Enjoying Fly Fishing in Argentina

Undoubtedly, the most popular of sport fishing is the fly fishing. In Argentina, this is an activity that counts every day more followers and whose horizons are expanding. It is practiced not only in summer but also during the winter season.

Northern Argentina, Cuyo region, mountain regions of Córdoba and San Luis, Mesopotamia, Buenos Aires Province and Patagonia are different places where it is possible to practice this fishing technique, considered by some people as an art, due to the fishermen elegance when throwing the fly.

Northern Argentina

Northern Argentina is still a vast and virtually unexplored site for sport fishing. However, in this place of valleys, canyons, forests and Yungas, there are two species of great value: the golden and the trout. Near to the border with Bolivia, the ‘Baritú National Park’, located in Salta province, presents a subtropical climate and abundant vegetation. In this park, there are important rivers, ideal for fishing these species with fly equipment.

Cuyo

In the region of Cuyo, sport fishing is considered as a secondary resource: indeed, Cuyo is essentially known for its excellent quality vineyards, for the range and abundance of its hydroelectric dams, and above all for the ‘Andes Cordillera’. Notwithstanding this, most of San Juan and Mendoza Foothill Rivers and streams are ideal places for trout fly-fishing, since this species find here cold, clear and well-oxygenated water with favourable currents.

Mountain Regions

In the mountainous area of Argentinean central region, besides the beauty of mountain courses, another attraction is the rainbow trout fishing. Rainbow trout used to live in reservoirs, dams and lakes, but those sites were abandoned by these fishes to locate in streams and rivers, where clear waters are cooler and have a higher degree of oxygenation.

In San Luis, we can find these trout in the rivers and streams of ‘Trapiche’ area and ‘Comechingones’ mountains, whereas in Cordoba, the best places for fly-fishing are high mountain streams and rivers, like those of the cities of Calamuchita, Villa General Belgrano and Cumbrecita.

Mesopotamia

The ‘Mesopotamia’ is a region located at the extreme northeastern Argentina, which gets its name from the two rivers that cross the region: Uruguay and Paraná Rivers. It is surrounded by the provinces of Entre Ríos, Santa Fe, Corrientes and Misiones, and given its geographical conditions and the large number of fish stock species, fishing is one of the main economic activities of the settlers. Golden (‘dorado’), South American catfish (‘surubí’) and ‘tararira’ fly-fishing is the main sport of the region. Golden fly-fishing can be practiced in both open river and streams.

This fishing method has a significant advantage over golden traditional fishing, because it allows entering complex sites, inaccessible by common fishing, such as low spots and places with plants or logs, where golden is on the lookout for food.

Buenos Aires

In Buenos Aires, when comes the warm season, the silverside (‘pejerrey’) leaves the fishery and summer species such as ‘tarariras’ prevail in lakes, rivers and streams throughout the province. We can find them all over the Salado River basin. Tarariras are hunters by nature, they even attack insects, and that is why fly-fishing is achieved by the fly-casting mode.

At a distance of 560 km from Buenos Aires city, the ‘Sierra de la Ventana’, a small mountain town, is inhabited with the descendants of the first trout brought into the country, along with other exotic species. They were imported during the construction of a lavish hotel in the early twentieth century, where hunting and fishing were the main attraction for European visitors. Today, ‘Sierra de la Ventana’ is synonymous with fly-fishing.

Patagonia

Patagonia, besides being one of the most amazing and most beautiful places in the world, is famous for its exceptional trout and salmon fishing, which were intentionally brought into the country in the early twentieth century. In Junin de los Andes, the ‘Chimehuin’ river's mouth ‘Huechulaufquen’ lake, is a place of worship for fly-fishing lovers. ‘Limay’ River in Bariloche, ‘Correntoso’ River in Villa La Angostura, Esquel in Chubut province, and ‘Rio Grande’ in Tierra del Fuego (where a 10 kg. of weight species called sea trout exists), are central places for fish followers.

Currently, Argentinean fishermen are launching the “catch and release” mode and copies obtained in all these places must be returned to their habitats without exception.