreaming of your last trip to El Encuentro, or looking forward to your next Patagonia fly-fishing adventure, read on to hear about the highlights of each of the last few seasons.

Spring

Personal records defining memories filled the spring fishing season. A high abundance of water due to a wet fall and winter surged our well-fed rivers. This led to high water levels as a late spring snowstorm added to the abundant flows. After a long winter, the fish were active and willing to eat any food source. Because of their eagerness, the fish were eating flies fiercely and aggressively. Large trout were out of their usual hiding places and prowled for high-protein meals, making the streamer fishing spectacular.

As Spring progressed, November turned to December, and the famous dragonfly hatch—a favorite of guests and guides alike—took flight. Lakes and lagoons buzzing with activity produced trophy fish ready to attack large twitched dries on the surface.

Although runoff was on the rivers, water conditions remained clear and fishable, and the beautiful weather and pristine views were second to none. Spring is a great time to fish the Esquel, Argentina area if you like to fish fast water, throw streamers, and are looking for a true trophy fish.

Summer

The tapering off dragonfly hatch marked the start of the summer season. There were numerous floating options for guests to select, or walk-wade trips and a possible combination of the two.

This season, the rainbows recovered from spawning quickly and maintained quality shape. Each rainbow caught played a strong and exciting battle to the net. Summer is an ideal time to present dry flies to a large variety of trout species, and is also ideal for those looking for a nice balance of fishing and non-fishing activities throughout the Patagonia area.

Quality dry fly fishing marked the beginning of summer. Selective fish gorged on mayflies and caddis. As the days progressed, the fish ate the emerging mayflies and duns. In the early summer, numerous emerging bugs entertained the hatch-based anglers, with numerous different mayflies and caddis appearing throughout the summer.

Due to the wet winter, an abundant snowpack resided through the summer keeping flows ideal on the waters we love to fish. This maintained consistent water levels and temperatures through the summer, which brought ideal conditions for the trout. As the summer progressed and numerous memories took shape, terrestrials matured and abundantly spread during the late summer. Large dry flies proved as fly-box essentials from late summer into the early fall. Once again, beautiful trout looked up and sought opportunities to consume large dries.

At the Brook Trout Base Camp, fish actively hunted big-ticket food items, and allowed anglers to throw the largest and most glamorous flies into their boxes.

Fall

Sunny, bright days from late summer turned out quickly…Fall arrived literally from one day to the other…Having some early rain and snow storms helped improve the water level we already had and cooled it off, as well.

At the El Encuentro area, fish got active in bigger water bodies such as lakes and major rivers like the Futa, Arrayanes, and Rivadavia, and anglers who love chucking Streamers to the bank shore had lots of fun doing that!

On the other hand, smaller creeks got really active on topwater fishing due to the water temperature drop and the huge amount of terrestrials we already had buzzing around from the summer season along the river shore, making the weekly game at El Encuentro really interesting during the month of March!

At the Brook Trout Base Camp, the big change in weather conditions produced a big run of Brook trout from Vinter Lake into the Corcovado, also water level picked up, which made ideal conditions to practice trout spey fishing, either swinging streamers in deeper pools or skating big dries.

Our private access lakes got really active as well, especially fishing streamers and indicators, which allowed guides and anglers to land and see some of the biggest fish of the season.

Fishing at Carrileufu Valley Lodge this fall was more challenging, but being surrounded by the amazing colors all around paid off. The cold weather and early snowfall made for a spectacular contrast in colors. The water temperature dropped suddenly, too, which affected the feeding patterns of the fish, so we had to work hard to get them active. The best part of the day was around mid-day when we would find fish cruising and feeding in the rivers' feed lines.

Hope to see you next season!!