Fly Fishing

RockyMountainRise · Location: Rocky Mountains

Has anyone had the chance to do a self-guided Patagonia trip? I really want to take a trip down to Argentina but have a limited budget I am working with. Most of the guide services and lodges that I find online are fairly pricy. If you have the money to shell out I'm sure it is worth it however it is not likely that I will have that kind of money anytime soon. Even if I had the money I think I would prefer camping over staying in a lodge. Any suggestions? As far as transportation goes, is it best to purchase a cheap old car once I arrive? I hope someone can steer me in the right direction as this has been a dream of mine for quite some time.

Very Best!

JeremyK · Location: Montana

Rocky,
I spent two and a half years in Patagonia working a 9-5 job, guiding and just bumming around fishing. I will pose many questions to you to see if I can help you out. Have you read Argentine Trout Fishing by William C. Leitch? It is an outdated book, but it is what I used when I moved there in 2000. I am sure there are other books out there right now, but am not familiar with any of them. Definitely find a book to read. How much time and money do you have? There are a couple different regions that have different trout waters and if you have time you could hit a lot of them. Most of the good rivers are really spread out throughout the region. I used to spend an average of 1 1/2 to 2 hours a day driving to different rivers with my clients. I wouldn't necessarily say it is cheaper to buy a car. First of all if you fly into Buenos Aires you are about a 20 hour drive to any trout fishing in Patagonia. It would be just as cheap to take a bus and rent a car. But some of the rivers can be way back in the mountains so make sure you are aware that you could be on some pretty sketchy gravel roads that can be tough on cars. Secondly if the car breaks down you may be days without it because it can be difficult finding parts or finding someone to fix it if you can't. There were many times that our lodge was without a vehicle for a week or so because the local mechanics didn't have the parts.....and this leads me to the next question...how is your Spanish? Not only would that help you with any repairs for a car it could also help you get to some waters seldom fished. Some of the best waters in Patagonia are private access and they have the best fishing. A lot of estancia's have private access and you can normally convince them to fish if you can speak OK Spanish if it isn't a lodge or someone else has private rights to it already. With that being said, there are a lot of National parks and campgrounds all over Patagonia with great river accesses, but they get fished pretty hard these days. A lot of the rivers that were empty years ago are now saturated with tourists and guides and find the ones that don't get hit the hardest are the best! So the more time you have the better. Don't be surprised if you see a lot of US and Argentine fisherman on the waters. I would also highly suggest, if you can row a boat, do take a watermaster or some type of personal pontoon boat to float in. This can get you to places that most of the wade fishing anglers can't. If you could find a used watermaster I would say that it packs down the best, very easy to transport and you could sell it if you don't need it after the trip for the same price or more than what you paid for it. Rafts and boats can be hard to come by down there and I am sure someone would want to buy it and then you don't have pack it back to the US with you.

Do you have a specific itinerary you want to do?

If you let me know some of these answers I will definitely help you as much as possible.