ARGENTINA - TIERRA DEL FUEGO - KAU TAPEN LODGE - READ TARQUIN MILLINGTON-DRAKE'S BLOG ON HIS RECENT SEA TROUT TRIP...

Added: Tue 9th Apr 13

To read about Tarquin Millington-Drake's travel to Kau Tapen Lodge with his group...click here.

He talks through the whole trip from departure in London, travel in Buenos Aires and down to Rio Grande and all the high and lows of the trip.

If you want the full details on a trip south, this is where you get the details and can see all the photos!

For further information please contact Tarquin Millington-Drake on 0845 299 6212 Ext 1 or at tmd@frontierstrvl.co.uk

ARGENTINA - TIERRA DEL FUEGO - KAU TAPEN LODGE FISHING REPORT - SOME LATE SEASON BIG FISH...

Added: Mon 8th Apr 13

Kau Tapen lodge’s Fishing report :

13^th Week: from 23rd to 30^th of March:

We had a good week at Kau Tapen Lodge for our 13^th week despite the rising and coloured water we had most of the week. The rain we had made the river rise quite well and a good number of fish have been travelling upstream to reach their prime spawning ground. The river is packing up with fish while the season is coming to an end and we had a good amount of surprise this last week with some great fish!

We had for our 13^th week a group of people from Argentina, Austria and France.

It was a nice group of people all of them new to Kau Tapen lodge despite Peter who have been here with us the same week last year. The atmosphere at the lodge was great and it enjoyable to be at the bar with such a great group of anglers having fished all over the world.

We started the week with cold but clear water and the fish were on the mood and took our flies pretty well. The water temperature has been from 5 to 8°C, which is quite cold for sea trout but if you present the fly deep and slow, they’ll take it! Right from the beginning the French team got some very nice fish as a 20, 18, 18, 14, 16 and other fish over 10 pounds for their first couples of days. Our guests Roberto and Francisco decided to switch and exchange their single handed rod to Spey rod as recommended! We taught them how to cast flies with a Spey rods and the loved it so much that they bought their first double handed rods!

The 20 pounder fish, biggest fish of the week has been caught by Georges from France on the lower beats using a dead drifted chartreuse leech on a very heavy sink tips as the water was around 6-7°C. We have been using leech all week as for cold and clear water nothing works better than a chartreuse leech and then also later in the week when the water got coloured and high. On Tuesday afternoon the river started to rise due to heavy rain in the Andes Mountain and the water came up very quick. We had to fish very deep, big and slow to be able to catch some fish and the first day was quite tough. But as soon as the water cleared up and the visibility was up to 30 cm, we started to be more successful.

We used 2 leeches tied together or several tubes flies together to have some volume and weight. When the water is very coloured of very cold or both at the same time, there no other option to attract the sea run coming closer to shore in those condition than using the heaviest sink tip or line and the biggest fly you can cast to be able to interest a sea trout. We used 15 foot of T14 sink tips to put the flies down and we had to walk downstream to be able to have the fly to be close to the bottom, the only way to catch fish in such high, fast and murky water and it worked well!

We had the full moon and high tides in the same time combine with rising water, which brought a good amount of fish to our beat and despite the very coloured water, clearing up quickly though we have been quite successful and rewarded by some good catches! A good number of fish from 10 to 20 pounds have been landed this week for the pleasure of our new guests discovering the magic of the Rio Grande. Off course it was not necessarily the condition you could have expected but once again, even in tough condition, with cold and coloured water, the Rio Grande provides great fishing! All of our guests when back home with some good fish and also the experience of being in such a nice lodge where the quality of service and staff is also a reason why our guests keep coming back to Kau Tapen Lodge!

We are now starting April month and ending the season soon, but also trying to catch some of the biggest sea trout of the world as they are now everywhere in great number. End of March and April are cold months and tougher condition for a fisherman but also a good time to catch some big large trout. The world record sea trout is probably swimming somewhere in our pools and guides and guest will have few mores days to try and dream about it!

Looking forward to seeing you,

Happy Easter!!

Best regards,

By Jean Baptiste Vidal

Fishing Manager, Kau Tapen Lodge

For further information please contact Tarquin Millington-Drake on 0845 299 6212 Ext 1 or at tmd@frontierstrvl.co.uk

ARGENTINA - TIERRA DEL FUEGO - KAU TAPEN LODGE FISHING REPORT FOR 2ND TO 9TH MARCH 2013...

Added: Thu 14th Mar 13

Kau Tapen Lodge’s Fishing report :

10^th Week: from 2^nd to 9^th of March:

We had a good week at Kau Tapen Lodge for our 10^th week despite once again a very strange weather and still no wind or the wrong wind from the East! Our guide team and guests worked very hard and by switching rigging all the time to adapt ourselves to the conditions we were successful and landed also some very nice sea run browns.

We had for our 10^th week a group of people from United Kingdom and USA. John R. and Tarquin from Frontiers U.K. were repeaters and the rest of our guests came here for their first time and probably not their last.

The weather has been challenging once again this week as we had no wind and low water for the first part of the week, and then some rain showers who rose the water level for a couple of days, bringing fresh fish to our pools. The second part of the week was cold and cloudy.

Fishing wise we started the week using floating lines, intermediate tips, long leaders and the green machine was ‘the’ fly of the first 2.5 days with some catches on rubber legs as well. Then the water came up few inches and got a bit coloured so we switch for heavier tips and larger flies, mostly leeches and sunray. We were successful using very fast sink tip and silver and black leeches or Chartreuse leeches during the day time when the fish were deep and not so active.

That way our guest Evan caught his largest sea trout on a switch TCX 11,9 – 8 weight rental rod we propose to our guests. It was a beautiful 22 pounder cock fish which fought very well on that small rod. Using the same technics we caught also some nice fresh fish as well.

We have since two weeks a run of smaller fresh sea trout that seems to be everywhere and very aggressive. Most of them are around 3-4 pounds but some are smaller than ever from 1 to 3 pounds! They were beautiful fish and this means that the reproduction is working very well on the Rio Grande and those fish will be coming back next year as 3 to 7-8 pounders!

Once again this week the fishing was up and down and the beat were working differently. You had to be at the right place at the right time to be successful. All our guests were lucky enough to be at some point on those conditions and all of them landed a nice sea trout.

The biggest fish of the week was caught by Evan, with this 22 pounder, followed by Tarquin with a beautiful fresh 20 pounder and Fergus with a nice 19,5 pounder!

We didn’t fish much the Menendez last week as the water started to be quite low, but with the rising water it can be a good option for this week. All our guests who experienced the Menendez want to come back and fish it more, and we will be more than pleased to bring you to that so special “small” river holding some big trout!

The atmosphere at the lodge was very nice as most of the guests knew each other and were driven by Tarquin, their group leader. It was a nice group and we delighted to have them at our lodge. Our staff and guided received very good comments and once again, all of our guests told us that Kau Tapen is the best lodge they ever been to! What a pleasure to hear such comment from people travelling all over the world!

We are now heading to the end of the season progressively and the river is getting pack of fish, some fresh fish are still coming up, and also some beautiful coloured fish, which entered in the river earlier waiting to spawn on our beats.

Kau Tapen has the best spawning grounds of the whole Rio Grande.

We are looking forward to receiving you and helping you to have an experience on a lifetime on the best sea trout river of the world, and according to our guests, the best lodge on Earth!

Best regards,

By Jean Baptiste Vidal, Fishing Manager, Kau Tapen Lodge

For further information please contact Tarquin Millington-Drake on 0845 299 6212 Ext 1 or at tmd@frontierstrvl.co.uk

ARGENTINA - KAU TAPEN LODGE - WEEK 8 - FISHING REPORT...

Added: Tue 26th Feb 13

Kau Tapen Lodge’s Fishing Report

8^th Week: from 16^th to 22^nd of February:

We had a good week at Kau Tapen lodge for our 8^th week despite some difficult conditions. Once again the weather was not stable as it has been almost all season making the fishing sometime very challenging! Though we got some very good session with some very nice fish, and they are now coming up in larger number.

We had for our 8^th week a lot of returning guests who have been coming at Kau Tapen lodge since more than 18 years! They are part of history! As Dick and Chuck and 2 of their friends Doug and Peter, Tim and Karen, all of them from U.S.A. and Christopher and Allison from U.K. We had also Hervé and Martine from France who have been here in the past and came for their second time. As new guests, we had Alasdair and Richard from New Zealand who are use to fish for trout in their home river but who came to the Rio Grande to get their biggest trout ever!

As always it was a great group to be around and the atmosphere was great. We had some great fishing stories both on the river and at the bar. This group of returning guests knows so many people that have fished the Rio Grande through the year and they know also the people who have some pools named after them. It’s always great to know this history and chat with them.

Our French and New Zealand guests enjoyed their company too and got along very well. Dick told us many joke and funny stories of what happened to them during their weeks at Kau Tapen lodge with plenty of memories.

Fishing wise we had to adapt ourselves once again to the conditions that were constantly changing from no wind and warm weather, to very strong windy days as well as cold weather making the water temperature dropped to 5°C! Once again our guides have faced this situation in the past and know the answer and the tricks to catch the Rio Grande sea trout no matter the water temperature, or high, the activity of the fish and luckily our guests managed to do their part and got rewarded.  The fishing has been up and down and I won’t say that it was easy to catch them and we had to be at the right place at the right time to get the best of the sea run browns! We had some very good session as well as some tougher ones but that’s the way fishing is and we won’t like it if it will be easy.

In terms of numbers it has been a slower week but as said, there is so slow, good and excellent week and that the way a season goes. We used from full floating line with tiny nymphs to heavy tips and flies to face the situation and this week they were no real better fly than another. We just had to adapt the fishing with the condition. Delicate presentation and fast stripping with small nymph to fishing deep, big and slow in very cold weather and water.

We manage to catch some very nice sea trout last week with a nice 22 pounder fish from Hervé, from France, the biggest fish of the season as well as some 20 pounders, 18, and so on.

The weeks are each time very different and in way also similar as we didn’t have one single week with a steady weather, so each week we had to find a way to fish and the right rigging which is very entertaining for both guests and guides. Rubber legs have been very efficient in “normal February condition” and chartreuse leeches in cold water temperature, as well as the sunray who really helps when the fish are sometimes a big moody!

All of our guests got the chance to have a big sea trout and most of them got a real beauty. The large fish are now more present in both the Rio Grande and Menendez. We fished the Menendez this week as well and got some good fish and nice action.

Let see how will be next week and for sure we will catch some very large trout, face some different fishing condition and also will have great companies, good laughs, and our guests will delight to be with us at Kau Tapen Lodge the best sea trout river in the world, no matter what are the conditions and how the weather is!

Your biggest sea trout and the world record is swimming in our water, so come and try your chance. We will be here to welcome you and help you to have an experience of a lifetime!

Thanks to our guides and our guest for their hard work. I am looking forward to seeing you,

Best regards,

Jean Baptiste Vidal, Fishing Manager, Kau Tapen Lodge

For further information please contact Tarquin Millington-Drake on 0845 299 6212 Ext 1 or at tmd@frontierstrvl.co.uk

ARGENTINA - KAU TAPEN LODGE - WEEK 7 REPORT - GOOD FISHING WITH BEST FISH SO FAR AT 28LBS...

Added: Thu 21st Feb 13

Kau Tapen Lodge’s Fishing report :

7^th Week: from 9th to 16^th of February:

We had a good week at Kau Tapen lodge for our 7^th week. Our group of guests fished in many different conditions and I will say once again as the weather is not stable and we fished warm water with NO wind, cold water with wind, and perfect water with nice wind! Despite those “strange” and challenging conditions we did great. We got this week our biggest Rio Grande sea trout, a beautiful 28 pounder who caught Heinz M. from Switzerland and our biggest Menendez fish, a great 22 pounder on a single handed rod caught by Jacques from France.

We had for our 7^th week a group of 7 peoples from Willy’s group, from Switzerland, Austria and Germany. Willy has been bringing groups since a long time and it’s always a pleasure to host his nice people. We had also two guests from France, two guests from U.K. and one guests from the U.S. as well as one from Germany who comes on his own.

We had both returning guests and new guests and it was a really nice group, having fun, laughing and enjoying themselves at the lodge and on the river!

This last week was very different from our previous weeks as we started with 3 days without wind at all! Very unusual as after 6 seasons on the river for me, I never seen that before!

It was challenging as you had to cast nicely to present the fly without making too much splash and noise if you wanted to catch fish. Obviously, the fish were a bit spooky and tough to catch as the water temperature was very high too. We started the week with 14 to 17°C and the fish were not really on the mood even if they were more active at dusk. We fished with small tiny flies and long leader, and some small salmon flies. He showed us that not only rubber legs and small nymphs interested the Rio Grande’s fish! We will try some more salmon fly for the future as it’s very important to present to the fish something different, that they haven’t seen!

Then the water turned cold and dropped to 8°C on Friday as we had a cold front coming and the fish had to adapt themselves to this big change.

We had to fish very differently from one day to the other to face this situation and switch from a full floating line or floating with intermediate tip to very fast sink tip and bigger flies.

The rubber legs worked well as well as some tube flies and Sunray.

Both our guides and guests did a great job by being patient and trying hard to catch the fish willing to take and we had great success by changing the rigging to find what was working the best. Sunray and leeches worked well at dusk and provided some good fish.

The biggest fish has been landing by Heinz M. who have the 2013 record for the lodge so far with this beautiful 28 pounder cock fish caught on a small rubber legs! His friend Marko had a fish on as well in the same time and landed himself a nice 15 pounder! Well done guys!

As I said in my last report the Menendez can offer great fishing and big fish and it proved it this last week. It has been productive as well as we went there with some guests that wanted to try the experience to catch a fish of a lifetime on a single handed rod and it worked out very well for Jacques, one of our French guest who landed with our guide Fabian a beautiful 22 pounder fish on a small EMB fly on a 8 weight rod. The fish took him a lot of line and he had to chase it! Jacques couldn’t believe it as he knew they were some big guys out there but for his first time at Kau Tapen and his first time on the Menendez, he was so happy! That same day Patrick and Chatt got some good fish too, as some 14 pounders!

We are now half way through the season and every day more fish are in the river. We are looking forward to having you to enjoy a great time with our staff and guides. The 2013 season has been great and we are very pleased for our guests who really delighted their experience. We will have new returning guests next season as most of our new 2013 guests already planed to come back!

Looking forward to seeing you,

Best regards,

By Jean Baptiste Vidal

Fishing Manager

Kau Tapen Lodge

For further information please contact Tarquin Millington-Drake on 0845 299 6212 Ext 1 or at tmd@frontierstrvl.co.uk

ARGENTINA - KAU TAPEN LODGE - WEEK 6 FISHING REPORT....MIXED WEATHER AND WATER BUT GOOD FISHING...

Added: Tue 12th Feb 13

Kau Tapen Lodge’s Fishing Report

6^th Week: from 1^st to 8^th of February:

We had another very good week at Kau Tapen. Our group of guests fished in many different conditions, with windy days, calm days, clear and cold water and sometimes coloured. They learn a lot, and will come back home as better fisherman and for some of our guests with the memory of their biggest sea trout ever!

We had for our 6th week a group of 7 peoples from Norway brought by Mark T., a returning guest from U.S.A., one from Sweden and one from Australia. Matt Harris joined the group, a photographer well renown from U.K., writer for “Trout and Salmon magazine”.

Another great group for this week which enjoyed the great world class service, food and lodging and fishery of our lodge, soon celebrating his 30 years of existence on the Rio Grande!!

We had a very varied week for this 5^th week of the Season millesime!

We started with quite hot weather, then rain, then cold. However, the fish where present and active for most part of the week and we had experienced many situations. From fishing deep with leeches in coloured water, due to wind or rain, fish on the top with Sunray Shadow and having great action, with hard takes, boil and splashes to swing nymphs!

More and more big fish are entering in the river with some fish over 20 and a good amount of fish over 15! Our sea run brown are still fighting harder than ever for some reasons!! And our guests delight so much their furious runs and acrobatics jumps! So as our guide team!

The biggest fish has been landing by Didrik who have been “in fire” this week! He had a terrific week and not only him,and will never forget it! He will soon be back, with some of his friendly Norwegians friends!

Matt did a great job catching a very good number of fish every day, and he got 7 fish on his best day! I am sure we will soon be able to see his great picture of his trip. I will try to give you the link.

The water temperature was between 7 to 14°C which was nice for fishing. We had once again to adapt ourselves a lot due to those varied conditions which were also very interesting fishing wise!

We fished with full floating line with an intermediate on nice days and small flies (nymphs, rubber legs, green machine) to a super fast sinking tip when the water was cold, or coloured due to the rain and extremely strong wind we had on Monday (up to 100 km/H!!)

The sunray shadow has worked very well and was probably the fly that caught the most fish this past week. Once again the fly is very interesting and entertaining to fish with as the takes with intermediate or slow sink are visual! You can see the boil or the take itself one the surface! We lost a lot of fish on this fly but it worth it as we had more action than with any other fly! Rubber legs worked well as usual and leeches too.

We fished this year more and more the Menendez river which holds the same type of sea run browns than the Rio Grande. They are the same species and the same trout. Some just decided to lay their eggs in some of the best spawning ground for sea trout either in the Rio Grande or the Menendez! The Menendez is the biggest and main tributary of the Rio Grande and a great small river to fish. Paradise of single hande rod fisherman, you can catch some fish up to 25 pounds and more! We went there a couple of time upon request of guests, as it’s part of our water and I always encourage people to go, but mainly and unfortunately used as an option. We had some nice success and caught some good fish. It is a challenging fishing as it is more technical, but a real river and a great opportunity to catch a fish of a lifetime on a single handed 7 to 9 weight rods! We suggest you to give a try, even if most of our guests come to fish the Rio Grande, the Menendez is pure jewellery and all of our guests that have fished it once, always ask us to organize them at least one full session of their week on the Menendez! You should try it to!

Looking forward to seeing you,

By Jean Baptiste Vidal

Fishing Manager

Kau Tapen lodge.

For further information please contact Tarquin Millington-Drake on 0845 299 6212 Ext 1 or at tmd@frontierstrvl.co.uk

ARGENTINA - KAU TAPEN LODGE FISHING REPORT FOR WEEK 5 - UP AND DOWN WEATHER BUT GOOD FISHING...

Added: Tue 5th Feb 13

Kau Tapen Lodge’s Fishing report

5^th Week: from 26^th of January to 1^st February

We had a very good week at Kau Tapen and our guests delighted the fishing and the whole experience of the 5^th week of Kau Tapen season 2013.

The weather was quite tough and windy but our guest put all their heart and energy to be successful and it worked very well. Thanks to the guide team for their hard work.

We had for our 5th week a lot of returning guests coming to experience once again their favourite fishing place and Ian from U.K.  brought his Scottish group that we know for some years now as Bob, Alistair, Roddy, Reuben, David…, which is a great group of people and fisherman. Margaret that has been at KT several times already came back too as well as Marcelo M, the owner of Buenos Aires Anglers, the main fly fishing shop in B.A.

He had also 2 North American guests who came for their first time and it won’t be their last as they enjoyed so much the place, staff and fishing.

This group got along very well, and the atmosphere was very friendly both at the lodge and on the river! Thanks to all of you.

The water level is dropping little by little but remains good for fishing. However, the weather has been quite instable and quite harsh and everyday was different, with some cold days, some very windy days and some nice and warm days. Due to those conditions, the fishing was up and down but globally for the week the fishing has been pretty good, with a nice number of fish per rod per day and some large fish too. Roddy got the biggest fish of the week, so well done!

The water temperature was up and down so we had to adapt ourselves to those conditions and we fished with full floating line with an intermediate to a super fast sinking tip, ended by mostly rubber legs nymphs or small leech. The sunray shadow has worked very well this past week catching and moving a lot of fish. This fly is a great way to upset fish and put them on the take or spot them to then try them with a regular rubber legs fly if they don’t take the Sunray.

For the last hour the silver and black leech was the most successful as well as the purple and black or full black leech.

The fish have been present everywhere in the river in both the upper and lower section as now the fish are spreading around and holding in the pools, going slowly upstream to find their fine spawning ground.

We have had some of the most beautiful sunset of the season so far, with great light and atmosphere that make this place so special with some beaver having their dinner in front of our guests, or some condors surfing with the wind!

Our Irish guide Matthew, came at the lodge to tie some flies to show our guests the technics for rubber legs, and the “Green Solon” fly designed by Matthew himself. Our guests always enjoy this moment, as they can learn new things and have a chat with our guides.

We ended the week with our “Tapas Night”, and it was such a nice moment as this group know how to have a great laugh and partying. We also celebrate Matthew’s birthday for his 26^th years and the departure of one of our guide Santi who worked very well and will be welcome for next season.

The season is running very well and we are looking forward to having you here and be a part of Kau Tapen 2013 season.

See you soon,

By Jean Baptiste Vidal

Fishing Manager

Kau Tapen lodge.

For further information please contact Tarquin Millington-Drake on 0845 299 6212 Ext 1 or at tmd@frontierstrvl.co.uk

ARGENTINA - KAU TAPEN LODGE - GREAT CONDITONS AND PLENTY OF FISH - WEEKLY REPORT...

Added: Mon 28th Jan 13

Kau Tapen lodge’s Fishing report :

4^th Week: from 19^th to 26^th of January:

This was another great week at Kau Tapen Lodge and a lot of fresh powerful fish are in the river, which has a perfect water flow, temperature and clarity. So perfect fishing condition, great fishing and a nice group of people! What else to make this week so special!

We had for our 4th week a special group of people from U.S.A. who have been coming at Kau Tapen since more than 20 years! They like to have the whole lodge for themselves and they were 6 people, all using single guide and single beat, which is a great option as it is very productive!

The water level and river conditions were ideal at the start of the week. However, when we started (Saturday and Sunday) the week the weather was very hot, too hot for sea trout fishing (up to 27°C!!) and warmed up to much the water ( up to 17-18°C) putting down the fish for almost 2 days.

Then on Monday we came back to normal condition, with windy days, cooler weather and better water temperature from 11 to 13°C which is the optimum for sea trout.

When the water cooled off, the fish were present everywhere in Kau Tapen water both on the upper and lower beats. On Monday the fish were jumping, rolling and boiling everywhere! It was something to see so many fish in the pools! We had excellent fishing catching a very good amount of fish per rod per day this week and a total number of catch impressive for such a small group of people. It hasn’t happen since few years and our guests delighted the fishing, using light rigging and small flies and were very pleased to experiment the river in such condition.

Fishing full floating line or floating line with an intermediate tip was the norm, ended by along leader and a green machine, rubber legs nymphs or small nymphs, changing to a dark wooly bugger and leech for the last hour of the day. The Sunray shadow worked too in some condition, on fast runs or when nothing was working!

I would say that 95% of the fish or more were very fresh and more than anything very strong. We were very surprised to see how those medium size fish (7 to 14 pounders) were fighting as they took so much line and were jumping so many time that it was like catching a 20 pounder fish each time! Strong takes, and boil at the flies was common, and it was very enjoyable to both guides and guests.

Besides the fishing our guests enjoyed having the lodge for themselves and we looked after them very well, having a lot of attention and great service as usual at Kau Tapen Lodge. A lot of fishing stories obviously and it’s always great to receive Randolf group, who knows so well the people that have worked, fished or guide and some Rio Grande legend.

Both staff and guides worked very hard to please our guests and give them the best experience possible. It is for sure some of the reason our guests keep coming back and some for 10, 15 or more than 20 years! The Rio Grande fishery is something else, which you can not find anywhere else in the world. Adding great Argentine quality of hospitality and service, with a great team of guides, and you have a top 5 quality lodge, world renown!

This group will come back next year as usual for the same week and they are already looking forward to it after that very good week of fishing and moments on the river and at the lodge.

The moon is getting full this week and we will have a very big tide as well which should bring another great number of fresh fish to the river ready for a hard fight!

We will be there to catch them and have great moments on this outstanding fishery that is the Rio Grande!

We are looking forward to having you here and be a part of Kau Tapen 2013 season.

See you soon,

By Jean Baptiste Vidal

Fishing Manager

Kau Tapen Lodge

For further information please contact Tarquin Millington-Drake on 0845 299 6212 Ext 1 or at tmd@frontierstrvl.co.uk

ARGENTINA - RIO GRANDE - KAU TAPEN LODGE - A SOLID START TO THE NEW SEASON...

Added: Wed 16th Jan 13

As always it is a real pleasure to be back to Kau Tapen Lodge on the Rio Grande, the best sea run brown trout river in the world. Kau Tapen has something special, a great atmosphere, nice people, beautiful light and landscape, the best sea trout fishery anywhere and the lodge itself, is a great place to work and to be, cosy, friendly and beautiful that makes our guests feeling home. Most of our staff keep coming back from one year to another so a good percentage of our guests for those reasons!

We started the season the 2nd January progressively with few guests the first days of opening and little by little getting more people coming to experiment for their first time and also repeaters, to have the lodge full on the 6th.

We started the season with rather high water condition. I would say very nice water speed with fast current and good looking pool but with slightly coloured water due to some rain and melting snow. The river has been quite warm having between 6 to 10°C rising to 12°C later on, around the 8th January.

Due to this condition we has been using during this first days, floating line with fast sink tip (Tip 7 or heavier) or full sinking line as a S3-S4 line to go deep and cut the fast water.  The keys was to present the fly deep and slow, close to the fish to interest them and make them take. Both technics were effective depending on the pools, the activity of the fish and water temperature. Bugs, leeches and sunray shadow were the “working flies”.

Fish are coming up the Rio Grande little by little and we can see some of them showing off in the pools. With this high water condition we have caught both fresh fish and fish with some river, as some of them came up river easily with this water high.

This season our team of guide is composed of the legendary Max Maemev from Russia, Matthew from Ireland and Maxi from England, and Santiago and Fabian both from Argentina. The first week is also the moment for the guides to check better the pools, to see if there were some changes with the spring flood and start trying flies and rigging to see what works the best. Within few days we found out what was the best option and got onto fish quickly and we landed a fair amount of nice fresh fish as well as some coloured one.

We had the chance to host Tim Romano and Kirk Deeter from Fields and Stream magazine who came to do some recording for the Field and Stream website (www.fieldandstream.com) and Tim did a great job filming and taking picture of our great place and fishery. Lila Rowcliffe came back once again, and it’s always a great pleasure to have her back.

The season is now on his normal cruise and the fish are coming up more and more everyday, giving our guests great fishing, emotion and fight. The fishing has picked up this last days and we are expecting a great season. Come to visit us at Kau tapen to experiment the best sea run brown trout fishery un the world

Best

By Jean Baptiste Vidal

Fishing Manager

For further information please contact Tarquin Millington-Drake on 0845 299 6212 Ext 1 or at tmd@frontierstrvl.co.uk