12/04/08 - TDF - Sarah Chamberlain recounts a recent trip to the Rio Grande.

I have heard so many people rave about the sea trout fishing on the Rio Grande and I have read many reports over the last couple of years but nothing can describe the excitement of landing my first ever fish there, weighing in at 14lbs.

I flew to Buenos Aires and stayed at the Alvear Palace Hotel and felt as if I had stepped back in time in the beautiful old colonial building. The following morning I flew directly to the Rio Grande and was met by Nick, the head guide at Maria Behety lodge where I was staying and Jorge, the head guide of La Villa lodge where many of our clients stay. It took about 20 minutes to reach La Villa which is based near the Estancia village itself and then around another 20 minutes onto Maria Behety which lies in the heart of the Estancia overlooking the famous Rio Grande.

The Estancia borders the first 52km of the river above tidewater and has over 100 pools within its 27 beats which are fished by both lodges on the Estancia. The beat rotation is organised between the two head guides and you fish the river with two rods to every guide. The guides are brilliant and they all speak English, some better than others. You fish with a different guide each day and I learned new techniques from them all, from improving my casting to learning different stripping techniques, all of which helped me land my 21lber!

Tierra del Fuego is notorious for its extreme weather changes and we had sunshine, rain and gale force winds all in one day. I was lucky with the wind as it only got up to 50mph on one day. However, it has been known to get very strong and therefore casting can be quite a challenge but as there are no trees overhead casting is always possible. The river has mostly a gravel bottom so wading is easy underfoot but in some of the pools the currents are strong and I would recommend taking a wading stick.

An average day consists of four hours of fishing in the morning from 8am 'til 12:00-12:30pm, followed by a three course lunch and siesta. At this time of year you then leave the lodge around 15:30-16:00pm, depending on the daylight hours, for another four hours fishing, returning to the lodge for another three course meal. The food is superb and the wine from Alejandro Menéndez Behety's (the owner) wine cellar of 7,000 bottles tops the meal off.

The sea trout average around six to tenlbs and seem to be getting bigger each year. One fish in five is over 15lbs and one fish in 50 will be a monster that tips the scales at 20 to 25lbs. I think that these statistics are getting higher as all our clients caught a 20+ lber during the week, the biggest of which was 24lbs, caught by Eric Dobkin. In all they had 24 fish over 15lbs to the five rods not to mention all the other lighter fish caught.

This season has been a great one with many fish over 20lbs and a couple have even hit the 27lbs mark, one of which was caught by Roy Cole.

The Rio Grande is a fair way to go but in my opinion it is worth every minute!

This year's rods get first right of refusal for 2009 but should you be interested in taking a rod please do not hesitate to contact myself or Charlie White.

Sarah Chamberlain