After a week of Dorado fishing we returned to Buenos Aires on Saturday, December 7th. We had most of the day in B.A. before heading to San Martin in the Patagonia mountains for some trout fishing! While in B.A. we discovered some excellent walking areas near our AirBnB in the Palermo district. The Rose garden was an ideal place to enjoy some time. We also found a unique restaurant about a block from our room. The La Fondue restaurant was in an Italian market store that specialized in Fondue. Rod was off on his own to discover more of the B.A. area before heading home.
Sunday, December 8th we flew to San Martin de los Andes to see Patagonia and the mountains of Argentina for the first time. We flew from the Jorge Newberry (AEP) for the two-hour domestic flight to San Martin(CPC). It was a pretty standard flight until the giant volcano Lanin appeared. Lanin's a very impressive site as you approach CPC. As we were on our final descent into the airport I saw a very large bird out the window. Black with white on its wings and I wondered if it was an Andean Condor. Later we confirmed that was exactly what I saw. Very cool!
We were in San Martin do los Andes for 5 nights 6 days total and have 3 days of guided fishing planned. We recommend the Apart Hotel La Bora, for people who are staying in San Martin, doing some hiking, fishing, tours, skiing in the winter, etc. This family-owned hotel is run by siblings who provide an excellent place to stay. It has a very 80’s ski town feel. It's tall and narrow similar to places in Banff and Canmore built in the same era. The grounds are beautiful. We found some great restaurants around town and did some hikes on our “non fishing days.” San Martín and area is a beautiful area with lots to do.
Day one of fishing was planned with Hervie a long time guide in the area. We set out to fish Lago Nonthue. It’s a twisty drive along Hwy 48 towards Chile. We know we are getting very close when our cell phones start pinging “Welcome to Chile!" Hervie launched his driftboat with a small motor and we headed off to fish big foam bugs to fish that were eating damsels and dragons on the surface. Casting big foam bugs to structure (rocks, underwater trees, bull rushes) and watching for a fish to swim up from the depths to smash your bug has a certain appeal to it. It didn’t take long!
We enjoyed a great day with Hervie. He liked it even more when the wind came up and put white caps on the lake. The fish bite better in the waves. Casting was more challenging but less fussy fish are always worth the effort. This was unlike any lake fishing I had done. Actively “wiggle twitching” your big foamy to make a wake that the fish then launched themselves at to eat was an unbelievable introduction to fly fishing in Patagonia. We were sold on day one! We had at least 30 eats and probably landed 20 or so. We were using 7wts which were necessary between the wind and the strength of the fish that needed to be pulled away from structure. We landed very healthy and strong browns and rainbows in the 14” to 20” range.
Day two and three were planned with Carlos another long time guide. We were concentrating on the lakes in the area so we could get some totally different fishing than we have at home.
Day two we fished the famous Lago Troman at the base of the Lanin Volcano offering spectacular scenery. It was windy so we motored over to the far side of the lake to be in completely protected areas. Here the lake is at a slightly higher elevation so things were a bit behind hatch-wise. We ended up fishing smaller dries to fish cruising the edge of the drop offs. There were multiple times we were sight fishing and the fish were definitely being fussy. I did manage to land a brook trout and we got a few other browns but the fish were being sluggish with the noticeably colder water. There were only midges hatching so no activity on the big flies. But a beautiful day regardless.
Our final day of fishing with Carlos saw us head to Lago Paimun/Epulafquen. The drive was spectacular through the native forest (the monkey puzzle trees are amazing) and along the big lake (Huechulafquen) to get to the area we were going to fish.
We got to check out a historic church Maria Auxiliadora while the boat was launched. We headed to the far end of the lake where there are developed weed beds that hold the damsels and dragons. We worked at it and got a couple of fish but a highlight from the morning was getting two “native” fish - the Argentina perch one even on a dry fly! A totally new species for me. After lunch we moved to the other lake and worked the edge methodically. Casting was uber technical (1” from the bank was appropriate) and if you could hit some of the tight spots the fish reacted well. It was fun. Nancy got a decent one that folded one of Carlos’s rod! Good thing for extra gear. We truly enjoyed our time on the lakes and heard lots of stories about the endless rivers around the area.
On our final night we were invited to SET’s Spring Creek Lodge to check out the facilities and talk about future trips. Gustavo’s headquarters are spectacular on the banks of the upper Chimehuin River. The lodge is first class, like everything SET does, and the food was again 5* We made a plan to return and use Spring Creek as our head quarters for a future trip. The guests were all commenting how much they had enjoyed fishing the rivers and how well they were being looked after.
We’ve been to a lot of places in the fishing world and there are few outfitters who look after anglers as well as SET does. We look forward to our return in 2026.
