The Tricky Home Pool

By Alexander Dachlauer from FFTC

After a sophisticated dinner and a first night at El Encuentro Lodge with a great breakfast each guide picked up his clients and headed out for fishing on different stretches of Rio Futaleufú. Rio Futaleufú is a tailwater river of a big lake at the end of a very long water system with several rivers and lakes in-between. After the dam the river is divided by EEFF in 4 sections. I fished the section 3 on this day. Starting directly in the front of the lodge.

The view from the terrace of the El Encuentro Lodge is spectacular as you can see on some of the photos I made. What a nice place to build a house!

We walked through the garden to the banks of the river, picked our drift boat for today and after a view strokes upstream with the paddles only 50 m away from the point we started we saw a big feeding party in the circling water. Wow, that looks easy. So many feeding fishes all around… with a great view over the lodge on the hill - beautiful. I could not imagine that this situation would be one of the most frustrating situations of this trip. The first dry lands on the water directly 10cm in front of the last hatch on the right drift. Nothing happened - oh, here - beside another slurp, and here, and here … I cast always right to the last hatches and I let it drift with the tricky movement of the always changing crazy currents. Nothing. Long story short. We spent around 1,5 hours over there, watching the hatches, changing the flies for several times from big to mini dries, I cast, and cast - I guess always right but you never see a hatch on the same place twice, because of the cycling water, and of course the cycling fishes as well. You do not know where the fishes come up next. If you cast right in front of a feeding fish, it never comes up twice on the same place. It seems to be impossible to catch one of them. Of course, you can put the fly on the water, and you can get lucky if a fish will go for it exactly in this moment. But they are very, very selective due to enormous volume of natural food they have. The traditional way to target a ring or a head of a fish with the expectation he will come up for another time … it does not work here. I did not catch a fish on this crazy spot, but it was both funny and frustrating being part of this fancy scenery. A boat with a Fly Fisherman in the middle of active feeding fish all around without any take. You see the movement of 18-23 inches fish beside and under the boat in the clear green water of the Rio Futaleufú… and this makes you so crazy. Please let us move to another spot otherwise I will use a net to catch them. May I say this? My excellent guide and keen Fly Fisherman Julian showed me how to catch a fish over there… he got one but it wasn’t easy for him and it took time but he got one of the beauties and yes, he declassed me. Anyway, perfectly done, Julian!

What a start into the day. I hope this is not the mantra of the day and not ongoing. We leave this “frustrating” place behind us downstream, passing the lodge to our left, hoping for the adventure of the day to start. Forget about the spot before.

About 200 or 300 meters away from this “crazy” spot I caught the first rainbow trout of the day and I very quickly reconciled with the beautiful Rio Futaleufú. 700 - 800 m downstream the river turns to the right and you get a great view of a spectacular scenery. The water is filled with big death trees, and it is very deep over there… sometimes I guess there are big holes around 5-6 m deep or more, and 5 to 10 m wide. The water is pretty clear, green and you can see the movements of the spooked fish all around. In this section we caught some nice rainbow trout and we moved forward downstream passing some nice little islands with rocky and sandy beaches. Perfect for wading, if you like to do this.

After a nice lunch on the banks of the river I did some wade fishing with the streamer and Julian picked me up with the drift boat to continue our ride. We switched between dry hopper and streamer drifting downstream and caught fish after fish. The landscape is beautiful, and the river changes its character several times. Julian promised me that we would catch some brown trout. We came to a part where the river is enormous wide - looks more like a lake - and in the front of a big drop off we try to catch some of the spotted fish on the rim. We got lucky and caught some of the promised nice brown trout - very strong fighting wild brown trout in the size between 18-21 inches. Julian seems to know exactly where the fish are. This is the best you can expect from a professional Fly Fishing guide. Julian meets all expectations.

We met one Fly Fisher with a guide on a motorboat, this was the only fishermen we saw on that day. He passed by twice in different directions. We saw him only for 15-20 minutes - not more! This is one of the main reasons to travel to Patagonia for me. You fish at a beautiful river, full of fish and nobody else is there. This includes also non-fishing people. Sometimes, but not very often you will meet one or two other fishermen, without disturbing each other. That’s fantastic - that seems to be the privilege of fishing in Patagonia.

SECOND DAY ON RIO FUTALEUFU

After one more creative and delicious dinner sharing the stories of the day with the group we decided to rotate the stretches of the Rio Futaleufú. To get another impression of this amazing river with a different character. Julian and I, we decided to fish the section 2 today. This is the part upstream to the north of the lodge ending at the lodge passing the tricky home pool.

One of the major advantages fishing with El Encuentro Flyfishing is the deep and long-term relationship with other landowners, which guarantees the easy access to all the waters. Every guide has a big bunch of keys for the countless number of gates we have passed for every entry to the banks of the single water you intend to fish. El Encuentro operates its business since 1985, which is a long time to jump into a personal relationship with all the different landowners in this big area of the Chubut region. The guides are always scouting for new entries and they are also responsible for the personal relationship between EEFF and the involved people on the other side. It was nice to see very kind and helpful relationship between these parts, taking care of the wishes and needs of each other. Sometimes Julian brings, oil, petrol or simply some beer or anything else, what seems to be needed to leave by the people. They help each other and the simple way of sharing seems to work in this country. Looks very easy but it is based on trusting each other and being reliable for many years.

On the second drift ride at Rio Futaleufú, we enter on a secret spot after some private gates. To mark this entry, I guess they used a typical Argentinean sign: bones.

We drifted this section, which looked totally different to the part from the day before in surroundings and the river itself, and we caught some nice brown and rainbow trout as well.

A beautiful day with one more enjoyable lunch on the banks of the river - a perfect setting. One of the things I would really miss when I’m back at home - having lunch on the river.

On this day I got my first impression of the feared, legendary Patagonian wind. All the fishing days before we had no wind or maximum something like a breeze but on this day all the legends about the wind came to life! So, let’s try to bring out a dry hopper montage on a 5wt with a WF line… without hooking the guide next to you, if the storm blows you away - sometimes with a maximum pressure exactly on your casting hand. Julian, please accept my apologies for my bad “storm casting” skills. I hit him twice on this day. I’m so sorry, my friend! I did my best to make you proud catching some nice fish after a nice presentation. I failed at least twice but anyway I caught some beautiful rainbow trout and several nice brown trout in the middle of the eye of the storm (for Julian this was just a typical Patagonian wind).

What a day - on a wonderful river full of fish fighting partly with the wind - this was a brand-new experience for me. It’s easy to cut the wind if you face him with a 7wt or 8wt and a sink tip line but to get this monster wind from the side casting a 5wt with a big wind catching dry fly and an additional nymph on it - you will lose several times, if you are not trained to it. But you can increase your casting if you listen to your guide. I wasn’t afraid in this situation. I wasn’t afraid and now I know that there is really no reason to be afraid of this wind but of course it’s a challenging situation that still can be handled. No worries about the Patagonian wind. And don’t forget - don’t hit the guide! Sorry, my friend, for doing this twice! (with the new scars on your face you look more tough ;-)

THE SECRET LAKE

Today we will fish on a lake in the heart of Parque Nacional Los Alerces around 1-hour drive from El Encuentro Lodge. On the way to this magical lake we passed some other promising lakes, but no other lake should be like this secret one, my guide Julian said. Sight casting to big rainbows and brown trout at the shallow water. Fishing the weeds like fishing saltwater flats. Spotting, one or maximum two casts - hooking or spooking. This is the mantra for today. I’m very excited. After leaving the main road leading through the park, we entered an off-road way across big rocks, wading some creeks, and hiking the hills. A beautiful scenery in this park with a lovely vegetation around. We climbed the mountains higher and higher. In the middle of nowhere we stopped at a small farmhouse in the woods with a mix of animals around. Yes, there are some additional gates we need a key for. Perfect - a complete private protected entry, exclusively for El Encuentro Flyfishing. 10 minutes later the lake is in front of us. Beautiful, I’m very, very excited and I’m getting a little bit nervous after the stories about the sizes of the fishes.

I watched my guide Julian and his helper Mauro preparing our rafting boat while I rig my 6wt and 7wt rod. The 7wt rod with a sink tip line for the streamer and the 6wt for the dry hopper montage.

We leave the banks; Julian stands at the boat and we stalk slowly through the weeds in expectation to spot a fish. We drifted meter by meter… always watching the shallow water and we saw one fish. I cast - perfectly next to the fish - spoked. Some blind casts in the direction, as we expected the fish moving … nothing. We cycled around - back, to the side of the banks - back to drop off… the times goes by - we saw no fish! But then in 10-12 meters in front of us we spotted a nice fish. I cast and after the fly lands in the water… the fish is moving in the direction to the fly… he comes, he comes, TAKE, SET, HOOKED and what happen next has happened to me for the first time in my life. I never saw this before. The fish is starting like a rocket - like a bonefish on steroid, 1,2,3,4 seconds - 40 m and more away from the point I hooked him and OFF - F… OFF! On the same time Julian shouts „…let him run, LET HIM RUN … OFF - simply off - the setting of the break was perfect - he could easily take the line - there was not so much pressure on the turbo run - but the fish was OFF in the middle of the weeds. The tippet was broken and with him a 30 inches trophy rainbow trout away. Julian says:…something like that. I have never seen a fish running in such a tempo in my life before. All was peaceful and the fish was hooked and then he started such an enormous powerful run … far away in the weeds in a big curve we saw the complete beauty and size of the fish… unstoppable ... but I won’t stop him… I let him run - but the tippet was off in the weeds… I lost this really big fish. He is gone.

Thrilled and full of adrenalin we decided to go back to the car on the banks for lunch. Final result: no fish before lunch.

After lunch we started to the other side of the lake after checking if the fish was back on the place we lost him… but he wasn’t there. So, we decided to go to the other end of the lake to the rocky side… and after some intensive casts I hooked another fish - wow, a beautiful, strong fish - a big strong fighting fish. After thrilling minutes, we got him in the net. A beautiful male brown trout of 25 inches. What a nice healthy and powerful fish! I hooked him 3 meters in front of the rocky bank with a natural colored nymph. I’m totally happy with this catch and I forgot about the bad story hours before.

We caught one more nice 22-23 inches female brown trout and we left this beautiful secret lake with some new nice stories in the pocket.

Back at the lodge, we shared this experience with the group. And my inner voice whispered to me: “Go back for revenge. Go back.”

STRANGE ANIMALS ON RIO CORINTOS

After another tasteful breakfast with the group, everybody leaves the El Encuentro Lodge with his guide for his daily fishing trip. Today Julian and I decide to fish a typical spring creek. On a hot sunny day, it would be a great idea to search for the shade of the trees around the creek, which shares the coolness you need to enjoy the wading.

We started at the lodge in direction to the small city of Trevelin, and after half an hour passing this town, we arrived at one of the gates I mentioned before. All private gates to private land. Exclusive access for EEFF. We enter some of them to visit a beautiful big ranch land. After passing the pampas we turned into the woods, and at the point where the forest ends we drove down a hill to a nice ranch with several splendid buildings in a lovely valley, where the spring creek Rio Corintos snaked its way. A really beautiful scenery. We passed some other gates on the land of the ranch, and after passing all the working space we drove into the woods, where the creek is meandering. We stopped in front of a nice pool and jumped in our waders.

The water level is very, very low because of the last weeks without any rain in this area. We had a perfect late summer weather from the first day on. Always a big blue sky with the bright sun. No rain and no or not so much wind - simply perfect!

Typical for a spring creek are the shy fishes, which are very easily spoked if you move too fast or if you cast too much. Keeping this in mind I wade carefully step by step while Julian is spotting some fishes from the banks for me. It needs some casts to catch the first fish - a nice wild rainbow trout. Not that big - but a nice healthy fish. We fish both dry flies and nymphs, and we catch some beauties of the small creek.

I fished a pool in front of a short island while Julian spotted the stretch downstream, as suddenly an animal, actually two of the same species, were walking through the waterline on the banks of the island in front of me. Both of them were climbing on to a small hill and after they were on the top, I could not see them anymore. After 30 seconds one of them appeared in front of me down the hill and stood still looking at me. OK, my little something - what do you want? Why you looking at me? Do I disturb you? I understand this is your district and maybe your beat. Hmm, it moves closer and closer to me. Two meters in front of me - only the little creek between us. I make me bigger - it moves one step back. Then I get normal - it moves a step forward. I make me bigger again. It moves one step back again. I pull my phone out and make some shots. We play this game with the step forward and backwards for 3 or 4 times. Always the same. Then the animal decides this is a stupid situation and moves alongside the island going back, following the second one behind the hill. Uff… a funny and strange situation. I had no idea what animal this was. Fact is, it was not shy. I would say it was more curious than anything else. I show Julian the photos. As keen outdoorsman he knows what kind of animal this was. Back at home I forgot the name Julian told me and I do a short research and I was not sure if this was a Honey Badger. Ok, but what are they doing in Patagonia. Normally they live in Africa and South Asia (India). Not in South America. I read that they are known for their strength, ferocity, and toughness. And they are also known for attacking really any kind of other animals - no matter what size. Lions, Buffalos, and other predators without any fear. Ok, I guess I had luck. I was not attacked. I survived this spontaneous encounter. By the way, the name of the pool where I met him is “Dead Cow”. Because of him? After I understood that I’m a survivor and an outdoor hero, sending a note about that fact to Julian I got the notice back from him that this animal was a Huron Patagónico (Scientific name: Lyncodon patagonicus) in English: Patagonian Weasel and this is of course a not so “dangerous and fearless” animal as the Honey Badger should be. Ok, I accept this reason for surviving this encounter. Anyway, this was a funny situation and an interesting interaction with a wild FEARLESS animal, and they looked very, very similar.

I enjoyed exploring this beautiful valley, the meandering creek with some beautiful rainbow and brown trout. The brilliant blue sky in combination with the green and yellow of the leaves on the trees, the game of light and shadows reflecting on the surface of the creek, on the banks, the pools, and the riffles are touching my soul. A place to write a poem to the nature. The sun is shining, and we are thankful for the shades of the trees. On one place Julian spotted some fish downstream and I did a very, very long cast about 20m with the dry fly and the fly landed for a perfect drift and the fish was turning, and it came up for a take. I hooked and landed this nice little rainbow trout with a lot of spots on it, strong and healthy out of the crystal-clear water… not deeper than 15 inches.

We caught some nice fishes on this day, not so many, but one more day ended with a fantastic fishery in a wonderful landscape on the nice spring creek Rio Corintos with its strange fearless animals around.

1ST OF APRIL - TIME FOR REVENGE?

It’s hard to decide every day what kind of river or lake you will fish. There was a bigger lake we passed on the way to our secret lake. I had the idea to spend the day over there to have a second lake on my list of different experiences. Julian agreed and after breakfast we again started to the nature paradise of the Parques Nacional Los Alerces. As we arrived at the point, where we had a great view of this lake, we recognized that the wind was very strong over there, so we decided to drive further to the other lake upper in the mountains, the secret one, where we were two days before. YES, I agreed very enthusiastically and quickly, and on the way up I dreamed about revenge.

Back on my “most loved” little lake in Patagonia (have not fished any other before) we are a routine team for the setup and 30 minutes after arrival we sit in the boat and drift the weeds. But today it was very windy and for this reason it was very difficult to spot any fish because of the riffled surface. So, we decided to fish the drop offs with a streamer and I switched to my 7wt with sink tip line. Casting, and casting, and casting against the wind. With the enormous power of a 7wt rod (by the way I love the power of the sintrix material) and the sink tip line you are able to cut the wind, and to bring the streamer out. I got a take and I lost it after 5 seconds.

Maybe I set the hook too late. I cast again, and again, and after 1,5 hours I got one more take. Fish on! After a strong fight with a big fish on the other end I get lucky to land one more beautiful male brown trout of 26,5+, nearly 27 inches. What a nice fish. My personal record on brown trout. What a lake! And this is not the biggest fish you can expect there. Julian told me about catches up to 32 inches. So, I was not at the end of the line with my hooked and lost around 30 inches rainbow. Anyway, back to the fish I caught today. A great, old male brown trout with a big head and a beautiful metallic colored skin. After some nice photos we released it back into its habitat. Always a beautiful moment to watch the fish.

Rowing back to the banks where the car and Mauro was waiting for a lunch break, we saw him pointing to the place close to the banks in the middle of the weeds. He spotted a nice brown trout and with the second casts we hooked, and we landed one more nice fish. One more photo (thanks Mauro - for the nice photos of Julian and me!) and we let it run away.

After lunch I cast against the wind, hour after hour and I hooked one more lake monster and loose it after a wild head shaking on the surface through a broken tippet. On this second day we caught two nice big fishes at this little lake, and we had a wild day on a wild water. It was cloudy and stormy, and I loved it!

This is a place I have on my list for the next time. There is an open revenge with a 30+ inches rainbow trout. I will be back for it!

LAKE - RIVER - LAKE

Today we left the El Encuentro Lodge to head to the Carrileufu River Lodge on the border to Parques Nacional Los Alerces.

On the way to this lodge, where we were supposed to arrive late in the evening, we were to fish the Rio Arrayanes. This must be a beautiful river of around 5km length between two lakes. The river floats off the Lago Verde and is floating into the Lago Futalaufquen. All of them are part of a very big lake and river system with endless possibilities to fish in a breathtaking scenery of untouched wilderness. Everything looks very prehistorical. The woods, the logs, the mountains and everything around, and nobody else is there, besides us.

This national park was founded in 1937 in the north east of the province Chubut directly on the border to Chile. The name of the park comes from the alerces trees. The alerces tree is highly protected and is the second longest living tree species with up to 3.500+ years in the world. The part with the very old alerces trees (over 3.000 years) is closed for tourism. On lake Menéndez you can have a look at a 1.000 years old tree. The rest of the forest is reserved for research purposes only. This area with its glacier and its many lakes counts to one of the places of the world with the highest precipitation. This is the source for an endless water system. A phenomenal place to go fishing.

After a drive of about 3,5 hours crossing the beautiful landscape of the Parques Nacional Los Alerces we stopped high on a hill with a fantastic view - to the left a lake and to the right a river. The Rio Arrayanes, which we will drift today.

We start our floating trip on sandy beaches of the Lago Verde. The place we slip our boat, which seems to belong to the camping space we crossed before looks, very bizarre. The fancy Arrayanes trees give this place a special atmosphere and the river its name. There are some wooden banks and tables, and some grill stations for private use surrounded by this nice little forest, which breaks the daylight in a really bizarre way. The woods are spending the shade you need for a relaxed outdoor lunch after a sunbath on the sandy beach. This is a beautiful hangout. Today is a public holiday in Argentina, but there is nobody else here. We are alone in this wonderful place. This is Patagonia - more space than people. I see no other boat on the lake. No sailing, no motorboat and of course no other fishermen. I want to repeat it again - this is one of the main reasons for a fantastic fly fishing trip to Patagonia. You fish mostly alone!

The first catches of the day are some nice tough fighting rainbows out of the Lago Verde before we entered the beauty of the Rio Arrayanes, with its crystal green water and the bizarre Arrayanes trees on both sides. Close to the mouth of the lake there is a bridge over the river for walking only. So, on this impressive day we enter the river and catch some nice and of course wild brown trout. We float the complete river through the Lago Futalaufquen, which we did not fish anymore because it was getting dark.

Mauro waits on the banks and after one more day in a wild and breathtaking nature with some nice catches we drive to our next destination, the Carrileufu River Lodge outside of the park in front of the Rio Carrileufu.

A wonderful wooden building with an impressive architectural part in the middle of the house. A big hall for dining and living, including a bar and a big fireplace with a great view over the valley where the river flows (but you can’t see it from the lodge because of the trees). An elegant and relaxed place to stay with the access to fantastic waters around.

We had a really funny evening in this company, and we shared some nice stories from both sides of the world.

LANDLOCKED SALMON AND THE GRAND SLAM AT CARRILEUFU RIVER

After a rich breakfast in the same company we talked about the challenges of the day. My goal of the day was to catch a landlocked salmon (scientific name: Salmo salar sebago), a species that I have never caught before. There are 4 species in the Rio Carrileufu - brown trouts, rainbow trouts, brook trouts and of course landlocked salmons. So, let’s go for a Grand Slam of the Rio Carrileufu on my last fishing day here in Patagonia.

The weather was changing one or two days before our arrival and the experienced local fly fishing couple we met, told us it’s hard to catch a fish these days. They were leaving after breakfast back home to Buenos Aires after having a short fishing break of 3 or 4 days at this great lodge. But the weather was changing from warm into cold. The day starts with these words and this is bad motivation and to be honest, I’m getting nervous if there is a true chance to catch one of these landlocked salmons today.

In general it should be the same program as the day before. Lake - river - lake. But today we want to start at Lago Cholila and we will fish the Rio Carrileufu. But there is no way to fish the complete stretch of the river on one day until it floats into the Lago Rivadavia. The length should be about 17km… too much for one day floating and fishing. And for us the day would be a little bit different in timing than we originally planned.

After arrival on the banks and while preparing the boat we see two another drift boats. One in front of us drifting the first mile of the river and the other on the mouth of the lake. From our place we saw that the lake seemed to be very stormy. Big waves on the surface and we decided to watch the drifter in front of us. The fisherman fished very intensely deep parts in front of the banks and got no take - no fish. We took a short walk down the banks and spotted some fishes on the ground. They do not move much. And it looks like they are not feeding. We decide to start fishing from the banks. Wading - no drifting with the boat. The fly fisher on the driftboat and his guide are floating and trying to catch the fishes with streamer. This could be difficult, if the fishes are not feeding and not really active. Julian decided that we will wade this place and will try to catch a fish with nymphs. I agreed and we rigged both the 5wt and the 6wt rods with different nymphs.

We started in front of the car while Mauro was watching us.

We fished classical style dead drift and the nymph was passing the fishes without any reaction for several times. Ok, wonderful start here. You see the fish on the ground but they are not interested in feeding. After too much drifts they moved away - they get spooked.

But I’m a patient angler and Julian is a keen fisherman. So, we fished step by step - from group of fishes to the next group. We changed the patterns for several times, and then we went back and we started to target single fishes with the exactly right drift. And… after about 1 hour we got the first take and I could land a small fish. I did not see it because Julian netted him… and I heard myself asking nervously: What is it? Is it a salmon? „No a rainbow trout“, he answered and after a felt sense of a minute he said „No, it’s not, it’s a salmon!“ YES, it’s a salmon, Julian repeated. A small one but a salmon! HURRA! I got my first landlocked salmon in my life. Mission accomplished, after 1 hour fishing and the first catch. Perfect! Thank you, Julian! You gave me the right advice and the right nymph!

We fished with the same method and I caught next fish - a nice brook trout, then one more landlocked salmon, 10 minutes later another landlocked salmon, and they were getting bigger and bigger form catch to catch. The next fish half an hour later was a nice rainbow trout. So, within 1 hour and 45 minutes I caught 3 landlocked salmons, one brook trout, and finally one rainbow trout. Wonderful. I’m totally happy!

In the meantime, we saw 100m in the direction to the mouth of the lake two other fly fishermen. The manager of the lodge and the long-term friend of the owner of the lodge also wading the same banks I fished.

Now, it was time to start the floating trip. Especially because of the time of the day. We were about 2 hours behind the regular plan. Happy with my successful catches and highly motivated to complete the Grand Slam we started our floating trip.

We floated 600-700 m downstream and stopped and jumped out of the boat to fish a nice pool on the right side after we fished the riffles and a run on the left banks. We spotted a fish and I got a short take, but the fish went away… a nice rainbow trout about 22-23 inches. After some casts and drifts without any reaction we jumped back into the boat to float down this beautiful river rich on structure of riffles, runs, small and beautiful big pools, with logs and dead trees all around. The first 2 or 3 miles are so familiar to me, because this river has exactly the same character as my home river Isar, a tailwater river I fished for many years. The Rio Carrileufu looks exactly the same on the first 2 miles. But the character is changing, and the water gets deeper and the vegetation on the banks is getting more and more green, and the trees are getting bigger. In the same way the vegetation is changing the rivers changes its character. I caught one more nice landlocked salmon after some nice wild rainbow trout and now I was hoping for a brown trout to complete the Grand Slam. But on this part of the river, Julian told me, we will not catch a brownie. They are more on the lower part of the river. So, I caught two more landlocked salmons and countless rainbow trout but no brown trout for many hours. I won’t go for the Grand Slam of Rio Carrileufu and complete this mission. I have to catch a brown trout! Only one! For half an hour we float the “Brown trout” section and I try to get one of this beautiful wild fishes to accomplish the second mission of the day. Under the branches of a big tree I got an aggressive take and saw it and I shouted: YES, a very nice brown trout - a big one too and by ending this sentence the fish was OFF. To bring the story to the end. I caught 6 landlocked salmons, starting with the little first one up to around 19+ inches. Not such a big fish - but I got 6 of these brand-new species for me. I was happy with one of them. One nice brook trout, a lot of rainbows, and one loosing nice brown trout. In fact, I missed the goal of the Grand Slam of Rio Carrileufu. Not only for this reason I have to come back to complete the failed mission next time!

I had a wonderful last fishing day with Julian, my highly professional guide, a keen fly fisherman and a really nice guy. We added an extra ride, passed the usual entry point and fished an extra hour trying to accomplish the Grand Slam mission. Thank you for your great anticipation. Julian told me: “Fishing makes friends!” and I totally agree with you, Julian, my friend! Last 2 hours we had a slight rain for the first time this trip and I thought the sky was crying with me. I won’t get out of the boat. It was bad watching Mauro and Julian stowing the boat and the other stuff on the car for the last time on this trip. What a wonderful experience I had in these 13 days. Thank you for having me as a client, as a guest, and adding me to the big El Encuentro Flyfishing family. I love being part of this international family and I am very thankful for this beautiful experience.